What exactly do these sites have to offer? Though inspiration is just one innocuous word, it takes a visit to these sites to understand where it can come from and in what shape. The content caters to all tastes — quotes, stories, anecdotes, personal interviews, tips, poems, screen savers, posters, e-cards and even e-flowers. Further down there are more than 100 categories to choose from on every sites. Quotes, stories, anecdotes and poems can be found for every conceivable situation. Many sites steer clear of religion, others offer Biblical, Buddhist, Taoist and Zen stories also. The content draws on everything – scriptures, great lives, great speeches, personal suffering and every other conceivable source cutting across race, region or religious lines. The most popular categories are: Love, Parental, Life, Success, Attitude, Compassion, Work, Friendship, Honesty and Death and Dying.

You need not log on daily to get your dose of inspiration. It can be delivered straight to your mailbox weekly or daily as you wish. All these sites offer free enlistment to their mailing lists and you can choose the type of prose or verse of the subject of your choice. There are sites, which have these delivered directly to your cell phones as SMS messages. They work in conjunction with other sites for this facility.

Studies show that these sites have global appeal. In the West these sites are popular among all age groups. However, in India, these sites are accessed mainly by youths in the 17 to 40 years age group. Here is why. "My generation is more into spirituality. So my wife and I turn on the TV first thing in the morning to listen to discourses by Bapu Asaram and his tribe. But my son and daughter take turns to find their daily dose of inspiration on these sites. It’s everywhere – in their mailboxes and on their cell phones. Yet they crave for more. Their day depends on what inspiration they find on the Net that day", says Mr Vijay Bansal, an industrialist.

How does cyber inspiration help you in every day life? Here is a small story that appears in Honesty and Integrity category of one of the popular sites. It goes like this: The childless emperor of a country in the East decided to handover reins of his empire to one of his subjects who would run it honestly. One day he summoned 500 children from different provinces and gave them seeds. He told them to sow the seeds and bring the pot to him a year later. Ling was one of these children. He sowed the seed and watered it daily. But despite his labour the seed did not germinate. He was crestfallen as his friends had an array of beautiful plants in their pots. On the appointed day he was unwilling to face the emperor. But his mother told him" Ling, you must carry the empty pot and tell the king the seed did not germinate despite your care." In the court, Ling stood at the back while others jostled to show their pots to the emperor. The emperor noticed Ling whose pot was empty. He summoned Ling. Ling feared he might be punished. The emperor asked him what had happened. Ling explained that he sowed the seed and watered it daily. Still it did not germinate. The emperor then announced: Ling will succeed me for he is honest. I gave you all boiled seeds, which could not germinate. Still you bring me plants. The emperor sent all the boys back and Ling became the emperor.

This story helped shape the career of a young army officer. Prashant had come across these story months before he left for the military training academy. Many cadets tend to "sham" in the gruelling cross-country races by taking short cuts. Five of the cadets including him were caught doing so in one of these important races. While the four denied doing so, Prashant remembered this story and owned up his mistake. He was excused while the others were "gated" for the rest of the term. "Two years have gone by and I recall the incident and the story every morning. It has helped shape my career. My honesty and integrity are appreciated by my juniors as well as seniors", he says.

Students are logging on these sites for words of encouragement. Some do it routinely, others before or after the examination. Chhavi Bhatia, a final year school student says she developed cold feet as examinations approached. At times this affected her performance badly. Then a friend referred her to one such site where she participated in a group discussion on this subject. The point that emerged from it was that "do your duty without caring for the results". She says that hit the nail and she has since been scoring well. "I suddenly realised I was overly worried about the outcome", she said adding that she no longer worries about the score and is more confident of herself now.

Take the case of Mandira. At 29, four years after her marriage to a businessman, she was prepared to walk out of it because she always thought her husband did not care enough for her. As a bored housewife, she was addicted to surfing the Net. On one of the bad days, she logged on to an inspirational site hoping to find something that would help her change her husband. She ended up changing herself and her marital life because of this quote from Mahatma Gandhi: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world" she found on one of the sites. "It was so simple, yet I never thought of it. I stopped blaming my husband and began doing everything I wanted him to do. He was so touched that he is the most caring husband now. I owe my happiness to the Net", she says.

More and more persons are now looking for pearls from these sites. Mr Devendra Leekha, (40), a businessman, was prone to depressions whenever slump struck. The problem became so acute that he had fits of migraine that severely affected his working. But that is now history. "I now cheer myself up by reading inspirational stories and poems from the inspirational sites. No longer do I brood over what might happen. Instead, I look for something that tells me life has more to it than balance sheets.

I am a better person now". Here is one of his favourite inspirational poems:

There is no dearth of humour on the inspirational sites. People love to share and change their attitudes towards anything with a dash of humour instead of rancour and anger. Believe it or not, a majority of them are Indians. Here is a sampler from one Vimla posted recently: The paradox of our time in history is that we have: Taller buildings but shorter tempers. Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less. We buy more but enjoy less.

If even all this doesn’t inspire you, may be you need one of the inspirational sites more than others do!