Discounts

One thing that stands out in our good old daily news paper is the amount of advertisements. Agreed, the revenue from ads supplement the low cost of newspapers. How else could an all colour edition with seemingly endless pages reach our door steps at 6.30 am for just three rupees? In some cities the price war has pegged the cunsumer cost of a good quality paper (colour sheets, remember!) at just Re.1. Amazing to see what competition does for the consumer.

But, the ads about discounted prices are the most prominent ones. One full sheet dedicated to one 'superlative-Mega/Big/Super/ Jumbo- Bazar' or the other is quite common. On Saturdays and Sundays, entire four pages are dedicated to one advertiser.

The one proclaiming 'Everything below MRP' takes the cake and gives item wise MRP vs what is the savings on each item!. There are others which encourage purchase of a set of goods to be eligible for further discounts. There are also these enticing teasers 'Buy 2 get 1 free' which scream for attention and of course further action.

Let's start spending more money to save more money!

Is this trend of publishing MRP and then creating a big noise about discounts a healthy one? Why fix a maximum retail price in the first place? Why don't they include all these benefits in terms of cost and reduce the retail price?

Traffic

Those living in Bengaluru (erstwhile Bangalore!) need not be told about the problems of commuting in slow moving traffic. I, for one, have the previlege of travelling 21 kms, one way, from south end exit till the north exit right through the heart of the city. The travel time takes anywhere from 50 mins to 90 mins depending on time of the day.

Initially I used to get frustrated quite easily but then I learnt to accept the situation. Learnt to accept the inevitable. It ismy decision to continue in these circumstances. Hence, I guess, I am responsible for this. Soon after this slight attitude adjustment the whole thing started getting better. Life is not that bad after all.

I decided to listen to all my audio collection, one by one. Slowly the stock ran out! After all it is almost two to three hours of listening per day. And then I switched over to listening FM....which opened a whole new experience...and they also have interesting 'Traffic Updates!'

I was listening to Radio City. They have this fun tinge to the whole thing. The item was on twisting an existing proverb in a funny way... the proverb for the day was 'You cannot have the cake and eat it too.'... and within minutes the callers started getting back with SMS and calls with their versions on air. 'You cannot have the cake and run away', 'You cannot have the cake alone, got to share with me', etc, etc,

One girl called up to say " You cannot have your boy friend and have your husband too!" She went on to explain - A boy friend does not have any responsibility whereas a husband is responsible for himself as well as the wife. A husband needs to take much more responsibilities than a boy friend. A boy friend is there for the fun part."

Very interesting, indeed!

Even if animals can't talk...

Wow! It is sheer coincidence. Times of India carried this pic. The info ran as:

LION KING: Animal behaviourist Kevin Richardson has such an intimate bond with big cats that he can spend the night curled up with them without the slightest fear of attack. Richardson, 32, who is based in a wildlife conservation area near Johannesburg in South Africa, works his unusual magic on other species too. Cheetahs, leopards and even unpredictable hyenas hold no threat for him.

How relevant to the day's topic! It seems animals need not talk after all! Looking at Kevin cuddling up to the big cats one doesn't feel the existence of any barrier at all. Some powerful rapport! As Pria suggested, body language, signs and lots of love can break barriers between humans and animals.

May be there is actually no need for any sort of conversation. In most relationships with fellow humans, most of the times, the ability to remain silent, the ability to curb the urge to throw strong words at the other person could be the single most virtue that saved the relationship...Thank God...No one has ever reported a broken relationship with their pets!

That makes the bond between man and the animal all the more intriguing and add that emotional bond to the relationship. . .and that explains the longer life that pet owners purportedly have compared to other love deprived souls!

நன்றி கெட்ட மனிதரை விட ...

If animals could talk

Just Imagine! If animals could talk...

There are a number of movies where the animal characters talk full length...Dr. Do Little, Babe: Pig in the city, The Chronicles of Narnia, Ice Age etc., some delightful ones...some average ones.

But then, these are only movies. Imagine the familiar street dog round the corner that usually stares at us ...what would it say if it could speak? Well, the dog's body language and a single bark conveys us enough information to change our behaviour instantly but that's another point for discussion altogether!

God knows what it thinks of us and what it would tell us, if it could speak. May be we are psychologically safe with things remaining as they are...

I came across this nicely written blog by T.D. Fuhringer. It got me roaring with laughter.

Any interesting dialogues coming to your mind?

Enjoy each step

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way - Wayne Dyer

What a powerful statement! When we start looking at life as a dance the daily routine takes on a different meaning altogether. ..each single activity, each single day becomes something to live for... something to be relished with joy and love. The dancer focuses on the inner self ...this is life at its best...and the focus is not on how fast one moves or how quickly one finishes but how each movement brings peace and joy. A dancer who enjoys each step lives life to the fullest in those moments.

"Today well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope" To enjoy each step along the way, in life, as in a dance, is blissful living. And blessed are those who can focus on the present and enjoy life.

Bag of Frozen Peas

Every day I eagerly await the newsletter from Jeff Keller's Attitude is Everything This week's "My Friday Story" is an amazing piece by Michael T. Smith. Here is the whole bag of peas:

A few weeks after my first wife, Georgia, was called to heaven, I was cooking dinner for my son and myself. For a vegetable, I decided on frozen peas. As I was cutting open the bag, it slipped from my hands and crashed to the floor. The peas, like marbles, rolled everywhere. I tried to use a broom, but with each swipe the peas rolled across the kitchen, bounced off the wall on the other side and rolled in another direction.

My mental state at the time was fragile. Losing a spouse is an unbearable pain.I got on my hands and knees and pulled them into a pile to dispose of. I was half laughing and half crying as I collected them. I could see the humor in what happened, but it doesn't take much for a person dealing with grief to break down.

For next week, every time I was in the kitchen, I would find a pea that had escaped my first cleanup. In a corner, behind a table leg, in the frays at the end of a mat, or hidden under a heater, they kept turning up. Eight months later I pulled out the refrigerator to clean, and found a dozen or so petrified peas hidden underneath.

At the time I found those few remaining peas, I was in a new relationship with a wonderful woman I met in a widow/widower support group. After we married, I was reminded of those peas under the refrigerator. I realized my life had been like that bag of frozen peas. It had shattered. My wife was gone. I was in a new city with a busy job and a son having trouble adjusting to his new surroundings and the loss of his mother. I was a wreck. I was a bag of spilled, frozen peas. My life had come apart and scattered.

When life gets you down; when everything you know comes apart; when you think you can never get through the tough times, remember, it is just a bag of scattered, frozen peas. The peas can be collected and life will move on. You will find all the peas. First the easy peas come together in a pile. You pick them up and start to move on. Later you will find the bigger and harder to find peas. When you pull all the peas together, life will be whole again.

The life you know can be scattered at any time. You will move on, but how fast you collect your peas depends on you. Will you keep scattering them around with a broom, or will you pick them up one-by-one and put your life back together? How will you collect your peas?

About the Author: Michael lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with his lovely wife Ginny and his son. Ginny is the light of his life and the inspiration for many of his stories. Michael works in telecommunications and writes for a hobby. He is currently working on a collection of his stories to be called, "From My Heart to Yours." If you would like to email Michael, he can be reached at: mtsmith@qwestonline.com

Slow does it!

Today's Times of India carried an article titled 'Slow does it!' by Sudeshna Chatterjee. It reminded how people scurry from one thing to the next in their pursuit of instant gratification. The article touched a very raw spot. It read,

" Remember how your grandmother lovingly laboured over your favourite kheer, just so that she'd get it right every time? Every ingredient that went into the kheer was specially sourced, and, from the consistency of the milk to the degree of sweetness, the level of precision involved was time consuming. In these days of instant kheer mixes, you'd think poor granny's kheer-making ritual was a tad too tedious.... whether we are talking, walking, eating, praying or playing, it's almost as if we are on a perpetual fast-forward mode"

The article also quotes some high flying professionals who have actually dumped their lucrative careers just to spend quality time with their families. Yes. These courageous people have made a choice.

I really loved the closing bit. "The race is not always to the finish. It is also a lot about how to get there." It's not about renouncement but about having the remote control in your hand and every so often putting the tabs on the speed limit.

Such small things as grandma's kheer have always been taken for granted. People who created those wonderful experiences specially for us too have been taken for granted. We rush along in our lives as if nothing or nobody else mattered. Then suddenly an article like this reminds us of the thin fibres that form the silent bond called relationships.

The newspaper also has huge colourful ads splashed all over - today is Father's Day! I will call Dad & Mum later in the day. Kids are still asleep. I will wait for their usual Sunday wake-up time. I walk over to my wife in the kitchen and grin thankfully at her. She reacts with a puzzled expression. I can see her wondering if I am alright.

The Sunday morning suddenly looks stunningly beautiful. Life is a treat!

Discipline

The last flight from Mumbai was, as usual, late. By the time I sat in the prepaid taxi and handed over the slip to the driver, it was a few minutes past midnight and I was tired. He must have made many trips that day and considering the congested roads of Bangalore, he must have felt drained out but it was not visible in his body language or the facial expression. He wore a very neutral expression. Without a word he pulled out and picked up speed along the main road.

I could see that junction in the road ahead. Not many vehicles around. Just a few more prepaid taxis following us. On the other side, a white Santro was coming from the opposite end, had slowed down near a median and was slowly taking a U turn. The road at this stretch is quite wide. Each half of the road can accommodate three cars, quite easily. The Santro, after taking the U turn, can easily go in our direction with enough room for another car to zoom through. I was lazily watching as the Santro almost completed the turn and we were moving parallell in the same direction.

I realised something was wrong. The Santro was veering to the left pushing our taxi to the edge of the road. First it appeared as though the Santro guy overshot his turn and will correct the steering soon, but then I realised that he is stopping our taxi. In few seconds, our taxi was blocked completely by the Santro. The Santro man came out and started shouting:

"Why can't you wait till I completed the turn? Do you want to kill us? Don't you have any road sense? You are ....."

He went on a long lecture on civic sense.... wanted to see the driving license, wanted him to come to the police station for lodging a complaint on rash driving ...he was quickly deteriorating from shouting to abuse.

Two more prepaid taxis stopped and the drivers got out to enquire what went wrong. My driver quietly smiled and told them, "nothing, you all move on, I can handle this".

On seeing the others join, the Santro guy sobered up in a flash.The same guy who was shouting at the top of his voice suddenly became a gentleman! He hesitatingly walked back to his Santro and pulled off quickly. My guy resumed with a faint hint of a smile on his lips.

I wondered, "who disciplined whom?"