The Old Coin

The story is told of an unemployed young graduate who woke up one morning under a bridge and checked his pocket. All he had left was a few dollar bills adding up to less than ten bucks. He was frustrated as he could find no work and no one was there to help him. He said a prayer dedicating his last remaining money to the Lord and decided to use it to buy food, then wait on the Lord for an answer to his situation.

 

He bought food and as he sat down to eat, an old man and two children came along --- the older of the two was a boy probably 12 years old and the other a little girl who looked as beautiful as an angel. The old man asked him to help them with food as they had not eaten for almost a week.

The young graduate looked at the children --- they were so lean that he could see their bones coming through their skin and their eyes were receding. With the last bit of compassion he had he gave them all the food. The old man and children prayed that God would bless and prosper the young graduate and then gave him a dirty old coin. The young graduate said, "You need this coin more than I do --- just keep it." The old man insisted that the young graduate put it in his pocket --- and finally he did.

 

The Old man and children sat down to eat and with no money, no job and no food, the young graduate went back under the bridge to lay down. As he was about to fall asleep he saw an old newspaper on the ground. He picked it up and saw an advertisement inviting people with old coins to come to a particular store. He decided to go there with the dirty old coin the man gave him.

On arriving at the store, he gave the proprietor the dirty old coin. The proprietor screamed loudly and brought out a big book and showed the young graduate a photograph. This same old coin was worth $67,000 dollars. It was part of a Spanish treasure ship that had never been found. The young graduate was overjoyed as the proprietor gave him a certified check for the full amount. He immediately cashed it at the bank and went in search of the old man and little children to thank them.

 

By the time he got to where he left them eating, they had gone. He asked around about the three people and found a lady who said, "The old man said a young man looking like you would ask about them --- and when you do I'm supposed to give you this note." She handed the young graduate the note which he quickly opened. He was hopeful it would be an address of where they were headed.

But it was not an address and this is what the note said: "You gave us your all and we have rewarded you back with the coin," signed God the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.

 

From: www.motivateus.com

Just A Droplet

Last week I was talking with Santiago, my friend from Argentina, over dinner… we were talking about football (the real one, not what the Americans play with their hands), Real Madrid match against Manchester United and as he is an Argentinean, we also talked about Barcelona’s resurgence against AC Milan, and Messi of course. He is a Barca fan and I’ve been a Madridista since ’99. A month back or so we discussed about football and he was surprised to know that Barcelona is my second favorite team after Real… he said I was the first person he knew who had the arc rivals as their top two best teams! And I was surprised to know he was all praise about Ronaldo, Messi's nemesis.
 

So as we were having the dinner, accompanied by Michael (Miguel) from Ecuador and Santi’s American girlfriend Melissa, he asked me if I knew Aguero!

“Maradon’s ex-son-in-law?” I replied.

 He gave me that surprised look… and continued… “I am an Argentinean and he knows more about Argentina than me! How do you know that? Do you read all the news?”

I had no answer. I don’t think I do have one… but I do surf net to keep up to date with the headlines… just the first page and if something looks interesting, I go through it.

Earlier same day, I was at my friend Christina's office to discuss about a project that we were doing. While we were talking her friend Julie arrived… so as the conversation went on… we talked about my coin collection… Christina said that her father too have a collection, and at the end she concluded that the Americans do not teach in detail about Geography in schools and the children from other part of the world are way ahead them. Pointing at me she said, “Rabin knows more about US geography than I do. Isn’t that surprising?”

So, I started… when I was in grade VI we were punished if we could not recite the country-capital by heart! I was pathetic then. So during that time I got this bug of collecting coins, being a numismatist… so I started flipping through World Atlas, surprised to know about the countries I have never heard of before… so that just added my interest in the subject even more, unintentionally. Come grade VII, now I could tell the name of the country on the world map which even our teacher couldn’t do… the situation was like, who knows the answer besides Rabin? And later in the school, some of my friends thought I knew more about geography, even more than the subject teacher… that was too much… but I have too many things to know and every time I learn something new, I feel dwarfed… I don’t have even a drop of knowledge about the vast world that lies ahead…

The Inner Voice

I ain’t a bookworm… never been one! And most of the people have just the opposite view regarding that about me. During my school days, I had my ups and downs in my studies… and as I look back from here today, I believe with all that I had been through, I at least got the lesson right. But still this day I am pathetic in time management… I study for exams at the last hour and realize that it wasn’t a good idea, always! Some habits are hard to change than others, and for me it has been the one… which I would love to change… but don’t know if I ever could as I am almost at the end of my schooling days… unless I decide to pursue a PhD! But then I realize it would all be the same with my work as well… the deadlines, they are everywhere!

Grade VI, I believe it was when I hit the rock bottom! Poor grades, percentage, no motivation… no nothing. It was possibly the lowest phase of my life as well…that is what I thought then. I was a kid! I remember my mother and brother helping me revise my Math problems before the exam… 16+14=32! That was what I had in my exercise copy! Why? Because I copied my homework from someone else, and that was it! That was just tip of the iceberg! Come Grade VII! The turnaround year… I was back to my pre-grade VI days, good in studies again! I bounced back well… and the credit goes to my family… they have always been there… always, every single day and moment…

From there on my grades never looked back, luckily. I had a dream to become a surgeon when I read one story during my Grade V, I don’t remember the title of the story but I know that was my inspiration. So I was back on track with that dream again… and my grades suggested I wasn’t daydreaming! Everything looked good. Iron Gate came… was disappointed by the result, but my dreams weren’t dashed… joined a bridge course… everything was on track…

Applied in St. Xavier’s, I thought I did it good, maybe others did better… I wasn’t in the short list… so decided to join my earlier school for higher studies. First day of college… I could relate to everything that was being taught on the board, but somewhere inside I felt as if this is not the place I belong… that was strange! That night during the dinner I announced that I don’t feel like studying Science, I think I would like to pursue Management… everyone supported! They felt I should do what I think is better for me, if it ain’t Science, so it be… the next day I changed the faculty.

Never before had I taken Economics or something related to management… we had Accounting class earlier on, but that didn’t even dealt with the basic transactions that accounting is all about… but after a while I picked it up… my grades were good if not better. I was heading in the right direction but still I had not proved myself and my decision to be right. Decided to pursue Business Administration like my siblings… At first my target was to land among the top 10, I don’t know how, to everyone’s surprise I stood first! Dang!

Went to get the report card with my father, as we were supposed to… the Co-ordinator cum Principal was upset, must be, he had his hopes pinned on someone else… who was more ‘first boy material’… He tells to my father, ‘he’s like a kite, you never know when it will be chopped off the thread!’… I don’t know if he was sane, iDoubt! But time is a great tutor… he got his lesson in the subsequent results… four-in-a-row that felt good… but truly speaking, I never craved to be first, it happened… my family were surprised too, they knew I never studied, but I was regular to college… and that helped. It helped me realize that I made right decision by listening to my ‘inner voice’. That was my moment of redemption...

You Made Me The Thief of Your Heart

I hope you're happy now...
I could never make you so...
You were a hard man...
No harder in this world
You made me cold and you made me hard
And you made me the thief of your heart
Winter is cold... oh!
But you're colder still
And for the first time
I feel like you're mine
I share you with the one
Who will mend what falls apart
And turn a blind eye
To the thief of your heart
Ohhh you lost
Ohh you lost all
You lost all
You lost all
I'll never wash these clothes
I want to keep the stain
Your blood to me is precious
Nor would I spill it in vain
Your spirit sings
Though your lips never part
Singing only to me
The thief of your heart
Ohhh you lost
Ohhh you lost
Ohhh you lost all
Lost all
Ohhh you lost
Ohhh you lost all
Lost all 

Singer: Sinead O'Connor

Movie: In The Name Of The Father

A World Apart

“I’ve been around, you know?”, that’s what Al Pacino says in that epic climax of one the best movies ever made, ‘Scent of a Woman’… that movie is awesome! High repeat value!! A great/must watch!!! I wish to say that sometime in the future! I have always wished to visit places afar, meet people, enjoy the splendor of nature, understand different cultures, and enjoy life that way… Most of the people across the developing world and beyond dream to travel to the US and make it big… and as I am here myself, it provides me with a great opportunity to know and understand a lot of them... and being a student is an added benefit.

 

I don’t think I am good in too many things, but I would prefer geography more or less to be my home-ground, kind of… it has been my favourite pastime. It has aided me a lot to create a kind of image/stereotype of most of the people around the globe… and over generalization is like over confidence, doesn’t help in the real world that much. But that knowledge has been useful to break the ice, start the conversation and get it going on… and some of them wonder how I knew about them that much… Damn! It’s numismatist inside me that’s all to blame. Not bragging but I am a proud owner of coins from more than 80 countries and territories around the world and counting… that’s more than 33% right?

So far I have met people from every continent sans Australia and Oceania and tell you the truth they have been far different from anything I have read… and I believe that is what the real world beyond the pages of newspaper is… they only cover news that is sellable, and a lot of people like these never make it to that category… and that inspires me to retire early and hit the road to discover the world that there is beyond the horizon…

Given the image portrayed by 43^rd President Bush, the Americans I’ve met seems to be from a world apart, I wonder if I am in the same America!… warm hearted, helpful... but that maybe the specialty of the Old West that is still alive here in Wyoming… Swiss, French, Greenlander, Zimbabwean, Ecuadorian, Mexican, Argentinean, Saudi, British… you name it and it feels like they are as good as it comes… maybe I am lucky in that case… I have always been proud of being a Nepali, always will be... but I won’t prefer to call myself one until and unless I have to… the Nepalese lot out here aren’t the one that you would like to relate or associate yourself with, as far as most of the ones that I know… I don’t know if I do fit in that category as well or not but truly speaking, they are mean and selfish… they would be a different being even if they are able to learn 10% from the people around… I have been lucky to have grown up in a nice surrounding, wonderful family and friends… maybe they were not that lucky enough…

Saudis are cool, and there are whole bunch of them out here… heard their association here have more than 250 active members… and some of them act as if they are ‘cold proof’, which I wrote about some time ago… most of the Chinese, who are in majority among international students, have damn big heads, literally, the size!... no offences but Vietnamese girls are the least pleasant to look at, must be a different case in Hanoi though, I believe… that Kenyan guy sports his phone with broken display as if it is the most coolest thing on the face of earth... and the way he carries that off, looks true… the Greenlander out here felt it was colder here than it was in Nuuk… and that Saudi guy didn’t? I can’t get to read that in any book, do I? So, it’s high time I earn some money so I can trot the globe after I finally decide to retire… the world is a damn big place, too many things to see… few to miss… and I don’t wish to miss any!

Post script: If someone says they represent two countries, ask them if they were born in the Soviet Union… that was the case about this girl I met who was born in Tashkent (now Uzbekistan) but was a Russian citizen… with Russia’s population on a negative trend they allow the people born in former Soviet republics to acquire their citizenship which the former republics don’t… or you may be talking to Mohammed, the guy who is a British citizen but his father is a Saudi, mother Canadian and lived last 8 years in Lebanon!