Position Or Performance

A Priest dies & is awaiting his turn in line at the Heaven's Gates. Ahead of him is a guy, nattily dressed, in dark sun glasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket & jeans. God asks him: Please tell me who are you, so that I may know whether to admit you into the kingdom of Heaven or not? The guy replies: I am Pandi, Auto driver from Chennai ! God consults his ledger, smiles & says to Pandi: Please take this silken robe & gold scarf & enter the Kingdom of Heaven .. Now it is the priest's turn. He stands erect and speaks out in a booming voice: I am Pope's Assistant so & so, Head Priest of the so & so Church for the last 40 years. God consults his ledger & says to thePriest: Please take this cotton robe & enter the Kingdom of Heaven .... 'Just a minute,' says the agonized Priest. 'How is it that a foulmouthed, rash driving Auto Driver is given a Silken robe & a Goldenscarf and me, a Priest, who's spent his whole life preaching your Name & goodness has to make do with a Cotton robe?' 'Results my friend, results,' shrugs God. 'While you preached, people SLEPT; but when he drove his Auto, people PRAYED'

Moral of the story: It's PERFORMANCE & not POSITION that ultimately counts.

Greetings from Maddy's Den

Holiday Greetings To All

(Pun Intended) I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to my friends and colleagues, but it is difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer yesterday and on her advice I wish to say the following: Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious / secular persuasions and / or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year, 2009 , but not without due respect for the calendar of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great ( not to imply that Great Britain is necessarily greater than any other country ) and without regard to the race , creed , colour , age , physical ability , religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms : This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/him or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. The wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Best regards (without prejudice) Name withheld (privacy act)

Wishing you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Enjoy Yourself.

God bless you all,

Maddy and his family

SAD INDEED

4.25 lakh birds culled in Assam Destined to perish— PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR Sad end: Thousands of chicks are abandoned in hatcheries in Guwahati on Saturday due to bird flu. The sale and purchase of poultry products have been banned throughout the northeast. GUWAHATI: Culling operations in four bird flu affected districts of Assam continued on Saturday with more than 4.25 lakh birds exterminated so far. The H5N1 virus has struck 120 villages in seven districts and the State government disbursed Rs. 1,27,85,216 as compensation to the poultry farmers, official sources said. The government has decided to set up an expert committee to take appropriate measures to prevent similar outbreak among the avian population in future. For more…..

Mayhem in Maddy's Den!

O-2 is currently gone for the wedding of his friend Ms. Wisdom.

Maddy and Jimmy are extremely bored ( and sad) as the Special Sunday Plans have now been cancelled.

(The Morose Jimmy)

Reason? O-2's becoming more and more notorious, and has taken away Maddy's Rick! Mogli, the drummer (who also works as part-time chauffeur) obviously is missing too.

Sobbing Gigloo.

Gigloo's now taken his prime job to be filling up the pond with his huge froggy-tears. Maddy's madness prevents Gigloo from going into hibernation. As you know, he is a very alert frog.. Jimmy suggests he might have even become an insomniac!

What's more, O-2's new pet, the fashion conscious Baby Ellie( The one who changes his colour even before you can say Ellie! check out his antics at the bottom), is following the Rick..!!

Ellie on Road!

Maddy's already been threatened by traffic cops, for the sizeable traffic hazard that Ellie shall eventually become..

Maddy gone madder going maddest, is on tenterhooks, and Chilly's keeping a sharp vigil at the door, waiting for O-2 to reach home.

( You see, O-2's going out with his best friend Ms. Fashion Diva , doesn't make matters any better.)

Diva!! She rocks!

Maddy believes in God. He is praying that nothing sane shall come out of these events. He doesn't like sanity.. He is actually waiting for O-2 to come home and regale him with the funny stories of all the sane people out in the hypocritic sane world, trying to impress one another!

Laughing at them is one of their favourite things to do!

Lord bless Maddy's Den with some peace,quiet n more maddening madness!!!!!!!!!

Maddy explains

Jimmy inquires: Why are people so frustrated? Maddy explains: These days people are becoming more and more aspiring. They do not draw a line.

Their needs are ever growing.

Everyone seems to be in a race to acquire more and more. Wealth and poverty: the one is the parent of luxury and indolence, and the other of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. “Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.” People want to earn and save more and more for the future. They want to save more and more for their children.

But they forget," the more we shelter children from every disappointment, the more devastating future disappointments will be.”

One must learn to be contented.

We should try to explain our inner mind and tell him," I have everything in the world that is necessary to happiness, good faith, good friends and all the work I can possibly do. I think God’s greatest blessing to the human race was when He sent man forth into the world to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. I believe in toil, in the dignity of labor, but I also believe in adequate compensation for that toil.” Remember:

Tension is who you think you should be.

Relaxation is who you are. Stress is when you wake up screaming

and you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.

In case of a difficult situation,

Remember: Things could be a lot worse,

the stress of the situation always could be worse,

but I am alive and I have a lot to be thankful for -

so I shall not waste my days with stress and frustrations -

Life is too short!

Take it as it comes.

Maddy speaks

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure outwhat to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkeystepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive. 2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens. 3. Live simply and appreciate what you have. 4. Give more. 5. Expect less from people but more from God.