King of the skies

Today evening, I decided to give work a break and went to the terrace to watch paper kites that some kids were flying in the neighborhood. Today, there was a lot of breeze and guess it was an ideal evening for this sport. There was some intense fighting in the skies and it was a joy to watch 20 kites of all colors. 

It was even more fun to watch kids on the streets running around to catch the kites that were coming down one by one. The kids did not care where they ran. Their heads were just focused on the kite and I can see that they wanted it so much that they kept running all around, scaling compound walls when required, not caring about what others may say, and jumping into houses in an effort to be the first one to lay hands on the falling kite.

It reminded me of my own childhood, when I was so crazy about flying kites. My mother used to take me to the kite shop and get me the kites that were available for 25 paise, and if she was very happy with me, she may rarely get me the bigger one for 50 paise. I very badly wanted to fly the "bana" kite that sold for Rs 2, but I never asked my parents and hence I never got one. My friends and me used to hunt for broken glass, tube lights, white thread and many other agents to prepare the deadly "manja thread" and fly the kites with it. 

It was super fun those days. With nothing much to do other than school studies, and with all the free time in the world, we could fly the kites and feel we were the kings of the skies for the moment. Winning in whatever small ways is always such an amazing feeling, and I guess it has been long since I experienced a big win. I'll try, I'll try very hard for the next big win.

Sea Biscuit

SeaBiscuit is one of my all-time favourite movies and I have put in some excellent conversations from the movie. If you like them, you should watch the movie!

Why are you fixing the horse?
Every horse is good for something. You know, you dont throw a whole life away just because he banged up a little.

Narrator: Seabiscuit was a small horse, barely 15 hands. He was hurting too. There was a limp in his walk, a wheezing in his breath. Smith did not pay attention to that. He was looking at the horse in the eye.

What exactly did you like in that horse? He's got spirit. Hell, he is so beat up he is hard to tell what he's like. I think they got him so screwed up making him run in a circle that he is forgotten what he was born to do.

"Though he be little, he is fierce." - Shakespeare

All the time in the world, boy.
That's it Pops.
Nice lead.
Just like that, boy.
Just like that.
what do you think, boy?
You ready to go?
You and me. Let's go boy. Let's go. Ha! Ha!

Well, I just think this horse has a lot of heart.
He may have been down, but he wasn't out.
He may have lost a few, but he didn't let it get to him.

By the way, he does not know he's little. He thinks he is the biggest horse out there. See, sometimes, when a little guy, he doesn't know he's a little guy, he can do great big things. See, this is not the finish line. The future is the finish line. And Biscuit is the horse to get us there!

A good quote from Mark Twain:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Collection of Wisdom

Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Alva Edison, Lao Tzu have been some of my biggest teachers who have helped me stay inspired, and work very hard with the right spirit. I was feeling a little down and was hungry to hear them again and I found this remarkable collection of quotes. The blogger has neatly organized it into different qualities and I recommend this post a lot.

http://sourcesofinsight.com/2008/12/11/personal-productivity-quotes/

I have also always believed that good reading gives a great start to know what is the right thing to do, but it is always the right actions at the right time that finally counts.

Favourite Quotes

My growing collection of favourite quotations:

Let each man exercise the art he knows.
Aristophanes

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Mohandas Gandhi

Ideas shape the course of history.
John Maynard Keynes

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale

Great hopes make great men.
Thomas Fuller

You have to dream before your dreams can come true.
Abdul Kalam

Wherever you are - be all there.
Jim Elliot

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
Abraham Lincoln

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.
Abraham Lincoln

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.
Abraham Lincoln

I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Abraham Lincoln

If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.
Abraham Lincoln

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.
Abraham Lincoln

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.
Abraham Lincoln

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
Abraham Lincoln

Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.
Abraham Lincoln

You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
Abraham Lincoln

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Abraham Lincoln

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.
Napoleon Bonaparte