Random Acts that make you feel good

I was on the bus yesterday, coming home from work.

The bus was setting off after dropping off some people at a bus stop. A girl came running from upstairs and started to talk to the bus driver. She gave him a mobile phone and said that the man who had just got off the bus had left it upstairs. She went back up stairs.

A few seconds later the man who had left the mobile phone got back onto the bus and asked the bus driver if had seen a mobile phone on the bus. The driver gave him the mobile and with that the man said thank you and left the bus.

These random acts when people 'do the right thing' are so good to see because it shows everyone that most people are generally good and the world is heading in the right direction.

Another random act was when I was about 11 or 12. I was with my mum and cousin in town. We needed to get some money out of my bank account. I had never got any money out of an ATM but as the bank was really busy, I decided to give the ATM a go. I put my card in and put my code in. It asked for the amount to be taken out. I asked for £100. Everything fine so far. Suddenly the ATM started to make a weird noise and it spat my card out. I thought I had done something wrong so I took the card and told my mum that we should try in the bank instead.

We walked into the bank, and got into the queue. Just then a breathless woman tapped me on my shoulder and handed me £100 and said 'You left your money!!'. She walked back out of the bank. I was amazed that someone had gone out of their way to give me the money that I had left.

More feel good random acts coming soon...

Rang De Basanti

I have been seeing trailers for Rang De Basanti on the various indian channels on TV.

I have to say that it looks more interesting than alot of the films coming out recently.

It is supposed to be about how the youth in India are disconnected from their past and how they aspire to western values and western thinking.

The idea hasn't really been explorer deeply in recent films. At the moment all films are either rip offs of Hollywood films or skin flicks, so it should make a bit of a change for indian film watchers.

As a seperate issue, I am not sure how I feel about Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar being shown in films / tv programs and music videos. Apart from Rang De Basanti, it was shown in a song in the serial "Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi". On one hand it is good to see the Golden Temple on TV and in films because it provides exposure for Sikhism (hopefully), on the other hand too much exposure on TV could be bad because it could make the experience of going to Harmandir Sahib less special if there are film cameras there all the time and we may make seeing the Harmandir Sahib a less special experience if we see it on TV all the time.

Harmandir Sahib is a very special place, let's keep it that way.

Software that I use

Here is a list of essential software that I use on my computer.

Most if not all of it is FREE so I thought I would share the list with you

1. Mozilla Firefox (Good Web Browser)
2. Grisoft AVG (Free Anti-Virus Software)
3. Spy Bot Search And Destroy (Spyware / Adware Remover)

With this setup I have never (almost never) had any spyware or viruses.

Happy computing!

Food, Clothes and Shelter ...

Or Roti, Kapada aur Makhan.

These are the three things that are needed for 'Simple Living'. All the other things that we aspire to are just extras that we 'want' but don't 'need'.

The genius of companies around the world is that they make us beleive that the product or service they provide is neccessary for us to live. In other words companies try to transform a want into a need.

Once they make their product a need, they try to make it an aspirational need, so they make you feel that if you get their product you will be happier and more successful.

Once we get their product they try to make us beleive that a more expensive version of the product will make us even more happier.

And so the cycle continues...

What we need to do (me esspecially!!!) is try to re program our thinking so that we understand that we cannot attain happiness through obtaining material things. We need to realise that true happiness can only come through being content with having the simple things in life and not going after material things that are not neccessary.

Obviously it is easy to make statments like this, the hard bit comes when we see the latest mp3 player or the latest dvd player and you have to ask yourself 'Do I really need it?' or to start with 'Is there a cheaper version, that will do the same thing?'

Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to one and all.