Saturday 9: Dark Lady

Dark Lady

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Dark Lady

1. Have you ever been to a fortune teller? If yes, what happened?

Yes - he predicted a job for me - which was highly unlikely in my circumstances (less than 1% chance); it materialized within a month.

2. How do you cope in an uncomfortable social situation?

Try to remain cool.

3. A genie appears (of course). She asks, “If you had 3 wishes but each took 3 years off your life, what would you wish for and why?”

Happiness for me(1), family(2) and humanity(3) - same order of preference. Do not need to live very long...

4. Would you rather lose your soul mate or never meet them at all?

Rather lose ....

5. What is the hardest thing that you have ever had to do?
Keeping my mouth shut...

6. Have you ever had a miracle happen to you or your loved ones?

No - I am too rational for that.

7. Tell us about a quote that you can relate to. Why can you relate with it?:
...the moving finger writes..., (Omar Khayyam). Its the truth.

8. What personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble?

My belief that I am a 'king'.

9. For those in The States, how was your Turkey Day? If not from the US, do you celebrate a day like Thanksgiving?

No.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Thank you for your mail - Forwards # 9

(Thanks to Basant Nagdev for sharing)

As we approach the end of another year - I want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery. 

I no longer open a bathroom door without using a paper towel, or have the waitress put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying about the bacteria on the lemon peel. 

I can't use the remote in a hotel room because I don't know what the last person was doing while flipping through the adult movie channels. 

I can't sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has happened on it since it was last washed....hmmmm 

I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking one's nose. 

Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine how many gallons of trans fats I have consumed over the years. 

I can't touch any woman's purse for fear she has placed it on the floor of a public bathroom. 

I MUST ALSO SEND MY SPECIAL THANKS to whoever sent me the one about rat shit in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope that needs sealing. 

ALSO, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason. 

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die for the 1,387,258th time. 

I no longer have any money, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program. 

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's Novena has granted my every wish. 

I can't have a drink in a bar because I'll wake up in a bathtub full of ice with my kidneys gone. 

I can't eat at KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes, feet or feathers. 

I can't use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day. 

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. 

BECAUSE OF YOUR CONCERN, I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains. 

I no longer buy gas without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer doesn't crawl in my back seat when I'm filling up. 

  

I no longer drink Pepsi or Fanta since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put 'Under God' on their cans. 

I no longer use Cling Wrap in the microwave because it causes seven different types of cancer. 

AND THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face... Disfiguring me for life. 

  

I no longer go to the movies because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS when I sit down 

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me. 

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fedex since they are actually Al Qaeda agents in disguise. And I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.  

I no longer buy cookies from Neiman-Marcus since I now have their recipe. 

THANKS TO YOU I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big black snake could be lurking under the seat and cause me instant death when it bites my ass. 

AND THANKS TO YOUR GREAT ADVICE I can't ever pick up a Toonie dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting to grab me as I bend over... 

I no longer drive my car because buying gas from some companies supports Al Qaeda, and buying gas from all the others supports South American dictators. 

I can't do any gardening because I'm afraid I'll get bitten by the Violin Spider and my hand will fall off. 

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, and the fleas from 120 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's best friend's beautician ... 

Oh, by the way..... 

A German scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse. 

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late. 

PS: I now keep my toothbrush in the living room, because I was told by e-mail that water splashes over 6 ft. out of the toilet.

INFORMATION EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW... Forwards # 8

INFORMATION   EVERYONE SHOULD   KNOW.........................
Blood  Clots / Stroke  - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator,  the  Tongue

STROKE:  Remember the 1st Three Letters.... S .  T.  R.

STROKE   IDENTIFICATION:

During  a BBQ, a friend  stumbled and took a little  fall - she assured  everyone that she was  fine (they offered to call   paramedics).  She said she had just tripped over a  brick because of her new shoes.

They  got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of   food. While she appeared a bit shaken up,  Ingrid  went about enjoying herself the  rest of the evening

Ingrid's  husband called later  telling everyone that  his wife had been taken to  the hospital -  (at 6:00  pm  Ingrid passed away.) She  had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known  how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps  Ingrid would be with  us today. Some don't  die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless  condition instead.

It   only takes a minute to read  this...
A   neurologist says that if he can get to a  stroke  victim within 3 hours he can  totally reverse the  effects of a  stroke...totally. He said  the trick  was getting a stroke recognized,   diagnosed, and then getting the patient   medically cared for within 3 hours, which  is  tough.

RECOGNIZING  A STROKE

The sense to remember the '3'  steps, S T R.

Read  and Learn!

Sometimes  symptoms of a  stroke are difficult to  identify. Unfortunately,  the lack of  awareness spells disaster. The  stroke  victim may suffer severe brain damage  when  people nearby fail to recognize the   symptoms of a stroke.

Now  doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke  by asking three  simple  questions:

S  *Ask   the individual to SMILE.
T  *Ask   the person to TALK and SPEAK  A SIMPLE SENTENCE  (Coherently - i.e. It is  sunny out  today.)
R  *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of  these  tasks, call emergency number  immediately  and describe the  symptoms to the  dispatcher.

New   Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your  Tongue
NOTE:   Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask  the  person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If  the tongue  is 'crooked', if it goes to one  side or the  other,   that  is  also an indication of a   stroke.
A   cardiologist says if everyone who gets  this  e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can  bet that  at least one life will be saved.

(Contributed by: Basantlal Nagdev - basantlal2001@gmail.com)

Please give me feedback if you like such informative posts...

Saturday 9 - Just What I Needed

Just What I Needed

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!


Saturday 9: Just What I Needed
1. Who was the last person who entered your life and was just what you needed?



Will give this to my wife.


2. What is one of your fondest childhood memories?

Roaming in the hot summer afternoons and throwing stones for getting fresh raw mangoes and tamarinds  from the trees


3. What would you like to be doing in 7 years?


At 71 - guess cooling my heels...


4. Tell us about a blogging pet peeve.


Finding the matter painfully long - taking ages to read.


5. Tell us about a general pet peeve.


Confronting a liar or a stubborn person.


6. For one day, who would you like to trade places with?

Sonia Gandhi.


7. Where is your least favorite place to be?


In the driver's seat in Delhi's traffic.


8. What do you like about fall?

The colours.


9. If you or someone you know are chronically late, do you believe it's the result of poor planning or choosing to be late?


Choosing to be late...


Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!


If you like to participate - copy paste the meme and put your own answers instead of mine in your blog - enjoy...

Street Flowers, London - Wordless Wednesday

These are some of the flowers (and the sights) that I see in my morning walk, in and around Streatham, London ...

(click any pic for high resolution enlargement)

I hope you enjoyed the walk and the beautiful sights...

FOR THE PEOPLE - Random Thoughts # 9

 

In my more than 3 score years of existence, I have visited 17 countries outside of India, for durations as less as one day to a maximum of 6 months at a stretch. My longest stays have been in the U.S. and the U.K. My first trip abroad was when I was 27 years of age.

A major difference of people and systems in other countries, vis-a-vis India is that there is concern for people that is evident everywhere – this seems to be lacking in India. Every little detail, little action of a person reflects this concern. Be it public transport – rail, buses, trams OR design of roads, pavements, pedestrian crossings, public toilets, doors, windows, doorways, latches, door knobs, handles; or the  facilities for drinking water…the list is endless and it can go on. The designs are user friendly and easy to handle. This concern permeates down to the attitude and behaviour of the individuals. Its a pleasure, not just to visit, but also to live in these countries. Concern for others makes better human beings and we desperately need to cultivate the basic courtesies.

The effort is always on how the care and concern for other humans can be improved. How the disabled, handicapped, blind or even deaf and dumb persons can vend their way around without having to depend on another individual always holding the hand and leading them. The big shopping malls, cinema hall, restaurants, buses and other public places – are equipped with ramps for being suitable for wheel chairs or mobility scooters. You will hardly find a public place where these cannot be used.

The poorest country that I have visited is Tanzania, much poorer than India (GDP of Tanzania is US$ 61 billion as compared to India's GDP of 3862 billion - for 2010, compiled by IMF). In spite of it not being in the list of the advanced nations, I felt the people there are far ahead of us in basic courtesies, manners and the like. The general cleanliness was far better than what I have ever observed in my motherland. Traffic was disciplined. Sign boards were readable and not pasted over by posters or vandalised. Even the domestic help was trustworthy and you could leave your household keys with him/her. A basic honesty of character is noticed world wide, except in India. 

I feel ashamed that my countrymen are incapable of even such simple things. We are unable to maintain cleanliness. In India when we sweep our home, the garbage is often dumped on the street. We cannot even provide dust bins. There is no concern for feeling for others, surroundings or the environment. To see beyond ourselves is the need of the hour. Then only we will inculcate care for the community, then the country and other countrymen – finally the other human beings. 

It may not have ever occurred to you, when two cars cross each other on a narrow road, signal of blinking the headlights means “I am waiting, please come through,” in ALL other countries except in India. In India it means - “YOU WAIT (SUCKER) I'M COMING THROUGH”.

Why do we have this arrogance? We were not like this. Our tehzeeb was “PAHLE AAP!!”. Where has it got lost in the years? Now we are a culture of “PAHLE MEIN!!!”.

When we use a public toilet, we do not seem to bother about the condition we leave it in. We expectorate in the wash basins. We never wipe the basin for the next user. We do not realise how it feels to someone entering a filthy loo. In Europe (specially in Switzerland) I noticed that the public toilets had instructions in Hindi, that we should not squat but sit on the seat, we should not throw other items like Sanitary Pads, Hand Tissues/Towels etc. in the WC - only toilet paper. Why in Hindi? It only means that we do not use the toilets with a concern for the next user. I feel ashamed to admit that we have been singled out for those instructions, because of our obnoxious behaviour in such places.

Have we become totally different from the rest of the world? Is our way of life at fault? Are our religious teachings not what it should be? As it is Hindu religion is considered a way of life. The gods we pray to and idolise are the ones that govern our morals, our righteousness, our customs and manners. Are we picking up a lot of undesirable traits from the gods we worship?

Lord Krishna has used deceit on more than one occasion. Surrender of Bhishma, killing of Jaidratha by Arjun, surrender of Drona by using the name of Ashwathama, the elephant; killing of Duryodhana by Bhim etc. etc.- have all been done by deceit. Thus use of deceit is justified. The Bhagwad Gita is considered our Bible. It tells us of the immortality of the soul or the atma. Our scriptures also tell us about karma and rebirth. All these tend to give us a fatalistic attitude and make us accept any situation deeming it as preordained. It absolves us of the responsibility of our actions. All this makes us very selfish. If I am deceitful – it cannot be helped – being preordained. This also kills the motivation for questioning and advancement. Thus, this becomes a dangerous combination – being fatalistic and justifying deceit, along with being selfish.

Lord Ram was a brave warrior but he was unable to trust and respect his wife. He was called a maryada purushottama; justifying his fulfillment of his moral obligations. Giving up his right to the throne (develops fatalistic attitude).

He makes fun of Surpanakha and then tells her to go to Lakshmana – who also makes fun of her. Then Lakshaman cuts off her nose to insult her proposition to him. Ram also insults womankind. Makes Sita do an agni-pariksha; also drives her out of their home as he still mistrusts her fidelity, that too at a time when she is carrying his children. Was it just to please his subjects (or the washer man who uttered some obscenities regarding her)? Is that a reason why we do not respect our women?

These are the characters that we try and emulate in our lives.

I shall always remember the The Gettysburg Address of  Abraham Lincoln of November 19, 1863, where he said "-- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." He had the foresight and thinking, almost 150 years ago, that has made America the power that it is today. We are absolutely incorrigible and still refuse to learn anything even after the great fiasco of the Common Wealth Games; and to cap it all, the General Secretary of the Organizing Committee (Mr Lalit Bhanot) said  "..westerners have different standards..." trying to justify our failings. When a senior official of the country says such a thing in public - and gets away with justifications - where is the standing of the rest of the Indians!

Does that mean we cannot improve or change while following the religious philosophy's of Hinduism? I leave the answer of this to be analysed and decided by the readers themselves...