It's not about what you see... It's about what you feel...

One day, a young guy and a young girl fell in love.

But the guy came from a poor family. The girl’s parents weren’t too happy.

So the young man decided not only to court the girl but to court her parents as well. In time, the parents saw that he was a good man and was worthy of their daughter’s hand.

But there was another problem: The man was a soldier. Soon, war broke out and he was being sent overseas for a year. The week before he left, the man knelt on his knee and asked his lady love, “Will you marry me?” She wiped a tear, said yes, and they were engaged. They agreed that when he got back in one year, they would get married.

But tragedy struck. A few days after he left, the girl had a major vehicular accident. It was a head-on collision.

When she woke up in the hospital, she saw her father and mother crying. Immediately, she knew there was something wrong.

She later found out that she suffered brain injury. The part of her brain that controlled her face muscles was damaged. Her once lovely face was now disfigured. She cried as she saw herself in the mirror. “Yesterday, I was beautiful. Today, I’m a monster.” Her body was also covered with so many ugly wounds.

Right there and then, she decided to release her fiancé from their promise. She knew he wouldn’t want her anymore. She would forget about him and never see him again.

For one year, the soldier wrote many letters—but she wouldn’t answer. He phoned her many times but she wouldn’t return her calls.

But after one year, the mother walked into her room and announced, “He’s back from the war.”

The girl shouted, “No! Please don’t tell him about me. Don’t tell him I’m here!”

The mother said, “He’s getting married,” and handed her a wedding invitation.

The girl’s heart sank. She knew she still loved him—but she had to forget him now.

With great sadness, she opened the wedding invitation.

And then she saw her name on it!

Confused, she asked, “What is this?”

That was when the young man entered her room with a bouquet of flowers. He knelt beside her and asked, “Will you marry me?”

The girl covered her face with her hands and said, “I’m ugly!”

The man said, “Without your permission, your mother sent me your photos. When I saw your photos, I realized that nothing has changed. You’re still the person I fell in love. You’re still as beautiful as ever. Because I love you!”

Facebook vs Google+ vs Twitter

All the news came together! First Google announced the launch of its new social media platform to take on Facebook. Then came the (expected) sad news that News Corp is selling MySpace for $35 million to online advertising network Specific Media. And, soon, Facebook announced that it would come up with some 'awesome' features, that turned out to be its tie up with Skype for video chat.

And to make the news further hot, it is being reported that microblogging service Twitter is seeking to raise $400 million, and the company is valued at $8 billion.

So, in this scenario, the natural question is, who all will win the 'world wide war' of the social media.

Will Google write a '+' story?

First, let's look at Google's new social networking venture with a '+' sign, which the company says is an innovative and groundbreaking one.

Though the Internet search giant could not create a success story in the field dominated by Facebook, with its Orkut, OpenSocial, FriendConnect or Google Buzz, which are all different types of experiments, this time around it is moving ahead with all might to tie together all of its online properties to write a '+ve' story.

Though it is said to be a replica of the many features of Facebook, Google bets big on the new platform, which has been introduced as an 'exclusively-on-invitation' one, to begin with.

Google says Google Plus is not Facebook, it is much more.

With the features like Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, Video Chat etc, the search giant believes that it has the might to take on Facebook. Moreover, in all possibility, Google will integrate it with other platforms like Gmail, Calendar, Picassa, YouTube, etc, to ensure the reach and success.

So, if at all Google+ overtakes Facebook, there is nothing surprising in it.

Facebook a communication platform?

But anticipating all this, Facebook has gone a step further with its Skype integration. With this, Facebook expects to retain its users and attract more too.

Moreover, with Skype, Facebook becomes a communication platform as well, thus giving it an edge over others.

“The Facebook/ Skype tie up brings together two of the most popular communications service providers online and the video chat feature should prove a hit with Facebook’s 750 million users,” says Ovum principal analyst Eden Zoller.

“We would also expect the Facebook’s video chat service to develop a strong mobile play given that at least half of Facebook’s user base interact with the social network via mobile and also because Microsoft is determined to take Skype in this direction,” said Zoller.

The Murdoch misery

Interestingly, even as others fight to clinch the top slot, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp failed create a space of its own in the social media front and finally decided to sell it off for peanuts. In the recent times the Murdoch empire has been facing a lot of problems.

So, with Myspace losing its space, and Twitter being a different ballgame altogether, the remaining questions are: Will Facebook continue its domination in the world of social media? Can Google beat Facebook? To get the answer we may have to wait for some time, because Google+ is yet to enter our private world of social interaction.

In the present situation, in all likelihood, both the platforms would have a neck-to-neck competition and they may co-exist as rivals.

Finally, whoever wins the battle, Facebook's Zuckerberg is the happiest man in the social networking world, because, he is the most popular man on Google Plus too, with the most number of followers!

Finally the post from Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of  Facebook) was
   
    Getting ready for f8- at Facebook HQ



                   Weird are the ways of the world, isn't it?

Hospital window...

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man couldn’t hear the band – he could see it. In his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”

The Teenage Gandhi....!

Like all teenagers Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was curious and loved to dabble with new experiences. While he was in High School he had a number of experiences - not always pleasant - from which he learned much.

Mohan had a friend in school who had rather a bad reputation. Both Putlibai (Gandhi's mother) and Kasturba (Gandhi's wife) disliked him, but Mohan said, "Let me be his friend; I know he has weaknesses but he also has virtues". This friend had told Mohan many stories about the benefits of eating meat. "Some of our teachers eat meat secretly," he said. "So do some of our leading men." "I did not know that," said Mohan. "Why do they do it?" "Meat eaters grow strong and healthy", said his friend. "Look at me! I can run long distances. I can do any hard work. And look at you! You are weak, you have no courage."

"That is true" thought Mohan. "I am a coward. I am afraid of darkness and ghosts and thieves. Even Kasturba is bolder than I am."

"Do you know why the English rule over us? his friend went on. "It's because they are meat-eaters. If we want to fight them and drive them out we too must eat meat and grow strong."

Mohan's mind was divided. If he ate meat, he would have to hide it from his parents. They were Vaishnavas and would be greatly shocked and grieved. Surely it was wrong to deceive them. Yet, on the other hand, it was his duty to help drive the British out of India. Finally he agreed that he would try meat-eating and his friend secretly brought some goat's meat for him. How terrible it tasted! He could not sleep that night; he felt as if a live goat was bleating inside him. But he did not give up. His friend brought good tasty meat dishes and soon he began to enjoy them. So it went on for a year.

But there was a difficulty. After eating meat secretly Mohan did not feel hungry when he got home. His mother noticed it. "Why don't you eat well, Mohan?" she asked. "I don't feel like it, mother," he replied. "My stomach is bad," As he said the words, his conscience pricked him: "I am lying to my mother - No, I can't do it. I won't lie to my parents. I will take no more meat while they are alive."

Another school friend encouraged Mohan to smoke. They enjoyed the experience and saw nothing wrong in it. Adult men smoked, why not we do the same? But soon they were not satisfied to collect half-smoked cigarettes which other people threw away. They wanted their own, and cigarettes cost money. They began to steal coppers from servants pockets, but that was not sufficient. Mohan was too proud to ask his wife for money. Finally he stole a bit of gold from his brother's armlet and sold it.

Once more his conscience prickled him. Stealing was wrong, he knew it. He decided he must confess to his father, but he could not speak out openly. He wrote on a piece of paper all that he had done, and asked for punishment. His father was sick, lying in bed, and Mohan went to him and gave him the paper. Kaba Gandhi read it; tears of love and compassion flowed from his eyes, then he tore up the paper and lay down. His father's tears were Mohan's first lesson in the meaning of Ahimsa. The father's tears were Mohan's first lesson in the meaning of Ahimsa. The father suffered because the son had done wrong, and the father was happy because the son had confessed.

Love in action...!

One night a man came to our house and told me, “There is a family with eight children. They have not eaten for days,” I took some food and I went. When I finally came to the family, I saw the faces of those little children disfigured by hunger. There was no sorrow or sadness in their faces, just the deep pain of hunger. I gave the rice to the mother. She divided it in two, and went out, carrying half the rice with her. When she came back, I asked her, “Where did you go?” She gave me this simple answer, “To my neighbors-they are hungry also.”

I was not surprised that she gave–because poor people are generous. But I was surprised that she knew they were hungry. As a rule, when we are suffering, we are so focused on ourselves we have no time for others.

–Mother Teresa

The Elephant's rope....

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?
     
                  "Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life."

The Blind Love.....!

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”
The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

                                                 “Just take care of my eyes dear.”


(This is how human brain changes when the status changed. Only few remember what life was before, and who’s always been there even in the most painful situations.)

                                                       And how about you....?

The True Love......!

Once upon a time ago lived a beautiful woman who lived all alone. All she wanted was a daughter to love and care for. One night she found a nice young lady who was really hungry and she asked her.. Excuse me are you hungry. The young lady said yes I am.. So she took her back to her house to have a nice dinner. The woman asked the young lady. Do you have somewhere to sleep hun? She answered No.. So the woman let her stay with her. As Time went by. The woman let the young lady stay there so she wouldn’t feel lonely anymore. The young lady would help the woman. So when she started to get to know her.. She asked her. Would you mind if I called you mommy? She cried a little and gave her a hug and said yes I would be your mother.. But what the young lady didn’t know is that the woman was dying.. So as time progressed the woman was slowly dying.. The daughter held her mom closely to her heart and arms and told her mom.. I love you thank you for giving me the gift of a mother in my life. So the woman said to her.. My beautiful daughter I am not dead yet cause with you I have daughter and thank you for giving me a family.. After she said 3 months passed on and she passed away. The young lady cried for months until she found true love and started her own family and she went on to tell her children I love you and always will no matter where I go always remember that….

      .....The true Love is'nt only in between a boy and a girl....     

                 It has spreaded all over in the world you'll feel it when you care for others