Juan comes up to the Mexican border on his bicycle. He's got two large bags over his shoulders. The guard stops him and says, "What's in the bags?"
"Sand," answers Juan.
The guard says, "We'll just see about that ~ get off the bike."
The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand. He detains Juan overnight and has the sand analyzed, only to discover that there is nothing in the bags.
The guard releases Juan, puts the sand into new bags, hefts them onto the man's shoulders, and lets him cross the border.
A week later, the same thing happens. The guard asks, "What have you got?"
"Sand," says Juan.
The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand. He gives the sand back to Juan, who crosses the border on his bicycle.
This sequence of events is repeated every week for three years. Finally, Juan doesn't show up one day and the guard meets him in a canteen in Mexico.
"Hey, Buddy," says the guard,
"I know you are smuggling something. It's driving me crazy. It's all I think about. I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?"
Veda Vidyarthi Sammelan [Conference of Vedic Students of Karnataka]
Vedic teachers (Adhyapakas) and students (Vidyarthis) were invited for this 3 day conference held in B'lore on 2nd, 3rd & 4th July, 2007. Conference is held in the presence of Sri Sankara Jayendra Saraswati Swami of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. His Holiness (HH) called for this conference with the objectives: - Meet all the veda and shastra branches related schools(patasalas) in K'taka and also give each of these schools an opportunity to showcase the work done by them over the years. Listen to their problems and help them in whatever manner deemed fit. - Give vidyarthis a chance to meet other vidyarthis from different patasalas. - Convey the common message of "Sampradaya Bhajan and its glory" to veda vidyarthis and the adhyapakas. Four days of Sampradya Bhajans are planned [Jul 1st - Jul 4th].
Around 750 vidyarthis from about 34 patasalas turned up with 100+ adhyapakas. The schedule for the three day conference was sent by mail to them earlier and so most of them a day in advance to be ready for participation. A couple of Kalyanamantapas are orgnized for the stay and food. Since so many veda vidyarthis are attending the seminar, HH made sure there are 4 meals served everyday and sumptuous meals at that.
The evening before the conference began, the students reported at the Kanchi matam at Malleswaram, Bangalore. The evening's highlight was seeing a crowd of young boys enjoying the Sampradaya Nama Sankeerthana.
On the 2nd moring, the conference was opened to the vedic chantings of several hundreds [including the patasala adhyapakas, vidyarthi and the Sankara matam veda pandits]. HH presided over the conference and chanted vedas along with the vidyarthis. The entire Kanchi Matam Hall was packed with these children and their teachers. It is amazing to see the discipline these children showed during the entire duaration of the conference. They arrived for each session on time, they chanted vedas fearlessly, they made very little noise in general (unlike what we usually expect of small children). They are generally a happy and cheerful bunch. The chantings by about 750 of them have filled the hearts of those present there. They all kept looking at HH with adoration and love in their eyes. HH ensured every child is given breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinner.
Until the last day, the Sampradaya Bhajans have really attracted the children so much that they participated with enthusiasm and vigor. In fact some of them stood up and started dancing during the Bhajan.
The patasala adhyapakas met HH in private and explained the practical problems they face and received advise and help [monetary or guidance on running patasalas]. HH has felicitated every adhyapaka by showering gifts on them. HH also gave each child a silver pendant, sambhavana and prasadam with his hearty blessings.
The conference ended with all the children running off to do shopping in B'lore before they return to their patasalas.
To me, a humble volunteer, it has been a once in a lifetime experience!
The doorbell rang.. there was this twenty something at the door, clad in blue jeans with a wide leather belt on her waist, with stuff hanging from it.. screw drivers, pliers,.. you name it, she got it there.. She pointed at the sign on her shirt to answer my unasked question as to who she is...
She asked, "Where do you want it?"... a bit awed and short of words, I pointed towards the terrace.. she ran up three floors, took a quick look around and marked the spot and ran downstairs...
She hauled up a heavy equipment box and her toolbox up the stairs on her own, opened the equipment box, took out all the stuff and put together the whole thing in a few minutes.. She then lifted it to the wall, the one she marked earlier, took out a heavy industrial drill and went about fixing it to the wall... effortlessly. She then whistled to the chap waiting outside the wall downstairs and threw him a cable to fix it along the outside wall..
She then ran downstairs to the living room, neatly clipped the wire along the wall all the way upto my tele.. she is done.. She installed the TATA Sky... in a few minutes...within a couple of hours of my buying it from a showroom in South Bangalore.
And all this while, my son who is a confirmed MCP since his birth a few years ago, was walking behind her with his jaw sweeping the floor... boy, did he learn something..
A good man, but a bit proud of his goodness, dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter wants to help the good man be rid of his pride. And so, he starts, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."
"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"
"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."
"Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that's certainly worth a point."
"One point? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."
"Fantastic, that's good for two more points," he says.
"TWO POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"
A teenager moved away from his parents to become a student. Proudly showing off his new apartment to a couple of his friends late one night, he led the way to his bedroom where there was a big brass gong.
"What's that big brass gong?" one of the friends asked.
"It's not a gong. It's a talking clock," the teenager replied.
"A talking clock? Seriously? Asked his astonished friend.
"How's it work?" the 2nd friend asked, squinting at it.
"Watch me," the teenager replied. He picked up a hammer, gave it an ear-shattering pound and stepped back.
The three stood looking at one another for a moment. Suddenly, someone on the other side of the wall screamed: "You idiot, it's ten past three in the morning!"
FIRST World Festival is an International Robotics event organized by FIRST annually at Atlanta. FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science and Technology) is a US not for profit organization which organizes four main events :
1. FIRST LEGO League (FLL) : for age group 9 -14 years 2. FIRST Vex Challenge (FVC) : for High School students 3. FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) : for High School students 4. Junior FLL : for age group 6 - 9 years
These competitions are being organized by FIRST for past many years, this year was the 10th anniversary for FLL. Teams go through a global selection procedure where recognized regional qualifying rounds are conducted and the top teams are chosen to participate in the international festival. SAP AG is one of the main sponsors for the FLL event. Committing to the cause of spreading the knowledge of Robotics among school children (age 9-14 years) SAP runs local events across its various locations. This year from SAP Labs India there were ten teams registered for the event. Out of this five teams finally competed in the local finals and the Champions Awardees (nanoSAPians) were invited to participate in the Global Finals in Atlanta. A total of 10000 students in around 300 teams were representing 23 countries.
Achievement of nanoSAPians @ FLL World Festival :
The team nanoSAPians (team # 6370) stood runners up in the Alliance Event at FLL World Festival. Together with the alliance partners from Maryland, Alaska and Canada we managed to score 368 out of 370 points in the event. The Alliance event is one of the four events in which there are four teams which chose the missions on the basis of their performance and are together supposed to conquer the set of 8 missions. We managed to perform 100% of the task allocated to us. The synergy of the teams was at its best. We missed the winners award by a whisker.
The Effort & Results :
Teams definitely have put in their part. In case of nanoSAPians the work started in June-July 2006 when we recruited these kids from NPS Koramangla for our team. Since then it had been around 400 hours each of personal time (averaging ~ 10 hrs/week) put in by both the coaches individually beyond the work schedule. What to say about the efforts from the children. They were completely immersed in the Challenge for past around ten months.
We have put a lot of perspiration in the challenge and though we outperformed our score in the local finals, there is a lot of scope for improvement in future challenges. Th ere were other events on Research and Technical Presentation where we could have done much better. Unfortunately we focused our energies entirely on the robot design. Less experienced but a long way to go.
The FLL Experience :
The FLL event was a great experience for the students. It was an Olympics of Robotics. Getting a chance to interact with more experienced teams from various parts of the world and experiencing the latest trends in Robotics first hand was quite an exposure. From our discussion with the kids after the event, The event has kindled a strong inclination towards technology in them. Meeting the creators of the LEGO challenge and watching the extensive use that the LEGO kits can be put to was also quite thrilling.
-- Who Dares, Wins.
PS: Dont forget to see the Video to see the team members and the action recorded!
A new Bihari lecturer was unable to control the class. The guys were just talking without giving any attention to him.
So he wanted to send a guy who was creating most of the problem out. But he didn't know how to put it in English..
He went near the guy. Shouted "follow me". The guy followed him till he went out of the class. Now the lecturer turned back and again shouted "Don't follow me" and went inside the class..........
A small girl walked daily to and from school. Though the weather one morning was questionable and clouds were forming, this girl made the daily trek to the elementary school.
As the day progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning.
The father was worried that his daughter would be frightened walking back home from school, and he feared the electrical storm might harm his child.
Following the roar of the thunder, lightning would cut through the sky like a flaming sword. Being concerned, the father got into his car and drove along the route to his daughter's school. Soon he saw her walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up at the sky and smile.
One followed another, each time with his daughter stopping, looking at the streak of light and smiling. Finally, the father called and asked, "What are you doing!"
His daughter answered, "I'm smiling for God, He keeps taking pictures of me."
I am new to blogging. I find an odd behavior among the blogger community. Why do so many of them hide their identities? Is there something I'm missing here? Abuse of most kinds can be easily dealth with, either through software options or through the moderator! I dont think that is a prominent reason here. Please help me understand!
Of course, I did come across some who apparently declare themselves to strangers like me! But very few.
