You are Wonderful

The following true story captured our heart. It happened several years ago in the Paris opera house. A famous singer had been contracted to sing, and ticket sales were booming. In fact, the night of the concert found the house packed and every ticket sold. The feeling of anticipation and excitement was in the air as the house manager took the stage and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your enthusiastic support. I am afraid that due to illness, the man whom you've all come to hear will not be performing tonight. However, we have found a suitable substitute we hope will provide you with comparable entertainment." The crowd groaned in disappointment and failed to hear the announcer mention the stand-in's name. The environment turned from excitement to frustration.

The stand-in performer gave the performance everything he had. When he had finished, there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence. No one applauded. Suddenly, from the balcony, a little boy stood up and shouted, "Daddy, I think you are wonderful!" The crowd broke into thunderous applause.

We all need people in our Lives who are willing to stand up once in a while and say, "I think you are wonderful. "

Heaven or Hell

A man, his horse and his dog were traveling down a road. When they were passing by a gigantic tree, a bolt of lightning struck and they all fell dead on the spot.
But the man did not realize that he had already left this world, so he went on walking with his two animals; sometimes the dead take time to understand their new condition...
The journey was very long, uphill, the sun was strong and they were covered in sweat and very thirsty. They were desperately in need of water. At a bend in the road they spotted a magnificent gateway, all in marble, which led to a square paved with blocks of gold and with a fountain in the center that spouted forth crystalline water.
The traveler went up to the man guarding the gate.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning,” answered the man.
“What is this beautiful place?”
“This is heaven.”
“How good to have reached heaven, we’re ever so thirsty.”
“You can come in and drink all you want.”
And the guard pointed to the fountain.
“My horse and my dog are thirsty too.”
“So sorry, but animals aren’t allowed in here.”
The man was very disappointed because his thirst was great, but he could not drink alone; he thanked the man and went on his way. After traveling a lot, they arrived exhausted at a farm whose entrance was marked with an old doorway that opened onto a tree-lined dirt road.
A man was lying down in the shadow of one of the trees, his head covered with a hat, perhaps asleep.
“Good morning,” said the traveler.
The man nodded his head.
“We are very thirsty - me, my horse and my dog.”
“There is a spring over in those stones,” said the man, pointing to the spot. “Drink as much as you like.”
The man, the horse and the dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. Then the traveler went back to thank the man.
“By the way, what’s this place called?”
“Heaven.”
“Heaven? But the guard at the marble gate back there said that was heaven!”
“That’s not heaven, that’s hell.”
The traveler was puzzled.
“You’ve got to stop this! All this false information must cause enormous confusion!”
The man smiled:
“Not at all. As a matter of fact they do us a great favor. Because over there stay all those who are even capable of abandoning their best friends...”

By Paulo Coelho
Paulo writes blog online which can be accessed at http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/

You Mustn't Quit

Life is queer with its twists and turns

As every one of us sometimes learns

Don't give up though the pace seems slow

You may succeed with another blow.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill

When the funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh

When care is pressing you down a bit

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Success is failure turned inside out

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit

It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

Edgar A. Guest

The Land of Smiles

Last month I extensively travelled Thailand and India. This was the longest trip of my life which lasted 38 days. It was a tiring rather a rejuvenating vacation. We were longing for coming back to Kuwait. I got tired of meeting people one after another and most of the time we spent either in the sky or on wheels.

After spending 4 days in Delhi, it was quite a respite visiting Thailand. Right after landing at Bangkok International Airport, outside we saw a huge hoarding stating "Welcome to the land of smiles!" which left us a lot to expect. After a good one hour run through traffic, we reached hotel Imm Fusion, not that well known but delivers exemplary service. We checked in and decided to explore the city.

Both my wife and I being vegetarian, it was quite a challenge to find vegetarian restaurant. Thanks to Americans, right outside the hotel we saw a huge signage of Pizza Hut. It was quite a respite to know that they served Veg-pizzas too. Despite the waitresses were miles away from English, they communicated very well through smiles.

We took a pass of Sky Train and thought to explore the modern Bangkok. The moment you come out of the hotel, you understand that everything in this country is fuelled by tourism. My wife's facination towards shopping took us to Siam Paragon. It was amazingly well managed and most of the time we helped ourselves. However, on every floor there were many counters to help visitors and the pretty ladies were superbly helpful. To the extent that they made phone calls to find out information we needed. A close encounter with 10m long sharks and pool-dive by penguins left us speechless. They claim to have biggest Aquarium in southern hemisphere, and that looked true. It was amazing.

We came out and went to the next biggest mall i.e. Central world. The same experience was repeated minus Ocean World. Everyone looked extremely hospitable to the extent that a feeling of guilt was clearly visible when someone couldn't direct to the asked address.

Then we went to Patpong Night Bazaar. It's a flea market with Gogo bars on both sides where nude dancers were sliding on the poles. But, no one misbihaved. Hiding my eyes away from wife, I peeped into the bars from the street while she was busy looking at the street displays.

We had a burger at McDonald's and called off the day's trip.

It was nearly 11 pm but we didn't have even the slightest fear in an unknown city.