The Little teacup

The Little Teacup

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in a beautiful antique

store. This trip was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They

both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an

exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup

quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't

understand." It said, "I have not always been a teacup. There was a time

when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me

pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, Don't do that. I

don't like it! "Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said;

"Not yet!!"

"Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun

around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm

going to be sick!', I screamed. But the master only nodded and said,

quietly; 'Not yet.' He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of

shape to suit himself and then......

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and

knocked and pounded at the door. " Help! Get me out of here!" I could

see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his

head from side to side, 'Not yet'.

"When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He

carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh,

that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought.

But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all

over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please; Stop

it, Stop it!!' I cried. He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.

Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the

first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I

begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never

make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took

me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited

------- and waited, wondering What's he going to do to me next?

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I

did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm

beautiful!"'

Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it

hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone,

you'd have dried up.

I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had

stopped, you would have crumbled.

I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I

hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but

if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not

have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second

oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not

have held.

Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I

first began with you."

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed

almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of

control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when

life seems to "stink", try this.... Brew a cup of your favorite tea in

your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have

a little talk with the Potter.

Let's make our life simple

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty.

Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high- resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty.

No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so. But when a workman was posed with the same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution.

He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral of the story: Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem. So, learn to focus on solutions not on problems. "If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything; if you look at what you have in life, you have everything."

Do not make your life complicated when the problems are simple... all we need to do is to step out of confinements ... the answers come automatically.

I want my world .. the best place to live

Do you wish the world were better?

Let me tell you what to do.

Set a watch upon your actions,

Keep them always straight and true.

Rid your mind of selfish motives,

Let your thoughts be clean and high.

You can make a little heaven

In the little house where you stay

Do you wish the world were wiser?

Well, suppose you make a start,

By accumulating wisdom

In the scrapbook of your heart;

Do not waste even a single page;

Live to learn, and learn to live.

If you want to share the knowledge

You must get it, then you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?

Then remember day by day

Just to scatter seeds of friendship and love

As you pass along the way,

For the pleasures of the many

May be ofttimes traced to one.

As the hand that plants an acorn

Shelters armies from the sun.

Gomti

Music... the love of my life... part -1

Sa re ga ma pa dha.ni... these seven swaras which are similar to the law of octaves has a great impact o us... the human beings. I often wonder what makes one a musician /music lover and ponder about the connectivity between the language skills and the musical skills.

Is it that Only those who can sing.. perform ... or play a instrument are music lovers or every individual whose heart flutters , whose mind relaxes and has the ability to loose themselves in the soft croons are music lovers?

if we call ourselves music lovers shouldn't we know from where does this(Music) came into existence?