A different level of faithfulness!

How long would you wait if your loved one didn't come back one day?

Hachiko was brought to Tokyo in 1924 by his owner, a college professor named Hidesamuro Ueno. Each day, when Ueno left for work, Hachiko would stand by the door to watch him go. When the professor came home at 4 o’clock, Hachiko would go to the Shibuya Station to meet him.

Though this simple act alone shows a tremendous amount of loyalty, that’s not the end of it: The following year, Ueno died of a stroke while at the university. Hachiko didn’t realize that he was gone, and so the dog returned to the train station every single day to await his master. He became such a familiar presence there, in fact, that the station master set out food for the dog and gave him a bed in the station. Even so, Hachiko never shifted loyalties –every day at 4 o’clock, he hopefully waited by the tracks as the train pulled in, searching for his best friend’s face among the people getting off.

Hachiko’s love for his master impressed many people who passed through the station, including one of Ueno’s former students, who became fascinated by the Akita breed after seeing Hachiko. He discovered that there were only 30 Akitas living in Japan, and began to write articles about Hachiko and his remarkable breed, turning the world’s most loyal dog into a household name, and creating a resurgence in popularity for the Akita.

Hachiko died in 1935, after 10 long years of waiting for his master. But the dog would not be forgotten –a year before his death, Shibuya Station installed a bronze statue of the aging dog

, to honor its mascot. Though the statue was melted down during World War II, a new version was created in 1948 by the son of the original artist. Go to the station now, and you’ll be able to see the bronze statue of Hachiko – still waiting, as ever, for his master to come home.

Just a reason why I love dogs!

Note: The original can be found here...

And there is a link in Wikipedia too...

Ann Dee's Challenge and Spike's response!

Yesterday, my new and sassy blog-friend Ann Dee had challenged me to find her identity on MS.

I was reluctant initially since I don't visit that site much these days, I asked the challenger for a prize. She was sweet enough to buy me a cool, crisp, foamy, cold and refreshing glass of beer... !!

(I thought the girl in the center was a dude! Guess I was distracted by the........

pearl necklace!!)

The spoils were agreed upon, but there was a slight problem.... we are both in a different geographic locations, so to keep things simple, I agreed to a virtual beer that I can display on my blog along with this caption -

"Ann Dee bows to thee and promises to never ever mess with the smart and cool dude, eye-in-sty-in, at least in this lifetime".

If I am not able to find her ID on MS, I'll buy her a virtual beer and she get to display it with the caption, "eye-in-sty-in bows to thee and promises never to mess with the sassy Ann Dee" - after all, the deal should work both ways, right?

But when I asked her for the prize, she told me that the link to her profile was already on her blogger profile. However, I DID NOT go there as I was already in my "challenge" mode!

But Ann Dee refused to trust Eye-in-sty-in... "I dont know you well enough" she said and went to hog on a tuna sandwich before she chickened out when I raised her wager! So I thought.... Hmmm..... a chicken hoggging on a tuna sandwich makes for quite a zooo!! I digress!

Since the hype was built up, I said to myself, "So what if she chickened out! To heck with the prize... I'll do it just for the joy of sleuthing!" :D

And off went the Spikemeister to trace down this damsel who goes by the name of Ann Dee!

A little sleuthing revealed that "Ann Dee" was a jazzed up version of ND! Searching for Ann Dee on MS was now a waste!

"What have you got yourself into this time, Spike!!" said Eye-in-sty-in. "How could you put my reputation at stake like this!".

"Chill out dude! How can I refuse a beer man! That too when its offered by a pretty and sassy woman! Besides, it was a challenge dude. What was I supposed to do? Back down?!"

"Oh pipe down!" retorted Eye-in-sty-in. He didn't sound happy at all. Spike now had to make sure the damsel's profile was found!

But then, poor Spike had no clues! No leads to follow... just ... Wait a minute! Didn't Ann Dee comment on Eye-in-sty-in's previous post about traffic signs? Lets look there!!

With a smug look on his face and armed with this new found info about her location, Off went Spike in the hunt of this saucy sassy damsel who goes by the name of ND!

He took his hand,

pulled up his pants!

He pulled out his wand,

and stuck the sand!

He cast a spell,

into the well!

"Google me this... Google me that! Show me a big blind bat"

Thwack!

"What the.... Why did you hit me, Eye-in-sty-in?"

"You were saying it all wrong!" said Eye-in-sty-in.

"What was I saying wrong?"

"The spell. You were saying it wrong! You We are looking for ND, not a big, blind bat".

This Eye-in-sty-in was such a know-it-all! thought Spike, muttering under his breath!

"I know that!" he said out loud and went back to casting the spell again...

"Google me this... Google me that! Show me a dandy Ann Dee"

We have found 500 profiles matching 'Ann Dee' ...... proclaimed MS!

Grrrrrrrr!! Spike should have known... Mouthshut search sucks!

Spike and Eye-in-sty-in look at each other in surprise.... and thats when it stuck them!

"Wait a minute" they said at the same time, looking at each other - as it finally dawned upon them!

"Google me this... Google me that! Show me a dandy ND"

Voilaaaaa!!

So here she is... The soon to be All-New-And-Fantastically-Awesome One.....

Scrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!

That's not Ann Dee! That's Eye-in-sty-in's friend B!!!

Beep-Beep! Go back go back!

(Note to self - Give wand for servicing after finding Ann Dee's profile and getting the beer trophy from her!.... maybe....)

Poof!

And, there we have it folks!

The oh so sassy,

and not so naughty!

The one with the almond eyes,

and the lovely smile!

She has no beard,

just a moustache!

What???????? Curse this wand!!! It is definitely going for a checkup!

Whaddaya say folks! Doesn't Nidarshana have a lovely pair of eyes!

O Sassy one, I'd like my beer chilled and inscribed please! That is, if you are still game :-)

However, if you sulk, lemme know and I will remove all traces of the moustache... Althought I must admit, you carry it with elan! ;-)

PS: No hard feelings, eh? :-))

Freedom of traffic...!

A town in Germany removed all traffic rules and guess what! The number of accidents plummeted from one-a-week to zilch!

Reason? Not having to look at signs and signals, people are paying more attention to the road and to other things on it! Funny, isn't it!

The town now has two general laws in place - a speed limit of 30 MPH and yield to the right. And the Govt. saves 5,000 pounds a month in traffic sign repair bills.

I cannot imagine what will happen if this were done in Bombay or Bangalore... any guesses? :P

Leeches!

It was a beautiful day - warm sunshine, clear skies, a light cool breeze blowing. Perfect outdoor weather and so we did just that. The field was crowded and after a brief wait, we eventually found a spot large enough for us to start playing. Being able to get out after so long got us so engrossed in our game that we lost the track of time and also the sky. It was the last point. One more catch and the scores will have a big enough difference for our team to win. Someone threw the ball at me and I just let it drop. There were cries from the rest of my team even before the ball had hit the ground because I was not focusing on the ball at all. In fact, I did not even see the ball drop because I had my back to it. I could feel the outrage being expressed by my team mates as they bore their hard stare into my back. But I had other things to worry about. I had seen something that the no one else had spotted. Not even the girls who were supposed to be on the lookout. This abrupt change in my demeanor stifled the cries of my team mates. What started out as a bellowing outrage ended in a whimper and I think some even tried to swallow the words into their stomach. No, I was not menacing nor was I a bad player. In fact I was the best catcher on the team. But everyone knew the drill, you cannot make any sound when they are around. It was one of the ways that they could detect our presence.

"We promise we will pay attention" they had said to all of us. As much as I was against the idea of letting them take over the watch from the guards the relentless pleas from my team mates sounded convincing. After all, there was not a cloud in the sky to be seen and we had a score to settle with the guards. They had beaten us by 1 point in the tie-breaker in the last game. I let the euphoria of the good weather get to me and against my better judgement, I let the girls take over the watch from the guards for the lousy game! I was so angry at myself. Of course they got engrossed in enjoying the weather and forgot to notice the clouds move in. Of course they did not detect the presence of the leeches that were now moving in by the dozens surrounding the huge field. I didn't even know how long had they been waiting in the dark forest at the edge of the field... waiting patiently for the clouds to move in.... watching their prey running and jumping about before they strike. More than the girls, I was angry at myself. Why did I give in and let the guards play? Why! I knew the girls did not have the skills to be lookouts. This is why we never allowed them to take that responsibility. How many people will pay the price for my decision! Oh well, now was not the time to ruminate.

The girls were smart enough to move into the center of the field. They were surrounded by 2 concentric circles the inner one formed by the civilian men and the outer one by the guards. The latter were now fully alert and had quickly fallen into their combat positions. I saw one of the guards move towards the edge of the field towards the pile of weapons. He was a newer recruit, Jack. Obviously. Any experienced soldier would never have made such a foolish move. The stack was too close to the forest and in spite of their massive size (some were more than 12 feet tall), the leeches moved with agility - Especially when they were hungry. Jack's intentions were noble and the weapons would have bettered our precarious position greatly, but alas, the move was suicidal. I knew it! I could not run and stop him from what he was doing. Heck, I could not even shout out a warning to him for that would instantly alert the leeches of our location. Their vision was weak, but their hearing was very sharp! It now came down to numbers. Survival of many - sacrifice of one. He was headed towards the pile of weapons, straight in the direction of the enemy. While the enemy had their attention focused on this sure shot prey, we had to make our escape. Jack's death should not be an utter waste.

I signalled the guards and we started moving slowly towards the vehicles. As much as we wanted to, we could not afford to make any sudden movements. They could still spot us. I counted Jack's steps as he moved closer and closer to the weapons. He was so focused on his task, He was not even aware of the giant leech hidden in the clump of trees behind the stack. I was intently watching Jack move and I was also watching the leech. I had to anticipate the enemy's movement precisely when Jack notices it and cries out in surprise. This will distract the rest of the leeches and we will have to make a break for the vehicles. Hopefully the other leeches will be distracted enough by the smell of blood and the the noise and coupled with the poor eyesight, they won't notice us. It was a long shot, but I had to take it. It was our only shot! The clouds were getting thicker and the sky darker, soon they will be able to roam free in the dark night. Escape would then be impossible then for the zombies will also be out at night!

It was now! The other leeches noticed it, I noticed it and so did a few of the other soldiers. The big leech moved towards Jack who now slowed down as his eyes grew big in horror as he noticed death, in the form of the big beast, move towards him. He slipped and slid, kicking up a cloud of dust as his feet scampered in a futile attempt to stop his advance in the enemy's direction as he tried to reverse his stride. The dry mud did not help. Even if it was asphalt, he still stood no chance. Not at that distance. The leech moved with speed in Jack's direction. I saw Jack's feet slow down as he was almost mesmerized by the sheer agility of the huge beast. The jaws opened and it swooped upon Jack who was now screaming his guts out. We were almost 115 meters away from the vehicles when Jack's screams died. I turned my head around slightly to witness the horror!

His torso lying on the ground. Jack had no head. In fact, Jack had no chest. The leech had bit him in half and the upper part of Jack's body was in the beast's mouth. Blood was dripping from the mouth of the leech that had devoured Jack and the other leeches were moving towards the lower half of Jack's torso. The smell of warm blood must be overwhelming for them. We shut the door of the vehicles and bolted off. We lived to see another day. Thank you Jack!