25. CANDLES

ANDLES 25th Candle Please send your suggestions & Articles for the next issue of CANDLES to “Mr. Chiradeep Patra, 11A/1A, Mahendra Chatterjee Lane, Kolkata - 700 046; E-Mail: chiradeepp@gmail.com

Cell: 08013165711

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g in f at e o r b ss u S E ele C th I L D 25 N A C

Year 7

Continuity Matters

The booklet 'Candles' had struggled for last one year and it was difficult on my part to get it printed due to many reasons. But finally by God's grace I was able to press the restart button to make Candles on continuity mode.

One of the accounting concepts of any business is 'going concern' which explains that 'a company will continue to operate indefinitely.' If there's no continuity or regularity then it can not be termed as a business.

A person can not be recognized as a 'helpful person' if he helps somebody only once in his whole life time.

A publisher gets registered as 'publisher' only when it continues to publish for months.

If we don't earn continually then we may not survive long.

Thus 'continuity' is a very important word in life. If we don't continue in something we do or live with then we lose identity, authority, recognition, and finally existence.

Local Address for New Delhi

Contact: Rev. Joshua 109-B#Pkt - I, Dilshadgarden New Delhi - 110 095 Cell:09810364986 E-mail: seva_network@hotmail.com “For Private Circulation Only”

On the occasion of CANDLES' 25th issue celebration, I would love to encourage all of those to restart again who are sitting quiet & depressed in a corner thinking that 'I have failed, I am sad, I feel weak and I can not continue anymore in this or that or in life.'

The perspective of success and blessings is far greater than what we see and think. Actually we can not even imagine where we will end; only God can. But for ending in the right note we need to continue, continue, continue and be in the race. When we continue, at least there's a hope but when we quit there's no chance left at all.

So trust in the Almighty and CONTINUE.

Chiradeep Patra, works in National Fellowship, a Social Organisation in Kolkata. He is a motivator, counselor and an author of many articles. He can be contacted at: ‘chiradeepp@gmail.com’

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From the World of Glamour To the World of Simplicity – a Completely U-Turn of the View Point

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s a young teenager, I loved the world of glamour. I used to watch all sort of beauty pageants and dreamt of being a model myself. I used to put those satin sashes around me with painted “Miss Universe”. My mom got me a couple of those cheap crowns which looked exactly like the real ones, but broke within a day or two. It was a beautiful world, where I was the most famous girl to have beauty with brains. Fashion shows were the most charming thing in the world for me. At that time my only aim was to win one of these beauty pageants and become a famous model and an actress. Then a terrible thing happened; I realized that my height does not fulfill the minimum height requirement to be “Miss India”. I remember being very disappointed at this and then the entire idea of being an actress also felt difficult.

My parents did put in a lot of sense in me. They made me understand the importance of education and how it is so important to have a good education and then think of making a career in one of these glamorous areas. They tried their level best to make me understand how much better a career in engineering or medical is than the glamour world.

They tried to talk to me about the weak value system of that world. I did not agree with them but I gave in. I went to college and studied engineering.

In the third year of my engineering, a movie called “Page 3” released by one of the best Bollywood directors “Madhur Bhandarkar”. He is known to make realistic movies which showed true picture of different areas of today's society. That movie changed my viewpoint about the glamour world. “Page 3” was about a young journalist who gets to see the glamour world in different directions and how she suffers being so close to this world. From being ditched by her homosexual boyfriend to watching her air-hostess room-mate marry a man double her age for money and power. She loses her job because she wants to expose exploitation of young orphaned children by millionaire star. The show off by these celebrities, the lies, the deceit, the immorality made me rethink about the glamour. The glitzy showy world does have dark side behind the scenes. I still don't know how much truth was shown in the movie, but I started following a number of different stars, reading about their personal lives and their interviews. Somehow, I started seeing a different side altogether. I started to feel that though there is a lot of glamour, money and power there, but the value system is very weak. That was when I asked myself, if I really want to live in a world where trust is compromised so much, with so much crime around, with friends who are not really your own, where money and power is all that people run for. The answer was indeed no.

I had heard so many times about the term “casting couch”. After watching this movie, it was not difficult to believe that it is a very common practice to be a star. Is that what I would like myself to turn into – a prostitute for success, power and money? A big no! This realization completely altered my viewpoint about this world, so much that I never even attempted going anywhere near it. It simply did not feel right. It felt right doing what I am doing now – leading a simple, not so rich yet happy life.

Prabhjot Kaur Saini, is a Software Engineer and is currently working in Bangalore. She is an engineer by profession and also a thinker and writer with a philosophical heart. She can be contacted at: ‘prabhjot.varsha@gmail.com’ Page 2

Poem

Look Behind my Smile...

Take a look on the inside of your soul, You'll find me there, of love I'm giving you more.

Look closely behind my flashing smile, You'll find happiness away, more than a thousand mile.

Let your sadness fade away Like the ashes from a blown ashtray.

Pray to God and show Him your beautiful smile, And He shall grant you happiness, even if it were away a thousand mile.

That's how I deal with my sadness.

A smile, it keeps me away from madness.

Close your eyes and let your imagination Drive you to utopia, to God's favorite creation.

Take a look on the inside of your soul, You'll find me there, of love I'm giving you more.

Look closely behind my flashing smile, You'll find happiness away, more than a thousand mile.

With a smile, my whole world changes.

My whole sadness exchanges Into happiness and love, As beautiful as a peaceful dove.

Sara, is a 16 years old student. She loves to write poems and short stories & has written many poems for the webzines. She can be contacted at: ‘sarah_hamadeh@hotmail.com’

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HOW I DEAL SADNESS IN LIFE

'Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.' Psalm 30:5

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here is a saying that, “What does not kill you makes you a stronger person.” If we can identify with that then we can use it and learn how to overcome sadness and depression. Every challenge can help us to learn and grow from it if we allow it to!

Sadness is nothing it's just like a cold if we handle it patiently we can pass it but depression is like a cancer so we should never allow our sadness become depression.

In my life also I face sadness, loneliness many a time. When problems like misunderstandings, sickness, financial problems etc., questions like, 'why I'm the only one to face these things,' 'how I'm going to face tomorrow,' 'why not any one is there to stand with me' come into my mind; but at the end I always able to find the answers to all these questions.

I just find the solutions to combat all these which are as under: 1. I Cry out loud to the Lord in Prayer This is an extremely efficient way to obtain strength and overcome sadness. I use prayer to help overcome sadness. I talk to the Almighty in my own language and tell Him how awful I feel. I ask Him for the strength to cope with my present difficulties, and to learn from them. When I am hurt and sad, I pour my heart out in front of God and cry. I feel relieved soon.

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God is always there to listen, someone whom we can rely on, a very good friend in troubles. When I found Him as my friend you know my life totally changed, now I'm feeling as if I'm not alone at all. In Psalms 91:15 God says that “he shall call Me, and I'll answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.'

2. Read the Bible: The Bible is my great strength. I believe it helps many overcome their own problems after deriving strength from the Bible. I get encouragement from the stories of others who have overcome in similar situations. The biographies are helpful and the Bible contains many such stories. For example, we can gain inspiration from the life of King David, who overcame many setbacks, including the deaths of close relatives, and also Joseph who faced many problems in his life even betrayal from his brothers, he also been put to Jail for many days but still by his faith and his faithfulness to God make him to overcome all his sufferings and after that he lead a great life till his death.

3. Think about others problems: Almost always we can find someone who is experiencing a worse situation than us! There are many whose sufferings are much more than ours. So it is better to think about them and see how they are coping up with all the problems. It is likely that if we spend some time helping that individual from the slump they are in, it will help us to feel satisfied and capable. Consequently, this would help us to rise above our own personal setback. Listening is a great way to help somebody out. We can also help financially if we are unable to help physically. I always do the same thing whenever I think that my problem is very big to be solved. I started to see others with their problems and concentrate on others. It gives me one type of relief form my pain that there are many others whose life is much more difficult than me.

4. Face the problem: Beyond everything else, the best way to conquer sadness and depression is to face them and come to terms with them.

Matters leading to sadness fall into two categories: matters that can be corrected and matters that cannot. If something can be done to correct a situation, why to feel sad? Simply take action to correct the matter!

On the other hand, if nothing can be done, what gain is there in feeling sad?

Sadness will not improve matters. It is wiser to accept what cannot be changed.

Conclusion: At the end I can say, we always need to remember one thing that never to count our curses but always counting our blessings will keep us happy and joyful. This is my secret way of leading a happy life.

Above all God is always there to lend us a hand when we are in trouble so trust in Him and keep going and you will witness a better life and a better living.

God Bless you all.

Amrita Singh, is a wonderful homemaker and a person with concern for others. She lives in Goa along with her husband.

She can be contacted at: ‘amrita_singh2006@yahoo.co.in’

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