Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold:
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."
The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!
-- James Leigh Hunt
A friend of mine had this recent hilarious experience on chat.
mypassion_333: hi geetu
mypassion_333: how ru?
g_ee_t_u: hi who is this
mypassion_333: hi i m swapnil
mypassion_333: frm mum
mypassion_333: wat about u?
g_ee_t_u: huh u jus added without knowing me?
mypassion_333: ya
mypassion_333: i 1st time came here
g_ee_t_u: am sry.. i dont chat wid strangers.
mypassion_333: hey plz
mypassion_333: ur my 1st chat buddy here
mypassion_333: i know i dont know way to chat but
g_ee_t_u: for some reason.. i dont think so. but buh bye.. hope you find better buddies.
mypassion_333: no i may fine better or worst than u
mypassion_333: but i wont get any1 like u
mypassion_333: in life we meet many peoples but it doesnt mean tht we always feel good with very nice peoples
mypassion_333: sometimes people who dont have any qualities we start to enjoy their company also
mypassion_333: well i am not comparing u but just saying
mypassion_333: i know if today i couldnt make frndship with u then this movement will not come again
mypassion_333: in life we get everything once
mypassion_333: time which pass frm hand doesnt come back
mypassion_333: i am here waiting for u
mypassion_333: go where every u want but still u will come back
ROTFL!
When I was in 6th grade my Marathi teacher gave me a beautiful yellow budgie. It had no zebra marks like the normal budgies do, it looked more like a canary. Its previous owner had been a student of my teacher too. And she had named it Flora because it was a pretty yellow budgie with a pink nose. One day Flora's partner flew away and they gave it to my teacher asking her to find a new home for it. I had my own merry band of budgies at home and when my teacher gave it to me, I was really excited to add this yellow budgie to my collection.
Flora got along with the rest of the budgies pretty well and soon had a partner - it was a thin blue budgie. One day the blue budgie laid eggs - and thats when we decided not to call Flora, 'Flora' anymore. And I named it Cucoopen.
Cucoopen was the best pet I ever had. Even if I kept its cage open it would never fly away. I would let him fly around in my room. When I was in the 11th grade (or junior college as we call it) I became more of an outstanding student ie. a student who was rarely visible in class. Me and and a bunch of my friends spent most of our time at the Vidyavihar railway station or at the campus coffee shop. Every week we would go to Bandra, Churchgate, Worli seaface and watch movies, have fun. I spent less time at home.
One day when I returned home, I saw that Cucoopen's cage door was open and he was missing. Knowing that Cucoopen wasn't the kind that ran out of his cage when the cage door opened, I got upset. Despite questioning my Mom a zillion times, she replied that Cucoopen must have escaped. I was distraught, moreover cause I was afraid that a big bird would eat it. That day I told my Mom, "You killed my bird." I didn't speak to her for the next two weeks and this upset her a lot. She decided that I should never have another pet ever again.
Last Thursday, the ITEC secretary came in and said,"There is this bird dying on Harvard and Columbine. Somebody has to go rescue it. It looks really sick. If it stays that way in the sun its definitely gonna die." I took up the task of rescuing the bird. The secretary had instructed me that it was this tiny blue bird.
I began walking towards the location in the sweltering heat. I had a plastic bag and a tissue paper to pick it, in case it was too dirty. This reminded me of the n number of times my Dad and I had gone to rescue birds or tiny animals that were injured.
I was on the lookout for tiny birds on the road and just when I was about to cross the intersection I saw this large little ball of blue feathers stand right in front of me. It was no little bird. I saw that the bird had hardly grown its wings.
It was probably just a couple of weeks old and had fallen off his nest. I took the bird back to school where the secretary gave me a cardboard box to keep it in. Next, I asked my room mate if living with a bird would freak her out. She seemed much excited about the prospect.
So we gave this baby blue jay a home and I called it Baby Jacques (French, cause of his blue feathers). That night we guys went to PetSmart to get it some food. I tried to feed it however it didn't eat much. It was at around 10o'clock and I went to check Baby Jacques who had been standing on his feet the whole day long. He seemed slumped to the side of the box. I thought he was in deep slumber. But I didn't see his body breath and so I touched him, his one eye was half-open. I said " Wake up Baby Jacques. Wake up." Now I was scared. So I dipped his head in water. Still no sign of movement. It was too late. I went to my room mate's room and said, " He is dead."
That night I felt a deep sense of guilt - it was as if some one inside me had died. Had I killed him by saving him. Where does a bird actually belong? Where does a sick bird belong?
The next day my room mate and I buried him under a tree in our backyard. Baby Jacques R.I.P.
For those of you who haven't watched Heroes, my advise: Don't Watch It now - it is terribly addictive. One episode could get me hooked to this series. This comic book themed action series has a lot in common with the X-Men and the Matrix.
Here are some similar characters:
Sylar: The central villain of this series is very powerful like Magneto - shares a sad past and wants to conquer all - probably like Magneto.
Peter Petrelli: Or should I say 'Neo/Rogue'. One of the most special and talented mutants.
Claire/Cheerleader: Possesses healing powers like Wolverine. Her relationship with Peter Petrelli is a lot like Rogue&Wolverines.
The beatcop: Can read people's minds like Jean Grey.
Hiro: Can teleport like the Teleporter in X-Men.
DL Hawkins: Can walk through walls like ShadowCat.
Candice Wilmer: Can morph into different characters like Mystique.
Well, this is just part of the similarity. But the show is still worth a watch even though the storyline is slightly hilarious at times. There is something very innocent and schoolish about this show and probably thats what keeps it going,
Last week as I was walking on campus after class, I was stopped by two volunteers near the Penrose Library. They were collecting funds for a certain Denver based 'stop global warming' organization. The female volunteer asked me if I knew anything about Global Warming. I said I had already enrolled at StopGlobalWarming.org. She told me a little about their organization and seemed adamant that I should enroll in it. I asked her whats the criteria for enrollment and she replied "a funding amount(min $15)". I said I would check their website and then think about enrolling.
Global Warming has become such a hot topic today, there is even news of some countries planning to impose a carbon tax to keep a check on global warming. Corporate social responsibility has become the topic of the hour. After much criticism from Greenpeace for not recycling their products aggressively Apple has finally conceded to go Green. Hyundai and GE Plastics have decided to launch a new car made with recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles, named the Qarmaq. This ambitious project has been named after the Inuit's (or 'igloo men' as we lesser mortals know them as) dwelling.
This is one of my favourite clips from That 70's Show. FES's musical dream!!!
Toyota Rav4 commercial. LOL!
Lady of the Lake was my first blog, where I no longer write. It has a sanctity of its own which I would hate to disturb. I believe Vox is radically changing the face of blogging, and I really want to try this out. This is my first post here at Vox.
