Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!

- Jeff Bezos, concluding a talk at Princeton.

Animal Farm.

Yeah, so this is the latest book I read. Some piece of writing! Its funny and its sad. And it shows, remarkably, how power corrupts and concentration of power is such a bad thing.

There are a few takeaways from this brilliant work by George Orwell.

1. The obvious solution can have pitfalls, look before you rejoice.
Animals all too happy about their freedom, don't really consider that they are not actually free!

2. Speak up!
People remaining quiet is why things go from bad to worse. When you see something wrong, don't just sit there.

3. Analyze, discuss and analyze.
Dont believe propaganda and news items. Use your grey cells!

Fascinating read, this one!

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

-

Seneca

Opening Doors!

Whats with these locked doors all opening miraculously even when tapped gently?

A locked door is a cause of worry. Forcing one to consider all options, even of sleeping over at a friends place for the night in case all efforts go in vain. But once one gets to action, puff!! Its all a cloud of smoke!

I mean whats more formidable than a grill door made of iron? It has iron locks in iron latches. How can one open it possibly? Without the key that is.

But once you actually get down to work, size it up and shake it up a little bit, without much strength, it opens! As if it was all actually a sham, testing you.

Sometimes getting to the door can be a little tricky. Especially when it is not easily accessible. This happens mostly when the door which is accessible should not be broken open. Past skills come in handy in situations like this. A little help from neighnours is always welcome, resourcefulness is an essential quality afterall.

But once you get to the door. A gentle tap, thats all it takes. You touch it, size it up. Maybe give it a friendly thump and boom, it opens.

And life is good again!

Wait by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.
"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"
He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.
"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.
"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.
"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.
"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

How Did You?

Edumund Vance Cooke's poem. Ranjit section's favorite debate speech material!! (And most recently my refuge in the world of ToastMasters :D )

Did you tackle that came your way, with a resolute heart and cheerful?

Or hide your face from the light of day, with a craven soul and fearful!

Oh! A trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce.A trouble is what you make it.

Its not if you are hurt that counts, but only how did you take it.

You are fallen flat on earth?

Well, Well whats that? Its nothing against you to fall down flat!

But to lie there? Thats disgrace! Come up with a smiling face!

Its not whether you are licked that counts, its only how did you fight, and Why?

(Applause!)

Avoiding Trouble.

Be the change. What would you have achieved fifty-sixty years down the line? Living in a fancy house, driving a fancy car in old age?

If one isn't living according to one's values today then one is wasting away one's life. The opportunity cost is simply too high. Its your life. All of it. Living a hundred years with your head bowed down is worse than living for just a moment with your head held high.

So why avoid trouble?

When your conscience tells you, asks you, begs you to intervene; why let the psuedo-prudence prevail?

The world has a knack of brushing away as juvenile anything that is different from the conventional way of thinking. Most great people in history would testify to that.

It boils down to following your gut always. Thats the only voice there is. Everything else is relative.