The End

It was early in the morning at four,

When death knocked upon a bedroom door,

Who is there? The sleeping one cried,

I'm the sandman, let me inside, (no reference to metallica)

At once, the man began to shiver,

As one sweating in deadly fever,

He shouted to his sleeping wife,

Don't let him take away my life.

Please go away, O Angel of Death!

Leave me alone; I'm not ready yet.

My family on me depends,

Give me a chance, O please prepense!

The angel knocked again and again,

Friend! I'll take your life without a pain,

This your soul God requires,

I come not with my own desire.

Bewildered, the man began to cry,

O Angel I'm so afraid to die,

I'll give you gold and be your slave,

Don't send me to the unlit grave.

Let me in, O Friend! The Angel said,

Open the door; get up from your bed,

If you do not allow me in,

I will walk through it, like a Jinn.

The man held a gun in his right hand,

Ready to defy the Angel's stand.

I'll point my gun, towards your head,

You dare come in; I'll shoot you dead.

By now the Angel was in the room,

Saying, O Friend! Prepare for you doom.

Foolish man, Angels never die,

Put down your gun and do not sigh.

Why are you afraid! Tell me O man,

To die according to God's plan?

Come smile at me, do not be grim,

Be Happy to return to Him.

O Angel! I bow my head in shame,

I had no time to take God's Name.

From morning till dusk, I made my wealth,

Not even caring for my health.

God's command I never obeyed,

Not 1 day I prayed.

A festival came & a festival went,

But no time had I to repent.

All charities I did ignore,

Taking usury more and more.

O Angel! I appeal to you,

Spare my life for a year or two.

The Laws of God I will obey,

And keep away from self-conceit.

I will refrain from usury,

And give all my wealth to charity,

We Angels do what God demands,

We cannot go against His commands.

Death is ordained for everyone,

Father, mother, daughter or son.

I'm afraid this moment is your last,

Now be reminded, of your past,

I do understand your fears,

But it is now too late for tears.

You lived in this world, two score and more,

Never did you, your people adore.

Your parents, you did not obey,

Hungry beggars, you turned away.

Breaking promises all your life,

Backbiting friends, and causing strife.

From hoarded goods, great profits you made,

And your poor workers, you underpaid.

Horses and cards were your leisure,

Moneymaking was your pleasure.

You ate vitamins and grew more fat,

With the very sick, you never sat.

A pint of blood you never gave,

Which could a little baby save?

O Human, you have done enough wrong,

You bought good properties for a song.

When the farmers appealed to you,

You did not have mercy, tis true.

Paradise for you? I cannot tell,

Undoubtedly you will dwell in hell.

There is no time for you to repent,

I'll take your soul for which I am sent.

The ending however, is very sad,

Eventually the man became mad

With a cry, he jumped out of bed,

And suddenly, he fell down dead

O Reader! Take moral from here,

You never know, your end may be near

Change your living and make amends

For heaven, on your deeds depends.

If this poem inspires you,

It can help someone too.

End of an Era - Thierry Henry

One fine morning as I was getting up from my bed, I just glanced outside. It seemed just like any other day. Little did I know how my life was to be turned upside down. I got the morning’s edition of the papers. The front page was full of the political back-biting and the allegations, people getting killed and what not ( Just another day in India). Then I got the shock of my life when I turned to my favorite page, the Sports page. There was the headline I was dreading –

“BARCELONA SIGNS HENRY FOR GBP 14 MILLION”!!!!!!

I was flabbergasted to say the least. It wasn’t as if I wasn’t expecting it. But for it to really happen was something else. Its like when you dread something happening & when it really happens, you get that sinking feeling. I got it checked and got all the details from the net. There was no avoiding it. Aaaghhh!!! I couldn’t think straight for a few minutes. Now my friends know what a die hard gunner (Arsenal supported for the uneducated) and a Henry fan I am, started calling up to offer sympathies and (mostly) to poke fun about the whole deal (no pun intended)! One friend Kunal (a MAN U fan, Goddamn them all) just sms’ed me a simple line - “CONGRATULATIONS”….

Leave it. Leave it…I cant bear to thing about that nightmare again!!!! Why am I writing this post? I don’t know but I cant imagine being a gunner without Henry being there. Maybe because his decision to join Barcelona (especially after that 2005 champions league final). Anyway what’s happened has happened, but just think about Arsenal? This is bigger than Vieira leaving, in my opinion. Henry, at his peak, was probably the best player in the world. Some of the goals he scored were just incredible and it was an absolute pleasure watching him. If I try and choose one game I think the game in which he scored 4 against Leeds sticks out for me. He was just brilliant that night and we’re going to miss that Thierry Henry. The departure of Robert Pires and now Thierry Henry means that Arsenal are about 46 goals down before they even kick a ball. What I would like to know is where are these 46 goals expected to come from? Last season we Arsenal fans saw that our present crop of strikers could not provide anywhere close to this amount. Buying new strikers takes time and care and I can't see them arriving before August. Does this mean that European Champions League football will be something we shall remember than take part in...?and even the UEFA Cup might be outside of our capabilities.
Oh dear, Arsenal board....you idiots…..
Now I just hope that Arsene Wenger will not buy another 18 year old, because now that Henry has gone, there aren’t many hugely experienced players in the team, and I think that experience is exactly what Arsenal FC need! Heck, if Ruud Van Nistelrooy can do well in Spain, so can Thierry. I’m sure that he will even do better. Henry served Arsenal well, and I wish him the best of luck!
Now, who’s going to replace him… ?

But these last words by Henry are of some comfort: - “I still have to pass a medical on Monday. But yes, I have chosen Barcelona. I am going to sign there for the next four seasons … for the football they play, their history, their stadium. For Frank Rijkaard, who I grew up watching. David Dein is no longer there and there is no denying the fact this has de-stabilized the team and the manager. Arsene Wenger has said that at this moment he will not commit to the club past the expiration of his current deal, which finishes at the end of this coming season. I respect his decision and honesty but I will be 31 at the end of next season and I cannot take the chance to be there without Arsene Wenger and David Dein. I will miss the Arsenal fans dearly, they have supported me through thick and thin. They will always be in my heart, as will all the fans who make the game here so special. I will always have a special bond with Arsenal Football Club. I will always be a Gooner by heart…. ”

So, the end of an era, very much. It’s been a blast, Thierry, thanks for the memories. Now, let’s move on.

Bonding with brands

WORMS in chocolate. Pesticides in cola. Unmentionables in most other stuff that goes down the gullet... It’s only fair that people love to hate brands these days. MNC brands, in particular.

Why so? Maybe because we feel cheated. All along, we’ve bought MNC brands in the name of quality. If they want to play dirty, we might as well go back to the original dirties—the desis. At least, we’ll be able to identify with the sweat, grime and hair strands found in their products. And pay less to boot.

You may feel that I’m stretching the point too far. You may be amused by my display of feeling for ‘mere brands.’ I will therefore transport you to a normal city.

You are now standing at a corner shop in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu ( For the geographically weak, its in the strife torn state of J&K, India, for more further details, the wiki family will provide u all the details). You want bread. Your eyes scan the counter for Bonn, Dalima or Bakeman’s—three familiar brands. You see Kwality and St. Michaels and Bimbo—three unfamiliar brands. There’s also a day-old packet of Britannia. You take the Britannia. Why? Because it’s an old friend. It spares you the guinea pig feeling. That’s a brand’s place in your life.

Cadbury and Coke do the same to people who move between countries and continents. Otherwise, it’s a moot point whether Cadbury’s chocolates are any better or tastier than Amul’s or Campco’s.

The day-old Britannia you’ve bought is like the offshoot of a banyan tree. When you saw it, you were reminded of another offshoot in your hometown. The association inspired confidence. Similarly, Cadbury is a banyan tree on a much bigger scale. Its offshoots span places as far apart as Harvard and Haryana. It homogenises markets across the world. When a Haryanavi sees Cadbury in Harvard, his eyes twinkle, "Oh, so you are from the house of Cadbury! So glad to meet you, I have known your sisters in India these last 30 years`85"

Yes, brands grow to be our friends and relatives. That’s why we love and trust them. That’s why we remain loyal to them. That’s also the reason why we hate them when they let us down.

I have talked about the ‘brand banyan’, which starts out locally in one place, spreads its shoots far and wide and comes to be seen as ‘local’ in all those places. But there’s also the genuine local brand, which remains confined to one area but inspires fierce loyalty in its patrons.

This kind of brand is capable of triggering the strongest feelings. Recently, on a trip home to Jammu from Delhi, I was served HPMC juice and Verka butter. It had been over six months since I had seen these products. Holding them was like homecoming; it was as if I had found long lost friends on the way home!

Their limited reach is perhaps what makes us cherish a genuine local brand more than any ‘banyan brand’. Consider this: you are a Indian, alumnus of an Indian University and settled in New York for the past 20 years. You read The New York Times everyday. One morning, while walking to work, you spot a copy of any Indian newspaper at a news stand, do you pass it by????

Money in the Air... If the Air is polluted, does that mean the notes too are counterfeit?

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German motorist surprised by euro notes swirling in the air around her car hit the brakes and collected a "substantial amount of money" before turning it over to police, authorities in Worms said on Thursday.

A police spokesman in the small western town said the 24-year-old woman saw the money flying through the air in her rear view mirror late on Wednesday. She pulled over and tried to collect all the notes, unsuccessfully.

When police went with her to the scene they could not find any more cash.

A spokesman at Worms city hall said police were withholding details on the exact sum and location of the find in the hope of learning more about the money's origin.

Hope this happens to me!!!! Voohoooo!!!!!

Falsity cannot keep an idea from being beautiful; there are certain errors of such ingenuity that one could regret their not ranking among the achievements of the human mind.