A Thought for Today-215:

Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile - Wilfred T.Grenfell

Focus-2:

Rafe Bartholomew of Harper's Weekly reports that U.S. income inequality is at an historic high (Harper's Weekly, August 18, 2009).

I feel sad that inequalities, especially income inequalities, are growing to alarming proportions all over the world and nobody seems to care about it.

No wonder crime rate is increasing dangerously world over and life has become insecure everywhere.

Thanks to Rafe Bartholomew and Harper's Weekly.

Facts and Figures-58:

Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of the Blackstone Group, whose salary last year was $702 million, was named the highest paid executive in America.

- Rafe Bartholomew, Harper's Weekly, August 18, 2009

Grateful thanks to Rafe Bartholomew and Harper's Weekly.

A Thought for Today-214:

Epigrams succeed, where epics fail - Persian Proverb

A Thought for Today-213:

We consume our tomorrows fretting about our yesterdays - Persius

A Thought for Today-212:

Those who find happiness within are destined never to lose it; but those who seek it elsewhere are doomed never to find it - Jim Beggs

A Thought for Today-212:

For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness - Evelyn Beilenson

A Thought for Today-211:

I think that there is always a close and intimate relationship between the end we aim at and the means adopted to attain it. Even if the end is right but the means are wrong, it will vitiate the end or divert us in a wrong direction. Means and ends are thus intimately and inextricably connected and cannot be separated. That, indeed, has been the lesson of old taught us by many great men in the past but unfortunately it is seldom remembered. - Jawaharlal Nehru

Picture of the day-24:

Random Thoughts-31: "Sri Jayanthi"

Bhagwan Sri Krishna's birthday is celebrated by Hindus as 'Sri Jayanthi', 'Janmashtami' and 'Gokulashtami'. Generally, eighth day (ashtami) and nineth day(navami) of the lunar month are considered to be inauspicious days. Hindus generally avoid these days for undertaking anything important. The idea is if you start anything important on these days, you will not able to complete them and you may have to do them again and again. However, two major incarnations of Maha Vishnu, Sri Krishna was born on an 'ashtami' and Sri Rama on a 'navami'. Consider this along with the assurance of Sri Krishna in the Gita: "To protect the righteous, to destroy the sinful and to reinstate morals, I am born again and again in every age"; now, you get a special meaning. In every age, the Lord takes birth on this earth to destroy evil and protect dharma.

So Sri Jayanthi is very special. Now-a-days you have not just one KAMSA, but innumerable of them; they are more deadly and dangerous. So naturally we all wish and pray that Sri Krishna takes birth again and destroys all these Kamsas and protects us.

Written on Aug 13, 2009 and posted on Aug.14, 2009.

Picture of the day-23:

Picture of the day-22:

Picture of the day-21:

Picture of the day-20:

Picture of the day-19:

Picture of the day-18:

Taken by me using my Canon Powershot A590 camera, while travelling by the Karaikudi-Trichy Passenger train, somewhere between Pudukkottai and Trichy.

Random Thoughts-30: "On Advertisements"

Advertisements are mostly a nuisance, a pain in the ... ok, neck. Some advertisements specialize in driving people mad; irritate people. Especially TV advertisements. They are disrupters. One wonders how the advertising business is thriving with all this. Sometimes they repeat the same advertisements three times successively; it is clear they want to brainwash everybody. But personally I feel their effect is seldom the one desired by them.

Advertisements in the print media are comparatively less painful. For TV advertisements assault your ears, eyes and mind at the same time. In the case of print media, at least your ears are spared. The most irritating part of TV ads is the volume goes up automatically. I am grateful to the man who invented the remote control. At the commencement of advertisements, I mute the TV or change the channel and thus have found a way to escape of the onslaught of advertisements.

As for the print media, if you don't like the advertisement, you turn the page. Occasionally you come across some advertisements that are pleasing. I came across some of these during my travel to Chennai by Pallavan Express.

These advertisements had these following features in common: First, they greet you: HAPPY JOURNEY, which is very nice of them. Then they have useful message and sayings like: "No man can stop what god wants to give; No man give what god wants to stop".

These advertisements for kailis, banians and underwear by K.A.S.Jainulabdeen Co, Chennai, deserve appreciation. Other advertisers can emulate them. This is how ads should be: subtle, unobtrusive and less-aggressive. I have snapped one for a sample, which appears above. I am sorry the photo is not up to the mark. But then I am only an amateur photographer, who has to learn a lot.

Picture of the day-17:

Picture of the day-16:

My Photo Album-38:

During my visit to Kovilpatti last month, I took some photos of Achu using my Canon Powershot A590 camera, which have been reproduced above.