A group of working adults got together to  visit their University lecturer.

The lecturer was happy to see them.  Conversation soon turned into

complaints about stress in work and  life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the  kitchen to get an assortment of

cups – some porcelain, some in plastic, some in  glass, some plain looking

and some looked rather expensive and  exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the  cups to get drinks for

themselves.

When all the  students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer  spoke:

“If you noticed, all the nice looking,  expensive cups were taken up,

leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it  is normal that you only

want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your  problems and

stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we  unconsciously

went for the better cups.”

                  “Just  like in life, if Life is Water,

        then  the jobs, money and position in society are the cups.

                They  are just tools to hold/maintain Life,

                 but  the quality of Life doesn’t change.”

                   “If  we only concentrate on the cup,

           we  won’t have time to enjoy/taste the water in it.”

                                                            -Mother Teresa

A FLOWER ALL THE WAY FROM THAILAND . . .

THE VERY RARE PARROT FLOWER

A little boy asked his mother, “Why are you crying?” “Because I’m a woman,” she told him.

“I don’t understand,” he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, “And you never will.”

Later the little boy asked his father, “Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?”

“All women cry for no reason,” was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, “God, why do women cry so easily?”

God said:

“When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world,

yet gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.

And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed.”

“You see my son,” said God, “the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart – the place where love resides.”

ham hai.n mushtaaq aur vo bezaar
yaa ilaahii ye maajaraa kyaa hai

[mushtaaq=interested; bezaar=displeased/sick of]

mai.n bhii muu.Nh me.n zabaan rakhataa huu.N
kaash puuchho ki muddaa kyaa hai

jab ki tujh bin nahii.n koii maujuud
phir ye ha.ngaamaa, ai Khudaa kyaa hai

qataah:

ye parii cheharaa log kaise hai.n
Gamazaa-o-ishvaa-o-adaa kyaa hai

shikan-e-zulf-e-ambarii kyo.n hai
nigah-e-chashm-e-surmaa saa kyaa hai

[shikan=wrinkle, ambarii=fragrance]

sabazaa-o-gul kahaa.N se aaye hai.n
abr kyaa chiiz hai havaa kyaa hai

hamako unase vafaa kii hai ummiid
jo nahii.n jaanate vafaa kyaa hai

haa.N bhalaa kar teraa bhalaa hogaa
aur darvesh kii sadaa kyaa hai

[darvesh=medicant; sadaa=voice]

jaan tum par nisaar karataa huu.N
mai.n nahii.n jaanataa duaa kyaa hai

mai.n ne maanaa ki kuchh nahii.n ‘Ghalib’
muft haath aaye to buraa kyaa hai

din bhii chup chaap sar jhukaaye thaa
raat kii nafz bhii thamii sii hai

kisako samajhaaye.N kisakii baat nahii.n
zahan aur dil me.n phir Thanii sii hai

Khvaab thaa yaa Gubaar thaa koii
gard in palako.n pe jamii sii hai

kah gae ham kisase dil kii baat
shahar me.n ek sanasanii sii hai

hasarate.n raakh ho gaii.n lekin
aag ab bhii kahii.n dabii sii hai