Three Parrots -Funny story!!

A man wanted to buy his son a parrot as a birthday present.The next day
he went to the pet shop and saw
three identical parrots in a cage.
He asked the clerk, "how much for the parrot on the right?
The owner said it was $250.
"$250", the man said. "Well what does he do?
"He knows how to use all of the functions of Microsoft Office 2000,
responds the clerk. "He can do all of your spreadsheets and type all of
your letters."
The man then asked what the second parrot cost.
The clerk replied, $500, but he not only knows Office 2000, but is an
expert computer programmer.
Finally, the man inquired about the cost of the last parrot.
The clerk replied, "$1,000."
Curious as to how a bird can cost $1,000, the man asked what this bird's
specialty was.
The clerk replies, "Well to be honest I haven't seen him do anything.
But the other two call him " Project Manager "

What is our natural condition?

The greatest disease is false pride. I will recite an example from the
Bible. Lord Jesus Christ was traveling through out Palestine Jerusalem
area spreading the pure message of love of God. His message was seeking
out the kingdom of God but the kingdom of God is within you. Ah. If you
do not understand the kingdom of God within you, you are a sick man
because you are in an unnatural condition. In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna
says, "mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah". That every living
being is part of God. All the qualities of God is within you, you are
eternal, you are full of bliss you are eternally the servant of God. In
the Upanishads it is explained nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam that
there is one supreme eternal person and there are infinite subordinate
dependent eternal persons who are we, and we are constantly depending
and under the supreme command of that one Supreme God. So this is our
natural condition to know God and to love God.

Source H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj

THE HONEST WOOD CUTTER

Once upon a time in the olden days there lived a wood cutter in a
village in indian.His name was Gautham and he was very poor.One day he
went to the forest near by his village to cut wood.He started cutting
wood next to a river.As he started cutting the wood his axe which was
made up of iron slipped out of his hand and fell in the river.gautham
became verry sad as his only source of earning his livelihood is in
danger as he was too poor even to afford another axe.He started to
cry,upon hearing his cries the god of the river came up out of the river
and asks gautham th reason for his lamentation.Gautham narrates the
whole story-Now the god of the river tries to put him into test to see
whether he is honest or not.
The god of the river asks him not to cry and then vanishes into the
river and after some time bring out a golden axe and asks gautham
whether this is his axe or not-Gautham though surprised replied to god
that it was a golden axe and that his was made of iron.Now the god
vanishes into the river and after some time bring out a silver axe and
asks gautham whether this is his axe or not-again gautham remains
truthful.
The god of the river becomes very happy at his honesty and blesses
him-god gives him all the 3 axes and says to him that sell all the axes
in the maket and with that money live happily for the rest of your life.

MORAL-Honesty is the best policy

VARIOUS VARIETIES OF ITALIAN COFFEE

I live and work in Italy for the last one year, one of the most striking things that I found about Italians was that they are great lovers of coffee.In fact offering coffee is considered to be a sign of good will.Italians drink coffee in the morning, afternoon after the lunch and in the night after having dinner (officially)-they may be drinking more in between also.
In my company there are coffee machines in each and every floor of our 6 storied building-all people from a common labourer to the manager loves to drink coffee.I have a friend working in my company who worked for the Italian coffee machines maker Saeco some years back.
Italian coffee is different from Indian coffee and sometimes Indians may find it them too strong to drink-but Italians are used to these things anyway-even a friendly talk begins over a cup of coffee.I have a coffee making machine in my house-Italians call it Caffetierà(of the Moka company).The various types of coffee available in Italy are-
Caffè Espresso(Is a very strong coffee without milk), Caffè Lungo(more in quantity with milk), Caffè macchiato, Cappuccino(common nowadays in India also in big cities), Cappuccino con cioccolato(Cappuccino with chocolate),Moccaccino,Latte Macchiato(very similar to Indian coffee), Caffè Decaffeinato, Caffè Macchiato Decaffeinato,Cappuccino Decaffeinato, Caffè d'orzo(coffee with oats in it), Caffè d'orzo Macchiato,Cappuccino d'orzo(Cappuccino with oats-orzo in Italian means oats).
In my office there are many coffee vending machines and we can select anyone of these by using the coffee key(la chiavè per caffè).Apart from there there are places called "Bar" where they sell coffee at a much higher price.The most intriguing thing I found in Italy is that there is no 'Cold Coffee' available-I tried this first in India in Vijayawada in a Caffè Coffee day franchise.

ARANMULA KANNADI-THE MIRROR FROM ARANMULA,KERALA

Kannadi in Malayalam means mirror,the name of mirror conjures up in our
mind the image of a glass-but Aranmula Kannadi is made from a specific
metal alloy- the composition of which is a fiercely guarded secret by
the traditional craftsmen family of this area-this knowledge transfered
from father to son and no one outside the family knows about their
secret.
Aranmula is a place in central kerala in the alleppy district and is
famous for its craftsman who make world renowned Aranmula Kannadi or the
Aranmula mirror-these crafts men are associated with Aranmula Sri
Krishna Swamy temple which is famous for its "Palpayasam prasadam" like
Tirupathy Laddus.
Legend had it that the king of Aranmula once invited the forefathers of
these craftsmen to his kingdom for the construction of the temple of
Lord Krishna.The craftsmen were very talented people and they earned the
appreciation of the king very quickly for the expert work that they were
performing and they slowly began to get egoistic-on hearing this the
king ordered them to get out of his country since they started to boast
of their ability and they claimed that they are better than the king
himself-these developments did not amuse the King of Aranmula and he
ordered the the head craftsman to be hanged to death.Upon hearing the
verdict the whole craftsmen families were terrified and all of
them-young and old realized their folly of of becoming too proud of
themselves that they went to the Krishna temple and started praying to
Krishna for help to save themselves from king's wrath.
On that very night the head craftsman had a dream while he was fast
asleep that Krishna came to him and revealed the composition of a metal
mixture with which they should make the mirror and then present to the
king as a gift so as to calm him down-the next day morning the head
crafts man who got the dream assembled all his kinsmen and began to
explain what he has seen in his dream.Amazed and excited they at once
started to make the mirror which is the forerunner of todays famous
Aranmula Kannadi(Aranmula Mirror) and they presented this mirror as a
gift to the king.The king was so overjoyed that he allowed the craftsmen
to settle in Aranmula and continue making the Aranmula Kannadi.Aranmula
kannadi is in fact a marvel of mettalurgy in kerala.