We all love those santa-banta jokes.But do you know that sikhs are one of the most hard-working and prosperous communities of the world.

After reading this real life incident, you might also consider it as true.It has had a deep impact on my thinking.

Last year, my friend invited his cousins on his sister's wedding to Delhi.They traveled all the way from Shimla.On their arrival, all of them decided to hire a taxi for local sight-seeing.The driver was an aged-Sardar and the boys being boys, began cracking sardar ji (santa-banta) jokes just to tease the old man.But, to their surprise, the fellow(sardarji) remained normal.

At the end of sight-seeing, they paid the driver cab hire-charges.The sardarji returned the change, but gave each of them one rupee extra, and said, "Son, since morning you have been cracking jokes on sardars, I listened all of them and let me tell you, most of them were in bad taste.But I still dont mind, because I feel that you are young blood, and are yet to see this world.But, I have one request, I am giving you all one rupee each, give it to the first 'SARDAR BEGGAR' that you see in this or any other city.

That one rupee coin is still with my friend as he could not find a single sardar 'begging' in the city!

MORAL

The secret behind their universal success is their willingness to do any job with the utmost dedication and pride.A sardar will drive a truck or setup a roadside garage or a Dhaba, put a fruit juice stall, take up small time carpentry , BUT WILL NEVER BEG ON THE STREETS!

Do tell this story to all your friends and make them feel how hardworking sardars are!

Newton's 3 Laws of motion

Hello all ! Well, the topic of my discussion today is not actually what the subject line reads. I don't intend to refresh your memories of Physics with these laws of motion (this subject was always a nightmare for me !) but what I want to do is to dig one step deeper into these scientific laws and analyze the philosophical aspect of theirs. Sounds a bit weird isn’t it ! When I first thought of implying such a comparison, even I asked to myself, “Hey, am I going nuts !” But then friends, engrossing myself in a deep thought process and putting my synapses to work, I finally conceived some reasonings that make me believe that apart from Physics, these laws are valid in our “QUEST for SUCCESS” as well ! (“SUCCESS” – I always love to hear this word as long as it stays with me. Infact most of us love it this way !)

 1^st Law of motion        -           Every body continues to maintain its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled by an external force.

 Case

 Mr. A, an employee at COMPANY - Y is sitting at his desk for the last one hour, crouched forehead and thinking eyes, involved and engrossed in writing a piece of code. (So you see Mr. A is actually maintaining his state) At that point of time, Mr. B, a colleague of Mr. A comes and persuades him to get up for a cup of coffee and some chit chat. Appears normal isn’t it. But then, Mr. A’s state of uniform thinking comes to an end (and the external agency here is Mr. B along with his bait of coffee and chit chat !) So, Newton’s 1^st law holds good !

 Morality           -           This is to say that when a person does some good, he should continue to do good and not let anything bad come near to him because these bad thoughts if creep into his mind can act as external forces that will stop the good that is being done by him. This is to say that if your conscience feels what you are doing is good then continue the same and let not biased thoughts from other minds intervene your task.

 2^nd Law of motion       -           The rate of change of momentum is directly proportional to the force applied.

 Case

 Again we come to our beloved Mr. A and external force Mr. B. Mr. A is a very sincere employee who always arrives at time, is busy working at his screen all day, always eager to take onsite calls and complete his day’s work before leaving. So we see that the force applied by Mr. A is in the forward direction and this force takes him from the position of a Trainee, to a Programmer Analyst to an Associate ! At the same time, this chap Mr. B is always late to arrive and early to leave that too with his task unfinished. (This guy is bent on giving a head ache to his Team Leader !) You see that Mr. B is applying a force but in the backward direction and this negative force causes his career to decelerate. Voila ! Newton’s 2^nd law is so correct !

Morality           -           The success of an individual is in his hands. The more you strive, the more you are dedicated, the more success you’ll get. Instead of citing or finding external factors for failures, you should look within yourself, analyze yourself and then put in that extra bit of force in the right direction that takes you to success.

 3^rd Law of Motion      -           Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

 Case

 Now while protagonist Mr. A is busy working at his desk and receiving good reactions from his manager for his good actions, Mr. B is busy Orkutting from office which he should not be doing, forgot to meet an important client, and failed to pass his final test (I told you this guy is bent on getting kicked out !) and one sunny morning when Mr. A gets a mail regarding his increment, Mr. B receives a mail with the subject line – “Thanks for feeling at home at COMPANY - Y but our hospitality ends here” , oh my god, he’s fired ! (See, even God obeys Newton’s laws of motion !) So that’s the validity of the 3^rd law.

 Morality           -           Keep doing your job well and fine, and don’t worry about the result. Hard work and dedication are always acknowledged by a pat on the back and success. Don’t chase success, but chase yourself for doing good and success will follow automatically !

Puppets are a kind of doll. They are used as characters in puppet shows. People who watch see the puppets full of life and spirit. Puppets need specially trained people called puppeteers to work them. They use their fingers, or strings or roads to skillfully handle the puppets.

The most common types of puppets are string puppets, rod puppets, hand or glove puppets, shadow puppets, and ventriloquists’ figures. Puppets have been made out of many types of material, including paper, cloth, wood, and leather, metal and plastic.

String puppets are also known as marionettes. They are moved by strings attached to a puppet with joints. The puppeteer controls the movements of the joints by a wooden piece held above the stage. In Rajasthan, there are known as `Kathputli’.

Rod puppets have rods attached to parts of their bodies, which control them. In theatres, rod puppeteers are hidden behind cloth curtains. In India, rod puppets are common in Orissa and west Bengal.

Hand or glove puppets are worn like a glove over a puppeteer’s hand and arm. The fingers and wrist of the operator control the puppet’s movement. The Radha –Krishna hand puppet shows are popular in Orissa.

In shadow puppetry the shadows of figures are cast onto a white cloth screen. Usually the audience sits on one side of the screen. The puppeteers moves he puppets n the other side of the screen n front of a light. This style of puppetry has been popular in Asia for thousands of years. People there have long believed that shadow puppets stand for real spirits. So, in India, Thailand, and Malaysia, two ancient Hindu epics have been staged as shadow puppet plays for many centuries. These are Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Ramayana is the source for the story in all major Indian puppet traditions. The Sunderkand, which deals with the heroic deeds of Hanuman, is the most popular one.

In Vietnam, water puppet shows are held during traditional village celebrations.

Puppeteers remain hidden behind a bamboo screen in shallow pond. They control the figures from below by strings running through hollow bamboo poles kept underwater. The surface of the pond serves as the stage.

Ventriloquists’ puppets share the stage with them. During performances, ventriloquists make the audience feel their figures re liking are talking with them. Puppetry is believed to have begun thousands of years ago, even before written language did. So we will never know how, why, or in what form the first puppets were used. Perhaps it began when cave people placed their hands near a fire to cast shadows on walls.

Puppets have been used to spread awareness about religion. They are also used as toys, and to amuse or educate people around the world.

Ventriloquist: - one who has mastered ventriloquism (the art of speaking without moving your lips, so the sound seems to come from someone else).

Epics: - long poems that tell the story of what gods or important people did in ancient times.