A Dose of Wisdom

People are often unreasonable
illogical and self-centered
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful
you will win some false friends and true enemies
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank
people may cheat you
Be honest anyway.

What you spend years building
someone could destroy overnight
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness
they may be jealous
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today
people will often forget tomorrow
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have
and it may never be enough
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis
it is between you and God
It was never between you and them anyway.



Mother Teresa
1910-1997

International Women's Day

Dear all
In conjunction with The International Women's Day, all women bloggers have united to spread awareness about women around the world and their plight. Please click on the IWD logo to link to the site. A special thanks goes out to Marina Mahathir for making this possible. Enjoy, CHeers !

International Women's Day 2007

Its international women’s day today. I have not given much thought about what I want to do today. But what is it that I can do to make today a memorable day? How do I make it impactful? So i decided.. wey hey hey I'll write! Searching my mind for something to write I questioned myself repeatedly, I knew I was at a dead end.10 minutes staring at the monitor and for the life of me I still cant figure out what to write.. I couldn’t even think of a bad story let alone a good one! Sigh… heck I even tried imagining myself to be someone else.. Someone with poise and such composed stature.. A writer of some sort.. someone who doesn’t have to wring her brains for something to write then maybe, just maybe something interesting will pop up in me brains.. But then again, I’m not surprised; I’ve always had trouble putting my thoughts into words. I was about to take my fingers of the keyboard when lo behold my mind raced back to my trip to Thailand, to Pattaya to be exact. A leisurely walk to look see into town turned into a walk ill never be able to shrug off my memory. I saw a little girl, around 6 to 8 years old, being held at her wrist by another woman. The distance between us must easily been about a 100 meters and I was walking towards her. The little girl was in a white bath robe. With long flowy hair till her shoulders, she had a flower tucked above her hair. And some gloss on her lips and a big smile on her face. Oh god the smile! She had such a pretty face you just cant help wonder if your little girl will look like this. Someone honked and I was brought out of my reverie.. What is she doing here? What is she doing in a red light area in the middle of Pattaya? As these thoughts raced through my head, I saw the lady bring the girl towards a man. Its only I offer a brief description of his looks. He was about 6 ft tall mat salleh guy big a big belly and a rough beard, the sort that looks like the white biker. And right in front of me, he took out folded bills of thai bahts and paid the woman. I was just rooted at spot taking in the act that was unfolding before my eyes. The man touched the girl’s hair and ran his fingers down her face. The little girl must be felt tickled because she laughed. And seeing her laugh, the woman laughed along with the man and I think that is all the encouragement he needed. He put his hand into the girl’s robe and parted it and pinched her nipples. The woman walked away as the little girl struggled to get loose from the man, her smile wiped off from her face, her smile replaced with a look of terror and fear in her eyes. She was screaming as she was literally dragged into a motel. Bile rose in my throat as I watched this scene end. Even though I puked so many times, I just could not get the bitter bile out of my mouth. The bitterness is not in my mouth but in my heart. I pray for that little girl everyday. I pray everyday for all the girls in her similar positions. I pray the world will become a better place for women. I know many out there long to do something about it. Do it. It may a be small gesture, it may be something of a bigger magnitude, but whatever it is.. Start somewhere. I have and it gives me great satisfaction. Let us all unite and help where and when ever we can to put an end to women’s sufferings.
God Bless.

Part 2 - Mahabalipuram

Picturesque Mahabs.. the sand was black here.. apparently it changed color after the Tsunami


Congratulations New Daddy.. its a boy again !


ermm.. here i am biting my tongue to keep from laughing.. pretending to read while the scene below unfolds..


Lux: Macha.. very bad constipation da.. im trying so hard da..
Karthik: Macha dont give up.. try harder.. come on .. u can do it !!


Karthik: better now?
Lux: yeah macha.. better


Ponnu jokka than irukethe !


This is Tiger Rock.. a monumental rock structure .. the Coliseum of Rome those days lerr.. The then King sits here... like this


and the king watches the fights below from this throne.. like this


the fights.. very much similar like this but minus the clothes and the smirks! pls.. dont imagine them without clothes..please nooooooooooooooooooo !

OK cut it out boys !


this is one very well maintained landscape. Its maintained by the Archelogical Society of India. A not so popular site with most tourists cos theres nothing but rocks... but it is a very interesting spot.





Lux, Pri, Kar... your mission.. if you choose it.. is to hold this rock and prevent it from falling.. for as long as it takes.. should you fail the federation will simply forget you ever existed ! this blog is self destruct in 50 years !


Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram.


the stupa


narrow path way at the temple




chipped off paint from after the tsunami

more structures at the shore temple








"These monolith temples are known as the 5 rathas as they resemble wooden chariots. Its the innovation of Mamala King Narasimhavarman. A huge rock sloping from north to south was utilized to cutout different forms of temples and animals"... yes you read it right.. this whole structure is made out of a single boulder!









This was my driver.He had bad eye sight. I must thank God. Im alive! i think you guys can pretty much guess what im trying to say.. :)) Driverman..you still rock tata .......

Part 3 - Pondicherry

Part 2 to follow shortly !

The Matrimandir or Golden Orb is both the physical and spiritual center of Auroville. Matrimandir, in Sanskrit, means "Temple of the Divine Mother". Its inner chamber is meant to be a place for quiet and concentration, void of any ritual, where anyone can sit to meditate in silence. It was so difficult to take a shot of the orb. Under the hot sun, all that was being captured was bright light as though the flash bounced back. Finally, my friend suggested I place my sunglasses in front of my camera's lense.. and voila..it worked!its not a very clear picture but its still wonderful in my eyes !


waahhh.. just like the movies !


Aurobindho Ashram.. a place where even an angry person walks out feeling calmer than she had ever been in her life. This place is unbelieveable.. I still cant quite explain the emotions i felt in there. My friend and I volunteered and stayed back to clean their surrounding areas, had vegetarian lunch with the other volunteers there and cleaned up after that.. and cleaning up never felt that good before !


this statue of Gandhi has been featured in many movies made in India. One movie showed a scene of a man being murdered right at this spot, by a gangster.. a so called justice being served. It received so many objections from the public all over the world as Gandhi was a believer of non violence. The scene was cut off eventually but only to copies screened outside India.. NO Comments !


rue de la marine.. beach road.. its a long stretch of very straight road


soldiers war memorial.. not sure which war though

the high court


even the streets have french names..magnifique !


the longest movie billboard ive seen so far.. it reaches close to a kilometre


this statue is right smack in the middle of the road! some say he is pointing to a certain political party's office.. some say he points to his home.. some say he is pointing to his mistress's house.. now why d'ya wana do that young man??


my school.. this is where i learnt that even strangers can be the kindest of all souls..


the street where i lived..


Meet Subhi.. he was my house owner. This man has huge amounts of patience.. to think the things my friends and I did.. from bbq-ing crabs and stinking up the whole neighbourhood, making the apartment residents leave their homes for fresh air.. right up to scaring the postman by lighting fire crackers embedded in cow dung ! i know... i know :( im not proud of my actions now.. but its still hilarious !


Lets admit it.. they do possess a great sense of humour!!


wah lau weii.. a hotel named after me.. they must really love me there !


and that pretty much wraps it up. Thank you God for the opportunity to go meet my friends again, friends i have not seen in 11 years.. Thank you Lux for being there when i needed help and support,then and now.Thank you Bhava for inviting me to your house to feed me till i couldnt walk. Thank you Kartik my robotic friend for the encouraging but 15 hours journey that you had to go thru for me. Thank you Ganesh for your help when i almost did not make it. Thank you Prasanna for Bhimas. Thank you Prabanjan for making your father lose his hair over your antics. If I had missed out, you know who you are.. thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you all have done for me !