Today's Sith

Have you not heard the Story of Dr. Haneef? The poor soul who was traumatized and used by politicians in power to create an opinion wave that favored them; to invoke fear in THEIR OWN fellow citizens and use that to their advantage. All this to get back the power they think they might lose. Human rights, feelings and existence of an individual, doesn't matter to them! What matters is POWER! For them an individual is just a minnow that can be crushed on their overzealous greedy march to power.

All over the world anti-terrorist laws that are anti-democratic, and that goes against human-rights, seem to be the fad. Is curtailing democracy and human rights the solution to terrorism? Isn’t the lack of democracy and human rights the cause of terrorism; not the solution? P V Narasimharao - India's Former Prime Minister - once said: "The answer to the problems of democracy is more, not less, democracy". Aren’t the people aware of this fact? Perhaps some are. And yes, they are trying to “educate” the crowd about the impending danger. But their voices are not heard. They are lost in the cry for "more security". But why? Are people so deaf... or dumb? Are they so lost in their “phobia” of “world not being a safe place”.

The current affairs of anti-terrorist laws reminds me of “Star Wars: The revenge of the Sith”. I see the current affairs similar to the storyline of Star Wars. There are common threads between the Dark Sith Lod - Darth Sidious - and today’s supporters of anti-terror laws, who wield the power.

Let us go through the script of the movie and compare it with what is happening today. [ Note: I have used the term “Today's Sith” (T-Sith) to represent today’s power bearers who support "anti-terrorist" (read anti-democratic) laws ]

Scene1 - First move of T-Sith: In this move T-Sith attempts to gain more power by curtailing the human rights, claiming that that is for improving the "security" of the citizens, and that democracy will suffer "a bit" as they have "no other options"

ANAKIN stands with PALPATINE at his window overlooking the vastness of Coruscant. Several buildings have been destroyed. A brown haze hangs over the landscape.
PALPATINE: Anakin, this afternoon the Senate is going to call on me to take direct control of the Jedi Council.
ANAKIN: The Jedi will no longer report to the Senate?
PALPATINE: They will report to me . . . personally. The Senate is too unfocused to conduct a war. This will bring a quick end to things.
ANAKIN: I agree, but the Jedi Council may not see it that way.
PALPATINE: There are times when we must all endure adjustments to the constitution in the name of security.
ANAKIN: With all due respect, sir, the Council is in no mood for more constitutional amendments.
PALPATINE: Thank you, my friend, but in this case I have no choice . . . this war must be won.
ANAKIN: Everyone will agree on that.
PALPATINE: I need your help, son.
ANAKIN: What do you mean?
PALPATINE: I fear the Jedi. The Council keeps pushing for more control. They're shrouded in secrecy and obsessed with maintaining their autonomy . . . ideals. I find simply incomprehensible in a democracy.
ANAKIN: I can assure you that the Jedi are dedicated to the values of the Republic, sir.
PALPATINE: Nevertheless, their actions will speak more loudly than their words. I'm depending on you.
ANAKIN: For what? I don't understand.
PALPATINE: To be the eyes, ears, and voice of the Republic . . .
ANAKIN thinks about this.
PALPATINE: (continuing) Anakin . . . I'm appointing you to be my personal representative on the Jedi Council.
ANAKIN: Me? A Master? I am overwhelmed, sir, but the Council elects its own members. They will never accept this.
PALPATINE: I think they will . . . they need you more than you know.

Scene2 - T-Sith’s second move: Shut the mouth of those who argue for democracy. Assure the supporters of "democracy" that the anti-terror laws are "temporary". That the laws will not be misused. And that they got to "trust" the T-Sith so that he can quash the bigger threat - the terrorists.

PALPATINE listens to a delegation from the Senate, which includes PADME and five other Senators: NEE ALAVAR, FANG ZAR, MALEDEE, SWEITT CONCORKILL, and MON CALAMARI. ANAKIN stands to one side of PALPATINE.
PALPATINE: I understand your reservations completely, Senator, and I assure you the appointment of Governors will in no way compete with the duties of the Senate.
PADME: May I take it then, that there will be no further amendments to the Constitution?
PALPATINE: I want this terrible conflict to end as much as you do, My Lady, and when it does I guarantee an immediate return to democracy . .

Scene3 - T-Sith's third move: With threat and an iron hand crush those who still harp on democracy. Herman Goering, the old Nazi, once said, "People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. All you have to do is tell them they're being attacked and denounce the pacifists for a lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

OBI-WAN: Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic... to democracy.
ANAKIN: If you're not with me, you're my enemy.
OBI-WAN: Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes. I will do what I must.

Guess the same thing is happening now. The philosophy in vogue is: "If you speak against us, you are a terrorist and we will hunt you down". Remember what Bush said. He said exactly what the "dark force" in ANAKIN said.

Scene4 - T-Sith's fourth move, which I believe is yet to happen. This is most likely to happen if citizens of the world don't act now: The T-Sith will prolong the war on terror thus helping himself to play with power and gain more power by using the anti-democratic laws to his advantage. When he is confident that the power with him is absolute, make the anti-democratic laws the norm, claiming that those laws helped the "citizens" to “regain peace”

PALPATINE continues his speech at the podium.
PALPATINE: The war is over. (applause) The Separatists have been defeated, (applause) and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning.
There is a long period of APPLAUSE.
PADME: Well, this is the moment we discover if he intends to return the Republic to a democracy.
PALPATINE: In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years.
There is a loud, sustained CHEER from the Senate. BAIL ORGANA and PADME sit, dumbfounded.
PALPATINE: (continuing) An empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body, and a sovereign ruler chosen for life . . .
The Senate CHEERS again. BAIL and PADME are devastated. PADME begins to cry.
PALPATINE: (continuing) An empire ruled by the majority . . . Ruled by a new constitution . . .
The Senate APPLAUDS.
PADME: So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause . . .

I hope the real world democracy will not come to an end like that - with THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE. The responsibility for that lies in our hands.

PS: Also read Arundhati Roy's NY lecture on freedom: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy

Elisa Sabu's Performance

Elisa sabu's devotional malayalam song. I liked the beats, music and Elisa's voice. Even the accent gives the song a special touch

Russell Peter's Indian Accent...

Funny one...

It is never too late to chase your dreams

Check this video of Jack Reeve the tap dancer...

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The Stranger

As narrated by Soham Bandyopadhyay

She was getting engaged
And all I could do was stand by and applaud along with all. I didn't dare open my mouth for fear of saying something stupid. Something like "I LOVE YOU"

I remembered the other day when she had come to with red eyes. Her "best friend" was going away. It has never mattered to me that her best friend was a guy. I thought I was above such things. But then her tears awoke the sin of jealousy in my heart. Fighting it, I had consoled her and gave her chocolates to eat. She proceeded to rest her head in the crook of my arm. And promptly fell asleep. I chuckled at her baby - like innocence. But now, as I applaud, I felt something stabbing my heart.

She was getting married
I saw her come down the stairs decked out in her bridal finery. Never has I seen her looking this pretty. I saw her taking the seven rounds around the sacred fire with the man I had come to hate, holding his hand. I saw her engaging garlands with him.

She was a total stranger to me now.
I was standing near the car when they came over to me. I wondered what they wanted. I wondered what to sat. Farewell to the departed.

Nevertheless, as my daughter and son-in-law touched my feet, I blessed them. She was openly crying. I told her not to worry. That I'll be here. She responded by hugging me. And I could not stop tears anymore.

The middle finger greeting

Another question on 'super souls': If you show your middle finger at Satan, how will he react? Will he be furious at the dareness of an earthling to lift his middle finger against the mighty Satan? Will he burn that middle finger of yours for the disrespect you showed? Will he turn you into ashes? Of course not! He will definitely not be angry! On the contrary he will be happy! Why? Coz raising the middle finger is an offense to the good guys. Not to the bad guys. For the bad guys that act is like "politely" saying "hello". The more abusive words one can use against an evil spirit the more happy it will be. It is like a foreigner talking to you in your native language. You would be glad to hear him talking to you in your mother tongue, won't you?

So... If that is the case, what would an evil spirit hate? - The opposite of abusive words! i.e. words like "I love you", "hello dear" etc. For them, good words and deeds, especially those directed towards them are anathema and torture. They simply can't stand it? They consider that as 'rude'! Guess that is the reason why the saying goes "Love thy enemies". That is the one true way to inflict true damage to your enemy provided the enemy is with the "bad guys".

On Hell Fire

One doubt. How will you treat your good performers when they return after successfully completing an assignment? Will you ill treat them and punish them for their good service? Guess not.

Why would Mr. Satan ill treat the souls that are sent to hell when he knows very well that those souls favored him while they were in earth by committing quite a number of sins? Why would he let those souls burn in the "fire of hell"? Is hell facing a fuel shortage that it needs souls as fuel?

May be the big boss of hell is not satisfied with their performance. May be he thinks that those souls could have committed more sins; that they could have done better. But, if that is the case, then almost all souls will find it difficult to get a good treatment in hell. After all who can match the 'high' expectation of ol' Lucifer. Almost no one is going to be a perfect angel on earth nor will any one be a perfect daemon. So... does it mean that almost all sinners are gonna go to the red region of perdition due to not meeting Satan's expectations? Satan is known to be void of 'kindness' to consider the fact that one did his/her best to do as many sins as possible. That means almost all sinners are gonna taste 'fire of hell'.

But why fire? Why not ice water? Is hell facing a fuel shortage?

Generous vs Selfish Gift

"A gift is not generous unless it is intended to benefit the recipient and is worth more than what is expected or customary in the situation; a gift is selfish if it is given to benefit the giver or is less valuable than is customary." Says a book that I read.

Looking back, I had my share of "selfish" and "generous" gifts. I remember my friends gifting me a book with the intention to read it themselves. Today I don't know where that book is. Guess it is with one of them or their acquaintances.

My younger sister is good in gifting me "generously". Often she has gifted me the stuffs that I needed and have found good use. Guess gifting generously is a skill.

Paul Pott's Magic

This is called drama in life - drama in REAL life: Paul Potts - a person with a humble background, who lacks self confidence, who was bullied in childhood days, who worked in The Carphone Warehouse - performs opera and stuns the audience and judges with his vocal ability to get a standing ovation from them...

Do you know what made him tick? He concentrated on his strong point - his music - and nothing else! That made the difference!

Watch the video. Take a note of the judges' rolling their eyes when Paul expresses his wish to sing opera (Nessun Dorma)... and then their jaws dropping when Paul starts singing. Also checkout the standing ovation and incessant claps he gets.

Scott's Career Advice

Here's Scott Adem's career advice (click here). Quite insightful...

Tip to increase the hits on your website

Today, this blog 'officially' touched grand hits. On this occassion I would like to share one tip with the readers, if any. It is on how to increase the hits on your website/blog. The ones who are already 'wise' on this matter can ignore this post. The rest can continue reading.

All you need to do is pick up one hot celebrity, say Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, and add the words "hot pics of so-and-so", "nude pics of dash" etc. If you add the names of more celebrities, your site will get more hits... Try it out. I rode the wave of Mini Mathur's fame ;-)

Rangers ride: Mentation

I have come across quite a number of articles like this one (click here) that talk about motorcycle riders. Guess these days very very long bike rides are becoming common in India. Some random thoughts on these rides.

• Do these riders 'really' ride for a cause, as mentioned in the dailies? Couldn't there be some other 'real' motives behind the ride? - Like getting their name published in a national newspaper, helping bolster their resume etc.
• Adventurous folks are becoming common. Folks (read parents) who detest adventure should learn something from these news clips.

Flash Video Format: A wonderful Technology

Adobe's FLV (Flash Video Format) is just superb! What I like about the format is that it has kept the "usability" factor of the end user as its corner stone. The slide bar gives the user amazing control over the streaming video. It gives the user the control to decide where in the video he has to start or end, even while the buffering is going on. Other video formats lack this capability. Often the user has to wait for the entire buffering to complete to see the clip. And the control he has on the slide bar of other streaming formats is less. Click here to read more on FLV.

PS: There is a Greasemonkey script available to download FLV files from youtube. Click here to learn more

Amit Paul

Well... My recents posts might have hinted that I closely watch the Indian Idol show. One comment on Amit Paul. I just loved the way he came back strongly after being voted out. Given below his last two week's performance. As of now, he is way way ahead of others....

13th July 07 Performance

6th July 07 Performance

Shabana's Advice

Liked this word of wisdom from Shabana Azmi : "I want to tell you something that I have learned from my life. When you participate in a competition, you have to play to win. There can be no second best. You need to develop the killer instinct".

Reminded me of my old philosophy: "Trying" is a waste of time if you won't succeed.

Click here to see the video. The advice comes towards the end.

Thanks Mini Mathur ;-)

Offlate the hits on my blog started sky rocketing. Curious to know the cause of it, I checked the logs and found the culprit - Mini Mathur!! My previous post on Mini Mathur and google was the cause of the high hit! I guess this post will just accelerate the hits. Thanks to google search.

The following search words in google leads to my blog!!
mini mathur, mini mathur birthday year, mini mathur's height, mini mathur hot photos, mini mathur hot pic, mini mathur personal life, mini mathur wedding pictures, hot photos of mini mathur, mini mathur naked photos, mini mathur naked, hot photos of mini mathur etc etc

Sorry to disappoint you folks, who were (and are) looking for "hot" pics of Mini Mathur. You have REACHED THE WRONG WEBSITE!

And Thanks Mini Mathur for making my blog so popular ;-) Didn't know that you had such a huge fan following :-)

PS: I think the only person who has Mini's "hot" pics is Kabir Khan - her husband. Why don't you check with him ;-)

Kabir and Mini

Fastest Man on No Legs

I could never imagine authorities checking an amputee to verify if he/she has an 'unfair advantage' over 'normal people'. With his determination, Oscar Pistorius, just forced the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to do that unimaginable. Click here to read more.

Pink Slips

Today my ex-project manager mailed me her resume seeking opportunities in MBI. She is in US. I replied providing her whatever info I knew. Felt bad about not being able to help her to the full extend. Pink slips are terrible... Hope she gets a good job.

Result of Initiative

Some years ago, three brothers left the farm to work in the city. They were all hired by the same company at the same pay. Three years later, Jim was being paid $500 a month, Frank was receiving $1,000, but George was now making $1,500.

Their father decided to visit the employer. He listened to the confused father and said, " I will let the boys explain for themselves."

Jim was summoned to the supervisor's office and was told, "Jim, I understand the Far East Importers has just brought in a large transport plane loaded with Japanese import goods. Will you please go over to the airport and get a cargo inventory?"

Three minutes later, Jim returned to the office. "The cargo was one thousand bolts of Japanese silk," Jim reported. "I got the information over the telephone from a member of the crew."

When Jim left, Frank, the $1,000 a month brother, was called. "Frank," said the supervisor, "I wish you'd go out to the airport and get an inventory of the cargo plane which was just brought in by Far East Importers."

An hour later, Frank was back in the office with a list showing that the plane carried 1,000 bolts of Japanese silk, 500 transistor radios, and 1,000 hand painted bamboo trays.

George, the $1,500 a month brother, was given identical instructions. Working hours were over when he finally returned.

"The transport plane carried one thousand bolts of Japanese silk," he began. "It was on sale at sixty dollars a bolt, so I took a two-day option on the whole lot.

I have wired a designer in New York offering the silk at seventy-five dollars a bolt. I expect to have the order tomorrow. I also found five hundred transistor radios, which I sold over the telephone at a profit of $2.30 each.

There were a thousand bamboo trays, but they were of poor quality, so I didn't try to do anything with them."

When George left the office, the employer smiled. " You probably noticed," he said, "that Jim doesn't do what he's told, Frank does only what he'd told, but George does without being told."

Bernard Weber - The smart ass

I admire Bernard Weber. For he is perhaps the only person in history who has fooled millions across countries at the same time, and has made good money out of it. Smart and courageous entrepreneur. He even succeeded in fooling many country heads to go live on TV and urge their citizens to vote on Weber's website! His new7wonders.com played into the emotions of people and helped him fetch millions of dollars. Not many folks who visited his website and SMSed their choice knew that they are contibuting more to the coffers of this millionare. At that point of time all that mattered to them was emotion. Rationality took the back seat. I'm surprised why the fourth estate waited long to expose Weber!!

Btw, do you know his website's operation costs were minimum and efficient. Most of the softwares used by the website came from GNU/GPL open source. Here's a testimoney to that. I got this from new7wonders.com: "TYPO3 is a free open source Content Management Framework created by Kasper Skaarhoj and licensed under GNU/GPL."

Anyways, now that Berner chose the new seven wonders and made money, I'm eagerly awaiting his next new move. Am also thinking of starting a website called new7bangalore-wonders.com ;-)

Mini Mathur's Tips

Came across this link about Mini Mathur - a popular TV anchor who is an MBA. In this interview she talk about her marriage and work-life balance. Interesting excerpts are given below...

Q: You took a year long sabbatical from the telescreen. Tell us about your domestic life. You got married and have a baby. How do you balance your home and your career?

A: Very beautifully. I'm the kind of person who would be very unhappy not having a career. But I am lucky I have a great husband, Kabir Khan, who makes documentary films, so he understands how we function. He has always been very encouraging. So I've never had to adapt myself and be someone else. I've never felt shackled. We give each other phenomenal space. He also travels 65 days in the year and both of us are very busy. It's the most beautiful experience to go back to this lovely little baby at home after work. It makes life so much more worthwhile.

Q: Did your inter-religious marriage pose any problems?

A: Never. Both of us are not very religious. On a personal level we don't really sit and pray or anything, so it's never come in the way of our marriage. But he comes to my family's pujas and I am more than happy to be part of his family's religious functions. My child will decide when he is old enough to. He is only a year and a half old right now.

Q: How do you spend quality time together?

A: We spend Sundays together and whenever we are not shooting we catch up with each other. We brood that we don't have bank holidays etc like our other friends. We always bring work home and we never switch off, being in this line! We manage our yearly vacations though! I have a fantastic mother-in-law who takes care of my son when I am out shooting. So I am blessed with a great family and infrastructure and support system. I wouldn't have been able to do my work had it not been for her!

Here's more on her: Click here

Correct usage of "love"

Pick the correct usage

A) Love is blind
B) I'm in love
C) I fell in love

If you don't want to give your grey cells some exercise, I'll provide you the answers. Option-A is definitely incorrect. Love is never blind. YOU could be blind. That doesn't mean LOVE is blind. Blindness is associated with living things. Love is not a living thing. And hence it cannot be blind.

Love is like a ditch or cage. You can be IN a cage; locked and deprived of your freedom. Love can do the same thing to you. The English pundits have rightly used the preposition "IN" to describe love. No one says "I'm ON love" or “I’m BEFORE love”. They say: "I'm IN love". This brings back the cage simily. You can be IN a cage just as how you can be IN love.

The “ditch slimily” is much better than the “cage slimily”. For the simple reason that, many "experienced lovers" agree that they really FALL in love. They find it uncontrollable. Picturize this: A blind guy walking towards a ditch and then falling into it. There is no way how he can control the situation. Once in the ditch, he has got two choices: start liking his new environment i.e. the ditch, and continue living in it, OR try to get out from the ditch, for which he would need someone's help

So the best answer is C.

What do you think? Did someone help you get out? ;-)

What should I do with my life?

Something which you already know is seen through a different lens. Take a look at the article "What Should I Do With My Life?"

Job Interview - Honest HR Question-Answers

If we were to Honestly reply to all the HR Questions they would go something like this

1. Why did you apply for this job?
I have applied for many jobs along with this and you called me now.

2. Why do you want to work for this company?
I have to work for some company who ever gives me a job, I don't have any specific company in mind.

3. Why should I hire you?
You have to hire some one, you may give me a try.

4.What would you do if we hire you?
Well, it depends on my mindset but I will try to work on whatever is allotted to me.

5.What is your biggest strength?
Basically, daring to join any company who pays me well, without thinking of the fate of company.

6.What is your biggest weakness?
Girls

7.What was your worst mistake, and how did you learn from it?
Joining my earlier company and learn that I need to jump to get more money, so I am here today!

8. What accomplishments in your last position are you most proud of?
Had I accomplished any in my last position, why do I need to change my job? I could demand more and stay there.

9.Describe a challenge you faced and how you overcame it?
Biggest challenge is answering the question "why are you looking for a change" and I started blabbering irrelevantly to overcome that.

10.Why did you leave/ are you leaving your last job?
For the same reason why you left your earlier job... more money

11.What do you want from this job?
If no work is given but keep giving good hikes

12.What are your career goals and how do you plan to achieve them?
Make more money and for that keep jumping companies for every 2 yrs

13.Did you hear of our company and what do you know of us?
Yeah, I know that you will ask this, I've gone through your website

14.What is the salary expected and how do u justify that?
Well, no one will change job for the same salary, hence, give me 20% extra than what I am getting and that is unpublished industry standard (I know you will bargain on what ever I ask, hence, I have already hiked my current salary by 30%).

Another Eagle Story...

1. Eagles fly alone at a high altitude and not with sparrows or mix with other smaller birds. Birds of a feather flock together. No other bird goes to the height of the eagle. Eagles fly with eagles. Never in a flock. Even when Moses (Old Testament Bible) went to commune with God on the mountain‚ he left the crowd at the foothills. Stay away from sparrows and ravens. Eagles fly with eagles.

2. Eagles have strong vision‚ which focuses up to 5 kms from the air. When an eagle sites prey - even a rodent from this distance‚ he narrows his focus on it and sets out to get it. No matter the obstacle‚ the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.

3. Eagles do not eat dead things. He feeds on fresh prey. Vultures eat dead animals but not eagles. Steer clear of outdated and old information. Do your research well always.

4. The Eagle is the only bird that loves the storm. When clouds gather‚ the eagles get excited. The eagle uses the wings of the storm to rise and is pushed up higher. Once it finds the wing of the storm‚ the eagle stops flapping and uses the pressure of the raging storm to soar the clouds and glide. This gives the eagle an opportunity to rest its wings. In the meantime all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees. We can use the storms of our lives (obstacles‚ trouble‚ etc) to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish challenges and use them profitably.

5. The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate‚ she flies down to earth with the male pursing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her. Once she has reached a height high enough for her‚ she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The faster it falls‚ the faster he chases until he reaches it and has to catch it before it falls to the ground‚ then bring it back to the female eagle. The female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a much higher altitude pursued by the male until she perceives it high enough‚ and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours‚ with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of picking the twig which shows commitment‚ then and only then‚ will she allow him to mate with her! Whether in private life or in business‚ one should test commitment of people intended for partnership.

6. Eagles prepare for training . When about to lay eggs‚ the female and male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach; the male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff‚ then flies to earth again to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies back to earth picks thorns and lays them on top of the twigs. He flies back to earth and picks soft grass to cover the thorns‚ and then flies back to pick rugs to put on the grass. When this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and picks more thorns‚ lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass & rugs, and lays them on top of the thorns‚ then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs and protects them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones to fly‚ the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest and because they are scared‚ they jump into the nest again. Next‚ she throws them out and then takes off the soft layers of the nest‚ leaving the thorns bare. When the scared eaglets jump into the nest again‚ they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love them so much are torturing them. Next‚ mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in fear‚ father eagle flies out and picks them up on his back before they fall‚ and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for sometime until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this newfound knowledge that they can fly and not fall at such a fast rate. The father and mother eagle supports them with their wings. The preparation of the nest teaches us to prepare for changes; The preparation for the family teaches us that active participation of both partners' leads to success.

The being pricked by the thorns tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into our not experiencing life‚ not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of life come to teach us that we need to grow‚ get out of the nest and love on. We may not know it but the seemingly comfortable and safe haven may have thorns. The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us hard to grow and prosper. Even in their seemingly bad actions they have good intentions for us.

7. When the Eagle grows old‚ his feathers become weak and cannot take him as fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die‚ he retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there‚ he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers‚ then he can come out. We occasionally need to shed off old habits and items that burden us without adding to our lives.