Do you think you are strong enough?

If you fell down, what would you do? Try getting up? What if you fail? You try again. And if you fail again and keep on failing and you felt you can never get up again, would you give up? I received this video attached to an email. Just watch it. Leave some comments if you like.

Magnanimity

Today, while I was reading, I came across with this word called "Magnanimity". The Collins dictionary defines magnanimous as "noble and generous" and so do many others. But the interesting bit is how the Greek philosopher Aristotle defined it.

Literatures show that in ancient Greece, people embraced the notion of both behaving well and treating others equally or rather being fare/justice (even though the term fair/justice may have been interpreted differently). This concerned with individual's behaviour and how the individual was perceived by others. Aristotle described 10 moral virtues that can be used to weigh an individual's behaviours. Each of these virtues i.e., moral excellences, has two extreme ends. According to Aristotle to be successful in any ethical situation I.e., behaving well and being fare, individual needs to be in a somewhat middle ground (I see some links to philosophy of Buddhism).

In terms of how individuals view themselves, the middle ground or what is ethical, acceptable and, balanced is "magnanimity". This means "Being able to feel and display personal pride when it is deserved, but without vanity". The two extreme ends are "meekness" and "vanity". The modern day word for magnanimity is pride. I don't actually see anything wrong with being proud of yourself, provided that you actually have something to be proud of. It may not necessarily be wealth or status which some people are so obsessed with. But it can be because of your achievements (Yes, achievements are subject to cultural variables), your personality traits or simply your beauty (Girls, of cause). I'm proud of myself because of my parents, my personal traits, how I have been brought up or simply because of whom I am.
Excessive pride, vanity, is a little bit irritating however. I find myself get along with any type of person but often find its irritating when they have vanity (its a bit different story with girls though). I should not forget to mention boastfulness, the sincerity in expressing one's self. I often wonder how they even do that. Talk about themselves for hours just like we are so interested. What is more annoying is that these types of people do not care about others, or what others have to say. Most of the time they tend to be poor listeners (based on my observations). However it is these differences that make the world alive. Otherwise it would be like walking on an empty street.
I do apologise if you got confused with my starting off on ethics and then ending this in a different way. That is because frankly, Magnanimity in Aristotle's moral virtues is what made me write this, but since I'm so bored with ethics (thanks to my research project) and I do not really know much about it, I decided to write what I do know. This is not over though. I can write hundreds of pages on characteristics of people and their behaviours. A very interesting area which I like to observe and learn.

13 years old father

I think most of you already know this story. BBC reported this story as "13-years-old becomes father". Since everyone knows what this story is about, I'm not going to re-write the same thing here. But I'm just surprised to this news so thought of giving this 13 years some space in my blog.

Alfie Patten is serious about raising the child. Why not? Isn't it a good cause specially in a cruel world where parents leave their newly born child in garbage? Obviously. But then the question comes, is this 13 years old father or rather KID, able to raise this child without jeopardizing the child's future? Assuming that this Kid is actually the father of Maisie Roxanne (the child), Does he know what it needs to be a good father? Can you totally rely on his answer,when he couldn't even be careful enough to not to get his girl friend pregnant?

Further reading: Is 13-Year-Old Father Victim of a Scam?
13-years-old becomes father

Watch it!

Lately, I have been thinking what could my favorite TV series be. I have no doubt that it is 24, but I love One Tree Hill as much as I love 24. However, these days I'm watching 24 season 07, One Tree Hill season 06 and also, The O.C. Yeah, I started watching it from the beginning and I quite like it. I guess I did not have time to watch this earlier and I have so many things to catch up, in terms of TV series. Specially I don't like Heroes, Lost and Smallville but who knows, after sometime I will start watching them too. But what next in my list is this 90210, The world's most famous ZIP code. Some of my flatmates are loving it.
I'm not a critic or a movie reviewer or someone like that, or not even someone having that capabilities. But according to what I feel, 24 and One Tree Hill are two distinct series when compared to all the others. 24 carries a lot of actions and curiosity in each and every minute and you don't feel like missing even a single second. Each series has different plot but few leading characters continue their life story throughout each season. So far there are 7 seasons, season 7 being the latest.

One Tree Hill on the other hand started as a story based around two college basketball players who also happened to be brothers fighting for their own identities. The story continues throughout 6 seasons so far. What I like about this story and how it differs from others is that it tells a story about challenges, difficulties, victories, and all sorts of events happening in our lives. The story also puts a great emphasis on reflecting relationships, feelings and thoughts of each characters which I find very refreshing. Another major focal point is background music and sound tracks. You must watch it otherwise I doubt if I can tell you how touching they are.

May be I'm wrong about other TV series, since I haven't watched them. But even though, 24 and One Tree Hill will remain as my all time favorites. I wish they will never end, especially the later.

Asian Supper Photo Gallary

One fine moment...

Being a true lover of diverse cultures, I had the pleasure of joining my Chinese friends in a Chinese style dinner. Actually, they invited me for a dinner at their place. I still can't remember If I had done any big favor for being invited like this. But I guess what matters is whether you are a true friend or not.

Sherry Invited me over to her place couple of weeks ago but she had to postpone it due to busy schedules of both of us. To be honest, I was not really looking forward to that as we all understand, sometimes things get complicated and people forget. But not Sherry. She invited me again when everything got back to normal (and before it gets busy again) and I, surprised but happy, warmly welcomed her invitation. The reason why I was happy is that this small incident proved me how Chinese people value their relationships and mutual understanding. What is more fascinating than experiencing a text book theory you learned few years ago?
Sherry came to walk me to their apartment which I found quite amazing. Worth the money they pay. Fancy glossy lift gives it a rich look.

Ben, Aimee, and Alise (Sorry if I have misspelled) were awaiting and some of them were giving the final touch to the dishes. They looked delicious. And of course they were. We started off with a soft drink and after a small talk we then slowly moved into indulge ourselves with the fabulous Chinese style dinner. After the dinner, I was lucky enough to have a traditional Chinese green Tea.
Dinner included dishes of Scrambled egg with tomato (Xi hong shi chao dan),Saute spicy chicken( da pan ji ),pearl flower vegetables(cao hua cai), spicy rib(xiang la pai gu),roast chicken wing(kao ji chi).



I must say how grateful I am. All the meals were very nicely cooked and I really enjoyed their wonderful hospitality. For me, it was a reminder that still there are nice people in this world. Because I know that there were no strings attached to that dinner. Just a pure thought of friendship. Of course I could have visited a Chinese restaurant and order the same menu, but what important is not just the meals, but also what it represents, Friendship.
According to what Ben said, I think I managed to eat a lot and thereby show them that I'm a good friend :-)
Thanks for the treat fellows.

Spirit of Scotland..

I was so lucky to capture this video while I was roaming in Old Market Square taking some snaps of Nottingham Eye and some of night scenes (will be posted soon). You can hear the melodies of these drums from very distance but you must see the Scottish Dancer. I believe this is some sort of a traditional performing but, I don't know much details about it so I'm not going to write about it even though I would love to. May be one day I could write about these amazing cultures I see in Nottingham. But for the time being, enjoy the video.

Asian Supper!

As I can remember, we wanted to organize this event for no reason and only for us. But at the end we decided to invite some of our European friends too. Among the invitees, Mario, Hoolio (Sorry if I have misspelled your name mate..) and Loic (who did not show up....lol) and Nica, Christine, Anne, Jana and Maria, the lovely girls who made the event glamorous.

Salman and Fahad, took care of the the chicken and Parata. That was one heck of a job mates...Chicken was perfectly cooked and you had managed to perfectly balanced the spices. I don't know about others but for me the taste was pretty refreshing and new. I guess most of our Euro friends found it a little bit spicy. What to do! That how we do chicken in our ways!

Fahad, I gotta try heating up Paratas without burning my fingers. You've got the skill mate. And Pooja, thanks for the drinks and plates babe.. (and for all the cooking instructions, which I did not follow..lol). Ritesh, dude... You are the man my friend. If it wasn't in your flat, we would never be able to bring this thing off. Hates off to everyone! And oh! I made the Rice. I guess it came very nicely.

Three chefs