What's In A Name ?

I always thought that people give too much importance to names until today.  My roommate told me of an old Chinese tradition where rich Chinese people were bestowed with short last names. The shorter the surname the richer they were. Till today Chinese know that anyone with a short lastname hails from a rich and aristocratic family. So anytime a my roommates Chinese friends on hear my surname they think I am from a very wealthy family. That brought a smile to my face. This is a thought I will relish for a long long time. 

Susan Boyle

I recently watched Susan Boyle sing on "Britain's Got Talent" and I think I must have watched that video 20 times in 2 days. In addition to the fact that she has a phenomenal voice which can keep anyone glued to that video I believe that there is something about that entire episode which has an universal appeal.

The success of the underdog, bringing bullies down to their knees, realisation of a childhood dream a fairy tale ending. I believe that's what I loved that video. It would be hard to find a person who didn't have a dream which they had to give up since they thought they could never make it come true. Dreams abandoned because people didn't have faith in us and eventually we lost faith in ourselves.

Susan Boyle's story is a positive one, a story which reinstates our faith in ourself, in miracles and in life itself.

  

Pre Independence India

This is for all my friends who still think that the British served India during their 200 years long stay. Seeing is believing (No, this guy was not getting a pedicure).