RIP day with Mom

Mom got admitted to this hospital on 15th ,Sunday. I left from this place on Monday afternoon, by car…..wife was too much worried about me driving all the way to native place, alone, (she had one exam to give) that too with a not-so-good mindset (abt 650 km to hospital and 735 km to my home), and I usually drive very fast.

I felt like calling one of her (wife’s) cousins and within half an hour, he was ready to come with me, since he too wanted to visit somebody at his native place. Our destinations were different, but only a few kilometers away (may be abt 50). Thus 'traveling alone' part was well answered by Him. My ‘lost’ friend came back and was in touch with me, so felt like something which was heavy got melted. Thus, my mind was clearer.

Since I was supposed to give blood, I avoided continuous travel and hence stopped at mid night. Continued next day morning… dropped him on the way and reached hospital by noon/after noon (around 2 pm).

I wasn’t satisfied with the feed backs given by those who were with mom. So, I personally met the doc. He gave me an overall pic.

• She is chronic anemic
• There is internal bleeding which he don’t know why (he had plan to do some other test)
• Her both kidneys are ‘affected’
• Generally, she is very weak
• She was under malnutrition

I told him that I want to shift her from this hospital to my proper native place and he asked me to give him 3 more days for that.

I asked permission to see her (usually they wont allow visitors inside the Intensive Care Unit) and he granted. Even my sister could not see her till that day.

I saw her. From her look, it was very clear and obvious that she wanted to see me. Or was she waiting for me?

I stared at her and I felt like she won’t live longer. I just touched her hand. She said she feel sleepy and want to sleep. She closed her eyes, but I mentally wished her ‘Rest In Peace’. I don’t know why.

She did not die, she woke up next day (ie, 18th July 2007) or that’s what the hospital staff said. They asked my sister to bring tea for her. She brought. Hospital people said she asked for water and they gave.

But then the duty doc called me inside and took me to my mom. (Sister was again unlucky, she could not see her). She was in a different bed which had many equipments around. But she was bleeding from mouth. She vomited blood, better put. She looked unconscious and her pulse was very feeble. I was sure that she won’t survive, but asked the doc, ‘will she survive’? That lady doc, who was very young, was a lil tensed and she shook her head. I told her, ‘Its OK’.

I stood outside with sis and they called once again. This time sister also came with me. But the doc said ‘she left’. Me and my sister, both, did not cry. I went to that body and had a silent communication.

Death is the ultimate truth we can predict with 100% surety. Only thing is we don’t know when and how. But it happens and it finds some reason/reasons. When the soul finds that it can not use this body anymore, it leaves.

Mom, Rest In Peace !

thank YOU!

My mom passed away on 18th (July 2007)….. A sad moment…..And now I lost both my parents.

I just returned from my native place and am very tired….I wish to write something about mom. May be tomorrow….or may be day after tomorrow. …

Was God cruel to me?

I already was undergoing through a very bad mental state when mom got admitted to the hospital. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was under severe stress due to braking with a friend………………..

I asked that person ‘where are you when I needed you the most?’

She came back to me with a bang…..gave me every support I needed….though we were miles away, I felt her very presence…...she spent quality time with me….. I felt like I am not alone………

Man, I don’t know how to thank you, but please accept my thanks……Thanks a lot buddy, for all your support.

To those people who are waiting for the arrival of God, I used to tell, when you call for help, He answers ….. He won’t come to you as the way you think, and that’s why He has kept people around you………

Now we have the answer, HE wasn’t cruel at all ….

HE is all love and HE proved it once again…..thank YOU!

Sorry Doc!

I am not at all in a mood to post another one....

I just got a call from my native place...

My mom is in ICU..My sister's fone is dead.... and I am 650 k.m away....

Thank you doc for asking me to talk to HIM, when I dont have anybody to talk to....hope you will stand with me....

But sorry doc, I need one more tab..........

I slept well

I have a Friendster account. I happened to read some blogs written by some. Many of them had the ability to write well. I also noticed that some people stopped writing, though they were good at it. I tried to encourage some of them. Strangely a couple of them never bothered even send me a ‘smile’. They ignored me…..who the damn is this Jay?

Strangely, one person visited this blog and asked me today “ btw, you don’t have any plan to write? You seemed to be regular with blogs and am not seeing any update. This is the way I also stopped….hahaha”

Thanks!

Friend (let me call you that way, I don’t know your view about friends and friendships), how can I write a blog for the past two days? Forget it, understand that I was not at all in a position to write blogs. FYI, I had plans to write about the following a week ago:

Something about the IMs I used so far
Something more about my childhood
Something about Jesus, me and wine
Something about Krishna and ‘Chatur Varnyam’

What is predictable in this universe? I don’t know whether something can be predicted with 100% accuracy than our death one day….sometimes, someday, we face totally unexpected things……can you predict that so and so and so and so will be friends for ever? ………….

I wrote about Relationships. Is friendship a relationship? If not what is that? I don’t know…This reminds me of one thing, I was sitting in front of my Discrete Mathematics Professor a year ago for a Viva……he asked me the same question.

‘What is a relation? ‘ (he cut the ‘ship’?)
‘ hmm, you and me?’
‘What you mean?’
‘Teacher and student’
‘Yes!’

So, that means there exists a relationship between a Teacher and Student, though I did not attend any of his boring class……sorry may be I am off track

Those who talked me about relationships tried to convey their emotion to me, and I said, ‘yes, I understand….’. but did I really? What happens when somebody so close to you decided to close that closeness?

Let us go back to yesterday.

I am sitting in front of my family doc

‘Yes?’
‘I have chest pain’
‘Suddenly what happened?’
‘I broke with a friend, or that is what it seems’
‘Were you close to that person’?
‘Yes’
‘Since how long you know this person?’
‘Three years or may be three and a half’
‘Where is that person’?
‘Abroad….doc, I don’t have anybody to talk to….even my wife is not understanding me…that is why I came to you.....I felt like talking to you...’

‘You talk to HIM, for a while’, he looked up.

He stared at me, his typical stare.

‘OK, are you able to drink enough water?
‘No’
‘Are you eating well?
‘No’
‘What about your sleep?’
‘No, I can’t sleep properly’
‘You got fever?’
‘No’
‘Any other physical problems?’
‘Apart from that I did not observe anything other than hair falling more’

‘So, anything wrong with my heart?’
‘See, emotions are related to heart…….’
‘So, what could be wrong?’ – I interrupted him this time
‘You are under stress and it looks like you are not able to handle it…your chest pain is coz of that’
‘What you suggest? Any medication?’
‘Do you meditate?’
‘No, not these days….stopped a while ago’
‘Do you pray?’
‘Not really….its not part of my daily things, at least’
‘ Then I will give you a tab .........take at night…I will write two but suggest you take only one….you go for a walk……look at the trees, birds….listen to them….you need to get sleep, you drink enough water….if you cant, force it…..eat well…..and it might take at least four days for you to recover from this…if possible, meditate or pray…’
‘But I cant sleep’
‘Yes, I understand’

‘Doc, I cant believe this…why such things?‘

'Do you read?’

'Yes, I do'

'You read this book…..it will help you’

For the first time in my life I saw a doc prescribing a book in his letter-head !!!!!

And he prescribed a sedative……..after a long time, yesterday I slept very well!!

I am In Fifth Grade

We moved into a new place. For a change, it wasn’t a rented house, but a leased one, for five years. Thus for the next five years, I lived in a single house. From fifth grade till 9th grade.

But we were sharing the house with the house owner. There was a common veranda. In the left there was a room and that was for the owner. Then a hall and to the left a bed room and that was for us. The hall leads to another ‘area’ which had a room in the left side (for the owner) and a kitchen in the right side (for us). This ‘area’ was for the owner but we can’t go to our kitchen without using it. So, though it wasn’t a common area, it was a ‘walking’ area for us. The terrace was common.

With this setup, there weren’t any privacy. Most of the time, the owner and their people walked thru our hall, if we kept the door open. I did not like this place. But as a kid, there weren’t any choice.

This house had a small story. The land surrounding this house is very vast. It had three compound wall and the back was open to the land, but with some small foundation like stones. The area belonged to a rich man, who also was a top bureaucrat. My owner served this family for long. So, the rich man gave a small part of his land for free. Not only that, he pushed him into a government job using his hold. My owner then built a house in that land. He had a wife and when she died of some reason, he married her younger sister. When I started living there, that lady was pregnant.

Their family had 4 members. House owner, his wife, wife’s mother and eldest sister.

We were not supposed trespass the surrounding land. But it looked like a small forest. It had many trees, like a small Tamarind tree, Jack fruit tree, Plum tree, Papaya etc. And there also were trees which in Malayalam is called ‘Manjadi’. Still I don’t know its English name. It is a tree but had its fruit look like a pea. And the seeds are blood red. We used to use these seeds for playing.

The owner had a dog. Or better I say we had a dog coz, many a times, we used to feed him. This is the first dog that lived with me or my house. This dog never had any particular place to sleep and it slept here and there. Most of the time, the dog was untied and it used to wander around in the ‘forest’ area. When we became friends, he used to accompany me, half the way till my school. Some students stoned him and may be that is one of the reasons he followed me only half the way.

This dog was brown in color and was very playful. It really played ‘catch me if you can’ with me. If I run he will try to catch me and when I am caught, he will either jump over me or bite me without hurting !!!

Then, one day, my dad brought one kitten. He too loved cats just like me. This dog tried to catch the cat so many times. But finally, it gave up its enemity. I trained this cat to do his ‘potty’ keeping a tray of sand. Coz, we used to keep the cat inside during night, locked. He used to return at night wherever he was.

I wasn’t aware of Pavlov and his experiments. But a similar thing happened with my cat. This cat had a small milk bowl. Sometimes, there will be ants in it. So before pouring milk, I used to tap it to remove the ants or dust. And then, whenever we tap that bowl, the cat used to come running. This is the case if we just happened to drop the bowl or kick the bowl accidentally….he will come running and then demand for milk.

My school was about 20 minutes of walk from this house. Sister’s school also was at somewhat similar distance. Mine was a Boy’s school and hers was a Girl’s school. We did not have a proper neighbor as such. Later on, a family living in one of the opposite houses became friendly, when one of the girls there became a friend of my sister. I have never been there, though.

In a house just opposite to my house lived a politician. He was a Trade Union leader and a member of the State Assembly. His both sons studied in my school (my seniors). One of them was into active politics and became a Member of the Parliament.

My school was a breeding place for politics. Most of the students were inclined to one of the political parties. Two of my cousins were also in this school and the eldest was into active politics and became School Chairman at some point of time (and then became a ‘Corporator’ – member of a Municipal Council). He was a leftist and I turned into a Rightist (then to a centrist).

Since my school admission was done at the time of closing the admission, I was assigned to a division called ‘I’ (A to H was full) and the funny thing is that the division I did not have a class room. And our class teacher what a Craft teacher!. He sits in the Craft room and we pple were divided into small groups and put into other divisions. Thus I became part of the A division. But the Proper A division students considered us as some second citizens, at least in the beginning and there was a wrong belief that we are not good at studies and hence we got the last admission. Thus even getting a seat to sit in the bench was a small issue at the start.

I had to wait till my first term exam to prove that ‘I’ does not stand for Idiots. I was well ahead of most of the A division students. But I failed in English and ‘A’ division class teacher (who used to teach English) even insulted me in front of the class by means of some comments.

For the next term exam, I scored very good marks in English and my teacher commented in front of the whole class that ‘He copied it from somebody else’. I felt humiliated and insulted.

I did not like that teacher. He was a stubb looking unfriendly man. Ours was a government school and the uniform norm was only white shirt and black trousers. We can wear any kind of foot wear, no neck tie required. And this particular teacher asked us to wear a tie and we looked odd in the entire school. I don’t know who intervened; he finally dropped the idea after a few months. When there were student strikes (which was the national festival for this school and we kids actively participated in most of the student protests, shouting slogans.) he asked us to hide somewhere and once those protesters are gone, come back to class. But we passed this info to our seniors and they ‘taught him some lessons’ (some even damaged our class room!!!!). I did not like him at all.

There were so many poor students in this school. Many of them came to school without lunch. The government used to provide some food. But there existed a parallel system here. Issuing food packets. And this responsibility went to that class who were on ‘duty’

It was called ‘Class On Duty’. The school management will put up which class is on duty for a week, on the notice board. And it is the responsibility of that class to look at the overall cleanliness of the school etc. And some students from that class takes initiative and goes to other classes and gets a list of students who are willing to bring one extra lunch packet. And next day thy go to that classes and collect the food packet and keeps them in the Craft Room. The poor students can go and get a packet ( a typical a food packet is usually rice and some curry packed in plantain leaf and then wrapped using news paper)

I still remember the name two three students from my fifth grade. One is Arun T.G, who was very good at studies and a very good orator. He got many prizes in elocution. And he was a well behaved student with a smiling and pleasing face. Then Hari Prasad, who became my friend and remained as a friend till P.U.C (12th grade). I don’t have any other special memory about my 5th grade. No need to talk about the atmosphere in the house. There weren’t any change. And I did not see any change approaching me even at the end of the horizon. ….

Ayurveda

I was not feeling well a couple of weeks ago. When a friend of mine asked, I happened to say the word ‘Ayurvedic’ medicine. And he wasn’t aware of what Ayurveda is. Or what Homoeo is. So what is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is the (traditional) medicine branch of India. It has a different approach than the Modern medicine. We can say it is herbal based. The Indian system of medicine believes in holistic treatment. Sometimes it is combined with Yoga.

But even many Indians don’t know the depth of Ayurveda. What I mean here is, it even has got an explanation how our body forms. But this aspect is not at all popular even here. Most of them believe it just treats illness.

When I move my right hand, you might say ‘Jay is moving his right hand’. When I scratch my nose, you might say ‘Jay is scratching his nose’. So, its Jay’s nose, Jay’s hand, Jay’s head, Jay’s eyes etc etc

And finally, when I die, you say ‘ Jay’s dead body’……so, its Jay’s dead body…..that means Jay’s body is dead. So where did Jay go?

Here my point is, there is ‘something’ within us. If that something is gone, we all are nothing but dead bodies. For the time being, for my convenience, let me call it as ‘spirit’. And if you have another picture of what a spirit is, its OK. No issues. I just want to address that ‘something’ and for that I need to name it. It is nothing but a form of energy.

When a spirit ( a small energy element, which is part of the BIG energy) longing for expressing itself , it uses the ‘Satwa’ or the subjective consciousness to manifest into mind and the sense organs. Then it projects into a physical body. For that purpose it uses the ‘Pancha Bhuta’ or the five eternal elements – they are Akash (Space), Vayu (Air ), Jal (Water), Agni (Fire), and Prithvi (Earth), all arise from Tamas.

Body works as a medium for the mind to experience the objects in this world, using Rajas, through the sense organs.

Now what about the illness? It is because of the imbalance of ‘Tridosha’ (three basic physical energies). Ayurveda believes that Tridosha is responsible for both physiological and psychological things that happens within our body and mind

What is Tridosha?

Good Night, ciaoooooooooooooooooooo

The 'Indian' Car Bomb

Some ‘Indians’ got arrested (from U.K and Australia) in connection with the car bomb episode that happened in London, the other day. My city’s edition of ‘The Times of India’ gave a more closer identity claiming those as ‘Bangaloreans’. And it even reported that Indians are in trouble than Pakistanis in the U.K. Well Well. I think something is missing here…

Are they just Indians? Were they ‘patriotic’ (?) Indians? Or were they part of a particular community?

The BBC Link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6264230.stm

And what does our Indian Prime Minister say in India? “Terrorists belong to no religion of community” ….Now that’s very interesting. Mr. Manmohan Singh, the arrested people does belong to a particular community and we other Indians don’t want to share the shame, at least not me, very sorry. (At the same time, I want to add that I do respect all other religions in the world). And if you don’t know what Al Queda is made up of, if you don’t know who played behind the IIS incident, if you don’t know why we are taking extra precautions before every Independence Day and Republic Day, I don’t have anything to say!!!

Relationships

What was the major topic I got involved in the past one/two weeks? Its Relationships. And I was mainly listening to or discussing with people form other countries, where ‘Relationships’ exists, rather than Indians. In India, such things only got sprouted.

But why people come to me with such things? I don’t know, I personally don’t have a treasure of experience in connection with it.

May be it is coz, I am ready to spent some time for them, may be coz, I listen to them, may be coz, I care for them…but in reality, I am not good at handling a ‘erupted’ person. The other day, when one of my friends called me and started crying, I didn’t know what to do for some time….then I tried to console, but I think I am not that good with ‘words’ in such emotional situations.

But this week forced me to think about Relationships… Why so many problems in connection with it? Why it fails? What makes it a success? And in fact what exactly one mean by that word……

To be frank, I don’t know what really people mean by ‘entering into a relationship’, at least while writing this line. I personally know only one person (Indian) who tried the person before marrying.

I can only guess, try to understand from a human point of view and I don’t think it’s a big deal, coz, entering into a relationship has nothing to do with brains…coz, people from all walks of life already entered into it, going to enter and will enter, some with high hopes, and for some, it just happens…

I did not ask them ‘what is a relationship’ when somebody wanted my time. One thing is, that will worsen the situation and/or the next thing, I can expect ‘why do you want to know?’, ‘why did you ask?’ or some other flavor of why, though they don’t like getting why’ed.

So, its like ‘trying’ somebody. Its like doing some test drives before buying a car. If you are not satisfied, try someone else. This part is very important. In a relationship, both partners are trying each other and many did not understand this. One might like the other but if the other thinks that he/she is not up to their standards, that person moves on with a new search and the other person might think, ‘oh, I ended up with a wrong guy/gal’ and also ends in pain…

Is this serious or silly? The 'person in pain’s emotion can be serious though sometimes the situation looks too silly. I am telling this because, I have seen many e-relationships happening and ending in pain. And what I have observed since last 7 years is that its mostly a guy who has so many e-relationships that ditches one of his girls……it sounds silly but when I happened to chat with one of such victims, she was really serious……..

One thing that makes a human distinct from animals is the complexity and intricacy of relationships. Animals don’t face any relationship related issues. This happens because within us there is an urge to get connected, which is a human nature. This leads to a relationship.

And , when you are into a relationship, you want it to be everlasting. (Sorry, I am yet to understand the status ‘I am in a short term relationship’, which I have seen with many pple in the west, may be it’s a temporary adjustment…I am not at all teasing the western culture, please don’t misunderstand me. I respect every culture).

Some people even look for ‘soul mate’ that too without having any idea about what a soul is. Why do some relationships break very early, when we really wanted it to last long?

We need to look at the root of it. If a relationship arises because of personal need (that includes comfort and protection, financial security, just biological need etc etc…), well, it won’t last long. When the need is achieved (at physical or emotional level), our mind starts looking for something else and somewhere else. Even one of the partners in the relationship had a personal need as base, it weakens the relationship. This looking somewhere starts creating a distance and what love can not tolerate is distance.

Every relationship has the elements of love and lust (not just that, but it also has). And when you are in love, you are somewhat blind and what you express through words has only something to do with the actual meaning. A man might call his girl ‘honey, sweet heart, etc’…..he hardly mean that the girl is so sweet to him. So, don’t count much about those ‘beautiful/emotional/sweet’ words somebody says when they are in love with you (in a relationship). Yes, its is very nice to hear such words. We feel really good. No doubt about it.

I am not talking about somebody who has got the blue print of the entire relationship plans/schedule with them. If you have a pre-defined long list of expectations before entering into a relationship, chances are that you will get disappointed. Because, most of the time, true relationship just happens.

The push factor is getting attracted to somebody. In most of the case, it has a lot to do with your physical appearance. For example, men will easily get attracted to a girl with beautiful eyes….and in most of the love at first sight cases, ‘eyes’ play a crucial role. By saying that, I exclude singers, artists, famous people, celebrities etc.

Now the first part is over; got attracted. Then blossoms the love constituent. And in some people there develops a feeling of got ‘connected’ to the other person. And if both feel so, they are lucky. Then there comes a sharing mentality (lucky again). And if both partners have an emotion ‘what I can do for the other’, then the relationship succeeds. If the base is caring and sharing, it succeeds… But if they simply try to please each other, well….we need to wait and see

If one just takes advantage of the other, it fails. If one just uses the other, it fails….If one of them is not truthful, then it fails…when we expect too much from our partner, it fails….if it is the same person who is at the receiving end, always, which is mainly coz one of them not willing to change or adjust to the new setup, it fails…in some cases, it can fail even if you snore! (just kidding)

For a true and successful relationship, understanding it in a spiritual level helps a lot (both the partners). But is it worth talking about the spiritual aspects of relationships? Is it possible to practice it?

Well, I think it is very easy to preach but a little hard to practice. Understanding your partner at a spiritual level is not that easy. And it is the next to impossible thing for a ‘material girl’/man. Understanding your partner at a spiritual level is not just going to a place of worship together or attending a religious talk. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with that.

And how to handle the pain, if a relationship fails? How to rehabilitate? Some people say ‘Let go’. If so, how to let go? Me asking these questions doesn’t mean that I have the answers for it. But I wish to look into those areas too. May be later…..

Jay and the Deadman's Chest !

Am I rich or poor? Asking about the material richness, money man money …. Look at my face, cant you see that I am a very rich man? At least don’t you think that I am a potential millionaire? If you don’t think so, read the following mail I got :

Greetings to you,

I am been moved by my instict to contact you for this,my spirit accepts that i share this with you as i browse through your profile.

I am Dr Ben Kuma,a citizen of Liberia and i work in Iraq as a Medical Doctor with Madinat Al-Tib Hospital Baghdad (IRAQ). I had a case of a man that had an accident of Bomb Blast in Iraq,and he was rushed to the Hospital i work by some good Samaritans, I led a team of doctors to operate on him, but unfortunately, we lost him(He Died).

Upon the search of his briefcase to enable me issue a certificate of death and referral to the appropriate authority seeing that he was an alien, I discovered that he is a citizen of INDIA on a business in Iraq. Further search revealed documents with which he deposited the sum of Nine Million,Three thousand U.S Dollars with a diplomatic Courier Company and evidence of the transaction(a picture of the money).

I have not been able to trace any member of his family, and no thanks to the fact that he was single. So you would readily appreciate that his status made it difficult for me to get any of his relatives.

With my position as a senior medical doctor in the Hospital, and the fact that I am the only one preview of this information, the money is for me to claim if I could act as a next of kin, unfortunately, my citizenship of LIBERIAN and the role I have so far played would not permit me to do this.

In the light of this, I here by formally solicit your assistance to act as the next of kin if you accede to my proposition and the following sharing ratio.

Your Pecentage for this will be 25%

10% of this Money will be given to the Less priviledged i.e the Orphanage and the victims of war e.t.c,

5% of the money will be for Settlement of any expenses incurred on both sides.

I brought up this plan and for that reason i will keep 60% for myself as the initiator of the plans.

If you are interested in this transaction, then contact me through my Email address(<I removed his mail id>), and do not forget the utmost confidentiality must be maintained.

Regards,
Dr.Ben Kuma


Now, what do you think?

Virtual Friends Meet the God !

Dear Karen,

Thanks for the comment....I hardly get any comments….I am not replying as a comment, and I think you don’t mind it…..

Yes, I had something in my mind to write…but I was going through a different mental stage for the past two days….painful days….. I write stuffs like this but understand that I too am a human…do you think Jesus enjoyed the crucification? Nope.. (Heard about Psalm 22?)…....and I was thinking about ‘is there anything called virtual friends?’ and not about meeting the God, I am very sorry about it..….you might think I am telling some stupidity…. I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but are we for real or virtual? ….and you might not understand why I thought about ‘virtual friends’ and what was my pain….. (just coz I am not telling and I am not questioning your brains)

If virtual is ‘not tangible’, what is God? Many believers in this world believe that God exists, though they can not see him…..you ate a very spicy and hot dish, and there comes water from your eyes…..your nose starts running……how did that happen? Some signals (sort of electric ) reached our brain and the result was your experience….. what if we pass a signal of the very same nature to the brain, using some equipments? We feel the same and we get watery eyes and runny nose…..but is that real? Did we take any hot dish?, though our body feels so (virtual reality)….virtual friends are somewhat similar to these electric signals which came from that equipment…

Sorry I did not answer you…I am still not in a mood to describe HIM….but I don’t want to ditch you…..

What is the nature of a black- hole? Do you know what will happen if you enter into a black-hole?

In the beginning of our journey, you feel that weightlessness stuff….don’t worry…you will be alright…you wont feel any gravitational pull since you and things around you are pulled in the same way. When you get closer to the black-hole, you start getting a pull…if you are ‘heading’ towards the hole, your head will feel more pull than your feet….and you will start feeling stretched…..(scientifically, the causing force is called tidal force) …you travel again…..and you can not see much interesting things coz, even light can not escape a black-hole…..then when you are almost there (still thousands of kilometers away from the center) your body get torn into pieces, if you were heading towards it, your head goes first, each part of the body will be sucked away (no way you will go as a single piece). horrible no?....but it happens in a fraction of second, so dont worry, you wont get any time to get panic.......and then you don’t exist…..

So, is God like a black-hole? NO and yes…..he wont do the tearing thing….he is all Love but when you meet God, YOU don’t exist !!!!!! BUT HE REMAINS!!!!!!


- Jay

PS: I used the word, 'you' in the travel....but if you got scared, rephrase it and use 'I' (yup, Jay) so that you wont get torn.....you can consider me as your 'punching bag' hahaha (you wont understand, sorry, once again....)

Me and Religions IV

What is religion in the first place?

It is an institution (usually established by somebody) to express belief in God, in simple words. We can define a religion in many different ways.

What is the base of all the religion?
It is belief in God.

How many Gods are there?
Only One

How many religions are there in this world?

About 6-7 major ones and hundreds of different faith groups (even within a single religion)

Do we need this many religions?

We can have any number or religion as long as there is no physical clash between them. Or, no religion at all (two of my friends don’t believe in any religion).

So, do we need more religions?

Well, no, we already have enough.

So, what exactly is the purpose of a religion?

Simple, to make every human a better human. Religion is there to make a man righteous and loving.

(plants and animals are born ‘learnt’….every weaver bird is an architect, every spider know how to make a web, ant nests are architectural wonders………; they know what is their job and how to do it, no need to acquire anything. But a human always can acquire/has to acquire, can learn a lot from his environment, if he want to – he has a choice)

No particular religion issues a special pass to meet the God (meeting the God something interesting, I might write about it later). If some believes so, they are absolutely wrong.

Is religion a personal matter?

Of course it is. One can even stay out of all religions and still believe in God, if one wants so.

So, what is the big issue here?

Well, the issue is some people believing that only their path is the right path to God, which is foolish.

Look at the earth, filled with humans. Let’s start thousands of years ago, may be ten thousand or twenty thousand years ago till now.

How was/is it? There were people living in different parts. They had their own culture, they had their own language, they had their own eating habit (nature provided them with the best according to the geography), they had their own ….they had so many ‘their owns’ and likewise, they had their own style of faith in God.

Can we say some country’s culture is ‘wrong’? Can we say some language is ‘wrong’? Nope. In the same way, we can not say somebody else’s faith in God is ‘wrong’ coz, its their faith and it has a history (let us forget abt the new and new faith groups coming day by day like mushrooms with some vested interests)

So, if one religion is right, others are also right. If one religion is wrong, all are wrong(I am talking about the essence of religion, ie, God exists). Coz, ultimately, all religion believes in a supernatural force. So, either it is there (the existence of God or all religions are right) or there is no supernatural force like that (God does not exist, all religions are wrong). There cant be a third level of understanding looking from this angle.

Different faith groups within a religion got created due to different interpretation of (mostly) single Holy book. But all of them believes in ‘God’, though faith groups might say ours is the right one.

And majority of the 'religious' people don’t understand the very purpose of religion and they just follow some rituals. And in the present day, religion is a big business. Yes, it is a multi million business!

Many of the conversion acts and well organized miracle crusades are to give it a boost and are just business. The Times of India once cracked one Benny Hinn show that happened in my city. I never thought that I will be writing something like this; else I would have preserved those papers. He just escaped without commenting on many of the questions and he did not even donate the sum he promised that he will be donating for the Tsunami relief, after that crack. His approach is creating a mass hysteria. And he said he can not perform any miracle on a one to one basis, as he first need to create the ‘atmosphere’.

(Mass prayer has a different effect, I agree but that’s a different issue)

Miracles should happen as a miracle and one can not perform a miracle as and when one wish to do so. Then how can it be called a miracle?. But these days miracles are readily available. It can be organized like any consumer fair. And those people who go there don’t even ask, ‘then why do we need hospitals and docs, if this person can always (their service is fully booked for many years, usually) do miracles?’

One of my cousins who is a deaf attended many of such miracle crusades and still remains as a deaf! He went there with full faith coz, he hadn’t anything to lose.

What do religious people do in common, irrespective of their religions?

They all Pray.

Where do all these prayers go?

All the prayers in this world have got only one address. (Static IP address…lol)

In which language we should pray?

God understand all languages, though His mother tongue is Love.

So, Getting converted wont help?

To be frank, it won’t help. Coz, again your prayer goes to the same direction. Just changing a name from Jayaram to Joseph wont make any change. Name is one of the physical attribute of a man and it has nothing to do with a prayer.

But there are lots of people who experienced a change in their life after changing their religion.

That can be true. There are many reasons for it. One is just psychological. Its like treating a psychosomatic disease with a ‘method’ rather than a medicine (sometimes the doc even injects distilled water to convince a patient, but it works). In such cases, yes, it works. Coz, its all a mind game, this prayer, its effects and all.

And the second most important thing is the ‘intensity of the prayer’. Intensity of the prayer is directly proportional to effect. When a person changes his faith, usually, in the beginning stage, his intensity of the prayer will be more/high. And this gives him a better result - here I presume that a prayer works

Assume that one person got ‘better results’ with his brand new religion. Had he did his prayers with the same intensity, even his old religion was able to deliver the new result he got. It is a fact.

I will share one of my personal experience related to religious conversion. The one I saw was an interesting inter-Christian conversion. That person was my close friend then. Was very ‘religious’, in the sense, regular with church and its activities, reading Bible regularly, attending the mass, service, choir etc.

Family was a happy family. Then the family faced some serious financial problems when one of the business partners cheated them (he too was a Christian and later on moved to the U.S). They believed in C.S.I (Church of South India). I don’t know who it is, but somebody convinced them to change their faith into Pentecost. The family head remained in C.S.I and his wife and two children (one was my friend) changed their faith to Pentecost.

Then my friend started attending a new place of worship where no idol of Jesus or Mary was present. But the Bible remained the same. Jesus remained the same. All the prayers before and after the conversion went into the very same ears!! But finally, the new faith helped that person to get a decent marriage proposal and settle abroad.

Had that person stuck to the old faith, would that person have gone abroad and settled? Sorry, here my answer is ‘ I don’t think so or may be I don’t know’. I am not discussing the physical or material change a religion can offer. In that way, changing a religion has its benefits.

Where do all these conversions happen?

Most of the missionaries travel to third world. That too if a country doesn’t have a good Christian population, they target such countries. India satisfies both and this is a heaven for missionaries.

Is all the missionaries fake and business minded ones?

I don’t think so. But I know a couple of them who gathered wealth using ‘divine’ job. There is another guy (a Christian priest/brother) who ‘used’ his Christian status to get a religious visa (there is something like that) to another country. He married a local woman and now prepares to settle there, who is a neighbor of one of my cousins.

Some people say ‘God spoke to me and asked me to do this’. Is that true?

Yes and NO.

Yes is because, many “religious” people get this sort of feeling.

And NO, coz, its their own consciousness which split into two and one acts as a God and another acts as a he/she or the mind. A good psychiatrist/psychologist can sort out this issue. But from that person’s perspective, he/she 'really' hears the talk from within. The nature of God is something different (which is off topic and I might write later)

What happens after a conversion?

I don’t have any personal experience. But naturally, he/she lives in the same house, he/she might change the photos/pics he/she had kept before and prays in a new style to a ‘new God’.

But my point is not that. Lets assume that all Indians got converted into Christianity/or at least 80% . What happens? India becomes a Christian Nation or at least a nation with majority of Christians. Then what happens? What is the major change that will happen to India after that ‘mass conversion’?

To understand this, one need to look into those nations who already attained that status.

Let us take two prominent nations, one form the west and one from the east. The U.S. and Republic of the Philippines, the only Asian country with a majority of Christians.

The United States has got 76 % of Christians (Protestants 52% and Roman Catholic 24%) as per 2002 census and Philippines has got 92.5 % (Roman Catholic 80.9%, Evangelical 2.8%, Iglesia ni Kristo - 2.3%, Aglipayan 2%, Other Christians 4.5%) – as per 2000 census. Now it is said that Aglipayan is the second largest Christian community in Philippines)

(Iglesia ni Kristo/Christo or INC - which means ‘Church of Christ’ originated in Philippines; founded by Felix Y Manalo on July 27 1914 and he claimed that this is the reestablishment of the original church founded by Jesus himself. This community has great political influence in Philippines.

Aglipayan – founded by Gregorio Aglipay. Official name is ‘Iglesia Filipina Independiente’ or Philippine Independent Church.)

And what is special about these two nations compared to the rest of the world. I am not talking about the culture or people. What is their achievement ‘just coz countrymen are Christians? ‘

Nothing at all. In both countries you can see crimes of all sorts, why should I tell one by one? Whatever ‘bad’ things you see in the rest of the world can be seen in these two nations. These two Christian dominated countries are just two another countries with their own problems like rest of the countries and Christian status did not help them, though a nation is formed by people and religion has got something to do with people. Same with Islamic, Buddhist (or anyother religion) countries.

The U.S is the largest consumer of cocaine, in the world. World’s one of the top illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine.

And what is Philippines known for in the world? Its very well known for Sex Tourism. There is another Asian country where a religion has domination, Thailand, filled with Buddhists. It also is known for Sex Tourism.

Production of illicit methamphetamine in Philippines is a big problem even now for the government. A big consumer of amphetamines, producer of marijuana (mainly in rural areas).

No offence meant to anybody from these countries. I have great respect for these countries and the people (more than that, most of my friends are from Philippines, as on today, and hence I love that country and will visit one day)

My point is just changing the religion is totally meaningless….My point is, these countries are just like any other country… After one or two months, you are in the same stage. (and in India, there was a case where a group of converted people approached Arya Samaj and changed their religion back to Hindu)

So, what should a religious person do?

Stick to your religion, be a better Christian, be a better Muslim, be a better Jew, be a better Hindu, be a better Buddhist……… and be a good human, and if possible, leave the atheists and non-believers alone, coz, they too have a place in this world.

Me and Religions III

He said ‘ I don’t have any issue publishing this ad, since it is my job. But I tell you, you won’t get not even a single response from a decent Christian family for sure. It also is my job to make sure that our customers get maximum response, so, I suggest you to change the wordings. Thus I changed it into ‘Religion is not a criterion’. He accepted it and said, but don’t expect good proposals. I said, its OK.

He was absolutely right, not even a single decent proposal!!!.

I also replied to some of the ads given by Christians, but no response. I even responded to a Christian girl’s proposal who can’t bear child, no response. ... I replied to an Christian orphan…I got a reply from her guardian ‘ I liked you very much, but her patron is an Italian lady and she rejected your proposal’

To tell the truth, I felt hurt, coz, my intention was good. Did I feel like Jesus ditched me? And did I dump Jesus from my life? The answer is, NO!

For a year or so, I did not even think about a marriage.

Any regrets now for not marrying a Christian girl? No.


I had affiliation with an Islam group who used to provide me Islamic books free of cost for reading purpose. I had read some Buddhism related things and am reading a book by Sogyal Rinpoche. I have some basic idea about Judaism too.

So, what does it mean? It can mean many things but among that one thing is, before one comment on any other religion, or propagate one’s religion/belief, the first step one need to do is understand the counterparts.

I will try to comment on most of these things one by one…..when? I don’t know depending upon my mood.

Me and Religions II

I had taken up a Bible course (well two in fact) and lived like a Christian during and sometime after that course. I wasn’t testing Jesus but I believed in him as an incarnation of love and offered all my prayers only to Jesus. My desk was filled with Christian literatures, and pamphlets. One was from an international Bible school from the U.S and other one was from a Kerala (my native State in India) based Bible school.

(Did any person influence me to turn my head towards Christianity? Some people asked me who is behind you….and one of my cousins suspected my then Guitar tutor who used to play guitar in many gospel bands (local ones)…he taught me chords for some popular gospel songs and was ready to introduce me to some gospel band. He was like a brother to me and I called him adding ‘ichayan’ with his name, which means elder brother and that’s the way the Christians in my State used to address their elder brothers. But was he the man behind me? Nope, then who was it? It’s a secret…lol)

The international course did not provide me any personal attention. They did not clear my doubts directly but provided me some Indian address and asked me to contact them and insisted me to get baptized. Their business was over!

The other one was carried out by a humble man who really believed in Jesus, it seems. He too made a living by selling so many books on Christianity written by him, and I bought whatever books he suggested (I bought about 8-10 books). He gave me replies in his own handwriting (I was touched that time) for whatever I asked. And when the course was over, he just sent blessings and asked me to keep Christian values in my life and he did not ask me to get baptized.

That time, I was 27-28 years of age. I decided to marry a Christian girl. In India, even now, matrimonial ads are quite popular. I drafted an ad which read I am a Hindu but invites proposals from Christian girls. And went to the matrimonial section of the “Malayala Manorama’ daily, which is considered as a Christian news paper but read also by many secular people like me. When the clerk saw my ad (who was a Christian), he smiled at me and asked what is wrong with me!!!

Me and Religions I

The headline of ‘The Times of India’, was ‘Christian activity banned in Tirumala’. (This is a Bennett, Coleman & Co. MNC paper), two days ago.

As per the new Government Order no other religion (than Hindu) shall be allowed to be propagated in Tirumala area.

Do I agree to that Government Order? Yes I do.

Though religion is not a thing which I discuss with people, usually, that too often, I was asked to comment on it, many times by many of my friends. One person asked my opinion when a close relative changed religion from Hindu to Christian. Another one when a Christian by birth person embraced Hinduism then there was one incident where a famous poet/writer changed her religion from Hinduism to Islam (the funny part is a Muslim writer changed his religion from Islam to Buddhism, sarcastically). And some others asked me to tell something about religion. Both about Hinduism and then the conversion part too. Then somebody asked what you mean by spiritual and not religious?

And why some of my friends asked me to comment on it? Well it’s a good question..................

She

She liked his company
He liked her company too

She loved him for sure
He loved her like sugar

She did not tell him that she loves him
He too did the same

She thought he will tell
He thought she will tell

She waited for long time
He too waited for long time

There came another she and
She said to him

He walked out
Holding her hand

She remained in pain
Pain, its pain

Tell it, tell it
Tell it when you want to tell it.

HE

I looked at HIM
HE looked at me too

‘Don’t you care for me’ I asked
HE just stared at me

‘Yup, I know you don’t care’
HE smiled at me

‘Do you love me?’ I asked HIM
The smile again

‘Really?’
HE giggled, like a teenage girl.

Yes, HE loves YOU!

Two Shames

During my college days, I used to watch Amitabh Bachchen’s movies and he was one of my fav actor in Hindi movies. He mostly played the angry young man. My admiration towards him wasn’t coz of his high quality acting. But when he become old, he showed lots of maturity and my level of appreciation changed from what it was to his acting skills. And today he is one of the Top Bolliwood actors. I developed a sort of respect also towards him. He is a multi millionaire now.

There is one actress (mostly item number) who all of a sudden became ‘popular’ or better say grabbed attention by a kiss episode, Rakhi Sawant. I never had any respect for her for her cheap tricks to gain popularity (she went to one of her friends’ party (a popular singer) and then lodged a complaint with the police saying the guy who organized the party, her friend, forcefully kissed her).

Amitabh bought 24 acres of farmland (which is to be bought by a farmer and used for farming purpose by law) by declaring himself as a farmer. Now the authorities have found that out. And he is in trouble. Shame on him.

Rakhi said (when she was 13) she ‘used her body’ to pay the hospital bills when her mother was admitted in a hospital and she left penniless. If it was any doc or hospital authorities that ‘used’ her body to settle the accounts, when she was in trouble, SHAME ON HIM/THEM

Festivals

I don’t know the reason but we shifted from that house to another. And here I finished my 4th grade and that was the last class available in that school. So, that means I need to go to another school from next year onwards. I finished my 4th grade with first class but the last word from my teacher wasn’t ‘best wishes’ but she told my mom that there is no place left in my body to be beaten by her. She was a ‘terror’ – Radhamani teacher.

Once she had asked the class what we want to become when we grow up. Many students said ‘police’ , ‘driver’ , ‘conductor’ (a person who issues tickets in transport bus) etc and I don’t remember what I said. Or may be she did not ask me.....

My dad did not show any interest in admitting me to any school and finally mom took me to a nearby school which had very bad reputation. Some of our relatives and mom’s one of the colleagues (who was close to our family) advised her that she is spoiling my future since I was good at studies.

Govt.Model High School

Thus before attending even once day, I joined another school. This was a government school, known mainly for student protests and strikes!. But it also had a reputation.

I did not have any friends in my neighborhood. This was mainly because I had five cousins with me (out of 27) and four of them used to play with me and my sis. The eldest was a kind of rowdy that time and used to beat his younger siblings. So, I wasn’t that friendly with him during my childhood.

Diwali was one of our favorite festivals, apart from the most popular Onam (during August-September). It was during Diwali we burst fire crackers and most of the time I used to get some burn (by experimenting new things) which I hid from my dad.

Onam days were grand. 10 days of holiday. Four days of feast (Sadhya) with different sweets. Usually some of our relative might invite us to have feast with them during the third or fourth day. Thus it will be different set of dishes. Though the curries would be same by name, taste will be different. The feast would consist of minimum of three pickles (ginger, lemon and mango), one mixed vegetable curry called ‘Aviyal’, one or two fried vegetables called ‘thoran’ (like cabbage, beans, bitter gourd etc), then this pachadi, kichadi, banana chips(vattal), banana chip coated with jaggery (uppery), then papad (another thin and round fried item) and many more, all these are side dishes and there will be some main curry which we pour and mix with rice. They are parippu, sambar, rasam, pulissery, mor (spiced buttermilk).

The major item is the sweet served at the end (but one). One day it would be Vermicelli (called semya, a kind of pasta stuff) payasam. Then kadala payasm, palada payasam, pradhaman, jackfruit payasam, etc. Onam feast is a traditional vegetarian feast, all over our state, Kerala

Onam is play time too. We get new cloths, new ball to play, we fly kites…..Dad’s eldest brother used to sponsor the swing, always. My dad used to make kites. And most of the time he accompanied us with glue and paper just in case to repair the kites. Those days were real fun. What is the idea behind Onam? It’s allover there in the net. One way, its a harvest festival.

Floral decoration (Attha Poo or Pookkalam) is another thing that happens during Onam, done in the morning.




We do this for 10 days (all over the state, it starts and ends on the same day). We need to pluck the flower/buds in the evening itself else others will 'steal' it. Elders used to present others a small 'yellow' cloth. And for me, it was my dad who used to give.

Lots of many other activities happen during onam in our state, other than this; especially in the rural areas. Like, boat race (Vallam Kali), Thiruvathira kali ( a traditional dance form of kerala ) etc.

Thiruvathira Kali

Vallam Kali (Boat Game/race)

For us, the city people, there was this 'procession' where many agencies participate (major government departments, schools, florists etc) on 4th onam day. People take place on both sides of the road and watch. This travels about 5 kilometers.

Another major festival we eagerly used to wait is the Vishu, during April..

Kanikonna Tree During April


Two things are part of this festival. One the ‘Vishu Kani’. Here, we keep lots of fruits and vegetables (mango, usually as a bunch is a must then cucumber, jack fruit etc etc) , flowers (Yellow one calle Kani Konna is a must), ornaments (which symbolically represents the prosperity) etc and there will be pictures/idols of God Vishnu (in the form of Guruvayurappan or Krishna) at the centre. We will lit a lamp in the morning. This is usually done by elder women member of the family. What we have to do is see this first thing in the morning. When we wake up, we need to cover our eyes and come to the place where (usually the pooja room) this Kani is placed. Kids are usually wakened up by moms and they will cover the kids eyes with their palms.

Vishu Kani

But for us, the interesting part is the second aspect of it. The ‘Vishu Kaineettam’ That is, elders (or to be precise the family head) have to give some money (usually coins) to the younger members of the family. Thus I used to get some money from my dad, mom, some uncles, aunties etc. This is not a silly thing and sometimes, we get a decent saving. But I used to spent the money by buying ice cream, toys, comic etc.

Karthika was another festival we used to celebrate. During this day, we lit small oil lamps and keep it on our compound wall, entrance of our house etc.

A typical Karthika lamp

During Christmas, I used to buy Christmas greeting cards. Either I gave it to one or two cousins or I kept it with me!

I think that was the time Autorickshaws started plying on the road.

'Auto'

I told my parents I want to travel in that. But it took long time and finally, one day I traveled in it and felt like I am a prince. Those days, the bus fare started at 10 paise (and today, 10 paise coin itself is not there due to inflation – 100 paise = 1 Rupee). Those days, even one paisa had a value. We could buy two peanut candy with one paisa.

My family never had any pleasure trips or picnics. I did not have good relations with any of my relatives except those 4 cousins, during my childhood. When I grew up, one or two got added up, that’s all. Otherwise, I grew up in a kind of lonely environment and may be coz of that, I like my company. I was comfortable in the solitude in multitude coz, inside my mind, it was multitude in solitude.

Karma

May 13 2005

Dear......,

..............
..............

So, this time I will tell you something about Karma. I think it is the most popular Indian word in English. But people dont know what exactly it is. Many of them simply believe that 'if you do this this will be the effect' -cause and effect- as karma. Though it is not wrong, one can always learn more about karma.

As everyone believes, karma is the effect of our act. When you come to this world as a human, you are not sent empty handed. You are provided with a wallet with some money to spend. And then whether you like it or not, want or do not want, you earn more and more money, karma.

Spending this money is like planting seeds, generally speaking. It will give you some fruits one day or another. And dont ask me from where that first dose of karma came. It is like asking which came first , the hen or the egg (at least for me)

Karma can be further divided into four (some say it is three and some may say it is more than four, I am telling you what I understood so far) They are

1.Sanchita Karma
2.Prarabdha Karma
3.Agami Karma
4.Kriyamana Karma

1.Sanchita karma : It is the sum total of all the karmas you hold. It is the result of all the actions from all your past life times. One can change one's sanchita karma through satsang, meditation , prayaschitta and similar good acts (I am talking about the bad karma)

2.Prarabdha karma: Actully, this is part of sanchita karma. But it is this karma that caused you to take this birth. This is the cause for your rebirth. That is, these are the fruits of the seeds you planted in your past lifes but could not eat the fruits. These are ripe fruits. So you can not change it. Good or Bad, you cant eascape from Prarabdha karma. One does not hold any control over it.

3.Agami karma: This is the karma you are earning or saving for your future. I read somewhere that this karma can also be called kriyamana karma. But I have confusion. So, I am passing that confusion to you also. You clear it.

4.Kriyamana karma: This is Instant karma (not that music band ..ha ha). You get the result immediately, no need to wait. While shaving you got cut your face and there comes the blood. Your head bumbed on a wall and there comes the buldge, you pinch your son and there he cries.....

Many says there is an example in our vedantic knowledge. I dont know from which scripture it came. But usually people use that as the best exmple to explain karma.

Consider this : An archer stands with a filled quiver. He took one arrow and sent it towards the target. Then he took another arrow in his bow and is ready to shoot.The arrow he already sent is the prarabdha karma. Now he dont have any control over it. (unless and until he is not
that an expert to use the second arrow to divert the first one)The arrow he has with his bow, now, is the Agami karma.The still not used arrows left in the quiver is the sanchita karma.

This the basic thing about karma.....oh! it became a looong mail..
convey my regards to all at home and love to your son.

bye for now and take care

with prayers,

Jayaram

Topperless!

I was wondering how this world would be without college toppers and rank holders. When the results for my 10th exam came, one of my schoolmate (Hari) got the second rank in my state, another one got 10th rank (John Joseph, who at least used to smile at me) and I think my 7th standard science teacher’s son Santhosh George also got some ranks….after some years, one of my relatives came out with 4th rank in SSLC (10th grade) exam. There came many more ranks in medical and engineering entrance exams from my college then……..John also got some ranks I think. He was in my class during PUC or (11 and 12 grade) – ( I was out of the class most of the time….lol)

But where are they? The cream students? ….that relative of mine ended up as a bank officer…….and John became a Surgeon. ….no idea about others….

I am not concluding on anything, I do have respect for all those toppers and their valuable contributions, but sharing something that I found interesting…..look at some of these people from many walks of our life – science, literature, business, music, sports, invention, service, politics…..

Albert Einstein (continued his education later)
Bill Gates
Bryan Adams
Princess Diana
Christina Aguilera
Dhirubhai Ambani (self made Indian businessman – billionaire)
Boris Becker
Pierce Brosnan
Jim Carrey
Charlie Chaplin
Charles Dickens
Agatha Christie
Jackie Collins
Christopher Columbus
Sean Connery
Daniel Craig
Tom Cruise
Johnny Depp
Cameron Diaz
Celine Dion
George Eastman
Thomas Alva Edison
Michael Faraday
Henry Ford
Benjamin Franklin
Harry Houdini
Elton John
Nicole Kidman
John Major
George Michael
Marilyn Monroe
Roger Moore
Florence Nightingale
Al Pacino
Alexander Pope
William Shakespeare
George Bernard Shaw
George Washington
Walt Disney (received honorary high-school diploma from hometown high school at age 58).

This is only part of the list which is very long….

All these people were dropouts…..a couple of them continued studies but they weren’t toppers for sure.

May be this is an interesting post for my son!!!

Grrrrrrrr, you better study.