Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lifestyle. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Top ten list of life

Top ten places to see before you die

1. The Grand Canyon
2. Great Barrier Reef
3. Taj Mahal - India
4. The Pyramids – Egypt
5. Great Wall of China - China
6. Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe
7. Himalayas – Nepal
8. Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
9. Singapore
10. Galapagos Islands – Ecuador

Top ten things to do before you die

1. Go skydiving
2. Hitch a ride on a Russian Mig – fighter jet
3. Take an African safari
4. Have your portrait painted
5. Give your mother a dozen red roses and tell her you love her
6. Plant a tree
7. Fall in love – unconditionally and eternally
8. Create your own website
9. Learn how to say NO
10. Write your will

Top ten ways to spend time before you die

1. Reading your favourite love story on a rainy day
2. Having a candle light dinner with your soul mate
3. Going to an old people’s home and playing cards with someone who has no visitors
4. Teaching an illiterate person to read and write
5. A walk in the beach at sunrise or sunset
6. Jogging in the stillness of a summer morning
7. Going on a picnic with your family
8. Visiting your alma mater
9. Making up with a friend
10. Taking time to pray regularly

Top ten things to possess before you die

1. A home of your own
2. A vehicle of your own
3. An heirloom in your family
4. Old LPs of your favourite sound tracks and singers
5. A Polaroid camera
6. A pet
7. An album full of memories
8. Anything belonging to your first love
9. Your child’s first lock of hair from a haircut
10. Graduation certificate

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Does Education liberate us?

The progression of science, art, communication etc. through the centuries has been phenomenal. Every form of utopic thinking has resulted in a new invention in this extremely fast paced world. The effects of this pace are permanent and the world as we know it is crying out in the form of pollution, stress, inflation etc.
The literacy rate world wide is definitely notches up since the last century. Is all this acquired knowledge making the world a better place? Of course we have iphones, electric cars and biological warfare. Does education truly liberate us? Why are the stock markets plummeting? Why do we have more spas than space stations? Why are we still fishing whales and sharks for cosmetics? While knowledge is plenty, wisdom is lacking. Missions are fulfilled without vision and a scant regard for the future generation is the mindset of the day.
Generation "now or never" are trained to be winners from cradle days. Sadly, ambitions are achieved and the burn-out syndrome is everywhere. Does a mark sheet only make a man, or a woman for that matter? If everyone achieves first place the need for knowledge seeking will cease. Having fun along the way boils down to "party hard". Bad habits and high fliers are the order of the day.
The earth is bursting at its seams with human progeny."India rising" seems to be much better off with her supermarkets, super flyovers, foreign cars, urbanization of rural India etc. than India in the eighties. All the nuclear weaponry that this country possesses doesn't guarantee the safety of the citizen in the wake of terrorism. Sophistication and finishing schools haven't changed the callousness of human hearts. The paper is full of incidents of people left to die on the road because not one good Samaritan can be found in the cities that never sleep. Politicians still make never ending promises and declaration of taxes is a routine only for the honest educated TDS(Tax deducted at source) citizen.
In a land where children were raised on the wisdom of grandparents, old people's homes can be found in every neighborhood. A nuclear lifestyle need not revolve around "I,me, myself". Caring for our families, communities and surroundings are the basic lessons we learn in our civics text books back in school. The pride of every Alma Mater is not the no. of successful professionals that pass out but the no. of good people they send into the world to serve different roles. Education is like Aladdin's genie. Let's make use of our educated backgrounds.
It takes one person to make a difference. One family in a street. One street in a locality. One locality in a city. One city in a state. One state in a country and a country in this world. Let's be the change we want to see and leave a footprint in the sands of time.