Life can be as green as a Christmas tree.

Life can be as green as a Christmas tree.

Neither snow nor storm can whither the leaves of a Charismas tree. Does not it sound familiar?

“Nainam cchindanti shastraani nainam dahati paavakah;

Na chainam kledayantyaapo na shoshayati maarutah.

(Weapons cut It not, fire burns It not, water wets It not, wind dries It not.”)

 (Geeta -Chapter 2, Verse 23.)

Christmas tree is brought home on Christmas and decorated with full glory. This possibly is the only tree that can survive the onslaught of winter winds and snow in the Western world. Christmas is God’s reassurance that He is with us all the time. The tradition of decorating it during Christmas is age old. Will it be fair to compare Christmas tree with the eternal Soul? Christianity does not talk of the cycle of birth and rebirth and eternity of life. I am rather inclined to believe that He created Christmas tree to remind humanity of the joy of living, the brightness of life and the eternity of life.

Life is living within a physical body and death is the perishing of the body due to accidents, illness or ageing. It is therefore very rational to decorate this body as long as the soul is within this body. We need not decorate this body in the usual terms. By decorating I mean, decorating our overall thinking with noble ideas of honesty, truthfulness and compassion for the less fortunate. We celebrate our festivals with gusto, spend fortunes and forget all our owes during these festivities.

But there are millions who are deprived of basic needs in life. Presently my thoughts are for the people who live on footpaths and have no shelter for the life threatening cold nights. Government provides them night shelter bit no blankets. Some cannot move to the night shelters because of logistics. North India is reeling under a very severe cold spell and colder than even London. News papers are carrying photos of people stranded at the Railway stations because of delayed/cancelled trains. Most of the passengers have woolens on and some have even blankets. Just across the platforms there are urchins in tattered clothes collecting empty water bottles.

Have as much fun as you can but give a thought for these less fortunate people and do weigh your own miseries with that of theirs.    

ALL ABOUT FACEBOOK ADDICTION

ALL ABOUT FACEBOOK ADDICTION

YOU ONLY WANT TO BE LOOKED AT, YOU NEVER LOOK

This is a line from a movie dialogue where the wife blames her husband for neglecting her because he only wants to be looked at, but never looks. This can be said in so many other phrases like:

 You only want to be heard but you do not listen or,

You only want to be followed but you do not follow.

Let me try to apply it on FB posts. Lot of surveys have been made and more will be made. Presently FB is mainly for the younger people. There are few seniors like me. May be many seniors enrolled but found it too fast, like fast food. You order the food, it is warmed in the oven in seconds, handed over to you and you eat it while walking or driving to work or home. It is not like ordering al carte from the menu, waiting at the table for being served at a placid speed and eating it leisurely as if you have nowhere to go. Face book is not the platform for serious discussions.

FB is updating your status on the drop of a hat and wait for the ‘likes’. You do not even expect comments as there nothing to comment. The ‘like’ says everything. For you the ‘like’ is an appreciation and for the person hitting the ‘like’ button is a formality. Yet the measure of popularity is the number of ‘likes’ or comments one gets. Like followers on Tweeter, I was told ‘friends’ and ‘likes’ on FB can also be ‘managed. You know what I mean.

Presently almost everybody who is anybody with a internet supported phone or computer is on FB.The embarrassment arises when you are friend to your children or relatives like chacha-chachi, tau-tai, mama-mami, bhai-behan, beta-bahu, beti-damad, bhai-behan, nana-nani, mata –pita. Some of their or your updates may be revealing. And then it is but natural that there should be mutual race for hitting the ‘like’ button or else what is the use of having ‘friends’ within the family and relatives? Failing to hit the ‘like’ button may end up in severance of relationships by simply ‘unfriend’(ing).

The more you ‘like’ others’ ‘status’ the more you are likely to get ‘likes’ on your own ‘status updates’.  This is directly proportional to your own actions. Some may get more ‘likes’ than what they do in turn but that is because of a formal acknowledgement or respect for your post. There are status updaters who do not ‘like; but expect ‘like’ from one and sundry. It may also be paraphrased as “

You only want to be ‘liked’ but you do not ‘like’

For posting comments one has to read the post but in this time of fast food, not many have the patience to spare time or inclination. Sometimes the first few lines speak what is likely to follow and there is no need to hit the ‘see more’ link in blue.  It may be okay to ‘like’ a photo update but I am at loss to understand what a ‘like’ means when someone’s ‘like’ does not indicate if he/she ‘liked’ if after reading the full post or not.

The moral of the write up is, if you have not already guessed, if you want to be looked at, you have to start looking, if you want to be heard, you have to start listening and if you want to be ‘liked’ you have start ‘liking’.

I know you will hit the ‘like’ button  without reading this post but do it anyway because I am your senior and am in minority. Mind you if you do not do so you will be indirectly telling to back off.