WANNA  TRAVEL  TO  A  PARALLEL  UNIVERSE?  U  R  WELCOME  HERE !

Google Maps recently found a mysterious spiral in Egypt. It covers 1 million square feet. Speculation started immediately as to what it was. Some said it is a landing strip for Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) from outer space. Others were sure it was the gateway to a parallel universe. If only we could find the key to pen this gate and move to a better world !

It turns out it is a piece of environmental art installation done by three artists in March 1997. They called it “Desert Breath”. They meant it to celebrate the desert as “a state of mind, a landscape of the mind”.

Thank God for our fertile imagination and our irresistible continuous search for meaning in all that we see, hear and experience. If it were not for our imagination we would not have progressed so much in science and the knowledge of the world. The fruits of these are the comforts of modern life. If it were not for our search for meaning we would not have today the heights of theology and philosophy we have developed.

On the other hand, we have to be careful of where our imagination leads us, the meanings we see or give to things we experience. Imagination gone wild makes us foolish, and our theological and philosophical interpretations sometimes lead us to violence against one another.

May you see a gateway to heaven in all you experience today, and may you walk safe and warm on firm earth all through your life!

REJECTING  REJECTION

Poor Shafqat Amanat Ali ! He went to an audition with a national TV channel of Pakistan. He was rejected – the only one sent back among all those took part in the audition! He did not give up. He just worked harder and kept going, and look where he is now. 

BOSCONET has several people who go out on to the streets each day. They approach and talk to total strangers outside metro stations, malls, cinema halls, etc.  They explain our services for the poor and ask them to become a regular donor, signing up to contribute anywhere from Rs 300 to Rs 10,000 a month to support the education of needy children in India. 

The success rate of these young men and women is about one in thirty. After hearing a resounding “NO” 29 times they can hope to get one “Yes.” It takes a lot of dedication to their mission, and inexhaustible love for children to keep them going despite rejection, insults and humiliation. 

Robert Kiyasaki, the multi-millionaire businessman and writer says every young person should work as a house-to-house salesman at least for a year. Only then would he/she develop the thick skin needed to achieve great success in any field, and true greatness in life. They learn to reject rejection and keep working with a positive attitude, a smile on their face and love in their heart.

By the way, would you like to sign up to donate a minimum of Rs 300/= a month towards the education of needy children in India? If so, send me a message. THANKS.

TOO OLD TO INNOVATE ?

We admire the wisdom of the elderly. At the same time, we take it almost for granted that younger people are more creative, innovative and dynamic.

A recent study by the US National Bureau of Economic Research seems to dispute this “common sense” notion of ours. The exuberance and energy that are required by innovation are not exclusive to youth.

‘Conceptual innovators’ tend to be young. ‘Experimental innovators’, instead, launch out with trial and error, and gather knowledge while tinkering with established ideas; they are older. 

Thank God, I am 65 years ‘young’ – not too late for conceptual innovation and still a long way to go for experimental innovation! Or, am I mistaken? Have I lost all capacity to innovate, experiment, create?

How about you?

HOW TO USE YOUR INTELLIGENCE

A Chinese gentleman booked a first class ticket on Eastern China Airlines. He went to the airport, flashed his first class ticket at the entrance to the lounge of the Airlines and had the sumptuous free lunch that he was entitled to. He came out of the lounge, went to the airlines counter, cancelled his ticket and booked a fresh first class ticket for the next day.

On the morn he went back to the airport, showed his ticket at the lounge, had his free rich lunch once again, cancelled his ticket and booked a new first class ticket for two days later.

This smart guy did this 300 times within 365 days, having a free lunch all those 300 times, and not flying even once! The airlines confessed that his scheme was a “rare act”, but he had not broken any rules of the company. The management did finally stop his “act” but had even to refund him the cost of the last ticket he had booked and cancelled!

Why are we not able to use our intelligence as smartly as this guy but, hopefully, to do good and to be of better service to society?

DON BOSCO – A SCANDAL !

Happy Feast of Don Bosco. Today is the anniversary of his death. We do not mourn that, we celebrate it, because we believe this is the day he entered heaven, united himself totally and irrevocably with God and started enjoying beatific bliss as a reward for the way he lived his life on earth. So, HAPPY FEAST OF DON BOSCO! Rejoice! Be happy! Enjoy!

His life was not easy because the way he lived was quite a scandal for many around him. In his times, a priest was very highly regarded. He was among the best educated in his community. He was consulted by everyone, no matter what their problem was. He was a ‘holy’ person, totally dedicated to the service of God. He was, hence, venerated.

A priest was supposed to be totally busy with ‘matters of importance’. He interacted with the elite, the educated, the serious, the powerful, the influential, the important, the holy, the elderly. It was below the dignity of a priest to ‘waste his time’ chatting with children or young people. And, here was Don Bosco, a ‘respectable’ Catholic priest playing with dirty children, chatting with kids on the street, interacting with ragamuffins, befriending young ‘trouble-makers’.

Thank you, Don Bosco, for allowing yourself to go ahead with what your heart told you was the right thing to do. Thank you for ignoring all you suffered because people around you were scandalised by your behaviour. Thank you for showing us the way. Give us the same courage to go looking for the black sheep to help them become living temples of God.

MALALA AND AITIAZ

On 6 January 2014 class IX student, Aitiaz Hussain, saw a suspicious looking man approach his school gate. Many of his schoolmates were also entering the compound. He asked the man to stop. He didn’t’. Aitiaz threw a stone at him. The man started running towards the school.

Chubby Aitiaz gave chase, caught up with the man and tried to grapple with him. The man let off a hidden bomb tied round his waist. The two of them died on the spot, but no other school kids were hurt in any way.

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for another.” Did Aitiaz know what he was doing and the consequences of it? Probably he did. So many suicide bombers are blowing up schools in his home country of Pakistan. Aitiaz did what he did fully aware that he was risking his life to save his schoolmates and his school.

It is a pity Pakistan has lost Malala Yousafzai to the UK. Hopefully it is only a time-bound loss and she will return to her home one day to help save her country. They have lost Aitiaz Hassain forever. Hopefully he has saved the lives of several other kids who have the same courage, quick thinking and love for fellowmen that he had. 

May God reward him in His kingdom, and may many Malalas and Aitiazes bloom in our neighbouring country – and in our own!

READING NOVELS – A WASTE OF TIME ?

From time to time I think that reading novels is a luxury that I can ill afford as I have so much “work” to do. What does a novel give except the pleasure of a thrilling story – which is totally fictional?!!!

A research carried out at Emory University in the US showed that reading a novel can start off actual, measurable changes in the brain that could last for at least five days after reading. It causes increased connectivity in the brain. It results in neurological changes that stay on just as the benefits of exercise remain in our muscles.

To get this benefit it is not even necessary to read a book at one sitting or in just a couple of days. The students in the study read a part of novel every evening over 19 days, with an fMRI scan next morning. They also took brain scans for five days after they had completed the book.

It is nice to nice to know that there is such a pleasurable way to exercise our brain, getting long term benefits from it, besides the thrill of the story.