BUGLE

If I die in a battle zone, Box me up n send me home. Put my medals on my chest, Tell my mom I did my best. Tell my love not 2 cry, Coz I am a soldier born 2 die.

With ‘Raj’ ended and British colonial ‘Sahib’s packed up for their mother land. Most of them when back to their ‘home’; first oddity they faced, lack of service from soft-footed domestic servants. Ruling for 200 years in their oriental colonies,  they became so used to these ‘Khidmatgars’ or domestic helps; back home without them , for many life became painful experiences. There were many having never seen their ‘Home’ or Great Britain could never imagine a life without domestic helps. On the bank of Ganges or Hoogly  river there were many jute mills owned by mostly Scottish ‘Sahibs’; still some of their old English style Bungalows stand within the those old mill compounds, although mostly in dilapidated condition but they still show their elegance. It is surprising, how the ‘Memsahib’s could maintain them! How many domestic helps, Malis (gardeners) , ‘Khidmadgars’  were engaged for their upkeep! One of my friends after leaving Air Force joined as a Security Officer in o...

Life has its own ups and downs; that's the rule. Look at history, what went up, came down at a point of time. You can say that too 'tryst with destiny'. But it happens so that at times you are depressed, frustrated and feel that life has become meaningless! Though deep within you never like to believe it. Well there should be one to remind you that you are precious to many even when you are losing the battle.  Here is the 'MANTRA', read it every day, it will help you to make life meaningful: You may not realize it,   but it's 100% true.   1. There are at least two people in  this world  that you would die for.   2. At least 15 people in this world   love you in some way.   3.. The only reason anyone would ever  hate you  is because they want to  be  just like you.  4. A smile from you  can bring happiness to anyone,  even if they don't   like you.  5.  Every night,  SOM...

Read this story............. Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day the King came upon a Servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly Servant had so much joy. The King asked the Servant, "Why are you so happy?" The Servant replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a Roof over our heads, clthes to wear and Food to fill our tummies." The King was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted Advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the Servant's story, the Advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club." "The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired. The Advisor replied, "Your...

A short while ago, I received a mail containing this story from one of my friend. Well; way back in 70s, while serving Indian Air Force as an Airman and volunteering for Air Force Commando's duty I too had similar experience. Only difference none got Vir or Param Vir Chakra; it reminded ' many a flowers born in desert; remain unseen forever...........; anyway here goes the story Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned chair car of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought; he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do !! He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use. "Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmati...

1st October is observed as 'Elder's Day ' off late; I became aware of this sooner I opened my morning news paper. An advertisement given by government's social welfare department urging to observe the day as 'Elder's Day' caught my attention. We are used to see of such dedicated 'Days' are reminded by the retailers or companies dealing in consumer's goods, jewelers et el. Then it crossed my mind that they don't expect much from this segment of our society, they remain neglected by their immediate family members or wards; so who would buy gifts for them! Remaining in the twilight zone of my life, the thoughts are painful! Is not it ?

Many of my readers must be quite younger than me. I am heading fast to strike the golden age of 60. Sixty years, after all, are sufficient and supposed to have offered me ample scope to watch the, if not the world, but the environment where I do live. In this part of planet where I live ( India, South Asia)the climate has changed remarkably. This time it should be the rainy season but this year it is without rain. It is not drought; but irregular rain, at least not what it used to be earlier. So, the same is being experienced by my friend Paulo in Sau Paulo in Brazil, he is of my age. So, the same phenomena is reported from most of the part of the globe. We all are agreed on one point, it is due to Global Warming. So, my young readers what you find to-day, when you reach our age it may be different if you don't preserve this world in a better way. No emission no pollution, is the key word, keep this in your mind, if you with to leave a better world to live in.

Imagine the life amidst of these surroundings. I have been browsing the web idle, by chance I came upon a site with these free photographs. They truly captivated me, so I prefer to share them with you. Hope you will appreciate.

Once a king called upon all of his wise men and asked them, ” Is there a mantra or suggestion which works in every situation, in every circumstances, in every place and in every time. In every joy, every sorrow, every defeat and every victory? One answer for all questions? Something which can help me when none of you is available to advise me? Tell me is there any mantra?” All the wise men were puzzled by the King’s question. They thought and thought. After a lengthy discussion, an old man suggested something which appealed to all of them. They went to the king and gave him something written on paper, with a condition that the king was not to see it out of curiosity. Only in extreme danger, when the King finds himself alone and there seems to be no way, only then he can see it. The King put the papers under his Diamond ring. Some time later, the neighbors attacked the Kingdom. King and his army fought bravely but lost the battle. The King had to flee on his horse. The enemies were foll...

In Pharmacology, all drugs have two names, a trade name and generic name. For example, the trade name of Tylenol also has a generic name of Acetaminophen. Aleve is also called Naproxen. Amoxil is also called Amoxicillin and Advil is also called Ibuprofen The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After careful consideration by a team of government experts, it recently announced that it has settled on the generic name of Mycoxafloppin. Also considered were Mycoxafailin, Mydixadrupin, Mydixarizin, Dixafix, and of course, Ibepokin. Pfizer Corporation announced today that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one. Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new meaning to the names of 'cocktails', 'highballs' and just a good old-fashioned 'stiff drink'. Pepsi will market ...

Here I post a poem , once sent by one of unknown fried in Google's community. The title of the poem is "DEATH"; the most mystic, blurred and obscure fact in our life. Thought to share with you; It was early in the morning at four, When death knocked upon a bedroom door, Who is there? The sleeping one cried. I'm Malkul Mawt(the angel of death), let me inside. 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, Tis your soul Allah 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 u...

After a long gap, I am here at it again. You may be thinking that I am on long vacation or busy elsewhere! No, I was neither on vacation nor busy elsewhere. In fact I remained busy here, trying my hands on some other job. The jobs, I heard much about available on the net, is the job of writer. And that is paying. This wooed me. I thought adding few bucks besides my salary is not a bad idea. After all, who does not like add something more to his purse that can be spent comfortably? So I jumped in to it. Tell you frankly, it kept me quite busy after my office hours. I forgot to watch good many days the news channel in TV or my evening session of news paper reading. My wife encouraged me, finding I am less badgering to her for cups of tea or smoking; sitting by the side of her in my drawing room, compelling her to passive smoking. After all these days, one of our minister has vowed to take up the cudgel against the smokers, compelling them to smoke nowhere except in toilet! The experienc...

Many great personalities opined about their conjugal life or observation of married life; few of them are compiled here for your perusal: David Bissonette When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. Sacha Guitry After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together. Hemant Joshi By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. Socrates Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them. Dumas The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, "What does a woman want? Sigmund Freud I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me. Anonymous "Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays." Henny Youn...

Here goes a joke, that I received from one of my friends.Though I feel bit crude about it but at the same time can not deny it's reality. Can anyone tell me , what the joke suggests, why at all it should be in that way? Read carefully, if you can, Before marriage...... He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait. She: Do you want me to leave? He: No! Don't even think about it. She: Do you love me? He: Of course! Over and over! She: Have you ever cheated on me? He: No! Why are you even asking? She: Will you kiss me? He: Every chance I get. She: Will you hit me? He: Are you crazy! I'm not that kind of person! She: Can I trust you? He: Yes. She: Darling! After marriage.... Simply read from bottom to top !

The American Rock musics or other songs are the heart throbs of young generations. I do not appreciate them sometime for the extra decibels they pour in my ear drums. But what captivates me,is their lyrics; with so simple terms they carry such deep meanings of life is truly amazing sometime. Such is this I quote here from one them, what I have been sent by one of friends, whom I must salute ,for introducing them to me: You got a fast car I want a ticket to anywhere Maybe we make a deal Maybe together we can get somewhere Anyplace is better Starting from zero got nothing to lose Maybe we'll make something But me myself I got nothing to prove You got a fast car And I got a plan to get us out of here I been working at the convenience store Managed to save just a little bit of money We won't have to drive too far Just 'cross the border and into the city You and I can both get jobs And finally see what it means to be living You see my old man's got a problem He live with t...

You never know if these stories are true but this is a good one 'Watch out! You nearly broad sided that car!' My father yelled at me. 'Can't you do anything right?' Those words hurt worse than blows. I turned my head toward the elderly man in the seat beside me, daring me to challenge him. A lump rose in my throat as I averted my eyes. I wasn't prepared for another battle. 'I saw the car, Dad. Please don't yell at me when I'm driving.' My voice was measured and steady, sounding far calmer than I really felt. Dad glared at me, then turned away and settled back. At home I left Dad in front of the television and went outside to collect my thoughts. Dark, heavy clouds hung in the air with a promise of rain. The rumble of distant thunder seemed to echo my inner turmoil. What could I do about him? Dad had been a lumberjack in Washington and Oregon. He had enjoyed being outdoors and had reveled in pitting his strength against the forces of nature. He ha...

One of my friend forwarded me a poem what has been sent by one of her student from US. She is currently engaged with some research work that relates to the most critical (!) subject at least for me- Mathematics. But that never made her to lose her taste buds for mellifluous, touchy poems. I know not who is poet but my kudos for him or her. Here it goes.............. ..I kept the right ones out And let the wrong ones in Had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sins There were times in my life When I was goin' insane Tryin' to walk through The pain When I lost my grip And I hit the floor Yeah, I thought I could leave but couldn't get out the door I was so sick and tired Of a livin' a lie I was wishin' that I Would die It's Amazing With the blink of an eye you finally see the light It's Amazing When the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright It's Amazing And I'm sayin' a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight That one last shot...

Perhaps the present generations would laugh at ; exchanging love letters or mailing them to distant lovers at our times. The e-mail, SMS, cellular phones have made those things obsolete. With mobile phones they feel they are always in touch with each other. I feel pity for them, why you know? They never come to know after dropping the first love letter in the mail box, how we kept waiting for its reply for days. How those intermediate days use to lose its pace with every passing days. Looking at letter box , off and on, in odd hours when usually there use to be no chance of mail delivery, with a hope against hope for the desired mail. Intense the wait, intense the love that usually got projected in the next letter that followed the previous one`s reply. There is no account how many hearts might have broken for the missing mail that contained the first lover letters of the lovers. Obviously they were never responded, frustrating their writer, who always took it granted she was not for h...

If you are a teacher or anyone associated to grill the pupil or public as a matter of routine job, you must surmise how to separate them who lie at ease than who speak the truth. Truly it is a tough task. In a school where hundreds of students throng, one comes up with specific complaints alleging other for the sin. But the guy looks so innocent and narrates his story so naively that it is hard to think that he ever could commit such follies. I remember a story of Mogul style of detecting the criminals by some courtesan on Mogul empire. Some suspects were brought to the court for alleged thefts. All denied having committed the crime. The courtesan, Bribal (Emperor Akbar`s court) came forward and sought permission to find the thief from the emperor. The permission was granted. He asked for some flour. That he distributed everybody one or two spoonful and put that on their palm. Asked them to make paste of flour, with their spit instantly, all did except one. He could not spit a drop, hi...

We all know that other that human, few other mammals have intellectual prowess to recognize self. This faculty is gifted by nature to apes, elephants and dolphins were known so far. Surprisingly recently it has been observed that a small species, non mammal, a bird, the magpies have the same prowess. They too can recognize themselves in a mirrors or where ever their image is reflected. Self recognition is considered to be one of the skills of highly developed brains. It is observed that these birds can recognize themselves like chimpanzee despite being separated from mammals from 300 million years of evolutionary history. Helmut Prior, of Goethe University in Frakfurt, says the findings demonstrate that the ability to recognize a reflection as you self, rather than seeing it as another individual, does not necessarily depend on the sophisticated mammalian brain. “Our findings provide the first Malian species” he says. “They suggest that essential components of human self-recognition ha...