Wedding Engagement

Attended a wedding engagement of a son of a colleague and family friend of my wife. His name is Pradeep Alexander and that of the prospective bride Sindhu Rebecca. The engagement was held at Tambaram, a suburb of Chennai (Madras) in Tamil Nadu State in India. The function started off with some prayers and singing of songs. The engagement was a simple affair without much fanfare.

Here are a few pictures taken during the ceremony.

This is a picture of the ceremonial gifts that the prospective bridegroom gives to the prospective bride.

Here are some more pictures taken during the ceremony:

The prospective bridegroom

The Prospective Bride

The exchange of Bibles

The prospective bridegroom and bride exchanging rings

The ceremony ended with a blessing of the prospective couple a simple, prayer a general blessing of the gathering and dinner.

Quotes

Nothing eventful is happening around me so I'm resorting to some of the odds and ends that I had collected in some of my scrap books. Here are some interesting quotes that I had gathered over the years. You may have come across them some where else but here they are for what they are worth.

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. - Jane Wagner

Delete the adjectives and you'll have the facts. - Harper Lee

Asking politicians to give up a source of money is like asking Dracula to forsake blood. - Cal Thomas

We meet aliens everyday who have something to give us. They come in the form of people with different opinions. - William Shatner

The squeaky wheel may get the most oil, but it is also the first to be replaced. - Marilyn vos Savant

Haste is good only in catching fleas. - Alla Yaroshinskaya

Where there is shouting there is no true knowledge. - Leonardo da Vinci

Old people really do have a secret, though. You wanna know what it is? Luck. - Carl Ferguson

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. - Hal Borland

Canned laughter indiscriminately robs humour of its subjectiveness. - Ajay Gopalkrishna

It is good to be spontaneous, it is good to be thorough, it is good to have something that inspires you. - Paul McCartney

"Fearless" is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. - Taylor Swift

Never harbour grudges; they sour your stomach and do harm to anyone else. - Robertson Davies

A lot of good things have come out of dreaming. - Arthur Miller

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. - Dave Barry

Happy is the man who at the end of his life possesses only what he has given to others. - Armando Fuentes Aguirre

Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time. - H. Jackson Brown Jr.

If you're willing to fail interestingly, you tend to succeed interestingly. - Edward Albee

Without knowledge, the world is bereft of culture. And so we must be educators and students both. - Roberta Bondar

Your mind is often your own enemy. It can kill you through over-analysis. - Rina Dhaka

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much. - Donald H. Rumsfeld

Usefulness is not impaired by imperfection. You can drink from a chipped cup. - Greta K. Nagel

It would be interesting to find out what goes on in that moment when someone looks at you and draws all sorts of conclusions. - Malcolm Gladwell

The most difficult thing is to love oneself but unless we do that we can't love others. - Vishal Bhardwaj

The best time to plant an oak tree is 25 years ago. The second best time is today. - James Carville

Never underestimate the capacity of another human being to have exactly the same shortcomings you have. - Leigh Steinberg

 A happy family is but an earlier heaven. - Sir John Bowring

If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved, but to be coped with over time. - Shimon Peres

I you do not know history, you don't know anything. You're a leaf that doesn't know it's part of a tree. - Michael Cruchton

Timeless Wisdom

Some timeless wisdom. Some of them are also Chinese proverbs.

* To attract good fortune, spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon.

* He who cannot control agree with his enemies is controlled by them.

* Behind every able man, there are always other able men.

* To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

* Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.

* If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it.

* He who strikes the first blow admits he's lost the argument.

* He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

* Don't open a shop unless you like to smile.

* Be the first to the field and the last to the couch.

* A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials.

* A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers.

* When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planed them.

* There are two perfectly good men, one dead, and the other unborn.

* If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

* If you get up one more time than you fall, you will make it through.

* A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections.

* One joy shatters a thousand grieves.

* Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.

* Distance tests a horse's strength. Time reveals a person's character.

Some Chinese Proverbs

Some Chinese proverbs from my collection of odds and ends in one of my scrap books.

A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.

A single conversation with a wise man is worth a month's of study of books.

The one who pursues revenge should dig two graves.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

The journey is the reward.

In the midst of great joy, do not promise anyone anything. In the midst of great anger, do not answer anyone's letter.

Beauty is the wisdom of women. Wisdom is the beauty of men.

Quarrelling is like cutting water with a sword.

Respect for one's parents is the highest duty of civil life.

Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome.

He who is not satisfied with himself will grow; he who is not sure of his own correctness will learn many things.

If a man fools me once, shame on him. If he fools me twice shame on me.

A clever person turns great troubles into little ones and little ones into none at all.

He who could foresee affairs three days in advance would be rich for thousands of years.

Clear conscience never fears midnight knocking.

When a man is crazy about a woman, only she can cure him.

If you bow at all, bow low.

The Best Type Of Person

A sage presented a prince with a set of three small dolls. The prince was not amused.

"Am I a girl that you give me dolls?" he asked.

"This is a gift for a future king," said the sage. "if you look carefully, you'll see a hole in the ear of each doll."

The sage handed the prince a piece of string and said, "Pass it through the ear of each doll."

The prince picked up the first doll and inserted the string into the ear. It came out from the other ear. The prince then inserted the string into the ear of the second doll. It came out of the mouth. The process was repeated to the third doll. The string did not come out from any part of the doll.

The sage then told the prince that the three dolls represent three kinds of men. The first does not retain anything told to him. The second cannot keep hold of what he hears. He repeats it to everyone else. The third type of doll represents a person who keeps everything that you tell him locked up in himself.

The prince then asked the sage, "Who is the best type of person?"

The sage replied that the best type of person is one who is trustworthy, a man must know when not to listen, when to remain silent and when to speak out.

Breaks and Vacations

Some more odds and ends (quotes) from my scrap book on "Breaks and Vacations".

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. - Lao Tzu

I have had a holiday and I'd like to take it up professionally. - Kylie Minogue

A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. - Earl Wilson

Vacation: Two weeks on the sunny sands - and the rest of the year on the financial rocks. - Sam Ewing

A good holiday is one spent among people whose notion of time are vaguer than yours. - John B. Priestly

Don't skip your vacations and breaks. Spend your breaks meditating, praying or reading. Don't bring your laptop with you on vacation. - Yasmeen Abdur-Rahman

To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change. - Charles Horton Cooley

A holiday gives one a chance to look backward and forward, to reset oneself by an inner compass. - May Sarton

A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. - Robert Orben

He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left. - Chinese Proverb

A good vacation is over when you begin to yearn for your work. - Morris Fishbein

So, to prevent fatigue and worry, the first rule is: Rest often. Rest before you get tired. - Dale Carnegie

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. - Exodus 31:17

Every man who possibly can, should force himself to a holiday of a full month in a year, whether he feels like taking it or not. - William James

If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.

After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all other fellows' busy working. - Kenneth Grahame

Holidays in general breed unrealistic expectations. The minute you start wondering, "Is it going to be wonderful enough?" it never will be. - Pepper Schwartz

If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work, but when they seldom come, they wish'd for come. - William Shakespeare

Greatness Of A Coach

Some more odds and ends from my scrap book on "The Greatness Of A Coach".

Make sure that team members know they are working with you, not for you. A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. - John Wooden

My responsibility is leadership, and the minute I get negative that is going to have an influence on my team. - Don Shula

You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again. - Pat Riley

I learn teaching from teachers. I learn golf from golfers. I learn winning from coaches. - Henry Penick

A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are. - Ara Parasheghian

The secret to winning is constant consistent management. - Tom Landry

You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within. - Bob Nelson

Coaches have to watch for what they do not want to see and tlisten to what they don't want to hear. - John Madden

Overcoaching is the worst thing you can do to a player. - Dean Smith

Probably my best quality as a coach is that I ask a lot of challenging questions and let the person come up with the answers. - Phil Dixon

Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you. You can't coach people unless you love them. - Eddie Robinson

Habits are critical to players. They cannot think and play well at the same time. - Don Meyer

Coaching is nothing more than eliminating mistakes before you get fired. - Lou Holtz

Either love your players or get out of coaching. - Bobby Dodd

Coaches build teams. Parents build players. - Charles Smyth

Coaching does not permit democracy. - Jeff Brown

All coaching is taking a player where he can't take himself. - Bill McCartney

I never see to be amazed at the power of the coaching process... - John Russell