Guest Blogger Special - Dream Merchant

This is a beautiful composition so I thought I would share it. I fell in love with it when I read it. I am not sure of the author to acknowledge, yet kudos to him as he laces words beautifully to create a fairytale.

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She dreams of her knight and longs for companionship. As her thought shapes into an expression, the words sway like this..


“In this world full of hurt and pain,
I need someone who would help me through the rain.
To comfort me when Im sad,
Doing everything just to make me glad.

In this world I need a Brave Knight,
Who would never give up any fight.
A knight who would dry away my tears,
Telling me to overcome my fears.

A knight who loves me for who I am inside,
With him there’s nothing more I need to hide.
A person who will still be standing strong,
Even though everything has gone wrong.

I need someone who is willing to give me more,
Someone I can call my Knight In Shining Armor”


And the Knight muses on and fills all his love to pen his promises which flow this way..


“Love is a many splendored thing, they say,
And I believed it when you looked my way,
Out of the blue, things seemed to happen
By chance or destiny, is the question.

Living my life so long, without knowing your existence,
Then came a day we felt each others presence,
Guess what’s meant to be will always find a way,
Love creeps into hearts and decides to stay.

A love so exquisite, yet so intricate,
In a world of only “you and I”
A love we can’t even demonstrate,
A secret we have to keep for life.

I love you, honey, and it’s from the bottom of my heart,
I would wait for the day when you say “I Love you” back,
You make me fly without wings,
You make my heart wants to sing.

Every moment I spent with you,
Is every one of my dreams coming true,
More than words, I want to show you how I feel,
Someday, some place, sometime, I will.

Love is a journey for two,
Step by step, me and you,
The future we can’t see,
Let love lead the way for you and me.”


Their dreams connected and as the fate choose to unite them under the blessings of heaven. And then they lived happily ever after...

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There are times when life plays the dream merchant. There is a thin line between truth and fantasy. How much ever we wish we want our wildest dream to be true, life will have different plans.. The best way to brave it is to greet the situation with a big smile and savor moment by moment with no expectations..

Love Story..!!

I came across this beautiful, short and sad love story and thought would share with you all. I was deeply touched by it and hope the same for you too.
Enjoy..!!
10th grade

As I sat there in English class, I stared at the girl next to me. She was my so called "best friend". I stared at her long, silky hair, and wished she was mine. But she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it. After class, she walked up to me and asked me for the notes she had missed the day before and handed them to her. She said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I wanted to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

11th grade
The phone rang. On the other end, it was her. She was in tears, mumbling on and on about how her love had broke her heart. She asked me to come over because she didn't want to be alone, so I did. As I sat next to her on the sofa, I stared at her soft eyes, wishing she was mine. After 2 hours, one Drew Barrymore movie, and three bags of chips, she decided to go to sleep. She looked at me, said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Senior year
The day before prom she walked to my locker. My date is sick" she said; he's not going to go well, I didn't have a date, and in 7th grade, we made a promise that if neither of us had dates, we would go together just as "best friends". So we did. Prom night, after everything was over, I was standing at her front door step. I stared at her as she smiled at me and stared at me with her crystal eyes. I want her to be mine, but she isn't think of me like that, and I know it. Then she said "I had the best time, thanks!" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Graduation Day
A day passed, then a week, then a month. Before I could blink, it was graduation day. I watched as her perfect body floated like an angel up on stage to get her diploma. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it. Before everyone went home, she came to me in her smock and hat, and cried as I hugged her. Then she lifted her head from my shoulder and said, "you're my best friend, thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

A Few Years Later
Now I sit in the pews of the church. That girl is getting married now. I watched her say "I do" and drive off to her new life, married to another man. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn't see me like that, and I knew it. But before she drove away, she came to me and said "you came!". She said "thanks" and kissed me on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.


Funeral
Years passed, I looked down at the coffin of a girl who used to be my "best friend". At the service, they read a diary entry she had wrote in her high school years. This is what it read: I stare at him wishing he was mine, but he doesn't notice me like that, and I know it. I want to tell him, I want him to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love him but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why. I wish he would tell me he loved me! `I wish I did too...` I thought to my self, and I cried.

My Fav Pic(k)

Ever wondered what's an idle life? For me here it is. I wish I could too sit, as shown in pic above,beneath a tree as green and dense as that,holding a book in my hand,sitting by a beautiful calm lake surrounded by beautiful,grand and breathtaking view all around me,far away from hustle-bustle of big cities. All I wish is this and nothing else in life.
May my wish be granted my lord..!!

Cheers.!!!

It was one day while I was whiling away my precious time going through Khaled Hosseini’s most popular book “The kite runner” when I happened to come across a part in the book where main protagonist contemplates his life and its iniquities and asks himself “If there is anyway he can turn everything bad he did into good?” It sounded very familiar and then I reflected on that Isn’t this I’ve asked many times to myself as well?

At that very moment an uncommon thought struck my mind if is it really possible or can be made possible that there exists a thing which could cure every problem, right every wrong and render every bad into good. And to my utmost surprise I did find the answer. The only word that rang bells of my mind and struck it real hard was the word
“Alcohol”
But then another thought struck my mind: Not everybody in the world is alcoholic or boozer and hence the word “Alcohol” does not apply universally.

So how should one who abstains from such stuffs should be alleviated of his/her pain?
And only then I decided that I should provide people with real benefits of Alcohol and provide them an insight into how better can they lead their lives without any further complications or trouble once they realize its true potential and worthy cause of its existence. This very post of mine is just to provide them with the difference between “Drinking and Drunkenness”.

Let me make it very clear that it’s alright to be a drinker. According to me Alcohol is one and the only thing that breaks the ice, encourages bonding and no one is any worse for having a swig of the good stuff. Here’s how:
One way to ensure a book becomes a best-seller is to have the Govt ban it,or spread rumours that it is about to do so. That is very common here in India and has happened several times. The one way to ensure higher sales of items that many people indulge in is to ban them. The case of prohibition of alcoholic drinks is as old as history; the case of ban on smoking is recent. Both have proved to be flops wherever they have been tried. America went through many years of prohibition before it discovered it did not work. India tried it in fits and starts in different states and gave up after realising that however stringent the laws, people addicted to drink got it, if not legally, then some spurious substitute which took their lives. Gujarat is the one state which has refused to learn lessons. It was not surprising thus that last month over 150 people died after drinking some poisonous brew.

Drinking is not a vice, drunkenness is. All over the world adults are allowed to drink when and what they like. It is only when they get drunk and misbehave that they are arrested. Drink like a gentleman or a lady; it is a civilized thing to do. It breaks the ice and encourages bonding. If England had no pubs, life in the country would become drab. All over Europe the making of wine has become a fine art. People have wine-cellars in their homes; Europeans have their favourite wine with both meals. No one is any the worse for doing so.


Indians have been drinking since pre-Vedic times. They were mostly home-made stuff or a cottage industry: arrak, mahua, tharra, feni, etc. With the advent of the Europeans, it was enlarged to an industry and we began to brew our own beers, distill whiskey, gin and rum. In recent years, we also started making wines. Vineyards came up in Maharashtra and Karnataka. So we have our own red, white and rose wines as well as Champagne. Many of them are as good as any imported wine, and are good enough to find markets in old wine-producing countries and earn us foreign exchange. Our aim should be to produce good quality beverages with low alcoholic content like lager, cider and wines rather than spirits like whiskey, gin, rum or feni. And at low prices which the poor can afford to buy. But will our stupid politicians ever learn any lessons? The answer is one big “No”. They won’t as they have never been but we can surely change our perspective on how we look at Alcohol and its consumption. Remember excess of anything is bad and it’s not only applicable to alcohol but everything that exists around you.

Alcohol can also help one restore peace all around the world as once you consume it ,irrespective of who you do it with, eventually you end up saying to every fella “ You are my best friend and the only well wisher" and this helps you to get over with animosity toward somebody or something and hence encourages bonding and mutual admiration.

P.S: Let me clear this that I’m a complete teetotaler myself far cry from a dipsomniac but then sometimes I don’t mind having “Do boond zindagi ke” or a lil swig by myself. It’s not that I wanna have it…no…it’s ‘coz I believe in restoration of peace throughout the world and doing that is just a small step toward it ;)

Cheers..!!!

The Notebook

This has got to be the best Romance I've seen in a long time. This is about Hollywood Flick directed by Nick Cassavetes,starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in a lead pair.Though it came really late to me...as it released in the year 2004..but better late than never. I've always loved romance ...be it in "reel" life or in "real" life...this is one field where I feel invincible. To me,if m ever asked(hopefully I'm asked) about the secret of real success..the word..the only word that rings bells of mind has to be the word "Romance". If you do anything...anything in the world with romance...it is sure to meet its desired destination and success. Be it your relationship with your love or with a friend..or your life..your job..your surroundings...when done with romance,is sure to end with immortal love. Anyway lets not get in there and digress...as this very post is about my take on the movie "The Notebook".
As for the storyline there's nothing extraordinary or exceptional about it. It has the story which anyone must have heard or seen somewhere. Just look at what it’s about – a young lovestruck couple in the 1940s (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams), their disapproving parents, the predictable enforced separation, the forlorn attempts at happiness with others, and of course the end where the movie ends(noway...m going to reveal the end..watch yourself). But what's remarkable is how it's been told through a movie...how beautifully it's been directed.There are moments so scenic and beautiful that they might jus make your heart skip few beats...like the ones shown in in the year 1940.You may or may not find this as good as i did ,esp those who cringe at the mention of word romance and scoff at it to project their macho or masculine image which to their dismay is not how it is but deep down they are always looking for one short stint with it. But those of you who love romance and are in love would simply love this movie. I highly recommend seeing this film because it has everything that is needed for a truly great love story.
Those of you who wish to watch can have it from me.

Women Power

“God made man stronger but not necessarily more intelligent. He gave women intuition and femininity. And, used properly, that combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met.”
- Farrah Fawcett

Why a good job is hard to find

There are people who are placed in some reputed companies ...and are still waiting for their joining...there are those who are working and are not satisfied with the kind of work they have been assigned with and then there are those who are still struggling to see that very light of their career to led them through the pavement of their life's success. I wonder about this whole scenario currently existing in this troubled times of recession and contemplated a question : Why a good job is hard to find?
I recently came across a column in a newspaper where it says that there is good and bad news for those looking for work in these troubled times. On the positive side, there are at last “native jobs for native workers” as migrant labour heads home. The bad news? The vacancies include meat packing, sorting potatoes, grating carrots, cleaning, and – the least bad options – working as a retail assistant or in a fast-food restaurant. In Spain, strawberries are being harvested by Spaniards for the first time in years. “Picking strawberries is the last resort, but it’s all there is,” said Jose Maria Gomez, a 29-year-old former construction worker, in The New York Times last month.
As one employment agency manager told recently, a new type of job-seeker has emerged. “It’s what I’d call older, middle-aged people who have been in work for 10, 15, 20 years in one place,” she explained, “and now with the climate as it is, they are made redundant and are willing to take on anything. It is heartbreaking.” It is sad seeing highly skilled people being forced to take on semi or unskilled jobs. But while such work may be back-breaking, is it really “heartbreaking” as well?
Having a good job – that is, interesting work in civilised conditions – is clearly preferable to having a bad one. But better a miserable job than no job at all. So with unemployment rising just about everywhere, it might seem an odd time to start a debate on “good work”: what it is and to how create more of it.

But there are some who say that we should be thinking harder about good work cause economic recovery will come, and business needs to be ready for it. But then I believe that It would be difficult to imagine that employees will be attracted to work for a company that has acquired a bad reputation during the recession. Since 1992 the skills levels of employees has risen – indeed, sometimes to higher levels than those required by some employers. But at the same time employees’ freedom to take decisions and organise their work – “employee discretion”, in the jargon – has fallen. In Europe, Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands seem to have achieved both higher skills levels in the workforce but with greater employee discretion as well.

Managers are under pressure. They have too much to do, too little time to do it in, in a market that is unforgiving. They may understand perfectly well the enlightened argument for a less coercive and more accommodating management style. But then the next crisis emerges, the next deadline looms, and you see a reversion to what some people call the JFDI school of management. (The J, D and I stand for Just Do It.) But JFDI management achieves diminishing returns.

There is plenty of demand for good work right now. Worker unrest is rising around the world, with some employees staging sit-ins to try to protect their terms and conditions, while others – of course – have seized managers and held them hostage in recent weeks.
So, which is more important: work, or good work? The protesting workers are so desperate to keep their jobs that they will do almost anything to hold on to them. Their desperation stems in part from the realisation that any job they move on to is likely to be inferior, with lower pay and less job satisfaction.
Jobs are good, but good jobs are better. Managers should be trying to provide the latter. I am with the American psychologist Frederick Herzberg on this one. “If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do,” he said. How’s that for a mission statement to lead us out of recession?

But remember not everyone will share the same definition of what a good job is.
“Good work is in the eye of the job holder."