Happiness

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They
were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the
precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.
Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the
falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved
from its branch since the day it had arrived.
The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no
one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to the member of his court, but the
next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from
its perch. Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, "May be I need
someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem."
So he cried out to his court, "Go and get a farmer."
In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace
gardens. He said to his court, "Bring me the doer of this miracle."
The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king
asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?"
With head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your highness. I simply
cut the branch of the tree where the bird was sitting."
Moral:We are all made to fly - to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead
of doing that, we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The
possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to
the familiar, the comfortable, the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre
instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling. So let us learn to destroy the branch of fear we
cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight..

Men will be Men?

Rajesh Patel (name changed) is a professional working in Andhra. He was not all that
happy the day he left his family, comprising of his wife & a 5 year old daughter, to his
wife's place in Gujarat. His wife was 8 months pregnant. He said that he missed his

daughter terribly & to pass another one month without having them by his side seems to
be a decade! The following evening, he had alcoholic drinks with his fellow colleagues.
Now, the point is to drink/smoke or not is everybody's personal preference and I am not
representing any personal opinion here. No act is intended to be shown in bad light.
Rajesh's wife, Mrs. Geetaben Patel knew that over the years, Rajesh has developed an
attraction towards alcoholic drinks and that he consumes the same only if Mrs. Patel
allows to. It was occasional & rare thing though. 2-3 times a month.
Like any other typical Indian housewife, Mrs. Patel wished that her hubby better
refrained himself from what she termed as 'Bad Habits'.
However, staying away from his family, Rajesh began having drinks every day. Smoking
8-10 cigarettes per day became a routine. There seemed to be no stopping to him. No
barriers, no limitations. This continued until the day his wife returned home post
delivery.
Rajesh had thrown away all the bottles & stuffs and took special care that his wife
doesn't come to know about the things he did in her absence. Now this can be looked
upon in two different ways:
First, Rajesh's love for his wife. He didn't want to hurt her. Hence he hid all the stuffs.
However, the second side of the coin depicts a different story altogether.
The fact that Rajesh doesn't take into confidence his wife on his needs. When wife is at
a distance, husband being a forced bachelor in the interim; does all that he couldn't do
when his wife is around. Now I am none to judge whether how far is that right as am a
bachelor yet. But what bothers me is a feeling that how come the husband do it without
taking his wife into confidence. Why to betray a woman's feelings?
And as they- 'Men will be men'! Why? In this regard at least, I see that the overall trust
and understanding between them is missing.
Now that is not what all husbands do. I have certain Mr. Mishra in my acquaintance who
is totally opposite to Rajesh. He not only informs his wife about what he did that his wife
wont like. This I feel is a good practice. This is what will build the trust & mutual
understanding between them. And certainly, that doesn't make a husband henpecked
for sure.
In the end, when we say 'Men will be men', we actually don't say it in a good light for
men. We need to change this. Lets be Gentlemen pals!
In addition to above, I have also screenshots of two of my articles that featured in the
DNA newspaper. Please find the attachment.

Four words that changed a life

"Are you too stupid to do anything right?" These words - said by a woman to a boy who
was evidently her son - were spoken because he had walked away from her and they
were said at a volume high enough that all the strangers in the vicinity could hear.
Chastised , the boy returned quietly to the woman's side, his eyes downcast.
Not a big moment, perhaps. Yet small moments sometimes last a very long time. And a
few words - though they mean little at the time to the person who say them - can have
enormous power.
I recently heard a story from a man named Malcolm Dalkoff. He's 48 ; for the last 24
years he has been a professional writer, mostly in advertising. Here is what he told me:
As a boy, Dalkoff was terribly insecure and shy. He had few friends and no selfconfidence. Then one day in October 1965 , his high - school English teacher , Ruth
Brauch , gave the class an assignment. The students had been reading To kill a
Mockingbird. Now they are to write their own chapter that would follow the last chapter
of the novel.
Dalkoff wrote his chapter and turned it in. Today he cannot remember anything special
about the chapter he wrote , or what grade Mrs Brauch gave him. What he does
remember - what he will never forget - are the four words Mrs Brauch wrote in the
margin of the paper: "this is good writing"
Four words. They changed his life.
"Until I read those words , I had no idea of who I was or what I was going to be," he
said. " After reading her note , I went home and wrote a short story , something I had
always dreamed of doing but never believed I could do."
Over the rest of that year in school, he wrote many stories and always brought them to
school for Mrs Brauch to evaluate. She was encouraging , tough and honest.
He was named co-editor of his high school newspaper. His confidence grew; his
horizons broadened;he started off on a successful, fulfilling life.
For his 30th high-school reunion,Dalkoff went back and visited Mrs Brauch,who had
retired. Hetold her what her four words had done for him. He told her that because she
had given him the confidence to be a writer, he had been able to pass that confidence
on to the woman who would become his wife, who became a writer herself. He told Mrs

Brauch that a young woman in his office, who was working in the evenings towards
high-school-equivalency diploma, had come to him for advice and assistance. She
respected him because he was a writer - that is why she turned to him.
Mrs Brauch was especially moved by the story of helping the young woman."At that
moment, I think, we both realized that Mrs Brauch had cast an incredibly long shadow,
"he said.
"Are you too stupid to do anything right?"
"This is good writing."
So few words. They can change everything.