That stiff Upper Lip - email from Lakshman Karalliedde

After some time into the journey on a train from London to Manchester , an Australian man unable to bear the silence any longer, takes the unprovoked initiative of conversation by introducing himself to his fellow travellers, and soon starts berating the Englishman sitting across from him in the compartment.

"You English are so stuffy. You set yourselves apart with your self-belief of superiority. You pronounce yourself above the rest of us with your stiff upper lip. Look at me...I'm Australian! I have Italian blood, Greek blood, a little Irish blood, even some Aborigine blood, ......and I'm proud of it. What do you say to that ?"

The Englishman replied, "Awfully sporting of your mother, old chap!"

and the upper lip remained very stiff..!!

Railway station, Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka.

Fort Railway station - video
Click on the arrow  below 

Screams of passion - email from jksw

An Italian, a Frenchman and an Aussie were talking about screams of passion. The Italian said: "Last night I massaged my wife all over her body with the finest extra virgin olive oil, then we made passionate love and I made her scream, non stop for five minutes." The Frenchman said:  "Last night I massaged my wife all over her body with special aphrodisiac oil from Provence and then we made passionate love. I made her scream for fifteen minutes straight." The Aussie said:  That's nothing! Last night I massaged my wife, y'know, all over her body with a special butter. I caressed her entire body with the butter, and then made love and I made her scream for two long hours." The Italian and Frenchman, astonished, asked, "Two full hours? ...Wow!  That's phenomenal. How did you do it to make her scream for two hours?" The Aussie replied,  "I wiped my hands on the curtains."

The hare and the tortoise - email from Lawrence Ratnam

 In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work
harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change
strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to
do both.

Take the case of  ........

The Hare & The Tortoise

   Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about whom was
faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a
route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for
some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought
he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.
He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on
overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ.
The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

   The moral- "Slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the
story that we've all grown up with."

   THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE

   There are few more interesting things...

   It continues as follows...

   The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some
soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had
been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for
granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he
challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time,
the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

   The moral - " Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.
It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable."

   THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE

   The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no
way it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. It
thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on
a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping
with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off
and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line
was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river. The hare sat
there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along,
got into the  river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the
race.

   The moral - " First identify your core competency and then change the
playing field to suit your core competency."

   THE STORY STILL HASN'T ENDED.

   The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends
and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race
could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race
again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the
hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took
over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the
hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line
together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt
earlier.

   The moral - "It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong
core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness
each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because
there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else
does well. Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the
person with the relevant core competency for a situation takes leadership.
Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The
hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The
tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he
could."

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When
we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the
situation, we perform far better.
 
   To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise has much to say:

   Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow and
steady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team
will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with
failure; & finally, compete against the situation - not against a rival.

The wedding of a lion - email jksw

A lion was getting married. At his wedding a mouse was shouting away and congratulating the lion.

"All the best, my brother. Good luck."

Seeing the mouse shouting away claiming that the lion getting married is his brother, another Lion grabs the mouse in anger and asks:

Who the hell do you think you are?

How can a lion be your brother?

You are only a mouse."

The Mouse replies:
"I, too, was a Lion before I got married."

Uses of newspapers for the older generation - email Lesley Sirimanne

Why seniors need newspapers

 

I was visiting my granddaughter last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

"This is the 21st century," she said. “I don't waste money on newspapers. Here, use my iPad."

I can tell you this. That fly never knew what hit him.

Bollywood performance of 'Jailhouse Rock' - email jksw

Indian Jail House Rock.

     Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DavEsuKdeR4