Don't bug me! Hug me!

This is an amazin story that i read in the book -Chicken Soup For the Soul and i had to share so read on..I still cry everytime i read this story.

The Hugging Judge

Lee Shapiro is a retired judge. He is also one of the most genuinely loving people we know. At one point in his career, Lee realized that love is the greatest power there is. As a result, Lee became a hugger. He began offering everybody a hug. His colleagues dubbed him "the hugging judge" (as opposed to the hanging judge, we suppose). The bumper sticker on his car reads, "Don't bug me! Hug me!" About six years ago Lee created what he calls his Hugger Kit. On the outside it reads "A heart for a hug." The inside contains thirty little red embroidered hearts with stickums on the back. Lee will take out his Hugger Kit, go around to people and offer them a little red heart in exchange for a hug. Lee has become so well known for this that he is often invited to keynote conferences and conventions, where he shares his message of unconditional love. At a conference in San Francisco, the local news media challenged him by saying, "It is easy to give out hugs here in the conference to people who self-selected to be here. But this would never work in the real world." They challenged Lee to give away some hugs on the streets of San Francisco. Followed by a television crew from the local news station, Lee went out onto the street. First he approached a woman walking by. "Hi, I'm Lee Shapiro, the hugging judge. I'm giving out these hearts in exchange for a hug." "Sure," she replied. "Too easy," challenged the local commentator. Lee looked around. He saw a meter maid who was being given a hard time by the owner of a BMW to whom she was giving a ticket. He marched up to her, camera crew in tow, and said, "You look like you could use a hug. I'm the hugging judge and I'm offering you one." She accepted. The television commentator threw down one final challenge. "Look, here comes a bus. San Francisco bus drivers are the toughest, crabbiest, meanest people in the whole town. Let's see you get him to hug you." Lee took the challenge. As the bus pulled up to the curb, Lee said, "Hi, I'm Lee Shapiro, the hugging judge. This has got to be one of the most stressful jobs in the whole world. I'm offering hugs to people today to lighten the load a
little. Would you like one?" The six-foot-two, 230-pound bus driver got out of his seat, stepped down and said, "Why not?" Lee hugged him, gave him a heart and waved good-bye as the bus pulled out. The TV crew was speechless. Finally, the commentator said, "I have to admit, I'm very impressed." One day Lee's friend Nancy Johnston showed up on his doorstep. Nancy is a professional clown and she was wearing her clown costume, makeup and all. "Lee, grab a bunch of your Hugger Kits and let's go out to the home for the disabled." When they arrived at the home, they started giving out balloon hats, hearts and hugs to the patients. Lee was uncomfortable. He had never before hugged people who were terminally ill, severely retarded or quadriplegic. It was definitely a stretch. But after a while it became easier, with Nancy and Lee acquiring an entourage of doctors, nurses and orderlies who followed them from ward to ward. After several hours they entered the last ward. These were 34 of the worst cases Lee had seen in his life. The feeling was so grim it took his heart away. But out of their commitment to share their love and to make a difference, Nancy and Lee started working their way around the room followed by the entourage of medical staff, all of whom by now had hearts on their collars and balloon hats on their heads. Finally, Lee came to the last person, Leonard. Leonard was wearing a big white bib which he was drooling on. Lee looked at Leonard dribbling onto his bib and said, "Let's go, Nancy. There's no way we can get through to this person." Nancy replied, "C'mon, Lee. He's a fellow human being, too, isn't he?" Then she placed a funny balloon hat on his head. Lee took one of his little red hearts and placed it on Leonard's bib. He took a deep breath, leaned down and gave Leonard a hug. All of a sudden Leonard began to squeal, "Eeeeehh! Eeeeeehh!" Some of the other patients in the room began to clang things together. Lee turned to the staff for some sort of explanation only to find that every doctor, nurse and orderly was crying. Lee asked the head nurse, "What's going on?" Lee will never forget what she said: "This is the first time in 23 years we've ever seen Leonard smile." How simple it is to make a difference in the lives of others.
Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen

Shanti.................we'll miss u!!!!!!!!

A wonderful soul i knew passed away today. I just can't believe she's gone. We were in the same class in college. She was sum1 who was known for her luv 4 nature and animals and ironically thats wat killed her.
She luved trekking and she died when she fell off a cliff on her last trek.

Its sad when amazin people like her die. There is so much bad happening in the world today and it just makes u wonder when is all this goin to end. Shanti was one of those amazing people who had the ability to find goog in each and everyone she met. On our last day at college together she had made a card for each and everyone in my class..i.e about 60 students with a personal message for each one of us. Thats how amazing she was. It breaks my heart when i think of how her family will cope with this loss. I just pray to god to give them the strength to overcome this loss and may her soul rest in peace. Shanti u'll be missed by each one of us who knew you, for you had the amazing gift of touchin people's lives when u met them.

A New Day...

I am a big fan of Celine Dion ad i hope someday can go to Las Vegas to see one of her hows, this song by her very aptly describes my current state of mind



A new day...
A new day....

I was waiting for so long
For a miracle to come
Everyone told me to be strong
Hold on and don't shed a tear

Through the darkness and good times
I knew I'd make it through
And the world thought I had it all
But I was waiting for you

Hush, love

I see a light in the sky
Oh, its almost blinding me
I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new sun...

A new day has... come

Where it was dark now there's light
Where there was pain now there's joy
Where there was weakness, I found my strength
All in the eyes of a boy

Hush, love

I see a light in the sky
Oh, its almost blinding me
I can't belive
I've been touched by an angel with love

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new sun...

A new day has...

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new sun...

A new day has....come

Ohhh, a light

Hush, now

I see a light in your eyes
All in the eyes of a boy

I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love

I can't believe
I've been touched by an angel with love

Hush, now

Hush, now

Good Bye My Friend...........

OK this one goes out to the person i've been really mad at for sometime now and though the he hasn't apologized i just want him to know that - I forgive u........

It might not matter to u at all (and trust me i won't be surprised) but it matters to me , infact it matters a lot. Because at the end of that day we get mad at only those people who we care about. And u did at one point of time. See the thing is by being mad at u i am just hurtin myself cos i hate being mad at people, i hate being angry and anxious. Besides i am not gonna learn anything by blamin u am i? I take complete responsibility for my actions if u were a jerk to me then i shud have seen that instead i just choose to see what i wanted to see. I know that i am to be blamed for my own misery. But i am gonna learn from my mistakes and move on. And i forgive u cos thats the only way i am gonna be able to move on. So my friend i forgive u with all my heart for everything u've said and done and by doing so i am just setting my soul free from the prison of your memories. I wish u well, i hope u do well in life and may u get all the luv u deserve. But i also pray to god that u never hurt sumone else like that way u hurt me. Good Luck and have a good life.

P.S.- Forgiveness is a virtue i thot i lacked i guess i was wrong.

3 Kinds of Love............

This is sumthing i heard a couple of days ago and i felt like i have to inculde this in my blog.


There are 3 kinds of luv : Just Love, Big Love and Great Love.

You'll get over Just Love in 2 months

You'll get over Big Love in 2 years &

You'll need a lifetime to get over Great love because it changes your life 4ever when it happens. And when a person loses his/her great love then sumthing inside that person just dies. And in this case the person just settles for the person he loves 2nd most.

MY GLASS IS HALF FULL!!!!

Its been ages since i last wrote, life's been super busy. But u know wat i don't really mind it. I like it this way. Running around all the time can be a little exhausting sumtimes but at the end of the day its worth it.

For starters i have finally finished readin Shantaram. Its easily one of the best books i have ever read. Though i must admit it took me 4ever to finish it. The writer Gregory david roberts like me loves the city of Mumbai. Its kinda nice to see that a firang luvs the city like we Mumbaikars do. Its fun readin a book when u've actually been to the places that the writer is describing. This book is definitely a must read. I must admit that i don't agree with the choices the main protagonist in the book Lin makes. I feel like sumwhere he refuses to except responsibility for his action. He basically commits all these crimes just because he wants to be around people he cares for, i mean that just stupidity. And if it is based on a real life story, then how did the writer end up in jail as mentioned in the end of the book? I mean the book's already about 900 page a few more pages wudn't hav hurt. But at the end of the day its a good book and i recommend to all book lovers. The character of the Prabhaker has been very beautifully sketched and u can't help but fall in luv with this funny man. The author mentions in the book that he feels like he more of an Indian than anything else and its kinda shows no wonder he ended the book with a happy endin like most of our Indian movies. After readin this book i feel like i want to know more about the war in Afghanistan, i felt very ignorant about the conditions there as i read about the author's experience there. Its unbelievable that a person can go through so much in one lifetime.

It was my B'day a couple of days back and me and my close friends were havin dinner when one of them asked me how had my year been? And b4 i cud answer a very dear friend of mine answered the question sayin that " She worked at a place where she luved wat she was doin, got over her jackass ex and is now studin sumthin she really enjoys, i think life cudn't have been better for her".
And its funny because if i had answered the question i wud hav probably said that - I almost got homeless, lost the person i luved more than life itself so basically it wasn't a good year for me.
But thanx to my dear friend at that particular moment i realized that my glass is half full and i have no reason to complain. Its all about your perspective, there's always sumthin good/right in our lives i wonder why we always choose to focus on the wrong. I am glad i realized this and wat better day than my B'day. Also this year people who i hav barely been i touch with called me to wish me and i must say it felt good. In fact it felt gr8 to know that in sum way or another maybe i had touched their lives and thats why they cared enough to remember and wish me. Thats all for now will try writin more often, but then who the hell reads my blog anyways;-)