Murphy's law

Why is it that you end up with multiple choices when you don't care or are totally not expecting something? Why is it that when you badly need something, everything seems to go wrong? So I thought I'll pretend I have no expectations from life hoping that'll fool the playful ghost or God or chance and will give me atleast one thing that I need. Multiple choices would be good but that'll only confuse me trying to choose between "what's best for me" and "what I want". Also, I don't want to be greedy. Do people know of any other strategies to counter the actions(or the lack of it) by the playful one?

The Magic Faraway tree

I came across a picture of the book (The Magic Faraway tree by Enid Blyton) the other day. The image brought back memories of the happy times I had as a kid reading this book and others (Famous five, The Five Find-Outers and Dog, Chandama, Tinkle). It used to be such fun imagining the characters, their adventures, all the goodies that they get to eat (yummy :) ). Thanks to orkut for bringing back sweet memories of friends, videos, books and other things, which I once loved as a kid but which were forgotten over time! And thanks to all the people who introduced me to these wonderful books! No movie, no ride in any amusement park can get me as excited, happy, peaceful and wise too (all at the same instant) as a good book does .

My life needs a rewind and erase button
-Calvin

My life needs a rewind and replay button
-Karts

Action Required!

I was on my way home from the AID weekly meeting. My dad reminded me to buy some vegetable seeds which my uncle can try out back in India. The topic moved onto how it's getting difficult to cultivate crops or find any farm help as people are migrating to the cities or getting used to easy money through the various schemes (funded by the Indian government) which were actually meant to make them independent and self-sufficient. Since there are no workers, there's not much cultivation and people are increasingly becoming dependent on the farm produce that come in from other places. It's a shame that this is the case for vegetables or other food materials that were originally produced locally. We thought about alternative ways such as frozen food but it needs continuous supply of electricity(which may not happen in our villages anytime soon) and we've already tried ways through which we can make them want to stay back in their hometowns (like offering quality education to their kids etc). It doesn't seem to be working - people are trying to hoard as much money as they can by misusing the funds now and they fail to see the long term benefits for the future generations. It may not seem like a big problem at present but few years from now we may all have crisp notes but no food to buy with them. I have to stop here as I don't have the facts in numbers to substantiate this ranting. I have a vague understanding of the cause of the problem (based on only the information spread through word of mouth). But I believe that the effect of the problem is not favorable to anyone if proper action is not taken at the right time(which is now!!!) I've always day-dreamed about doing some idealistic stuff like starting a school for the underprivileged, becoming a jeevan-saathi in an NGO ... blah blah and chickened out soon after I thought about all the comforts I have to leave behind. This time, I believe I can do something with the few resources I have. But I need the facts. I know I have to talk to the people first in order to understand the cause of the problem. But here I am several thousands of miles away from the place that I am concerned about. Despite such advances in technology, I'm unsure as to how I can communicate with the common man at the root-level. Where and how do I begin? All the smart, practical, environmental conscious people out there.. please help me find the facts and some feasible solutions...