Friday Gyan: Shake it off and step up

PC: Prashant Bhandare

Story:
This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!

This he did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up...Shake it off and step up...Shake it off and step up...!" He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

Moral:
THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness or self-pity...the adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us! So whatever has happened in your life and whatever is going on right now, try to SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP...

http://cutemorningalways.blogspot.in/2015/03/friday-gyan-5-shake-it-off-and-step-up.html

McDonalds Drive Thru @ Kasturba Road

These stones tell you many stories…

After an exhausting evening at Avenue Road, on our way back we stopped at McDonalds at Kasturba Road for a quick bite. Being 10.30 at night we thought McDonalds would be a convenient option. As usual, we grabbed our meals and headed upstairs. The best thing here is the usage of pebbles as part of the restaurant interiors. Whoever gets in here, have something or the other to pen in these pebbles. Their feelings, emotions, friendship, love, fun, illustrations, graphics and so on. You get to read many stories from these pebbles.

Imagination has always been a favorite hobby or pastime for me. It is somewhat interesting observing these pebbles and imagining the stories from the engraved illustrations or names. Some scribble about their emotions to their partners, the depth of friendship with their names engraved in blue, red ballpoint pens or even using a permanent marker. Creative thinkers would scribble or illustrate creative graphics on them. Its like, when you pick each pebble from the box, you get to imagine a story behind that. 
 

At times, I get back to my college days where we used to have such fun when with friends. A couple of year back, I had come to the same McDonalds and my friend had done a portrait on the pebble. I remembered that and I was trying to find that particular pebble. After few minutes search, I found that pebble and I started laughing looking at the pebble. My friend had drawn a girl’s portrait and someone had added a mustache on that. That was funny! Things will not remain the same when you next find them. This is what I thought at that moment.
 

I love to visit this place always, cherishing my memories and creating stories from someone else’s memories.

Here is the link to the pictures taken at the McDonalds drive thru… https://plus.google.com/photos/107767421120953479303/albums/5680325651489142209

P.S: All the images here are copyright protected to Prashant Bhandare. Anyone who wants to publish or use these images for any purpose, please contact the concerned for permission.