Celebrating Together

Warm wishes to all my readers on the occasion of Baisakhi ! Belated Happy Gudi Padwa/ Ugaadi too ! In this diverse and unique country named India, in this largest democracy of the world, in this land with almost 22 prominent languages and around 10 practicing and vibrant religions, we welcome the celebration of each festival with equal fervor and dignity of all. May all your troubles be behind you, may there be the joy and enthusiasm of the fresh harvest, may the advent of the summer be of value and may peace togetherness and love prevail ever!!

Some divine justice seems to have been working in the timing of all these events and religious sentiments. I am certain that in other parts of the world too there must be certain rituals for this time of the year. This homogenous attribute is the legacy of the human race, a race that was created to be one and to be together. But, we have been separated on the grounds of caste, creed, religion, colour!  And look how desperately we still seek each other to remain together and one, and on discovering our own attributes find that in the truest sense the distance was never too large to traverse, or the boundary too large to cross. I marvel at the compassion that we bear towards each other here on this platform. I marvel at the concern, affection and care that we extend to those whom we hardly know. I marvel how individuals unknown become known. This is true comradeship and no, not in the communistic manner, but in its desire for holding and bearing for the other. This is remarkable and why am I speaking about all this is because even after flying seven seas and coming this far from my home country, I still feel at home and how, by the kind of warmth shown by people here, the kind of communication we have with our loved ones , friends and family worldwide. Its human nature to stay in a colony and not in isolation and we do it every time unknowingly and stick to each other as one.

Unity in India can definitely be seen sky rocketing during “Cricket Matches” ! Well I don’t literally mean rockets being burst in the sky in jubilant mood after winning matches, but the kind of emotion it brings through when we win! We get serious when the players are serious, we play with them, we strategize with them, we abuse commercial ads, we reiterate the “commentators”, well we act as commentators too ! We plan our day in such a way that we just don’t seem to have any calls, hindrances during the match. And the best part, nature calls are also attended as per our wish and not nature’s wish ;). Offices arrange for a Big Screen display with snacks and refreshments, reason: employee turnout on the day of matches should not be zero! And then if it’s an Indo Pak match , I better not write anything further.. history says it all ! Now, when MSD hit that 6 and brought home the cup , did we really think who all are with us while we yelled with moist eyes, did we think person beside us is a friend , foe, scheduled caste, different religion follower etc. No we were not at all bothered by all such crap.  So why does it bother us at other times? Wont try to debate this over and the topic of discussion will not divert itself from the victory of World Cup. But with IPL going on ..this is such a bizarre situation. How soon sentiments shift from national to personal teams, from rooting for those they wanted to win, now against them. Rivals for last month, team mates for the next!  And though the streets are no longer jammed with enthusiastic revelry, the minds are, the joyous mood retains its vigor. God bless them, their effort and the effort of the entire team. And God bless India. 11 Indians have invigorated an entire nation of almost a billion and half, and perhaps, why perhaps, definitely in other parts of the world too with their dedication.

A prominent author and thinker on a public platform admitted that sport and film were the two most fertile ingredients in bringing this nation together. Nothing could be truer. They always were and shall always be, a unifier !

What’s your Age?

Taking a line from my previous blog “We humans never realize the importance of things in life till we loose them..” One of which is age. Every one of us have got an age stuck up in our minds, like say I am still 22 years in my mind… (Don’t believe it?? give it a proper thought and you will arrive at your correct mind-age—now that’s what I call it). The feeling of nearing 30 has still not sunk in! Reason? 22 was an age of self-discovery, maturity, individuality, independence, self-confidence, beauty, freedom. Everything was colourful, each day was vibrant, full of surprises, every time a person of opposite sex looked at you .. there was a mushy blushy smile on your face. Everything looked possible then, everything was challenging because that was an age when I had graduated and started off working in ICICI Bank. Life was full of “Hanging out with friends for coffee, Team Lunches, Surprise Birthday Parties, Train friends, Timelines, Presentations, Projects, Training, Work Pressures, Late night working , Abusing Bosses and above all this Pay Cheque !”

Life didn’t stop at that and it moved on, there were lot of good and bad things in my life since then and before too, but then somehow I loved it when I was 22 ! So there, I am stuck in that age forever!  I never wanted to believe that girl’s life changes completely after marriage. I wanted and was determined to keep it just the way it was before. I was successful till my son’s arrival. After his birth, my life has taken a 360 degree turn! Which mother won’t agree with me? Amidst all those night shifts, changing diapers and other baby woes, the best part was that I had an opportunity to visit my childhood once again J. To behave like a kid, to think like a kid, to act like a kid was just wonderful. How much fun they have in simple things in life, that’s what we learn from them. They see what they want to see, they hear what they want to hear and they do what they want to do ! Why not apply same theory to our age and say “I am as old as I think”… My motto: Age gracefully

I do not mind getting older but, I do not want to get old..  I loved badminton and used to play it a lot during school and early college days. I plan to rekindle my love for it. As long as I can still be a kid from time to time and do things for myself, I will be happy J.

Must have happened with you all too.. or maybe you just never realized that…So let me know which age are you stuck on?

And now you all feedback and comments, what are doing lazying around in my readers’ minds, come on, pop out from there and see yourself on my blog !

My First Blog - Start Off Something New

Hey all, this is my first blog.  As the title states, I am trying my hand at blogging. Why?, because I always get a feeling (all through these years )that when I speak, people turn into listeners. Well , don’t take me as condescending   here just that I am starting off with a confidence ! I love English and have a very bad habit of using heavy words now and then but, I have decided to keep my blog in as simple terms as possible . I plan to reflect my views and thought process based on daily experiences. I have been planning on this for like eternity now and am happy to finally see something posted.

We all want to “start off” with “something” all the time, but somehow don’t end up doing it ! I am no exception either. After shifting to US and staying in such a “sunny” place I have got an urge to wear lovely outfits available here, to the beachside, which girl wont feel like it J Now, blessed with a proper nice rounded Indian figure, I definitely looked as odd woman out among these pencil thin toned firangis . Result- it gave birth to my most awaited n longing desire to go to Gym. Now this thought has taken more than 2 years from conception to actual implementation.. (Staying in silicon valley does show traits in my writing too I guess :P, I am using project life cycle terms ). So how many of us, have gone through the same problem. One fine day we find our favourite pair of jeans don’t fit us and we decide “ Tomorrow is the day, I am gonna hit the gym”  well this is said to our self before hitting the bed which gets continued for a little bit longer say a day or two, umm week,  month, or worst an year. I am gonna stop eating sweets, I am gonna watch what I eat , I am gonna study regularly from today, I will watch my time schedule and leave office on time, I am gonna start my hobby today  …so on and so forth

At times these self projects get self decided target dates to start off… like New year---famously called as resolutions ,which are still honoured when broken.. how ironic . Or say some hindu festival like Ugadi/Padwa, Diwali etc. Its human nature to procrastinate as much as possible. Nothing wrong in it.  We humans never realize the importance of things in life till we lose them.. in my case it was “Me time” and “health” After becoming a mother, my whole life is devoted only for my LO(hubby comes next). So much that my LO cant stay without me for more than an hour …now this had to be broken somewhere and I had to get my personal time.. I hit the gym today and that one hour was like a total mental spa for me. I came out with a super duper workout glow on face, adrenaline rushing to all veins , the feeling that left me wondering: oh these veins ARE exsiting still. The walk back home was accompanied by a mild smile throughout ! What a simple 1 hour of exercise can do to you- Mentally, Emotionally and Physically !!

I think the problem here is only of “starting off” . The moment we begin something new, there are very high chances that we will follow it regularly. And that’s what I did today… Gymming and Blogging ! So I wud like to urge all you people to start off doing what has been lingering in your minds forever now ! And I bet finally, this is something which is “easier done than said” because you love doing it and you always wanted to do it. So get up and start off with that and let me know what it was…would love to get your feedback (on everything and anything)

Well incidently its Ram Navami today so lets say, good things started off on good day J

Look out for my next blog…Take care