Every End has a Beginning

Like the great Roman philosopher Seneca declared, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end”, the last page of 2014 that began from the end of 2013 will surrender its life by today. This day will never return in the history of mankind since it is foreordained to birth in 2015.

And so amusingly, the last day of every year is the only season of human mood that breeds the pinnacle of goodwill wishes for the CHANGE. Regardless of race, religion, gender or colour, people across the globe run on a graph with a variable of almost similar feelings on this particular day.

This is one moment where all of us, either to ourselves or to others, cherish the dead memories, erase the pain or promise a fresh beginning. For serious life leaders, this day is virtually an oath-taking time to write a series of promises into the bible of their resolution.

For some, it is the day to submit their courage and determination to never give in without touching the finish line of success in every endeavour. To the awakenings, this is the period to leave and escape from the cocoon of thinking yesterday and rather reschedule and fine-tune the timetable of their mind to the tariff of tomorrow.

All in all, it is the peak season for many of us in redesigning the mindset of our plans, hopes, character and attitude. The footstep of the last day of every year is thus, a siren of reminder for us to reflect, realize and illuminate to a better human being than the one we lived yesterday.

Wishing all the readers a wish-fulfilling HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015. May the Almighty bless the world with the sun of peace and prosperity.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." — Albert Einstein”  

The Yuletide Origin

For many years, I was munching with a belief that Xmas day was a time-honoured festivity for the genuine followers of Jesus Christ. However, literature has it that it isn’t largely religious biased and therefore, its celebration penetrates across any religion and does not necessarily restrict for the Christians.

December 25^th is a very special moment for the Christians because it is believed that the awaited Messiah of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ, was gifted to the world. Since then, it has become a traditional commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christians have a strong conviction that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of his mother Mary, who later gave birth while she was still a virgin. And more to add on his “unique significance”, Jesus is revered for manifesting myriads of miracles and later sacrificed to achieve atonement after the painful crucifixion.

"Happy Merry Christmas"

This day is a synonym to love, joy, happiness, merrymaking or any adjectives available in the human-invented dictionary. It is a day to bring far closer, heal wounded, befriend enemies and of course, augment joy and peace to already joyful and peaceful earth.

In America and places dominated with Christian populace, they wish by marrying ‘Merry’ with the ‘Christmas’ as ‘Merry Christmas”. However, literature has it that in England, “Happy Christmas” is still popular after it was used by the Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The reasons for the usage of these words largely shares a history and biblical connections that I am handicapped to explain.

But like the Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet say:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

With this note, I wish everyone a “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year”. 

“Christmas, my child, is love in action”- Dale Evans Rogers 

The Tele-cocooning Effect

Not only has it changed the mode of communication after its invention, but mobile phones have also transmuted in length and breadth, the manner in which people behave and act. And aptly, in this 21^st century where the gear of our life is constantly driven by the hands of technology, mobile phones have practically appeared to be one of the vital organs that sustain our life. Be it for good or bad, it is one entity that compels every one of us to earmark in our priority list as a necessity and inevitability.  

Thanks to Martin Cooper who unveiled the first-ever prototype of handheld mobile in 1973. Life has rather been easy thereafter. Communication has been swift and speedy. People afar are bridged to bring it much closer. And not to mention, in the places where there is good network receptivity, it is a synonym to a walking dictionary. Through that small window of its monitor, we can access the larger part of the whole world.

"A Node Glows in the Dark" by Brian Yen, who won the 2014 National Geographic's Annual Photography Contest will receive $10,000 and a trip to Magazine's headquarter in Washington D.C.  

Nevertheless, according to the tune of the changing times, the use of mobile phones have also made a parallel paradigm shift.

People have been prone to a habit of crafting a world of make-believe. That a person who holds a mobile phone near the auricle, today, is a sign of being engaged or busy. Whether one has work to do with the help of a mobile phone or not, even in the genuine gathering, it has to be cuddled from various angles to escape that entire length of time. In the process, the social circumference that is expected to enlarge is often jeopardized to minimize and shrink. 

To pronounce this phenomenon, the researchers based in the U.S by the names Scott Campbell and Nojin Kwak terms it as the Tele-cocooning effect. Because of this occurrence, they fear that the habitual cell phone users are less likely to talk with strangers in any kind of social setting thereby risking the interpersonal interactions to be useless and redundant. With the number of mobile users swelling even in our country, the marathon of this trend is possible and unavoidable.

But as asserted in the study, “The technology itself is not good or bad. It is how it’s used and who it’s used with.”

“Communication- the human connection- is the key to personal and career success” – Paul J. Meyer

The F & F Equation

I always thought that the ‘Friends and Family’ are the two wings that determine the flight of our psychosomatic balance. And for so many reasons based on my personal knowledge, I considered that the existence of the duo within the circumference of our lives is dependent on the temperament of one another. In fact, their symbiotic relationship is such that, without both, our life stands to be blurred and unsteady. To this special link, I refer it as “F & F Equation”. 

As much as the family is important to us, so are friends. But as one begins to have our own family, it is like putting an end to the journey of our friendship.

Picture courtesy: Click LINK 

8 years back during my teaching practice at Samtse, I remember one of the lady teachers sharing her experiences of losing friends after the marriage. I was often praised that time for surfacing a top-notch and convivial friendship with my friends. But what was there in the store of our fate is only lately known.

Like hers, the once used-to-be tied knot of my friendship gradually got slackened and with a few, it has withered almost completely. Corrosion seems to have taken place developing some friction in our conversational acceptance. And that longtime ritual of saying “Yes” to the things that one can perform has now turned to fantasy.  

While the family is one thing that deserves a lion’s share of our attention, friends are another that should obtain some equal dividends too. Even with one’s strong family, I believe, we will still need friends, either high or low. Nothing is as hard and painful as the ache we grieve due to the suspense in our friendship. And it is even more painful when it happens strangely without understanding any concrete reasons.

When friends start moving apart without any reliable rationales, it gives a durable emotional catastrophic kick that keeps on hunting one’s mind to quest for an explanation. That gradually sets the limit in befriending with others as well, because if friends are at the end, there to break our emotions.

But in the case of my friends who already have family, I understand that when the family starts, there is a reduction in the size of one’s free time. There will be a paradigm shift in prioritizing ‘what-to-do’ and therefore, so many lists have to be managed within the perimeter of one’s clock.

However, it is never a bad idea to say sincere and polite “NO” to our friends for the things that we cannot execute than suspending the response. Sometimes, trying to adjust the rider of the F & F Equation would be worth doing in investing credibility of an acquaintance.    

“The worst solitude is to be the destitute of sincere friendship” – Francis Bacon 

Z is for Zillionaire’s Wife

     I saw a young lady with her two sons between me

And a huge man who was sipping an ice lemon tea;

The ignorant youngest was occupied eating a pea

While the eldest begging, pointing at his injured knee.

Their shy mother was searching for a spot to flee

Because the begging trumpet drew the crowd to see

All at once, they came humming like a bee.

A drunken then whined: “Such an outcry from this wee!

“Shut your lips or else I shall in your mouth, pee?”

The crowd burst into a sneering laughter with a deceitful glee.

Which I hated this drama, full of scornful adult whee

So I rested mute and still, like a calm evening sea.

But the child, holding my leg started chanting his plea

His scared mother, I found, restless as a flea.

I overheard, “Son, please don’t beg him for a fee,

Listen, your mama will find for you, please agree”

A confused child rather cried, “No, I want to go to a jamboree”

This bothered me to find, what troubles these three?

My pained heart became their problem’s abductee.

Then I heard, “Take our boys where they used to be”

“To the jamboree, I will, but for now, take this key”

Shocked! It was drunk, dropping it on the floor, free!

The shy lady collects with her timid hand soiled with ghee.    

Puts it in her pink bag, thinking it was seen by nobody.

A man behind me murmurs, “Why does she face such cruelty?

She is still at teens, elegant, and cutey?”

But one cried, “She is but a zillionaire’s newbie! 

Trapped into his wealth and status that was all dewy,

Which in her life, did not foresee.

From such a powerful money producing honeybee”

I learnt, wealth is not everything for you, me, or we

But I know moneyed will still to a certain degree

Say otherwise and disagree.  

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”- Jim Elliot 

Y is for Yahoo! It’s another chance!

This is yet another moment of academic festivity for me after I had experienced one on 29^th March 2013. 

The paper titled “A Low-Cost Hands-On Model for Demonstration of Law of Mechanical Energy Conservation” born under the guidance of Dr Monamorn Precharattana (Advisor) and Dr Paisan Kanthang (Co-advisor) was accepted for The 40^th Congress on Science and Technology of Thailand for an oral presentation. This paper, however, is a part of my thesis, required to present in fulfilment of an award of Degree of Masters in Science and Technology Education. 

The conference that has attracted a huge number of scientists, academicians, researchers, inventors and of course postgraduate students is in a full swing at Hotel Pullman Khon Kaen Raja Orchid located at Khon Kaen in the northeastern part of Thailand today. It was an enriching journey for me to board on Thai domestic airlines. As it is promoted and advertised, the flight in a Thai Airways International was true as “Smooth as Silk”. 

Waiting for the train

Giving a pose before the arrival of a train

View from the train

Moving to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in a train

Suvarnabhumi Airport

This way please.. greeted the board

View of Suvarnabhumi Airport from the sky

Thailand is a complete plain

The breakfast inside the plane

Arrived at Khon Kaen International Airport

Thanks to hotel staff who came for the reception

The luxurious bed...

Giving a pose after the registration

Pullman, the 5 star hotel

My room number