Sam's Cartoon'S AND Article'S

Quality logos for an affordable rates..

2010-11-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

An Unforgettable Day

2009-04-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

The evening was calm and beautiful. I found a place to relax myself in nearby garden. I saw some Saudi families relaxing in the garden. Kids playing around, girls singing songs and guys drinking gava (traditional tea) and smoking shisha. I felt lonely, being far from my loving family I felt jealous about them. A tear rolled down my cheek.
“Uncle Why is that tear out of your eyes? You don’t look good with it on cheeks at all.” - to my surprise I found a smart young fellow around 10 years old asking me that question.

I just smiled at him. Quickly he came up with another query “Uncle, are you sad because you miss your wife. Aren’t you?”
Although he felt no embarrassment in asking me that, I felt it in hearing. I just nodded, to which confidently and instantly he smiled and held his hand out. I shook his hand and asked him, “What is your name?”“Ismail. I am Bangladeshi!” He said proudly.“In which school are you studying?”“I am not going to school. My dad says we are poor. I am selling water bottles here on day time to help my father.”
I got speechless. Apparently his family had some very hurtful financial problems. Looking at him I hated my existence. Why was I going through this entire trauma? What was holding me here? The money? The passion to Design? The feeling that I would be isolated if I didn't work? I don't know. Then, suddenly out of nowhere, images of my family came into my mind. My mom, who remembers me every time in her prayers; my wife, who misses me each and every moment in her life; my cute kid spending his childhood without his father’s care; my niece, my nephew jumping on my shoulder for their daily quota of chocolates; my friends who remember me even if I don’t, "I am not alone" I realized "I have this beautiful world to live in, with beautiful people in it, for whom I make a difference"
“Uncle, do you like Ice creams?” He broke the silence. “Yes, I do.” While replying his childish question I noticed an ice cream vendor selling ice-creams 10 step far from us. He seemed to be happy by my answer. We ordered our flavor.
I decided to stay there till sunset. We heard Azan from nearby mosque.
“Uncle, its time for prayer; would you like to pray with me?” he asked.“I am not a Muslim. I pray in my room.” I replied.“What are you? Are you a kafir?” he asked innocently. “I am not a Kafir. I am a believer. Same like you. You won’t understand.” I replied with a smile on my face.
He shook his head as if he understood what I said and said with a cute smile “Uncle, You look beautiful than before and keep wearing this smile always, I had nice time with you, hope you did too, see you” And he left without knowing that - HE MADE MY DAY.

2009-03-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

Put your hand on a hot oven for a second; it would seem like an hour.
Hold the hands of a pretty lady for hours; it would seem only like a minutes!
-Albert Einstein (when asked to explain theory of relativity in simple terms)
Everyone in their lives would have had crushes, and I too had my share of crushes. But, it didn't take much time for each of them to turn into crashes. None of my crushes took off, or probably they crashed even before they took off!! Today, when I look back, I cannot manage but to have a laugh.
When I was 10 years old, whenever I saw any movie I coveted to have one girlfriend like the one in the movies. I dreamt to have one who should be beautiful like Kalpana or Nutan, At that time I thought love means circling the trees, singing a song, sleeping on partners lap, and gaze into one another’s eyes, sharing candy and taking care of each other.
My first crush was Miss A. I was in my 9th then. We happened to speak only once. There was a drawing contest conducted in Kinnigoli church. I forgot the proper occasion of that drawing contest. Nun who conducted that contest told us to draw some religious stuff. Luckily I got the seat near Miss A. She was little confused, I thought she has no idea what to draw. Hiding from the nun who was inspecting the hall - I passed my drawing to Miss A. She refused to have it and very next moment called the nun. Nun shouted at me and sent me to the last row. A few days later, she started going around with one of my schoolmate. (Off course he was senior to me) they used to go to Mangalore bunking the classes. On one such romantic travel of theirs, my schoolmate was caught by his father. Father asked the son to choose Miss A or pocket money. Son chose pocket money!!!! The news gave me sadistic pleasure.
I was in co-educational school for my P.U.C. I was a Science student. There were lots of beautiful girls in my class. I got very friendly with Miss S. She was my batch mate in Chemistry, Physics and Biology lab. While she was doing biology project, I concentrated on her biology! Whenever she was doing physics projects I watched her physiology, And while she was doing her Chemistry project I prayed for some chemistry to happen between us. One day Miss S came and sat next to me …close….really very close….she passed one small folded letter to me. My heart beats shot up. She said – “I want to tell you something, but can’t tell you now. Please read the letter and answer me tomorrow and remember please keep it secret”. I knew this was it…yes…I was in 7th cloud. I didn’t wait till next day ...I ran to the lavatory and opened my first love letter…there in toilet.
She wrote “Dear Sam, you know Mister N (one of my classmates) proposed me. And I too like him. You are his best friend …you know him very well. Please tell me can I give my approval to him? I am asking you because you are like my brother…..WHAT THE HECK? As if the first news wasn’t bad enough, the second sounded suicidal. I returned to her with an artificial smile and said….”Congrats…You chose the right one….s…sis…sister..!!!”
The next crush didn’t take much time to happen. I was doing my technical course in Mangalore. It was Miss P who was my bus mate. She was beautiful. I was taking a long bus route (Via Lingappayyana Kadu), just to see her. I literally had my jaws hanging - seeing her. It took me approximately one month to talk to her. One fine day she got seat near me. I tried to talk with her but sadly I was out of words. Finally I managed to ask her “Are you going to school? “ She looked at me like I am an idiot. “No, wearing this school uniform I am daily going to Mangalore fish market” she answered.
We became good friends, but I never fancied my chances, given the experiences with Miss S. Just as the boards got over, and as I was mustering enough courage to tell her, the bus route got cancelled. Damn, Konkan railway!!! I didn’t see her after that. Via Lingappayyana Kadu route to Mangalore got cancelled due to Konkan Railway Project. That beautiful bus stand, where Miss P used to board the bus, was replaced by Railway Station!
Next in Bombay. (Mumbai).
Before telling my Bombay experience I have to tell one thing about my mom. Like every mother in the world my mom takes special care of me. She told me if I want to choose any life partner myself, I have to choose one from my own caste. She was completely against inter-caste marriage. Once my friend Santhosh, sent me a postal mail from Mumbai. My mom got that letter and she was curious to open that letter because there was no FROM address mentioned on the letter. My friend wrote that letter in Konkani script, introducing himself as Asha (the Girl) and continued that letter with romantic quotes. At the end he wrote in English that he is going to abroad coming month. The news was small and there was nothing to fill the letter with anything, he planned to write it as a love letter just to confuse me. To hell with his idea, my mom read every little word in that letter except for the ones written in English. She hid that letter from me suspecting an affair. I was unaware of that letter for months. I got surprised to find a sudden change in my mom’s attitude. Thanks to my sister who helped me to clear my mom’s misunderstandings!
By this time, I was in my job and I decided to use the term "interest" instead of crush. So, my interest grew in Miss G in office. I hardly found any unengaged Christian girls around in Mumbai. Miss G was working as secretary to my boss. Her mother was Mangalorean and father from Goa. She was the hottie in my office. She was much smarter than I was. I called her out alone on my birthday. Actually it was not my birthday, I wanted to talk with her alone but she turned up with a whole bunch of friends. The girls kept ordering special menus and giggling and I looked for a place where I could go and bang my head. I steered clear of her for the rest of my working days in that office.
My next interest grew on Miss Z. She wasn't the most beautiful and gorgeous but for me, she was everything. She had the looks of Nutan, She spent her whole heart and soul for her family like my mother. She met all the criteria for my life partner. I proposed to her by phone (I was abroad) ;she accepts my proposal. We used to talk with each other every day. My friends always told me that I lost all my interest in work and always dreaming about her. One bad day she called me and told me that she is not going to marry me. May be she had her own reasons behind that decision. My friends thought that I would take to alcohol or something to ruin my life. But to their surprise, I was not depressed. I simply told them “I lost one who never loved me and she lost the one who really loved her and cared for her. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally!”
Only one thought came to my mind…the good ones are always taken…!!!
Thankfully.....I have grown out of all these......no more CRUSHES.....so, no chances of CRASHES....because there is a reason for that. I am married now. For your surprise mine was not a love marriage…it was an arranged-love-marriage. Elders say “When we're born, the soul we're given is split apart and half of it is given to someone else. Throughout our lives, we search for the person with the other half of our soul.” I lost lot of years to search my soul-mate who share my soul. I am blessed that I finally met my soul mate. I am truly blessed because that day, my heart recognized her as a part of its own. She was beautiful than all my previous crushes. She is everything for me. And She is my whole and soul.

2009-03-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was wrong in my thinking that I can make big money if I get multi-tyre vehicle for fixing punctures.

To my luck (bad-luck?) I can't see even a single railway-bogie with punctured tyres.

2009-03-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

BILL GATES ON VACATION IN AFRICA

2009-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

"Hey, mister…. this is a public bus. Can't you see that board?” Subash shouted at the smoking guy, pointing the small notice hanging behind the driver’s seat. The guy who was smoking and enjoying the pleasant smell of that imported brand of cigarette, with Rajnikanth style, replied “yeah, I can read it…it’s written NO-Smoking!”
“Genius!’’ Subash yelled at him. “Then why are you breaking the rules” he wanted to be a hero in that private bus.
“I am not the only one who is breaking the rule” the guy replied. “Look at that driver”
Subash could not see the driver; but saw fog rising from the front.
“What the Hell..! Driver is smoking.” He got insulted. The guy hanging on the bar threw heroic gesture at him.
“Hell! Hell! Hell!!!!’ Subash is a clean guy, a teetotaler with a good physique. He can handle one or two of these kind of road Romeos or Rajnikanth’s. But he knew he simply can’t change the world. Insulted, he got down from the bus even before reaching his destination.
What they will get from smoking? - Nothing, other than some deceases and early death. Their skin gets wrinkled before they become old. “Nonsense!” wasn’t there a warning on each cigarette pack that it is injurious to health.
“Fools” he walks through the foot path to his office.
“Allah ke naam bheek de de baaba.” Monotonous voice from an old man distracted him. The beggar was sitting on a footpath spreading an old cloth in front of him; some coins were spread on that cloth. Subash searched in his pockets for some coins. The beggar was aged; dark, his both hands were amputated from the elbow. “Poor guy, how he managed to smoke that beedi without hands.” Subash amazed. “Hey, wait a minute. “Was he smoking? My goodness.”
“Hey beggar uncle; Are you smoking a beedi?’ he asked in a fierce tone. As I told before Subash was a clean guy from a clean family. His fore fathers were non smokers. He is from a Brahmin family who starts the day by lighting sweet fragrance of agarbatthi; obviously he despised smoking.
‘What could I do beta? You know I am poor. For us this beedi is like cigarette.” The beggar answered lowering his pitch and in anticipation of getting something big in return. “Go to hell” Subash got a good reason to move from there as he didn’t find any coins to give the poor guy.
Smokers are not new to him. But he wanted to know what is there in smoking. His boss was a chain smoker as well as the tea boy in the office. There are hardly any differences, they are all equal. When he speaks they laugh at him, giving strange looks to him as if he is an alien. This is a smoker’s world. Look at the cigarette commercials, a smoker is surrounded by cute girls. ‘What girls are doing in a cigarette commercial’ was beyond his understanding. He was searching for a girlfriend very hard. That was my Subash.
Epilogue:
Last year when I was on my 2 months vacation I found a guy with similar looks of Subash. He couldn’t be Subash I thought. Sitting on a park bench with a beautiful girl this guy was smoking!
“Hey Sam," he waved at me.
No doubt. He is Subash! ‘Hi, Subash, are you smoking?” I didn’t have any other question to ask; this is 8th wonder of the world to me.
“Yes” he blew some heart shaped smoke rings towards me. “I am curious to see, what is there in smoking. I tasted one, didn’t find anything good; tried another and another - now I am addicted!”

2009-03-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

2009-03-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Picture 1:
Dr. AB Chadda : YOU WORKED IN THE GULF FOR 20 YEARS. WHAT HAVE YOU BROUGHT FOR ME?

Picture 2:
PATIENT Replies: BLOOD PRESSURE AND DIABETES

2009-03-24T07:25:00.000-07:00