Wednesday, December 16, 2009

NAIL IN THE FENCE


Once there was a little boy who had a bad temper.
His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.



On first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks, as the boy learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.

He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.



The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger,they leave a scar just like this one. You can puta knife in a man and draw it out.It won't matter how many times you say "I'm sorry", the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole...!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The Other Side


"A Father was reading a magazine and his little daughter every now and then distracted him. To keep her busy, he tore one page on which was printed the map of the world. He tore it into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again. He was sure she would take the whole day to get it done.
But the little one came back within minutes with perfect map.
When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said, 'Oh… Dad, there is a man's face on the other side of the paper. I made the face perfect to get the map right."" she ran outside to play leaving the father surprised.."


Moral : There is always the other side to whatever we experience in this world. Whenever we come across a challenge or a puzzling situation, look at the other side...You will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem... !

Friday, October 2, 2009

Working with Detachment


It’s the action, not the fruit of the action that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
Quoted by : Mahatma Gandhi
inspired by Bhagavadgita

Gandhi Jayanti


Thursday, July 16, 2009

SELFLESS LOVE

One of the best mails i have received. Really moving.

My wife called, 'How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come here & make your darling daughter eat her food?

I tossed the paper away & rushed to the scene.
My only daughter, Sindu, looked frightened; tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with curd rice.
Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age.

I cleared my throat & picked up the bowl. 'Sindu darling, why don't you take a few mouthful of this curd rice? Just for Dad's sake dear.
Sindu softened a bit & wiped her tears with the back of her hands. 'Ok, Dad.. I will eat - not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this.
But, you should...' Sindu hesitated. 'Dad, if I eat this entire curd rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?'
'Promise'. I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with mine, & clinched the deal. Now I became a bit anxious.

'Sindu, dear, you shouldn't insist on getting a computer or any such expensive items. Dad does not have that kind of money right now. Ok?'
'No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive'. Slowly & painfully, she finished eating the whole quantity. I was silently angry with my wife & my mother for forcing my child to eat something that she detested.

After the ordeal was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide with expectation. All our attention was on her..


(...click on 'read more' to read the rest of the story).



'Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!' was her demand.

'Atrocious!' shouted my wife, 'A girl child having her head shaved off?
Impossible!' 'Never in our family!' My mother rasped. 'She has been watching too much of TV. Our culture is getting totally spoiled with this TV programs!'

'Sindu, darling, why don't you ask for something else? Well be sad seeing you with a clean-shaven head.' 'Please, Sindu, why don't you try to understand our feelings?' I tried to plead with her..

'Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice'. Sindu was in tears. '& you promised to grant me whatever I ask for.
Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the story of King Harishchandra, its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what?'

It was time for me to call the shots. 'Our promise must be kept.' 'Are you out of your mind?' chorused my mother & wife. 'No. If we go back on our promises, she will never learn to honour her own. Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled.'

With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face & her eyes looked big & beautiful.
On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around & waved.

I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a car & shouted, 'Sinduja, please wait for me!'

What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. 'May be, that is the in-stuff', I thought.

'Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!' Without introducing herself, a lady got out of the car, & continued, 'that boy who is walking along with your daughter is my son Harish. He is suffering from... leukemia'.

She paused to muffle her sobs. 'Harish could not attend the school for the whole of the last month. He lost all his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of the schoolmates. Sinduja visited him last week & promised him that she will take care of the teasing issue.

But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son!
Sir, you & your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your daughter..'

I stood transfixed & then, I wept.. 'My little Angel, you are teaching me how selfless real love is!'

The happiest people are not those who live on their own termsbut are those who change their terms for the ones whom they love


Thursday, July 9, 2009

"ప్రేమ" ..!


చిన్న కాగితం మీద నేను చాలా రోజుల క్రితం ఎప్పుడో రాసి దాచుకొన్నది . ఇప్పుడు చదువుతుంటే.. కొంచెం (చాలా ?) అపరిపక్వంగా వుంది. కాని ఇక్కడి పాఠకులతో పంచుకోవడానికి.

"ప్రేమ" ..!

"ప్రవేశము లేదు " అనే అక్షరాలని
అడ్డంగా వుంచుకుని హాయిగా
స్పందిస్తోన్న నా హృదయంలోకి
ఎలాగో చొచ్చుకు వచ్చి
"నన్నెవ్వరూ ఆపలేరు" అంటూ
స్మితహాసం చేసావు.
నిజమే కాబోలు...
జ్ఞాపకాల జ్ఞాపికలనూ
స్మితహాసాల స్మృతి ముద్రలనూ
మధురానుభూతుల సుస్పందనలనూ
నాకు మి..గి..ల్చి..
నా హృదయం ఆర్తిగా పిలుస్తున్నా
వినకుండా
నువ్వు నిర్గమిస్తుంటే
ఆపలేక పోయాను...
నిజమే..
నిన్నెవ్వరూ ఆపలేరు...! "




Friday, July 3, 2009

మందార మకరందాలు

" మందార మకరంద మాధుర్యమున దేలు
మధుపంబు వోవునే ? మదనములకు
నిర్మల మందాకినీ వీచికల దూగు

రాయంచ చనునే ? తరంగిణులకు
లలిత రసాల పల్లవ ఖాదియై చొక్కు

కోయిల సేరునే ? కుటజములకు
పూర్ణేందు చంద్రికా స్ఫురిత చకోరక

మరుగునే ? సాంద్ర నీహారములకు "
అని పోతనగారు భాగవతంలో చెప్పారు. ( అంటే : మందార మకరందాల తీపి చూసిన తుమ్మెద వుమ్మెత్త పూలను చేరుతుందా. ఆకాశ గంగా తరంగాలలో ఉయలులూగిన రాజహంస వాగులకూ వంకలకూ వెళ్తుందా ? తీయని మామిడి లేత చివుళ్ళను తిని పరవశించే కోయిల కొండ మల్లెలను కోరుతుందా ? పండు వెన్నెల బయళ్ళలో విహరించే చకోరం మంచు పొగలవైపు వెళ్తుందా ? " )
అలాగ :
"అంబుజోదర దివ్య పాదారవింద
చింత నామృత పాన విశేష మత్త
చిత్త మేరీతి నితరంబు జేర నేర్చు ?
"
అంటాడు. (భగవంతుని పాదాలను పూజించడంలో ఆనందాన్ని పొందే చిత్తానికి మరో ఆలోచన ఉంటుందా ? అని ఉపమానం. )
భగవంతునిపై మనసు ఉంచితే కలిగే ఆనందం ముందు మిగిలిన భౌతిక విషయాలన్నీ అల్పములని చెప్పడానికి పోతన అనుసరించిన శైలి అద్భుతం. తెలుగు వారి గుండెల్లో ఈ పద్యం చిరస్మరణీయంగా నిలిచి పోతుంది.

Monday, June 22, 2009

LIFE

Read Somewhere...
To make money we lose our health,
and then to restore our health we lose our money..
We live as if we are never going to die,
and we die as if we never lived...

And to add.. a line from Orkut.
" Study as if you were to live forever.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow"

Thursday, June 18, 2009

W.I.S.D.O.M.

W.I.S.D.O.M.
Don't look for the flaws as you go through life;
And even when you find them,
It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind.
Just look for the virtue behind them;
For the cloudiest night has a tint of light
Somewhere in its shadows hiding.
It is by far to look for a star;
Then the spots on the sun abiding.
The world will never adjust itself
To suit your whims to the letter
Something goes wrong your whole life long
And the sooner you know it the better.
It is folly to fight with the infinite.
And go under at last in the wrestle.
The wiser man shapes into God’s plan,
As water shapes into a vessel…..

-Somewhere, Somebody..

Monday, June 8, 2009

BEUTY OF MATHEMATICS

The following is a collection from the mails i received. i was amazed to see the beuty and symmetry involved in these numbers.
One example :
1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

Others are here : (click on read more)

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111


9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888


Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Saturday, June 6, 2009

WHAT IS SUCCESS

WHAT IS SUCCESS
What is Success ?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beuty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by
A healthy child, a garden patch
Or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
Easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeed.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The lines look simple .. but to achieve such success, we have to have enormous conviction, tremendous insight and courage to change the distorted views of success which are harbouring in our minds so far...
I would like to share few words from my story, "గెలుపు"
(ఈనాడు 04-11-1999 ఆదివారం సంచికలో ప్రచురితమయింది- ఆర్థర్ గోర్డాన్ ప్రేరణతో వ్రాసిన కథ అది)
" ఓ ప్రభూ
ఇంతకాలం ప్రపంచాన్ని గెలవాలనుకొన్నాను
కాని ఇపుడు
అంతకంటే ఆనందం కలిగించే పని చేశాను.
అది..
నన్ను నేను గెలవడం "

(to read it : click here to download the pdf file)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

ABSENCE


ABSENCE..
Your absence has gone
through meLike thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color
W.S. Merwin

( యధా మాతృకానువాదం కు బదులు స్వేచ్చానువాదం ఇలా ప్రయత్నించాను.)

నీవు లేక....

నీవు దగ్గర లేవన్న నిజం
నా గుండెల్లోంచి దూసుకుపోయింది ...
సూదిలోంచి దారంలా..
నేను చేసే ప్రతిపనిలోనూ జ్ఞాపకాల రంగులల్లుకుంటూ..!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

మూడో నేత్రం : The third eye

Imaginations do come true....
I felt very surprised and happy when i read a news item published in Eenadu, dated 5-03-2009 regarding the 'bionic eye' .
It exactly resembles what I have described in the story, "Moodonethram", written almost 10 years back, in 1999 and published in Andhrabhoomi weekly in the year 2000 (25-02-2000). Very happy to reassertain that our imaginations do come true with time.

Read the story (pdf version)(432kb)
Click here to download :
click here (right click and select 'save target as') .
The story was published in the colelction of short stories by Visalandhra Publishing House as "Online Love"

If you do not have have adobe or any other pdf reader, you may read it on scribd . Select 'toggle full screen option at right upper corner, to view it bigger.
click here to read it online on Scribd.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Letter from Dr. Devi Shetty

Dr. Devi Shetty needs no introduction. Recently, he has written a letter to the 4000 children who have undergone free heart surgery under his care.
(About Dr Devi Shetty : Devi Prasad Shetty is an Indian philanthropist and a renowned cardiac surgeon.He is originally from the erstwhile Kinnigoli, South Kanara District of Karnataka state in India (now divided into Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District). After completing his graduate degree in Medicine and post-graduate work in General Surgery from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, he trained in cardiac surgery at Guys Hospital in the United Kingdom. He returned to India in 1989 and initially worked at B.M. Birla Hospital in Kolkata in Eastern India. Later, he moved to Bangalore and started the Manipal Heart Foundation at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. In 2002, Shetty founded Narayana Hrudayalaya (NH), a multi-specialty hospital in Bommasandra on the outskirts of Bangalore City (Karnataka State) in South India)

A LETTER TO 4000 CHILDREN WITH A SCAR ON THE CHEST

My Dear Children:
I have been planning to write this letter for quite some time. May be I just waited for you all to grow up to understand what I am trying to convey. The story goes back many years. When God sent you to this world it was perhaps the best thing that had happened to your parents. Every little nudges and kicks in your mother's womb opened up a new world of happiness and expectations. Then one day, a miracle happened...You were to begin a new journey. From the warm, happy, secure world of your mother's womb to a world that is cold and full of insecurities. Nevertheless, the joy that your parents felt after this journey knew no bounds.. They were on top of the world. But, unfortunately, this happiness was very short lived. That very day you started turning blue in colour. The doctors had found a hole in your heart that shattered the dreams of your parents. They were devastated and could not understand why they were being punished in this way. They had no choice but to accept the inevitable reality and decided to give you the best possible medical care.
Before that they had to overcome two major hurdles. They could not afford the cost of your heart operation and they could not wait since you were turning blue every time you cried. I guess this is a penalty you have to pay for being born in a third world country. Yes, when you were ten days old you had a price tag on your life. If your parents paid the price, they can have you, if not you would have to go back to where you came from. Your mummy and daddy went through phases of self-pity, denial, mutual accusations and anger towards the society, which was indifferent to their problems. Your daddy was most upset since he knew that the price tag on your life was less than what his boss would spend on a Saturday evening party. But that is life and one has to accept it. Time was running out and your daddy was getting desperate until he came to know about me. The first thing he told me when we met was "I heard you love children". Yes, I love children and I have four of my own. My profession is giving hope to people suffering from heart diseases and giving them a chance to start life in a fresh new way. I am essentially a technician who can cut and stitch people's heart; they call me a heart surgeon.
When I met you first you were barely 10 days old, cuddled in a warm blanket close to your mother's heart. Except for a bit of rapid breathing and bluish nails on your finger, you looked like an angel. I am sure you cannot remember but I asked you a question "do you want to be my friend"? This is the question I ask all the children I see. I did want to be your friend and I worked so hard to gain your friendship. I clearly remember your mother's face when she was handing you over to the operation theatre nurse. She kissed you and looked at my face with an ex-pression that she is handing over her most precious possession to me; also with the total confidence that I will take care of you. It was a different sort of love triangle between your father, mother and myself with you at the centre. We would have done any thing in this world to get you back. It took me six hours of intense concentration to operate upon your heart and so many sleepless nights before you started smiling again. God was kind to you that time and you made a marvelous recovery. It was a big day for your family when you were being discharged from the hospital. Both your mummy and daddy would have thanked me a million times before they left the hospital. But they didn't have to tell me anything since I knew every word what they wanted to say. Tears of joy rolled down their cheeks. But you were blissfully unaware of what was going on clinging on to your mother's chest. My eyes began to swell with tearsand I turned my face the other way since a cardiac surgeon is not supposed to cry. Through the corner of my wet eyes I saw your face one more time and I knew I found one more friend. Your friendship and love is the only fee I expect for treating you.
As a heart surgeon I have performed more than 4000 operations on children like you suffering from heart disease. Most of them came from poor families.Despite their backgrounds, I treat all for free. I think this is the best way I can repay God who has given me everything I wanted, a good family, a wonderful wife and loving children. For me this world is such a happy place to live in and in my own small way I strive hard to make it happy for others around me who are not so fortunate.
You must be wondering what inspired me to take this path.I guess, I became a doctor because of the recurrent illness of my parents.My childhood was spent with the fear of losing my mother. My father who was a diabetic had multiple episodes of diabetic coma. In the life of the nine of us God was a distant image and his clear image was that of Doctor who could save the lives of our parents.
Another childhood incident left a lasting impression on my young mind. I remember, it was a Saturday afternoon; I was trying to build a car, I think, out of matchboxes and sticks, like all the other children in my village. My mother was speaking to a distant relative of ours in Bombay. This lady was telling my mother about a particular surgeon who apart from saving her child's life also offered his service completely free of cost. I could hear my mother blessing the mother of that surgeon for giving birth to such a wonderful person and ended up saying that this world is still a wonderful place because of people like him.

That was the time I found the purpose to my life, the purpose of bringing happiness to all the children of this world. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.I was trained to be a heart surgeon at Guy's Hospital, London. My colleagues there called me an "operating machine" since I loved heart surgery.

I left England in 1989 to start a state-of-the-art heart hospital called BM Birla Heart Research Centre at Calcutta. It was a great experience to set up a heart hospital, which soon became one of the best heart hospitals in India. And almost immediately after we set up the research centre we started the pediatric cardiac surgical facilities to take care of children suffering from heart diseases. Little did I know that this centre was to rewrite medical history? My mother at that time was living in a small town near Mangalore. It was my father's death anniversary and she spent almost the entire day in the prayer room. In the evening, my sister who was watching the news at the national network, all of a sudden screamed out for my mother. My mother hurried to the living room to see her son on TV with a nine day old baby who underwent a successful open-heart surgery.He was the youngest baby at that point of time in India to undergo a successful open-heart surgery. It was the beginning of heart surgery on newborn babies in India. I guess at that time many mothers too would have prayed for my mother's well being.
Let me tell you about another incident.Do you know the definition of a paediatric cardiac surgeon?The dictionary says he is a surgeon who specializes in the treatment of heart ailments in children.A few years ago, when Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack I was put in charge of her heart care. One day, Mother, who at that point of time was convalescing in the intensive care unit of the hospital, saw me examining a blue baby. After few minutes of thought she turned towards me and said; "Now I know why you are here. To relieve the agony of children with heart disease, God sent you to this world to fix it". To my mind, this is the best definition ever given of a paediatric cardiac surgeon and perhaps the best compliment that I have ever received.

One day you will become an adult and probably a very important member of our society. You will have lot of responsibilities and commitments. All I ask you for is, can you spare few moments of your precious time every day for someone who needs it? And that too without expecting anything back in return. Do you know, to save your life, a few hundred people worked sincerely without expecting any remuneration other than the joy of making your family, friends and relatives happy?

Dear children, we are all creation of the God and He is in control of all the events happening in this world. Unfortunately he is not supposed to be seen, heard or felt.So, he runs this world using people like you and me. And when you do your work without expecting anything in return, just for the joy of bringing happiness to others, that's when you'll realize it is not your hands, which do the job, it is the hands of God.

Yours lovingly,
(Dr. Devi Shetty)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

From the Microscope to Microarrays

In the present era of genomics, there has been an explosion in the amount of information available about the DNA.DNA Microarrays or biochips are prominent among these new technologies. The use of microarrays for gene expression profiling, genotyping, detection of mutations and gene discovery are leading to remarkable insights into the function of thousands of genes previously known only by their sequence. The article briefly describes the generation and applications of DNA Microarrays.

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From the Microscope to Microarrays



From the Microscope to Microarrays murtyds In the present era of genomics, there has been an explosion in the amount of information available about the DNA.DNA Microarrays or biochips are prominent among these new technologies. The use of microarrays for gene expression profiling, genotyping, detection of mutations and gene discovery are leading to remarkable insights into the function of thousands of genes previously known only by their sequence. The article briefly describes the generation and applications of DNA Microarrays.





Thursday, February 19, 2009

Have a nice time...

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said:

'I am blind, please help.'

There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way'.

What he had written was:

'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told peop le the boy was blind.
But the first sign simply said the boy was blind.
The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story:
Be thankful for what you have.
Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.



Have A Nice Time ...............