Great Expectations and Great Disappointments

After seeing this pamphlet, I wanted to buy some good books yesterday. With high hopes and a little money I went to check out the place. This time, wanting to be generous, I also called up my friends and told them about this and offered them to pick up and drop them.

We went to the 'Fest' by evening and to our surprise we saw no people there. Thinking it to be some 'tea time' we went inside. The books were neatly arranged, and the ambiance looked nice.
Wondering what to buy/see, we strolled around the area just checking the books and its prices.
First time I was shocked to see a Bible which costs 58000/- rupees. Another Bible of 40,000/- rupees. I checked it twice, thrice and many times to see what is so special in the book. It is a normal Bible with concordance and references. I was astonished at the price tags of the books. Minimum cost of any book was 500 rupees and most of the books were seconds.
Very disappointed at not buying any books, I felt guilty before my friends. Immediately, we went to another Bible book shop and purchased some normal Bibles and other generic books.

This is not a complaint or any of such sort, but it is my feeling that I place here.
Am really surprised to see books at such cost, no wonder people are not buying books anymore.
I have a small library at home with many books, and I love to share books with people. I ask them how long will they take to read a book, give them the book, and then ask them after some time. I also discuss with them about the progress of their reading and how they have understood it.
But this time, this book exhibition was a disappointment.

Better luck next time, I have 3 more racks to fill and many more books to read! Waiting to lay my hands on some of them in the near future.

Thoughts about Mother's day

Strange as it may seem, but this time I saw many posts in Facebook and Twitter, praising motherhood and everyone ranting and raving about how good mothers are and how they are angelic etc. It is true 100% that mothers are good and angelic, but this time, there's a sudden surge of emotions on the social media channels. Everyone wanted to share something about mothers. Some of them pasted pictures and some of them poems, some even went to the extent of pasting their childhood pictures with their mother. It is all good, in a sense that it gives joy and immense pleasure to think about life's journeys and also think about how sacrificial mothers are.
In fact, my mother never thought about herself and she sacrificed a lot for the children. But somehow, I felt that it was overdone this time on the social media channels. Questions I would like to ask: 'How do you take care of your parents? Do you really love them and cherish them? Do you spend time with them? Do you know what they need and what they want? Are we really concerned about them or are we just thinking them as burden?"

Let me not get into preachy mode, but I want to tell everyone that we need to take care of our parents every day of our lives. When we were young, when we did not know anything about this world, it is they that brought us up. Now we shouldn't neglect them. I see a new trend coming up in metro cities and in two town tier cities - many old age homes are coming up and every old age home is full.
From where did all these old people come from. These are all parents - abandoned by the same people who have commented / updated on Facebook, Twitter and all the other channels about the love and emotions of parents.
My two cents - Honor thy father and mother. This is a command from the Lord and we need to follow it perfectly. Only when we start loving, honoring and taking care of our parents, we will have a bright future.