Everyone needs a family...

This is one of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen... and it just hits you right inside...

Some humor

I have been a bit busy lately, but when I read this joke today and fell off the chair laughing, I knew I had to share this one!

A little girl and her mother were shopping. The girl asks her mother, "How old are you?"
Mommy says, "Honey, women don't talk about their age, you'll learn later on in life."
The girl then asks, "Mommy. How much do you weigh?"
Mommy says, "That's another thing women don't talk about, you'll find out when you are grown up."
The girl still wanting to know about her mother asks, "Mommy, why did you and daddy get a divorce?"
Mommy says, "Honey, that is a subject that hurt me very much, and I don't want to talk about it now."
The little girl is frustrated. She tells her girlfriend about her and her mother's conversation.
The girlfriend says, "All you have to do is sneak a look at your mother's drivers license. It's just like a report card, it tells you everything."
The little girl and her mother are shopping again. The girl says, "Mommy, I know how old you are. You are 32 years old."
Mommy is very shocked! She asks "Sweetheart how did you do that?"
The girl shrugs and says, "I just know, and I know how much you weigh. You weigh 120 pounds."
The mother is flabbergasted. She asks, "Where did you learn that?"
The little girl says, "I just know, that's all, and I know why you and daddy got a divorce. You got an 'F' in sex."

We are God's hands...

I was discussing with R yesterday about how the people of Mumbai help each other in times of despair. She felt that the help was only out of helplessness, and not really from the heart. For some reason I agreed at that moment, since she is from Mumbai and she knows more. But thinking about it later, I felt, the kind of help that poured in after the attacks, can only come from the heart. You don't go to the hospital to donate blood inspite of having noone there, just out of helplessness. It comes from the heart.

I have many friends from Mumbai, and me being from Pune, I always have legendary debates pitching them against each other. It happened when I was in India and it continues even when we are here in the US. The Mumbaikars are a lot who are so proud of their city that they will concede to noone and cannot tolerate a single bad word about their city :) Yesterday I was thinking, in events like this, you can see why people love their city so much. The spirit of humanity is very much alive in Mumbai. And noone can break that.

I remembered a song by Jewel when I saw thousands of hands helping strangers on the streets and on the railway stations. This is a song which I had forgotten about, and not listened to for almost two years. But yesterday, just like that, it came back to me, and it rings so true for the everyday heroes who are God's hands in Mumbai today.

I am sharing the lyrics for "Hands" by Jewel below. See if you can get the song, its really wonderful to listen to.

Hands

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all OK
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes
It didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after
We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
I am never broken
In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's heart
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's eyes
We are God's hands
We are God's hands

-from Jewel's song "Hands"

Update: I found two videos for this song, and am sharing them here(Isn't YouTube amazing?!!) The first is the actual video for the song and the second is a live performance by Jewel. The original video is really beautiful.

Note: Use IE7 or Firefox to view the video. It seems the video does not play in IE6 (thanks for pointing this out, Aseem)

Original:




Stage Performance:

Another Zidane??!!!

After some time spent in solemn thinking yesterday, the world is seeing the funny side of yesterday's head-butting event by Zidane. Heres a really funny video sent to me by my friend Sandy, with the title "Another Zidane"!! I almost fell down the chair laughing at this one!!

Update: I had uploaded this video on YouTube and enabled comments. One of the commenters called FraChan seems to have a good explanation for the goalkeepers sudden temper-flash! :P

I guess it went like this: THe goalkeeper's team had to score and the time was running out (92"), the player of the red/orange team was in offside but shot anyway to waste time, so the goalkeeper tries to kill him.
The ref, shows the yellow card to the player and I guess it was the second one because he was sent off.
Only yellow card for the goalie"

Why?

Why is it that we must often see our greatest heroes fall? The most divine talent is so often accompanied by a tragedic ending... and so someone like Sir Don Bradman, who just needs 4 runs in the last match of his life to have an aggregate of 100, scores a duck and walks home... his dignity and pride intact, not a feather taken away from his cap, but yet... there is that elusive feeling of pain... of why things couldn't be as they ought to have been...

In a slightly different context, we felt the same pain when Klusner brought South Africa this close to the cricket world cup final in 98-99 but threw it away for just one run. Or in the famous Chennai test with Pakistan, when Sachin got us within 15 runs of the target, only to watch the match being lost in despair...

And today we feel the same pain again. Of the unexpectedly abrupt departure of Zinedine Zidane...With the only difference being that unlike the others, Zidane could have avoided what happened. What happened to you, Zizou? Till then I was marvelling at the guts of this man, the way he had played... The way he scored that penalty in the 7th minute was unbelievable... who takes such a risk in the World Cup finals, with a billion people watching, and in what will be remembered as his last game forever? The way he went for the gentle scoop in that penalty just shows the kind of confidence he has in his own abilities...

So then, what happened? Zizou gets angry over something and one moment of lapse leads to, arguably, a change in the fortunes of two nations. I am not saying that Italy would not have won otherwise, but Zidane just made it easier for them. And I am sure the whole of France wants to ask him one burning question... why, Zizou, why?

The end of roomism...

This weekend I moved to a new place. It marks the end of almost two years of my stay with J and K. Will miss you both, guyz. N maybe you guyz will miss me too :) since I spent more time in your room than in mine.

We spent some good times together... amazingly brilliant discussions... amazingly stupid questions... it was all there... watching House Md like crazy maniacs, watching Two and a Half Men and laughing more than required... fun times... good times... old times...

Nothing more to say except... thanks for everything, guyz...

A dilemma...

Here is a poem I wrote when I was 16. I wonder if this poem makes sense now, as it did then. It is about the meaningless superstitions in the remoter parts of India.

A Dilemma

With curious feet and anxious eyes
I roam today outside my city
How different a world here lies!
Just fifty miles away from vanity.

A world where people are just like me
And yet so clear and pure and candid
That rural affection with affinity
Contrasts with urban richness sordid

A world where people love to love
And keep it simple, beyond words
Who long to see my urban friends
And show them their proud herds

So nice a world is but so torn
In harmful, meaningless superstition
The agony of girls so young, wedded,
Gives utmost pain to my heart and vision!

But do I have the power to improve
This mass of simple, stubborn men?
Who love me from the bottom of their soul
But hate my black-inked pen!

The dilemma is - the good, the bad
Refuse to leave each other
Improved - they lose the purity they had
If not - they remain stagnised forever.

-deep

Rules of thumb...

I would like to share this cool article by Matt Cutts on Rules of Thumb. Even if you are not in software, the rest of the rules still make this a very good read.

And oh, several people have offered many more rules in the comments section. Some of them are practical, some hilarious... dont miss any!

The spirit of football!!

Just three more games to go, and the excitement couldn't be more! Just the right time to say those amazing lines by Grantland Rice from "Alumunus Football," one more time!

For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks-not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game!

In just those four lines it captures the very spirit of every game. And so it is that even when teams like Argentina go out of the race, we can never forget the passion with which they played the game. The 24-pass goal in their match against Serbia is the stuff magic is made up of. The video below is a treat to watch, and its just amazing to see the goal and an impassioned Maradonna watching magic (for once from outside the field) at the end of the video!

Match on!!

I am watching Brazil versus France. I started out as a Brazil supporter in the beginning, but France are just playing so well that now I want them to win. And even as I was thinking of writing this, France has scored an amazing goal!

Take out the B from BRA and put in a F.

Hope FRA wins now cos BRA is just not upto it today!!

Go Zidane!!

Update: France has won and will face Portugal in the semi-finals. The way things are placed, I envisage a France-Germany final. That alone will be worthy of a final. But you never know.

And about todays match. I can feel the pain of all Brazil fans, me being one when the match started! But I don't think they played well at all, and in fact struggled to even keep the ball for a long time.

I had a chat with a friend just minutes after the match, excerpts of which sum it all up!

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prash: france won dude

me: yup!! amazing!!

prash: the better team won

me: what the f was ronaldo doing dude ?

he seemed to be more interested in falling down and earning favors

prash: what the f was brazil doin!

me: instead of taking the ball ahead himself he just wanted favors

no effort

no f-ing effort man

prash: zidane played like a star shld in his last world cup

me: ohh yea man

it was amazing

specially he was just so composed

all the time

prash: he is the coolest soccer player

me: stuff stars are made of... yea

knowing its his last match...

he had such a calm composure

very impressive

prash: and the respect he gets from all the players including brazil says it all

me: yea man did u see that free kick ronaldo earned in the 88th minute

man that was so unfair!

prash: sum1 like apna dravid

me: there was no offense, he just fell down

prash: no offence at all

me: it wud have been sad if ronaldino had converted that free kick

they didn't deserve that free kick man

prash: true

truely man

the better team won

prash: i think its gonna be france vs germany

me: hmm... yea... anything else wud be unfair

---

And inspite of all this bravado, I am sad its over for Brazil. Good-bye Brazil, it was just not to be this time :(