A friend introduced Laila, a seventeen year old girl, to me a month ago and said, “She did not pass in her Plus Two examination. She has to stay at home for a year. She is depressed.”

“But she looks bright and intelligent?” I asked him. “She is. She loves music and movies and lives in dreams. She has got a multimedia notebook computer and spends her every waking moment on browsing movie related websites. She uses all her energy and time in such useless, wasteful activities. So, she failed in her Plus Two exams,” my friend replied.

While we were discussing about Laila, she was not paying any attention to it and was singing softly and it was audible only to her. I said to her, “”Laila, the tune is nice.” Laila immediately replied, “This song ‘Akkam pakkam yarumilla boologam vendum’ is from a recently released Tamil movie and it ranks top in the chart.”

“Can you please translate the lyrics in English for me?” I asked her. Her eyes became full of light and told me the meaning of the Lyrics in an animated voice. It was about romance and was well written. She pulled out a iPod from her bag and requested me to listen to the song.

As soon as I finished, Laila asked, “Is it not a great song? Every young man and woman loves this song.” I replied, “It is great song and it is a wonderful income opportunity for you.”

“How?” both my friend and Laila asked with excitement.

I said to my friend, “There is no waste in the world. Everything has a meaning and purpose. If you cultivate the habit of looking at every encounter, event or contact – even the least important ones- as an opportunity for growth and see what is behind appearances, you will stumble upon gold mines every day.”

“I understand,” said Laila while my friend kept quiet.

“When people hear nice songs that touch their heart, they hum the songs or sing aloud unconsciously. They don’t mind being bathroom or kitchen singers. The problem with songs that use modern instruments and technology is the words become suppressed in the sound of instrumental music. Unless you know all the lyrics, you will not enjoy singing a song,” I said. Laila responded, “That’s true. If you hear a nice number in a language that you are not familiar with, then learning lyrics becomes even more difficult. For example, I loved a fast paced song from a Hindi movie. But I don’t know Hindi. So, I was not able to memorize it.”

“You can create a website and post lyrics. People will visit your website and learn the lyrics. If you keep adding new lyrics every day and keep your website with fresh content, people will love to visit your website. There are many websites that post MP3 downloads and video clips on YouTube. Such activities are most often unlawful and violation of Intellectual Property rights. Please contact the author of the lyrics to post them online. As you are giving free worldwide publicity, these lyricists will never say no. If you stay within law and work hard you can make money. I don’t say these projects will make you rich. You can make a few thousand Rupees a month through advertisements by doing what you like the most,” I told Laila.

“How will people know about my website?” asked Laila. “Prepare a list of your classmates and friends. Tell them about your website and request them to visit it often. If your website is well maintained and updated frequently, you will gain visitors by word of mouth advertisement from your satisfied visitors,” I replied and continued, “You can create a website free of cost by using a free blog service. Post lyrics as original version, translated version and in regional language. Spice up your page with copyright free colorful photographs from the movie. Once you have good traffic sign up for sponsors.”

Within a week, Laila built a nice blog with lyrics of 20 latest movies. Before the end of the month she got more than 1,000 visitors - 400 of them are repeat visitors. She placed the ad code into her blog yesterday and has earned $1.25 (Rs.50). It means a monthly income of Rs. 1.500 for ‘wasting’ your time on movies. If her traffic goes up, naturally her income will also go up. Behind every success story, there is hard work.

Now that she is getting decent traffic – decent not heavy – she has applied for a few more online advertising programs and awaiting their approval.

What is your favorite number? Who is your favorite actor?