To Follow or Not to Follow....

We all follow many practices and methods without really knowing the purpose or reason for it. Most of the times we fail to ask the reason and sometimes we bother to ask the reason but seldom end up with a satisfying answer. Most of the times the answer would be my parents/elders used to do, so just stop questioning and follow them; all is for our good.

Here are 2 stories.. guess you can make out the moral from them...

Indian version:
During the olden there was a gurukulam where an old gurukul was raising a pet animal – a cat. The cat was so mischievous and naughty that it will disturb the class. So before starting the class he will ask the class leader to tie the cat. And this became a routine for the class leader. Before every day's class he will tie the cat only then the guru will start the class. One day he passed away. Later his son took his responsibilities. And this habit of tying the cat before morning classes continued. At one point of time, the guru had to leave to other place so he asked his friend to take care of the gurukulam. The cat was still there, it was becoming old too. One day it died. The next day before the new guru was to start the class, he asked the boy to tie the cat. The students said that it passed away. But the guru said it’s a custom to tie a cat before starting the class, so asked the class leader to bring a cat and tie it only then he would start the class.

Foreign version:
There was a young newly wed couple leading a happy life. The husband was so caring and used to help her on kitchen activities, cleaning the house and stuff. He used to share almost all the work that she does. One fine day she wanted to give a total rest for her hubby and asked him to just watch TV or go for a gaming and that she will prepare a surprise meal for both. The hubby chose to watch TV. He was relaxing in the couch watching his favorite sports channel. For a long time he dint hear anything from his wife. So went to kitchen to check on her. He saw her struggling with a turkey meat. She wanted to cut the raw meat into two halves before putting it in the microwave. He offered to help her to cut it. He also tried even with a bigger knife but the meat was too hard and stubborn that it dint slit. He left the idea of cutting it, he asked her "Why don’t we microwave the full meat without cutting?"
She said no it should be cut before cooking. That’s how her mother used to do. So he called her mother and asked why cant the meat be cooked without cutting. She said even she isn’t aware of it. She just followed what her mother used to do. So this young man called her wife's grand mother and asked. The wise grandmother said, those days since she did not have a big vessel she always used to cut the meat and cook.

So we see there are many such habits that are followed blindly. We believe they are done for some reason and its all good for us. Yeah all the habits some of which are today's customs were all followed for a reason during the ancient days. But is the still needed to follow the rules laid way back without even knowing why they were laid out for? Way not try out new methods to do a thing and just not do what every one else is doing? I guess we all have had instances where we have mindlessly followed something with no reason. I have and have got struck more times than one. and I have learnt some valuable lessons from them. I would say that trying out new ways to do a thing may not be an instant success but maybe somewhere down the line you may find a better way of doing the thing than the so called traditional methods. I would like to end this post with this quote from Thomas Alva Edison responding to the idea that he had failed after 10,000 experiments to develop a storage battery

"I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work"

Is it FULL?

When things in you life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours a day are not enough, remember the following class a professor took for his students..

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it up with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The prof, then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. he shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. he then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "YES"

The prof, then produced 2 cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now", said the prof, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognise that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends and favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house and car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first" he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all the time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are really important to you.

So pay attention... to the things that are critical to your happiness.Take care of the golf balls first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and asked what the coffee represented. The prof smiled, "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend!!"

A Tale To be Told

" A day would come wen u wud walk thru the large gate, on the lonely white path with dry leaves dancing in air, trees swaying in the breeze, away from the place where once love was made..smiles shared.. hearts broken.. tears spilled. Passing out, u wud feel the essence of unknown emotions.. then wen u step into ur lonely classroom with time to spare, only memories wud be there with u, u wud realize dat HEAVEN was HERE, just years before.
ENJOY COLLEGE LIFE! "

I get a lot of such campus messages daily. Passing out of college has always been a hard thing when u think about it.

They say student life is golden life. To know that you have to experience the life after graduation you will agree with the above thing, those moments spent inside the college campus with your dear near friends, bunking the classes, last minute preparations, your favorite hangouts, rumors about lecturers and not to forget students , college canteen , seeing results with your friend, roaming around college campus, getting evil stares from lecturers and lots more .Nobody can ever forget about this, when you are in college sometimes even you may feel you are screwed up, but when once you are out of those cheerful college days you forget all that screwed up thing and you cherish only those good memories , if you go to flash back I bet each one of you have 100s of sweetest memories spent inside and outside the college with your friends.

Graduation day , the so called last day of leaning, is just a formality. So the real learning is gonna start the moment u step of the college and start traversing roads which u have never traversed before.

Soon after you walk out from those most precious days of your life you have a big question in your mind whats next?

Friends whom you considered very close, very best all of them have their own lives and meeting them regularly , discussing with them everything becomes so rare, in this phase of life you may even loose them , its not a surprise if you dont get the same response which you use to get when you were in college.To be more optimistic, what i feel is earth is round in some point of time we may meet them again ,

Now i was in this phase of transition i'm thinking what 'm leaving back and what i'll bemissing.. maybe not much, but maybe much more than i imagine. Only time will. But the memories will be forever and I'll always have them with me... As a Tale To Be Told.....