The Bride of Brave Men

Mercy, the only request of a cornered man, is sought most by the person who makes an insincere attempt. The brave man, who is committed to his cause like water to ocean, never fails. He may face occasional hiccups in his path. These hiccups are more common in the early stages of the fight. As the fight progresses and as the resolve strengthens, the hiccups reduce both in frequency and in torment.
The beginning of any work, more so of a fight, is the most difficult. Only a strong heart and a kind mind can withstood the sting of the indecisive path experienced at the beginning. The strong heart bears all frustrations and still bustles with joy. The kind mind ensures that the salt in the comments of passerby is not taken seriously. The brave man fights and fights every battle as if it were the last of his life. He fights to win. Even if caught unaware or if cheated by fate or friends, he seeks no mercy. Till he gets a chance, which he is sure is destined to come, he moves assured basking in the belief that at the end of the journey victory shall be his bride.

Irritants-The Uncensored Grief

If you think that you have grievances against the other person, then remember that the other person also has grievances against you. You cannot just run away, hiding your soul and dirtying your tongue by blaming the other person for what you conceive are his faults. You have to grow up one day and acknowledge the faults within yourself.
If you seriously want to forget an episode, you need to take control over the mess that your interpretations of the episode have created. The best way to make peace with your people is to enliven stranded relations. Start by proving that you care and understand. Do not get back to the waiting game assuming that the other person should start the initiative. You may lose valuable moments that you could use otherwise. What is even more important is that you will also lose that invisible entity called peace with self.
The best way to re-ignite any bond is to initiate the proceedings. Do so without losing self-respect and do so for your own sake. You have got to spare yourself of needless suffering. Once you decide to cure strained relations, start moving. Propose change for mutual benefit. Forget the episode and forgive the transaction. The person, after-all is higher and greater than any lowly transaction.
However to enliven a strained past, you need to make a great stand and that is to change yourself. Fortunately that change is not costly. All you need to do is to remove that small irritant about the other person being the reason of fault. Give the other person a chance to understand your stand and, in process, try to comprehend what forced the other person to do what you think was wrong.
Hopefully, the other person will change and listen to music. If not, the other person is not worth considering companionship. Stones are not meant to be garlanded!

An Open question to Mr. Unfortunate

If you are being screwed twenty-four hours a day and every day of the year, then you must be enjoying it for how else can you explain your state? While whatever graphic description you use to explain your troubles, it is you who provided troubles the handle to define your identity. You are confused. You fear being exposed and are underconfident about your abilities and unsure of your stand. I don't know why investing the required efforts to support your wishful statements puts you in the defensive? Do not you at times think that you are fate's favorite's joker?
While you pretend you are fighting, you know that you have said THANK YOU. Experience has taught you that it is easy to float with the stream. It does not matter to you if you hit every other rock. Is not it all boring and ridiculous, Mr. Unfortunate, to be at the receiving end always?

Fate's Game

Sarah and Mary were meeting after three years. Both were prodigious students at Stanford and were trained by education and motivated by character to make it big in career. Armed with MBA Finance and with specialization in helping dot com firms grow, Sarah was creating waves in the circles that matter. Mary, always the shy, introvert girl that she had been, chose a career in social service. She was returning from a school-building task in Brazil. With so much to share about the last three years and the spontaneous recollection of the golden days at campus, it never occurred to them when the night gave way to dawn.
Sarah had an important early-morning appointment that day and, therefore, she decided to abandon sleep. Mary was already snoring when Sarah prepared her favorite soft drink, cappuccino coffee. True to her style, Sarah switched on the TV and started surfing. The most she had ever stuck to any channel was fifteen minutes when Tyson ate Holyfield's ear. A small documentary on an orphanage attracted her, as she knew Mary would very soon run one.
"Mary", Sarah whispered, "something about an orphanage on TV that might interest you. It's named", Sarah momentarily stopped as she cajoled Mary's hair, "N B O". The name triggered the reaction, Mary was awake and excited.
The documentary went on to narrate the case of a three-week infant who was left crying at its door. A child-less Swede billionaire had adopted the infant and donated a million dollars to the orphanage. Sarah wowed in excitement, 'I guess, she must be the luckiest child. Imagine you are not required for your biological parents and left all alone to die and you turn a billionaire the next day!"
Mary bust into tears. Sarah looked at her questioningly, "what's wrong?" she inquired. There was a big silence, bigger than the three years of separation between best friends. Finally, Mary gathered the courage to reply, "She was my baby!"

Turning Failures Into Victory

It is absolutely important to relish failures not because they make us feel like assholes but because of the opportunity to understand the essential contradictions of our belief-system. If we introspect, we shall find a difference between what we want badly and what we actually require to experience happiness.

The difference though small and sublime is important to enjoy life.
Failures provide a fresh perspective to what we chase. As we spend time, energy and hope to accomplish our top-most immediate goals, we realize the tribulations and frustrations attached to our quest. These frustrations redefine our viewpoint about life. If we were to achieve things easily, we would have underestimated their worth and, as a consequence, overestimated our potential. However, when we fail, the mysticism that surrounds us clears. The horror strikes clear on our face. We are forced to question where we are, what do we do and whether or not we are worth it. The cost of failure or the long-drawn process to achieve what we want provides us an opportunity to redefine our goals and aspirations. Either the desire to achieve fades away or it intesifies to become the reason-de-etre of our life.

Yes failures despite their immediate hurt-value help. Like a scavenger they clean the dead part of our system and allow us to recharge for the hilt. To do so what we need is to understand failure in the right perspective and using it as an opportunity to correct where we head. Are you game?

Book-Based Decision Makers

Have you ever met a person who reads a book and is immediately full of ideas on how to implement a complex task? You must have felt the enthusiasm and enjoyed the shine in the person's eyes. Sheer excitement might be shaking the person's voice as he narrates how to do what he thinks must be done immediately.
The book-based decision-makers occupy most positions in the middle-management and are all convinced that the corporations they work for are doomed unless some harsh decisions are not immediately implemented. These people have enthusiasm but often lack the desire to dig deep into the problem. They smack of a superficial feel of the problem and without understanding the various nuances of the problem, they propose readymade solutions.
These people also fear excellence. They find people who ask the logical question inconvenient. Since these people are not born dictators, they play backroom politics to ensure survival. People with 'yes sir' attitude can easily rise positions in hierarchy when they serve the book-based decision-makers.
Another characteristic of the book-based decision-makers is restlessness. These people never settle on to a task or a decision. They like talking in the belief that they are envisioning. Implementation is what kills the jest out of their life. These people keep on moving from one rolling situation into another and yet years pass before the fundamental problems of the system are understood or solved.
Is it fun to serve these people? It all depends on how much you want in life and to what degree can you fall to achieve that.