Prasanta Behera Blog

A story picked up from somewhere but forgot to keep track of it ... (most likely from Paul Cohelo ) ============ A man knocked at his Bedouin friend’s door to ask him a favor: “I want you to lend me four thousand dinars because I have a debt to pay. Can you do that for me?” The friend asked his wife to gather together everything they had of value, but even so it was not enough. They had to go out and borrow money from the neighbors until they managed to get the full amount. When the man left, the woman noticed that her husband was crying. “Why are you sad? Now that we’ve got ourselves in debt with our neighbors, are you afraid we won’t be able to repay them?” “Nothing of the sort! I’m crying because he is someone I love so much, but even so I had no idea he was in need. “I only remembered him when he had to knock on my door to ask me for a loan.” ======= Often we end up saying, “if he was in need, he should have asked."  but people who are paying attention to...

Most of the time, we are used to read memoirs of famous people, people who have contributed to the society in a big way, Gandhi, Lincoln, Mandela, MLK, memories from monks, great orators, statesman, scientists and well known people. It is important to read it to understand their thought process, struggle and the path they followed.  Each one is unique and each teaches us something new. These were extraordinary people. I have been a skeptical reader when I see memorial book of "normal" people whom I have (or may have)  come a across in the past; they can be family members or family member of friends.  All of them were nice people living normal life making contributions to society but is a book necessary? I consider myself an ordinary person living a normal life with no significant contributions to the society so far - nothing disheartening here. Every small contributions help and I have made few small contributions so far and one of them is just living life. Now, ...

I’m participating in the Canary Challenge, a premier cycling and fundraising event to benefit the Canary Foundation.  Funds raised by the Canary Challenge go directly to the cancer early detection research and innovative clinical programs through the Canary Foundation. The funds I raise will stay right here, helping with diagnosis, early detection and treatment for this disease http://www.canarychallenge.org/ I have signed up to do a 50 mile bike ride on Sept, 24, 2016.  I am committed  to raise $400. If you want to contribute to this cause, please click on the link below. Contribute to Canary Challenge 2016 or copy/paste the following URL in your browser. https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?SID=8003022&LangPref=en-CA&EID=188783 Thank you!  

This is my first foray in writing a short story ... I was never a good essay writer in high school - language was not my cup of tea.  It is bit long compared to previous blog posting. Thanks for reading and supporting me in this adventure ...   This is a story about a summer evening in my village in a remote place in India with few imaginations. ========================================================= The rays of the sun just faded away. The dust from the cows returning home after grazing, linger in the air. Men slowly trickle in from the farms after working a long strenuous day.  Women chatting among themselves return home bringing water from the pond in earthen pots, some on top of their head stacked up more than one and some on their hip and head. Kids play in the dusty road with a made up game of their own -- running around and trying to break a mound of pottery shells with a ball made of strings. Life has its own charm in this small village - a...