Al Abbas Gang Night

A great evening. A great time.

A visit from old friends never fails to cheer you up and all trips down memory lane with my friends always bring forth tons of laughter and tears due to laughter. I loved listening to all the old tales of how they outwitted clients and bosses and got themselves out of sticky situations.

The presentations and all the whacky ideas we came up with never get old no matter how many times told. The drinking stories and the beautiful women we missed out on because of various reasons like - being married are the ones that come up not so often always linger longer.

It has been 2 years since we dont see each other everyday anymore but everytime we meet we just take off from where we last left.

It's a blessing to have friends like you guys. Never fails to cheer me up.

PS: Has everyone gone sober?

Happy Birthday Dad

The Bachelorhood According to Melwyn

 

Chivalrous Men - A rare breed these days.

No Work is Below You - Ask

Never be afraid to ask for work. 
Never be too proud to ask. 
Everything done is worth doing.
Everything is but just a task. 

Ask if you can be of help. 
Ask if you can be of aid. 
No work or task is below you.
To ask never be afraid. 

Ask you colleagues to teach.
Ask to hold their hand. 
Till you know everything that needs to be known.
Till you know, grasp and understand. 

Saviour By Our Side

A vow, a promise, body and blood

To save us in drought and flood

While on earth our time we bide

He continues to stay by our side

DODOS for survival

The Dodo represents everything foolish, stupid, useless and about to go extinct. But they too had a purpose. The Calvaria tree which grew on the dodo’s native island was dependent on the dodo for its survival. The thick hull of the tree’s seeds could sprout only after it had been through the severities of the dodo’s digestive system. The tress almost went extinct too after the bird did and it was only when turkeys were brought to the island that they managed to save a handful of the trees.

Sometimes we too feel insignificant and less competent than others but each of us serves a purpose and has an important role to play even if others and we ourselves don’t see it. Hang in there. Someone else is dependent on you. 

Little Things

Never underestimate the little things in life. Small actions - few words of kindness, a helping hand, a grateful smile can all be something big to someone else. Never shy away from contributing to anything positive because you feel your contribution maybe insignificant. It never is. 

Remember - A Lantern can do what the sun never can: Shine at Night. 

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

LISTEN CAREFULLY

I’ve always loved the works and words of our heroes. Quotes and wise words from them have stayed with me since forever. I recently had the pleasure of talking to one of my heroes standing 2 feet away from him.  And the feeling is amazing, it is like a dream come true. 

But then an experience I had turned out to be even better. I heard a voice that I wasn’t even sure I’d hear or existed. A voice within me (I am not talking about those burps). And boy! It saved me from some major trouble. I’ve never been happier to hear any other voice. And now I listen to it every day, and it always says the right thing, not always what I want to hear though. 

You too can hear the voice within you but only if you…… Listen Carefully

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

ISOLATE YOURSELF

I heard this speech in a class with my English professor. He narrated an incident of how he travelled to a foreign land and had to make a phone call to his hotel to come pick him from his current location. He entered the phone booth but because of the fading light outside he could not clearly see the number or the dialpad. There was a bulb above in the booth but he could not find a way to turn it on. So he left the door ajar to let some light from out come in. A passerby noticed his plight and told him to shut the door and immediately the light overhead came on. 

This happens with us in life too. We seek the light to our problems but are not willing to let go of them or commit ourselves completely to the solution. It is actually really simple. But being simple does not mean it easy. All you have to do is shut the door completely for the light to come on. We all find it hard in life to let go of many things and we hold on to them not knowing that they are the cause of darkness. 

We fear shutting the door will keep us in complete darkness while in fact it will bring on the light.

So don’t turn on the light… simply shut the door.

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

HERE’S SOME MORE

 

I remember a time I has asked God for something and he didn’t give it to me. I was 10 years old, my sister 11 and she was about 2 inches taller than me. I remember praying every day that year in our daily prayers asking the Lord to make me as tall as her. 

Unexpectedly I didn’t grow much that year as my sister grew even taller and I knew my prayers were not answered. So I stopped asking for that wish and resigned to the fact that she would always be elder and taller. 

When I turned 13 I had grown to be the tallest in the family. My sister stayed 5’0 for the rest of her life (though she still is the biggest person in our family) proving good things do come in small packages. I went on to be 5’8. 

You see my prayers were not answered and thank God for that. God deferred the wish but gave me more than what I had asked for. 8 inches more to be precise. He loves us deeply and hears our prayers but that does not mean he will always give us what we ask for. Just be sure that if your wishes were not fulfilled its because he wants to give us something better.

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

Height of Laziness

An old mountaineer and his wife were sitting in front of the fireplace one evening taking life easy.

After a long silence, the wife said: "Jed, I think it's raining. Why don't you get up and go outside and see?"

The old mountaineer continued to gaze into the fire for a while, sighed and then said, "Aw, Ma, why don't we just call in the dog and see if he's wet."

That's what you call the height of laziness. And I wouldn't want to say that we are downright lazy, but we all have a lazy streak in us.

And laziness is a faith killer.

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

SEEING LENSES

The lenses that we tend to wear

Blur and mislead our vision

And even though we pass on the blame

We know we commit sin

You probably have done this experiment. Try wearing a convex or tinted lens and then take a look around. Everything appears distorted and different.  Yet it’s bound to happen that you will slowly adjust to the lens and manage to see beyond the distortion that is being created. Because you do know that this is not reality.

Now imagine if you had been wearing this from the beginning. Your view of the world is warped and unreal. Our mind works in a similar fashion and produces a world of illusions. We think of ourselves as good and unblemished even when we are ridden with guilt and then we manage to do some scapegoating.

Blaming things on your environment, upbringing, or influences is simply wearing lenses that prevent you from seeing your own self-centeredness and revolt. Be aware of your misgivings and faults and correct your vision through knowledge of yourself and your true inner voice. 

Power of the Mind

Do you know Harry Houdini?

Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist issued a challenge wherever he went. 
He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free quickly and easily.

Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong.

Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For 30 minutes he worked and got nowhere.
An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for 2 hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock.

But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all! But in his mind it was locked and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell.

That's how powerful your God-given mind is.

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

THE BACHELORHOOD according to Melwyn

SCAPEGOATING

We all live in glass houses,

And should never attempt to throw a stone;

No point blaming others,

The fault is always your own.

The easiest way to deal with failure or try and gain success is scapegoating. Our success is our own and the failure is owing to someone else. But blaming others for our problems and misgivings is unjust, cruel and unfair to others and to ourselves.

You see it all around you. Parents who blame the children for failed marriages, children who blame parents for their problems and failures. Then you also find bosses who blame their subordinates and subordinates who denunciate their superiors.

The biggest damage scapegoating does is to our soul and to our life, not to others. Do not look for a scapegoat to blame all your problems and failures on. Instead look inward, find out what is the cause of the problem, acknowledge your failures, seek help and ask for forgiveness.