Blog@GraceJunction

LIFE LESSONS

A church pastor once asked young men in the church to volunteer to sell new bibles in their neighbourhoods and raise some funds for the church. Three of them volunteered. Jack and Paul were professional salesman and so the pastor was glad. But Louis, was only a local farmer and he stammered too! However, not wanting to discourge him, the pastor sent them all off with a stock of bibles.

The following week, Jack proudly reported the sale of 20 bibles and Paul reported the sale of 28! The pastor was really impressed. When it was Louis turn, the pastor asked him, “Could you sell any at all?”. Louis handed him a packet, which the pastor discovered had proceeds of the sale of 320 bibles! (more…)

Hey Shridhar!

Sorry I did not get any reply from your personal mail id and did not have any contact numbers to get in touch with you for these last two years. Heard that you are doing well in life, that you joined an IT major and are now settled in the U.S. Ravi gave me the news when I was chatting with him. You are the only guy who has got settled so fast, but you deserve it.

It has been two desperate years for me, hunting jobs and making ends meet has been a Herculean task. Natasha and I soon moved in to another apartment after our graduations, she has landed a job in a bank and I am still languishing in a call centre, the same old routines, only thing that has changed is that now I am a floor manager. The BPO’s have been hit hard with the fall in number of clients due to the American slowdown. Pressures to keep our jobs are increasing and my medical bills are not likely to come down any time soon. (more…)

Some years ago when youngsters would be free and would want to unwind themselves, they would meet up with friends and have fun. The fun element would be derived from the various games they played, movies, music, lunch or dinner at a good restaurant, or just simple chitchat at a coffee shop or an ice cream parlor. But today if you think that the usual hotspots would be one of the coffee shops or favorite restaurants, you may be wrong. Those are a bit outdated now. The latest ‘cool’ hangouts are hookah bars or restaurants offering hookah facility. The latest trend rampantly creeping in amongst the teenagers and youngsters is the hookah trend, which is mistakenly believed to have no health implications. A new tobacco fad to attract the youngsters it seems. Another challenge for the government and anti tobacco campaigns trying to curb tobacco usage and smoking. So hookah trend is in. Is it in to devour the moralities, valuable time, health,talent and parents’ money or is just an instrument to relieve stress or a mere substitute for cigarettes?

What is a hookah used for anyway? Is it trendy? A cultural tradition, social activity or a substitute cigarette vice? A hookah, shisha or narghile is a water pipe used to smoke sweet-flavored tobacco. It can also be used to smoke other drugs as well. (more…)

“Dr. I am mad, I don’t have a brain”, were the first sentence I heard during my internship period in a clinical psychologist’s clinic. Next patient softly utters, “Nobody loves me.” Sitting in the room, I realize how many irrational thoughts encompass us: God is angry with me so I am depressed, or I am worthless or I am a failure, I don’t get anything right….

As I sit back and think about the patients and all that they spoke about during the session, I wonder what made them think the way they did. These patients didn’t have evidence to form basis for their thought.

Did they perceive things the way they wanted to? Yes to some extent. (more…)

Poison kills!!??
There is no need to add “kills” behind the word “Poison”. The word “Poison” itself is enough for even a small child to understand, what it does. However, I still chose to title this blog that way, because, sometimes, despite knowing many things, many people under-estimate or misinterpret the effect of the various kinds of poison that they consume or absorb. It is poison, and yet they almost relish it. Its time to shout, “Poison kills, Poison kills!!”

I will talk about “Bitterness“, a big time killer. It sprouts from “Unforgiveness“. How difficult it is to sometimes forgive someone for the way they hurt us? The tendency to not forgive is at times directly proportional to the intensity of the relationship and also to the intensity of the hurt. It becomes more difficult when our own people hurt us. We all, sometime or the other, suffer with this emotion of being hurt and of nurturing unforgiveness and slowly growing bitter inside. (more…)

A frustrated jobless youth strangled his mother to death for denying him money and kind of taunting him on his state of life!

The news left me in a shock. The mother who bears so much pain to give birth to her baby and just forgets about her pain totally for that joy that captivates her when she sees the little life in her hands, a part of her being.

This youth did not even remotely hesitate to kill his mother, let alone feeling any pain or remorse. It seems relationships do not matter any more in our educated, scientifically advanced world.

The world rather values the robots (that will catch the waves of your mind and do exactly what you want) more than the living human beings that live around, as the “dear” ones who are no more so dear, I guess. (more…)

Come Olympics and most of us would be glued to this mega event unfold itself. More so because the built up to it and the country in which it is taking place promises much drama. This is one event which commands the most number of eyeballs, with the Athens Olympics drawing more than 4 billion people watching it just on TV. Most of us have already witnessed the violence that has marred the carrying of the Olympic torch, which signifies the uniting thread between the ancient games and modern games.

The purpose of the ancient games has been replaced by the spirit of the modern games. The Greeks placed emphasis on the Artistic nature of athletics and the preparatory role it played for its warriors. Games were important due to the impact it had on the regions economy and politics. But over a period of time the athletes began to be paid heavily for their sporting achievements and sports heroes emerged resulting in the demise of the amateurs and with it so many other things that sports stood for. (more…)