Bengaluru
FC 227 on No Pain, No Gain was widely appreciated. Thank you readers. Here are a few comments:
Lakshmi Raman: “Reading about the well-meaning relatives, the visitors who descended on you (both physically and online) to sympathize with you, brought a smile to my lips. Nothing like an enforced rest to get one to reflect and read — more than usual. My first read getting my elbow fixed in 2022 after the accident was Assegai by Wilbur Smith, which my brother brought to my hospital bed. It was adventurous and bloodthirsty, which took my mind fairly off the pain that first week. Pain gets one to accept and enjoy strange things!”
Subahu Desai: “Wrist in a cast, as you cast your spell penning a few painful but gainful lines!”
Nisha Sinha: “Platitudes on being grateful are so annoying. After reading your post, I will try to guard against them....if I ever dished them out.”
Radhika Prasad: “Once again a brilliant article, full of humour. I particularly liked the line ‘the pain of discipline is lighter than the pain of regret.’”
🔮 Forecasting
I’m still single-handed, but I forecast that the cast will be cast off on the 24th which will give me a few days to flex my fingers and be able to type with both hands and cast a spell on you, dear readers. What gumption, you might wonder!
Four years back, I wrote about the faith people have in diverse mediums for peeping into the future and feeling happy if something good was coming their way. Let me present some of those mediums that are related to forecasting. Please share your views & experiences.
Palmistry, astrology: There’s a Japanese saying: ‘put faith in your abilities and not in the stars’.
But people continue to seek those who claim to predict what is in store for them. They may tell you that you will land a job overseas, for example, and when you find yourself working on a cruise ship, you tell yourself, how true the prediction turned out to be! This reminds me of an anecdote where an astrologer reading the palm of the father predicts that his son will be dealing in lakhs of rupees and lo and behold, the father was aghast when his son became a cashier in a bank!
Before one embarks on an inquisitive pursuit of what the future holds — whether in your hand or a horoscope, one should carefully consider the pros and cons and one's ability to deal with what is revealed. There are umpteen instances of people not being able to deal with bad news and falling into a kind of depression. Likewise, news of something good happening lulls one into the belief that it will happen without any effort on one’s part.
Tasseography: It is the art of reading tea leaves, which originated many centuries ago in China and is not very popular among people in India. Tasseography is also the art of reading coffee grounds. Interestingly both readings are not intended to give you bad news but only good news. The logic being, that a cup of coffee or tea brings joy and not sadness. If you wish to know more or want to try out reading the tea leaves please visit 🔗this website.
Parrot card: As kids, we used to be fascinated by a parrot coming out of its cage and picking one of many cards laid out by its handler that contained some forecast of what is in store for the gullible customer paying one anna. This, I think, was as reliable as what you read on the little slips in fortune cookies. Imagine if you are paying a bill in a Chinese restaurant and the slip you got says, ‘You are in for a treat’!
Tarot card: Just like playing cards, Tarot cards are numbered Ace to 10 and then Page, Night, Queen and King. The 22 trump cards carry the images of Fool, Magician, High Priestess, The Empress and so on. These symbols are thought to have originated in China, India or Egypt, though the cards themselves are European in origin. The cards are drawn, read and interpreted to gain insight into relationships, opportunities, and life changes. Quite complicated. If you’d like to know more about the practice, visit 🔗this website.
Crystal gazing: Commonly associated with the Romani people, crystal gazing has been widely researched but there’s no conclusive evidence that what you see in the sphere of glass is what is in store for you in the future. Crystal balls are not necessarily made of crystals but are invariably spherical in shape and transparent. Some claim that the ball itself does nothing more than relax the mind of the scryer, allowing him or her to fall into a trance-like state. It is believed that what one sees is what one would like to see and this vision could be induced by self-hypnosis. If you are interested to know more please visit 🔗this website.
Some of these systems may even predict your past. I would say don’t live in the past, live in the present and take one day at a time. If you worry about all three, then you have past-tense, present-tense & future-tense!
As you read this 228th Newsletter, you will be getting into the Christmas week. To Christians, it is a religious holiday but to the rest, it is a cultural holiday. It is a festival that sort of brings all of us together, and we wish each other Merry Christmas just as we would wish one another Happy Diwali. Let me recap some of the aspects relating to this festival.
As per didyouknow.org, the word ‘Christmas’ means ‘Mass of Christ’, later shortened to ‘Christ-Mass’. The even shorter form ‘Xmas’, first used in Europe in the 1500s, is derived from the Greek alphabet, in which X is the first letter of Christ’s name: Xristos, therefore ‘X-Mass’.
Today we know that Christ was not born on the 25th of December. The date was chosen to coincide with the pagan Roman celebrations honouring Saturnus (the harvest god) and Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship.
Santa Claus — otherwise known as Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle — has a long history steeped in Christmas traditions. Today, he is thought of mainly as the jolly man in red who brings toys to good girls and boys on Christmas Eve, but his story stretches back to the 3rd century when Saint Nicholas walked the earth and became the patron saint of children.
‘Air bubbles’ are travel corridors established between two friendly countries that allow their national carriers to fly passengers either way without restrictions. The word ‘family bubble’ is inspired by the air bubble concept. It envisages the coming together of two or three closely related families to celebrate Christmas.
Christmas is an event for merriment and a time for families to entertain, laugh, and have fun, especially with our children. They are innocent and playful, and their laughter also multiplies the joy that is within each of us. Well then, why not use Christmas jokes for kids to cheer up your family atmosphere now? Here are some you can share with kids:
What do Santa’s helpers like to post on Instagram?
Elfies!Why was Santa's helper depressed?
He has low ELFesteem.Why are Christmas trees very bad at knitting?
Because they always drop their needles!One night, a Viking named Rudolph the Red looked out the window. He turned to his wife and said, “It’s going to rain.”
“How do you know that?” she asked. “
Because,” he replied, “Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear.”What do you call a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa?
A rebel without a Claus.What did Adam say to his wife on Christmas?
It’s finally Christmas, Eve!Who is Santa’s favourite singer?
Elfis Presley!Why is Christmas just like a day at the office?
You do all the work and the fat guy in the red suit gets all the credit.
That’s it, for now, ladies and gents. Have a great week full of fun but please get together in a family bubble. See you next week, Ciao!
Merry Christmas, Prasanna!
Best wishes as u get ready for the "cast off" as u call it. Its really true. How ur muscles need time to be its normal self