Work Smart, Not fast!

Do you remember how it sometimes happened in school exams that you thought you were writing slowly and you were going to be unable to complete the exam in time? And then you hurried everything up and finished the exam too early and had nothing to do when everyone else was still writing! If you remember something like this happening to you then you are probably not the only one who felt very odd sitting idle in the exam room with everyone silently writing their papers and you looking down for you have nothing to do. And if you are feeling even more stupid thinking duh! This happens to me even now!! Don’t you worry, you are still not the only one. Have you seen, sometimes in the kitchen, when the dish you are preparing is ready to fast and you are very excited, get ready and serve the dinner, and then there’s a voice from out of the blue “Hey! The vegetable is a bit raw!!” and all you can do is stand there like someone took all your money as soon as you stepped out of the ATM, and you do not even have money to get a taxi back to home. Oh how I wish I would have checked the dish once before serving it! Yes! That is the point! If any work gets finished way too soon just check it once, for you have all the time to make it better than it already is! And who doesn’t want to get appreciated for something they did to be perfect J

As soon as you understand the need of checking things once they are done, you will understand as to how to make it perfectly organized and do it slowly so that you do not have to go through it again and again and lose the chance to do other things in the remaining time. Identifying how fast or slowly one should work, at home, at school, at office or anywhere else, is a big technique as well as part and parcel of an efficient person. No matter how hard you work it is all ruined if you have worked in hurry and with a thought that you are going to be late and so you must be faster. Something or the other will always be left out no matter how sure you are of what you have done. For you are no super hero to work fast and not make a single mistake and everyone will clap at how fast the work was done. You are a human and even though the line “to err is human” is famous, no one will think of it when you make a small mistake at workplace while showing your super hero powers.

In the end the only thing that matters is that the work is done right, after two months when your appraisal is being done no one will remember how fast you finished that file, all they will remember is how you were seen thrice with the file correcting the mistakes and looking for loopholes after you said you were done with it. No matter how many super powers you have got, if you make mistakes, you will always be reminded of how many mistakes you made while acting ‘over smart’.  Just do what you want to do. No problem if you cannot stop yourself from doing it fast, but also remember it is to be done right. Will you like a taxi that runs super duper fast and promises to drop you to your destination within half the time other taxies take, but just before reaching the destination it crashes because of ‘speed’? It is clear by now that everybody likes speed but more than that they like correctness and reliability more. It is just a matter of proper planning as to how you distribute the extra time evenly between different responsibilities you need to fulfil. Some people know how to do it, while some others keep all the extra time for the end when everything is over and none is perfect. Sure, working fast is a good thing, but working fast and spoiling things is not cool! For when you work super fast you work even harder than required and still are not happy with the result in the end. So, work smart, not fast.  Enjoy. Smile. Cheer up. Happy Life! J

Smile for your problems are smaller than you think!

If you are worried about small things, be happy because you do not have bigger things to worry about! Imagine if you had a lot of big problems in your personal life, at your workplace or in your family, would you even care about how the dress you wear at the party tonight matches with two other girls at the same party, or how your living room curtains do not match with the sofa, how your spouse doesn’t have time on weekends and keeps forgetting birthdays and anniversaries or how there is less salt in dinner tonight? I don’t think so.

Isn’t it a reason to be happy that you have the option to be upset at or particular about smaller things in life because you don’t have to worry about bigger ones? Isn’t it a big reason to smile that you have less reasons to frown about? As soon as big things happen and bigger worries arrive in your life, you will get to know how small things cease to matter all at once and are replaced by worries that do not leave your mind free enough to think about small things at all. Now the curtains, the school homework, the dress, the looks, the broken nails, the old car, the laptop that is not working since last evening, the rain that wouldn’t stop and keep you from reaching office in time or the friend who always keeps you waiting for an hour before turning up for the movie, all these do not matter as soon as a very loved one of yours has a disease to fight, you have a low salary to fit up with the increasing expenses, the failure in career that you have to handle, the new flat that you have to look for when you are asked to leave your home, the job interviews that constantly keep telling you that you do not fit their eligibility criteria, the failure to understand how to deal with people and relationships, all those big things, all those extreme situations that do not leave us the stamina to fight for very small things are the ones that keep explaining to us that the smaller problems that we used to think were too big weren’t actually real problems at all! And the small things give us the chance to understand that we are lucky to have smaller things to worry about rather than the bigger ones.

When we go around the world and see how many people are lying around without any good clothes, food or anything that is too common for us that we don’t even notice their existence or even understand how important they are for the life we are living. If we think of the problems the people on the road face, we can easily compare our own problems with them and understand how small they are in comparison with other people’s problems. And one is not even required to see other people’s problems, just think about the bigger problems you have had to face in your past yourself! Aren’t the little things you’re thinking as problems now are way too smaller than those earlier ones to be even called problems? Isn’t it easier to resolve things if we think of them as smaller issues than we actually make them appear to ourselves? We always worry about small things and that worry gives the smallest of things bigger shadows and scare us just like a nightmare on a dark night! Why do we need to torture ourselves by worrying about things that do not need that much of our attention? Why do we make small things look like beg issues and make our life harder than it actually is? Why do we not save all the energy, stamina, thoughts and ideas for bigger things that may come up from nowhere when we are least expecting them and all entangled in our pretty little problems!

It’s all in our own control, how bigger we make a problem and how harder or easier we make our life is all our own decision. We have a pretty short life and it is our own decision whether we make it full of problems grudges and frowns or fill it with lights, flowers, smiles and prosperity by letting small things be small and leaving the bigger ones on their own in order to come on their own time and let them teach you how to deal with them as they are and make you a better and strong person. So leave things on their own to grow in their own time, at their own pace, and do not let smaller things grow a shadow bigger than their reality! Face thing just as they are and stop making things look bigger than they are. And be happy that you are able to worry for smaller things and do not still know what actual problems are. Be thankful to god and pray for these smaller problems to always stay with you so that there is no place for the bigger ones. Keep smiling, keep loving! Bonne journée!

Let your Soul reside in your House

A house becomes home only when it speaks for the one who lives in it, when it expresses what they think and feel. That’s why they say – Feel at home, and that can happen only when there are feelings in the place you live in, or else no matter how expensive the interior decoration is, there won’t be any difference between a hotel room and your house. So just leave all the worries and start making that house or flat your home!

Everything that is in your house must have a purpose. This doesn’t mean that the flowers that cannot be put to any productive use are useless. Their sole purpose is to emit fragrance and make the place beautiful and fresh and that is perfectly done only when they are real flowers. So never use artificial flowers in your house no matter how beautiful or classy they look, for just as the fragrance of real flowers cannot be substituted with that of artificial flowers, the genuinity of a real human being can never be compared with the superficial goodness of a person. Just as nothing expensive jewellery you wear can make you look pretty until you are beautiful inside, nothing big or bright you buy can make your house be your home until its connected to your soul. The same way everything in your house must be able to express your understanding for what you believe in and the imaginative beauty of your hear! Every single thing should be as if it is a miniature of you. There must be a little you in every article placed in those small empty places besides that bright lamp. Let everything in there speak your mind & soul. Be it a big castle, or a small studio apartment, let is speak for you.

One of the most essential parts of a pretty home is that cute little corner where you sit to relax after you are home after a whole tiring day of work and travel. That one corner needs to be the most peaceful place in your house, with dim lights and glimmer of a pretty little lamp and a small bookshelf with just the right kind of couch or beanbag to throw yourself on. And there you go!

Not only the corners or the rooms of the home, but even a small door or a window, it matters as much as that warm and cozy bedroom, that beautiful looking living room or that pretty bathroom does. And one of them is the window. The window, it should be the place where you can, with no doubt or second thoughts, just throw away all your worries and from where the darkness of your life jumps out and makes way for sunshine to come in. Enlighten these windows with your favourite colour of curtains and bright white lights and you’ll never regret just standing at the window sipping your coffee, trust me it won’t be the so called waste of time.

Your kitchen is where you can experiment all you wish and that should be the place that has the most scope for trials. Keep as much useful utensils as needed and no more than that. For a clean kitchen is where prosperity begins. The bedrooms, before entering which you drop all the day’s worries and thoughts and just sleep like a child, where all things are soft and cozy, bright yet dim to not disturb you.

If everything in your house is in sync, you can automatically hear the music of life in it! And if everything in your home calls you back home every time you leave home, its time when life is beautiful! So let your home be a symbol of what you are, a place that tells whose it is as soon as somebody enters there! Love your home and make it speak for you! Be happy and live in a happy place. Keep smiling and make everyone that comes to your home smile! Ciao!

Busiest People have the most leisure and Empty vessels make the most sound: Which one are you?

It is always possible to keep the spirit to do something that you like alive. It doesn’t matter for how long you haven’t done it, or abstained yourself from doing it, or how much you have forgotten the way of doing it. Just like painting, dancing, singing, listening to music, talking, smiling, clicking nice photographs, being clicked, making friends, writing stories, narrating stories, going for a trekking or a hike, cycling, playing guitar or flute or drum, cooking, eating, drinking, roaming around, even fooling around without a purpose, it doesn’t matter how foolish or simple it is. Whatever it is, it’s a Hobby, and a hobby can never ever be fruitless, or useless, or worthless. It is something that always gives and gives, and just asks for a little interest and desire to do it. Is it so hard to do something that makes you happy, that turns your extra time into productive, your wasteful expenditure into useful spending, your stupidities into enjoyment and your dullness into amazement and fun, and so on and on? I say it’s not!

How hard is it to take just two hours after office to read a book, or to paint a little part of your painting, or to write one paragraph of your story, or to make one pizza, or to go for one refreshing walk and have an ice cream, or to go to the nearby garden and play gully-cricket with the kids? Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It IS simple. Do you not think one hour is something you just waste like anything on a normal day, and say “OMG! I haven’t got even a minute to breath, how can I possibly pursue a hobby?” I mean c’mon are you kidding me? You have got enough time, ask yourself, haven’t you? Everybody, even the President has got the time to read five pages of his favourite book everyday and finish it within a month. Even bill gates got the time to write a book! The lamest excuse is “I wish I could, but I am so busy!” Eh! C’mon have you never heard this idiom “Busiest men have the most leisure and busiest men find the most time”? You know why those people are always busy? They are busy because they find the time for everything, they do everything they like, they always say YES to almost everything! Are they Super-heroes? Or are you the one who only says no all the time? I think I need not answer this. It is all about prioritizing your time. That is what is called “Time management” by our intelligent friends, which we never seem to understand, because normal people can never understand words that include the term ‘management’ in them. We can understand business, but not business management, we understand anger, but not anger management, time, but not time management, we know people but not people management. Oh wait! We do not know any of them, neither people, nor their management, people is a bigger thing that must be discussed later :) so yeah, we do not find ease with the word management.

So what? Big deal? If not anything else, just go home from office and spend time with your family, your mother, father, wife and kids, call your friends up and talk to them. For this, what a close of mine, Ben, does is make a list of all his friends, close or far make it a habit to check the list once in a while, and call them up, talk to them, ask them about their lives, tell them about what is going on with our own lives, get to know about them at times, share our own problems and solve theirs too, if not, just call up and say a simple “Hieeeeee!!” to them with a smile, ask them how are they and that’s it. It doesn’t need more than 10 minutes to call up one friend at the end of the day; do those ten minutes feel like any loss of track of time to you? I don’t think they do! I think if they do not teach you how to “manage” your time, it at least bring you closer to your family and friends! Is that a thing too small that it doesn’t deserve a little time from your “busy” schedule? Nope! I say whatever you do, you get something in return, something good, be it good health from 10 minute of simple exercise, little satisfaction from a little cooking you do, even if it is just a sandwich, be it just a little happiness from playing a game of scrabble with a friend, be it a little more eaten while you have your dinner with your family at the weekend, be it a thing too small to get noticed, you always get something good from every minute spent doing something to pursue your hobby! So never say “Ahh! How I wish I could do something of my choice, but I don’t have any time”. Just try to adjust, try to accommodate, and who doesn’t like to accommodate activities of their choice in the gaps they get while working for money? A little break is always good. If you like chit chatting, you can even chat with your colleagues at the office during the lunch time! Who says people at work cannot be your friends? They can be, best if you do not involve office gossip in the chit chat (if you know what I mean).

Who says you cannot call a friend who doesn’t call you? Who says you cannot cook if you cook not so well? Who says you cannot draw a sketch if it isn’t as good as a picture hanging in the art gallery? Who says you cannot cycle if you have become fat? In fact, the cycling you do now will be more worth it! Who says you cannot write if it doesn’t become the most read or the novel that earns a booker’s prize? Do it all for yourself! Not for earning or getting something. Just do it, for yourself! For it is only you who can do what you like. No one is going to make you happy by cooking, or singing or dancing or painting or reading on your behalf. It is only you who can follow your dreams, not your family or friends or kids. In the end, it is only you, who cares about your own happiness, your hobbies. So, just do it, don’t think of it as a hobby that cannot be pursued because you do not have time. Think of it as a thing that you love so much that it is just effortless for you to take out an hour or two for it. If nothing, you will at least end up making half a painting, a ruined burnt dinner, a stupid dance for your loved ones, an awfully clicked photograph, and if nothing else, you will at least get to know your family, your friends, yourself! Is that not a deal good enough for an hour or two?

So, never say “I don’t have the time; I am busy keeping up with my work schedule, I cannot manage the time, I don’t have the weekend off, I don’t get enough spare time because of our naughty children, or, I just haven’t painted for a long time now!” all these are the lamest of excuses for running away from yourself. Just remember, your hobbies are the only thing that are yours for keeps till the end of time, and the one who pursues their hobbies never falls short of time. When your hobbies keep you busy, you have not time to waste, you have no time to cry or whine, you have no time left to say, “I don’t have the time!!” if you are busy with your hobbies, you are happy with yourself, and if you are happy with yourself, why on earth would you even need someone else to make you happy? Hobbies make you enough for yourself! Wouldn’t that be an amazing feeling? Wow! So, which one are you? The empty vessel or the one with all the leisure? I think I know it, because I know, everybody wants to be the busiest one who has a LIFE too. So just pick that pen, that paintbrush, that music player, those kitchen accessories and be happy with yourself! Keep smiling, love yourself, and your Hobbies. :)

Love, Actually, is Everywhere!

Where do you think one should go in order to see emotions, real feelings and true Love? To a newly born baby who is safe in his mother’s lap, to a wedding where two people are tying a know for lifetime in front of a hundred other people who do not care about anything other than the wedding dinner and cake, to a restaurant full of young couples sipping a milkshake in one glass with two straws, to a college where people walk with hand in hand in the garden and bunk the classes, to a movie theatre where people take corner seats and never really watch the movie, or to a school where little children throw pieces of paper at each other without even knowing what and why are they doing? Or to a place where people meet and depart, plan next meetings, cry for the moments that have gone and smile for the time that has yet to come, enjoy every minute of being with someone without knowing when it is going to be the next time they meet again. A place where affections turn into love, moments of happiness turn into moments of sadness, moments of waiting become those of meeting….is there such a place? Where there are big tight hugs, there are tears in the corner of the eyes, there are bright eyes waiting for someone, there are sad faces bidding goodbyes to close ones, there are happy faces saying hello to close friends, there are smiles, there are tears, there are heartbreaks, there are get-togethers, there are take offs, there are landings?

Yes, there are more feelings on train stations and airports than there are at weddings! And you know why it is so? It is because one realizes the value of something or someone only when either they go, or they come back after a long wait. There are a million times we fight with the ones we love, drift away from a loved one for no reason. But when we are not together with them, we realize that to be with them is more important than to prove our point and there is no way we can afford to lose them just in order to prove that we are right. We realize the importance of their company only when they go away, when they have left, and we are left waiting for them or only expecting that they will be back. And all these situations can be seen at their best and in all the different ways they can ever exist, places where both of these extremes meet, and that is to go to a place like an airport or a train station. People hug the ones they love, at times, regret and confess, feel guilty for what they have done or not done, realize that they love someone more than anything ever, or that we were expecting too much from someone that does not deserve, or see someone for the last time, for the first time, or hold a placard and wait for someone unknown. In fact, life itself is like an airport. We are all holding placards in the name of someone unknown, and living with the hope of seeing the one that is made for us.

So in fact, love, actually, is everywhere, even where we cannot see it. It is just like the air, that exists everywhere, but we cannot see it with our eyes, it just does what it has to, and stays there forever, it is just a matter of realization. We cannot survive without air, but we realize it only when we are short of breath and are dying. And the good thing is that when we get something after such a long wait, it seems to be the most important thing to us and we look for ways to never let it go, ever again. For now when we know it is something that we cannot live without, it becomes even more essential a part of or life. We are normally okay with whatever is happening, but once we get what we were always unknowingly craving for, we cannot live without it. There are so many people who get the love and lose it. It is not just because they have not realized its importance. Sometimes life shows us its ultimate power of taking and giving things to and from us. For even life needs to make us realize its importance at times, when we begin to forget what is our raison d’être and start giving more importance to ourselves.

And then there are times when things happen for god knows what reasons, and the phrase “Everything happens for good” begins to look like the biggest lie to us. But I believe whatever happens has a reason behind itself, and though, being humans, we cannot realize it when our vision is blurred with the tears of regret, guilt, shame, sadness or even love, it still is true. For truth doesn’t change with our ability to see it, it is truth and it is complete within itself, it doesn’t need a proof, it doesn’t hide itself like us humans, when there is no one to believe in it, it is open and in front of us all the time, we just need to understand that it won’t change just because we do not like it. I know that the last thing I said is sort of “Easy to say, difficult to do”, but as I said, this is also a universal truth and we have to accept it no matter what our heart says, for our brain knows what is the truth. The same goes for love. It is there, it always exists, it never fails to do what it has to, and it doesn’t care whether we realize it or not. It is there. Love, if nowhere else, is actually within us. No matter if we do not realize it, or we keep saying we have lost it, or we have never seen it. It is there like the air that we can never see. It is there like God. We have never seen him but we always pray to him, we always believe in him, in what he does, or can do. God, actually, exists within us. And no matter how much we criticize him, or complain of him for not being there with us, he is there, always. We only realize his importance when something extraordinary happens, some miracle or some magic happens. The same way, love, is always there, with us, within us, for us, among us, but we never realize it until either it goes away, or comes back, until there is a miracle which makes us say, “Wow! So here I am, looking at what I was waiting for since forever! This is it!” got what I mean to say?

I say love exists everywhere, we don’t need to touch it, feel it or see it to believe in it, we just need to understand that Love is everywhere and just like god, it doesn’t need to prove its existence to us, and when it does, it leaves no mark. We just need to be satisfied that we are alive. And that is only because we L.I.V.E., we love the life, no matter how much it hurts us, how much it kills us, we are still alive, and there is love within our souls. It doesn’t matter which form it is in, it doesn’t matter how much it is, it is there, and that is all what matters. So, Love, actually, is everywhere. And it is not dependent on us to believe in it. So keep believing, and one day, without a notice, without a horn, it will crash you, and you will open your eyes in a whole new world, of miracles, of the extraordinary, of the unbelievable and of L.O.V.E. J Just keep Living, keep believing, keep Loving.

No good deed ever goes unrewarded! Do good, feel good!

You must have heard “No good deed goes unpunished”. And it is a normal thing that human brain tends to remember negative things more than the positive ones. So, have you ever heard, “No good deed ever goes unrewarded”? Yes, you must have, somewhere, but must not remember it very clearly, because it is also a common tendency of us humans to ignore all good that has happened and remember for a long time all bad that has been done to them, forget all rewards and remember all punishments. But I say, “All good deeds get rewarded by one means or the other, irrespective of our realization of it”. Yes it is true! And I can prove it to you. Whatever good we do never goes in vain. It might feel like this is just a thing to say and doesn’t really happen. It just seems to us that nothing good is happening to us in return for whatever good we are doing or have done. But the reality is that it is just that whatever we do, good or bad, keeps getting stored and sometimes we get the return for it when we are not at all expecting it. Sometimes, helping a blind old man to cross the road, a little kid to solve his puzzle, helping your mother to make the food, just letting your little sister write on the postcard to your grandpa, using your pocket money to buy a poor kid some food, sharing a chocolate with your friend, all this seems to be very little to be noticed, and very less to be of help to someone. But not always what we think is true. Sometimes what we think is of no or little use turns out to be the biggest available help to someone.

Have you ever thought how your little piece of advice works wonders for someone you barely know and who hardly expects anything coming from a stranger like you? How can something so little and so unexpected help him in such a great way? The reason is just that we do not notice small things that we do, and that matter more than bigger things at times. The things we sometimes think are useless turn out to be the most useful of all, and the ones we think are the most useful turn out to be the most fruitless of all. It is just like a pinch of cinnamon added to grape vine, the one pinch that we think won’t at all affect the drink, but when we drink it we get to know what the cinnamon was capable of doing! This is only because we never know the taste of the drink until we have a sip. Or like a tinge of white in red makes it pink, but when we see the white alone, we cannot see the pink that it is capable of making, we cannot see the real colour until we actually mix the two. But whatever noticed or unnoticed, the cinnamon in the vine and the white in the pink never get wasted, they always manage to leave their own mark wherever they are used. For even Saint Basil has said, “A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love”.

It is all true! But sometimes, out of the frustration of always seeming to get something negative or bad in return, or the disappointment that life gives to us instead of so many good deeds that we have done, we begin to think there is nothing like getting good in return for whatever good we have done, it is all a lie, an illusion, and Shakespeare, Saint Basil, Vincent Van Gogh, all were just writing about good deeds in order to sell their words! And it is natural, to get such thoughts, and it is not easy to overcome them as well, but it is essential to avoid them in order to save ourselves from the negativity that stops us from doing the good. Because it is anyway not that great to stop living for the fear of dying! So why stop doing something good for the fear of not getting anything in return?? The good deed itself turns bad the moment we start thinking of the benefits or the return we would be getting out of it. The more we think of getting something, the more we are driven away from it, the lesser we expect something to happen, the more it is driven toward us. This is a fact, though it has no evidence, everyone must have noticed it once at least. It is just like the more you wait for your order in a restaurant, the more time it takes and the more you are indulged in talking and chit chatting or playing games the lesser time it seems to take for your order to reach you. It is just a matter of expectation. Expectation, the root of all misery, the mother of all pains, expectation. Thus, we say, the lesser we expect, the more we get, and after all, a good deed is good only until one does not expect any return from it. In short, only a selfless deed is a good deed and a good deed, in turn, never goes fruitless!

So, a selfless deed, which means a good deed, never goes unrecognized, unrewarded or unnoticed. Where, being recognized or rewarded does not always mean to be known or rewarded by humans who are benefited by the deed, but by GOD himself. We need to understand that our deeds, good or bad, do not only make and break our own self, our life, they also are responsible for the creation and destruction of the world as a whole. So we must realize the fact that whatever good or bad we do affect the world around us. Whenever we do something good or bad, we work on a sea saw of good and bad that balances and imbalances the world. So when we do something good, we make the world a better place to live in, and when we do something evil, we take a step towards its destruction. So there’s a fair deal of expecting a reward and thus quitting on doing good things, and doing only good without expecting anything and understanding that we have paved way for the betterment of the world. And what is a bigger and more satisfying reward for anyone than the feeling of making the world a better place, of returning the world back what it has given to us! There is nothing else that can make us happier than this, and not reward bigger than this in return for a good deed.

So as I said in the beginning, no good deed goes in vain, just keep doing what you think is right, help people, make sad people smile, share your excess, work towards the betterment of the poor, give, love, understand, smile, pray, live….and never expect! For what you are going to get in the end, is worth all the pains you take for any good you do! Just as I said, the lesser you expect, the more you get! Be happy, smile. For even a smile you give to a little baby, or even a piece of bread you give to a poor child, a hug you give to an old friend, a lift you offer to someone in need, a call you make to your parents every week is a part of what you give back to the world in return for letting you enjoy the beauty of it! Do good, be good, feel good!

Your smile makes it heaven on the earth

It was just another ordinary day, when we woke up, got done with our daily chores, got over with the day like any other day, got up, had our breakfast,  went to the office, had lunch, worked, came back from the office at night, had dinner and then went back to bed. This was the usual course of our day, the day before you came in to our ordinary life and made it extraordinary, till you walked into our lives with your small pink coloured shiny feet, filled light in our lives with your charming smile, tapped your little hands on the bed, made numerous faces while you were asleep, look hopefully at your mother when you were hungry, slept peacefully on our laps with a smile on your face with your pink lips, your small grey coloured sparkling eyes looking at our faces with amusement, moving your little feet in the air as if you are riding a bicycle. Those knees, yes we have felt those small round knees even before you came, with our palms, our fingers, those small feet kicking your mother, your little cute hiccups, that are familiar to your mama since several months as they hit her heart as much as yours.

I distinctly remember the day when you came home. We had decorated your room with red heart shaped balloons, millions of teddies, small pillows for your little head, small and big dolls, pink, white, red, green, blue, orange, there was no colour that was not present in your room that wonderful day. You know the way you came into this world, it makes me feel you are the strongest baby in the whole world, the strength you showed was the first thing you did in your life, and that, I’m sure will build a strong person out of you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy, all that matters to us is that you grow up to become a wonderful person, just like you are right now! I cannot see a girl or a boy in you, I can just see a lovely smile on your face, shiny bright eyes with dreams within, your chubby cheeks waiting to be kissed by your love ones, your little hands holding our finger, your silky shiny hair just like that of an angel, hair that blow lightly with a soft blow of air, hair that make you sleep while we also fall asleep peacefully softly moving our fingers into them in the night.

The principal thing out of all our daily activities is YOU now. It is all important, your poop, your peepee, your sneezes, your sleeps, your waking up, the sweet sound of your breath that sounds like a soft whisper in the ear, your yawns, small yawns that begin as yawns and end up as sleeps, your face turned pink, then red and then white, pale, then pink again, the way you silently fall asleep while we slowly swing you with a lullaby in the night, all this is important, this is all YOU, and YOU are important, the most important, your small feet, your hands, your eyes, your lips, your ears, your nose, your fingers, your nails, nails that we carefully cut so you don’t hurt yourself, your small blankets, your little pink bed, those potty filled nappies that are dearer to me than any perfume filled hankie.

You have come into our lives and entered it in such a way that we cannot even imagine we had a life where you weren’t there, there is hardly any memory without you in it now! And it is strange but you have just come some days ago but it feels as if you have always been there, there has never been a day without you and your sweet presence, our little princess. The way you are bathed and turn your face to bright red, cry unstoppably, and finally the relief of seeing you peacefully sleep, smiling and making sweet sounds in your sweet and sound sleep, there is nothing so relaxing and rejuvenating in this world for me than watching you sleep, like an angel, my snowhite.. You are the light of our nights, the reason and rhyme of our life, the smile on our lips, our baby warrior, you are everything to us, our sweet little princess.

I know you will grow up, but try to never really grow up, just be who you are, innocent and clean at heart, keep the same naïve smile, the same wonderful hands that hold anyone’s finger with pure love and no other reason, keep that breathless charm for us always, hold that pretty small wrinkle on your nose that comes while you laugh, keep alive all your smiles that come while you are asleep, that worry less sleep you enjoy right now, with both your hands by the side of your head, the small innocent dreams that you see and never care about them being fulfilled or not. Grow up, learn to live in and deal with the world, but never become someone that has to be dealt with, just remain this cute little person that is wonderful to talk to, sweet to listen to, awesome to be with, pretty to look at, pink face, meaningless smiles in return to all who smile at you, we love you and always will. Just love and be loved, small baby, always remain such…

Your innocent face makes me think it is all true, and I think though we waited for so long for you to arrive, it was all worth the wait, for your smile made it all worth waiting, your smile makes it heaven on earth for us, keep smiling!

Decide! Take a Step! Take charge, it’s YOUR life!

Yes. Take charge, it’s your life and only you can change it, nobody else, not even your closest people can help you till you yourself are willing to be happy. “When one decides to be happy, no one on earth can make them sad, not even uncontrollable situations like life and death.” If you feel like nobody is listening to you and you have no one to talk to, you still have one person who is always ready and available to talk to you and will always understand you no matter how much stupidity you pour in to the conversation. The only person who can understand you is YOU. Nobody else can take place of the person that you yourself are. Nobody else can make you so happy as you can make yourself. Nobody else can take care of you as much as you can. Whenever you are in a problem, can’t see a solution to anything, and there is no one who you can look up to for help, just look into the mirror and there you will find the only person who would always be capable to help you out of any situation in the world. Once you meet this person you will come to know that this was the same person who always helped you when you were in trouble, it was always this person who waited for everyone to help you and then in the end solved all your problems himself when the deadline approached and nobody else could do it. This person brought every situation under control when you thought your mind was not working. When you thought you were all alone, you actually weren’t, this person was still there with you when everybody left you, when everybody was gone, one wasn’t.

You must have heard this “God helps those who help themselves” and must also have seen instances where people were trying to help someone and he doesn’t take any action to do good to himself and ultimately all those trying to help him fail and quit. It is just one step we need to take for ourselves, not for anyone else but for our own good. For if we are not ready to help the person closest to our heart, who else will be able to help him? Not even God himself is willing to do something extraordinarily good for someone who is not trying for at least something ordinary. It is a very understandable thing that only the one who is ready to do something about what’s going wrong actually comes out of the problem in the end. So if there is something going on and on and you do not like it or you think it is not going good, just become the one who changes the thing and not the one who stands still and looks at things happening and does nothing at all, just asks for help and advice and not even dares to follow the advice. The incompleteness behind every half done work is the sole responsibility of the indecisiveness that comes directly or indirectly from lack of confidence on self, which exists only because one fails to believe he can do anything that nobody else is able to.

One’s self is their own for life, and the oneness with self is something that can create wonders in one’s life. Being happy is not that hard, what is hard is to come out from sadness, and that can only be done if you are happy with yourself. We always want to make our loved ones happy but just think for a while, is it possible for someone to make others happy while they are not happy with themselves? No. How can someone unhappy with himself make others happy? Be happy with yourself. Don’t try to be happy with life, but with yourself. Because it is you that can be changed, not what’s happening in your life. Life will go its own way, whether you like it or not. So this means you are bound to live life as it comes. So what is the use of crying if crying is life is not going good? It won’t change whether you cry or smile or live or die. It is always going to be the same no matter how hard you try. So the ultimate lesson of life is “Live life, take it as it comes, keep smiling, for the absence of smile or presence of tears isn’t going to change the way it is.” So if anyway you must live life as it comes, at least smile and make it easier to bear with it and make it a party and you never know, when smile sticks to you and life itself starts smiling with you. And that day you won’t even remember how it all became so easy for you. It was YOU who changed your life, it was you who made everything bad and difficult finally work for you, it was you who helped yourself, it was you who took a step to make things work the way you wanted them to, it was you who entered the wrong to make it right! It was you who decided to be happy always, and here you are! Always happy, always smiling, always helping yourself, always making decisions, no matter  if they turn out not so good, at least you make decisions, take steps, speak your heart…. So it is the best to decide to be happy, and leave the rest as it is. Things will keep going right and wrong, life will keep moving on and on, you just need to be calm and keep smiling, stop complaining, keep deciding, drop the worry, start thinking for yourself, start planning changes in yourself, be happy always..For it’s your life, you have to take care of yourself. Nobody else is responsible for anything that happens to you. And as a dear one once said to me, “People may be the Reason for your troubles, but it’s only You who is Responsible for how your life is, nobody else”.

I Am that Bird. Are You?

How many times in life does someone unknown come and sit in your house, regularly, for some days, and disappear suddenly, without notice? Not very often, right? Well, this happened to me not very long ago, when a cute little bird just came by flying from out of the blue and sat on the leaf of a plant just outside my living room. She came and sat on the same leaf of the plant outside, everyday without fail, and without chirping or even moving, she almost said everything and made a connection with me as well as others passing by and looking at her. As soon as I saw her, the first thought that came into my mind was that she was just like any human being who wanted to sit silently for some moments and enjoy the company of one’s own soul, forgetting the rest of the world, listening to their breath, the music of the cool breeze, sometimes just sitting and feeling a drop of tear roll down your cheek and feeling the warmth of that tear turn into coldness, the coldness that represents the world’s indifference towards some of the feelings that he has always considered to be the most important and noticeable thing in the world. Sometimes even sitting and thinking becomes a big thing in this world, as there is not enough peace left, to talk with oneself, sit, relax and think, to design a life of one’s dreams, to think about what he has done and what he needs to do, love oneself. We just need to sit quietly like that bird, in a corner, observe things, think about every and anything we feel like and be happy, once in a while. We just need to get out of our comfort zones, out of a good convenient company for a while and sit silently, observe what’s happening in and around, outside what we already know.

It’s always been said that being overly dependent on something or someone is always disastrous. And we have always been increasingly dependent on something or someone, so much that when it is unavailable even for just some seconds we are uncontrollably hurt. And this goes the same for both humans as well as machines. Humans are equally dependent on other humans as well as machines, and this tendency has made them fall for almost everything that seems like a good idea for getting them engaged in happy activities. Endless innovations and inventions always create comfortable environment for us to live, work and manage many a things in our lives these days, but we never realize when we become a victim of over dependence on a laptop, a mobile phone, a car, a cup of tea or coffee for working late in the night or even on a person in office or at home.

This dependence can be tackled if taken care of at the right time and in the right way. Have you ever seen a mother who is worried about her child not being able to leave the habit of sucking his thumb or having milk only out of a bottle, or always looking for one specific toy for playing? It is really very interesting how she handles this dependence of the kid. She would usually give something better and more interesting or attractive to the kid, so that he stops paying attention to the old one and starts depending on the new one. This was just an instance of wrong way of trying to getting rid of a habit. The right way could have been slowly taking away that thing from the kid so that he has to come out of his habit. This is called getting out of the comfort zone. This is what that little sparrow did! She got out of her comfortable nest, flew away and came to some unknown place, and sat there till the day she found herself, found her share of life. She taught this very vital thing to me – “Without leaving their comfort zone, one cannot achieve extraordinary things in life.”

I never knew that a little bird could teach so many big things to me about life, just in 7 days. During those 7 days I used to wait for her to come back every evening and feel the most wonderful relief when she came chirping and whistling to sit upon that leaf and keep  staring at one place for the whole evening, night  and till the next sunset! Those 7 days changed a lot in my life and so can they do to yours or anyone else’s life. She used to sit alone and asked for nothing during those 7 days she was there, this shows how not getting a pay for giving someone happiness or making someone smile is good, and that it’s not always just professional, and that even if we are a stock broker, a career counsellor, a chef, a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a banker or an entrepreneur, it is sometimes good to serve without pay, if it somewhere somehow makes someone happy, and that it is sometimes good to not get something but only the happiness of giving someone something that you can and the satisfaction of being the reason of some stranger’s smile.

She taught me the way to handle problems calmly. She taught me to stay cool in different situations. She taught me to love unconditionally. She taught me to keep myself composed even in situations where others shout and scream and lose control. She taught me to wear a smile without a reason. She taught me to not care if I do not get anything but a smile in return for what I’ve ever done. She taught me to carry on when nothing is there in the name of a ‘good sign’ as they call it. She taught me to not lose that shine in our eyes, that excitement, whatever happens. She taught me to observe and then react, not react and then observe. She taught me to be patient when things go wrong and when nothing comes up to my mind. She taught me to not lose hope no matter whatever happens and everything falls apart. She taught me to not be dependent on anything that is not meant to be. She taught me to never expect anything, from anyone, which is the key to always being happy. She taught me to remain who I am and not try to be someone else who is liked by all, she taught me to be myself. This is what I am now going to do. Just be that cute little birdie, be that calm and composed little birdie that knows nothing but peace, smile and unconditional love. Be that bird, who can fly when she wants, but can even sit silently and calmly when needed. Fly, smile, be happy, be cool, be calm, observe, relax, and fly once again! I am that bird. Are you?

The End that every Beginning deserves..

The way we look at things shows who we are! There are some things that matter only to us or more to us than other people and when we try to tell them that those things should matter to them as much as they do to us, its not necessary that they will understand. Its just like a song we totally love but when we try to make someone else listen to it they won't necessarily respond in the way we expect them to. I'm sure this has happened with everyone at least once in life! And that, for sure, is enough to explain what I mean to say! There is no way we can make others like whatever we like. Just like there is no way we can do whatever our parents think is right, and just like there is no way someone can play a flute when he likes the piano, or be happy with macaroni when what he actually likes is rice! No matter how hard we try not everything will happen just as we want.

Have you ever thought what would happen if everything went just the way you wanted? It would be great and wonderful to have everything in your life just as you wanted! Just one little problem, you would then have no dreams, no wishes, no desires and nothing left to look forward to. Life will go smooth as ever and you will have no regrets, nothing that you want and haven't got, nothing that you need to ask for, or pray for, nothing you will have to wait for any more, no excitement in life. Hmm..its good..What's life without smoothness and no desires left? We all Desire and deserve a flawless and perfect life. So what's the harm in losing the desire and getting what the desire was for? So what if life just becomes a little boring and dull! It would be totally okay I guess. No jerks while we are driving just plain simple speedy smooth drive and straight to destination! Wow!!

Just imagine, you love someone and get them right away, no hassles, no issues, no crying, no pain, no fights,  no pros and cons written and nothing else considered, just plain simple marriage followed by a nice wedding dinner, or you want to become a guitarist, one day you get up and pick up a guitar and start playing like a rockstar, you didn't need to learn, get to know the chords, no classes, no difficulties.. Wow!! You'd probably fool around dancing and singing, shouting out loud in happiness. All the roads known to you, you will have no difficulty reaching where you want to go, all the people your friends, you will have no competition, no enemy, no negative emotions too. But if you have ever tasted a dark chocolate with cinnamon, or a rum n raisins ice cream, or a nice chinese dish, you will definitely understand the importance of the slight flavour of spice, sourness or sharpness in all these. All these are incomplete without this slightly contrasting tastes, just as life is incomplete without the little hassles that come in our way of success. Those little difficulties and hassles are that little flavour of rum in the ice cream, cinnamon in the chocolate and spices in chinese dish. And you know why they are important? They are important because the food gives us taste, but the spice or sourness opens up our long ago slept off senses. And there is nothing better than having your senses opened up. It is just like the cork placed on the bottle of champagne is opened up and it comes out flowing freely with a vigour and excitement that can be seen nowhere else other than in a person's opened up senses.

Just move out in a misty morning and try to walk a mile, all alone, with a smile upon your face. It won't be very easy or convenient, but the feeling of walking in the morning mist, having no sign of sun anywhere near, a blurred vision of where you're heading, it will make this simple walk a memorable experience with yourself, an experience that will outrank everything else, any nice trip you may have had, to any corner of the world. Just keep walking, reach somewhere else, where kids are going to school, people have started going out for work, shaking hands with each other, saying hello, smiling, talking, jogging, exercising, drinking their morning drinks, babies' cheeks turned to pink in the cool breeze, an old couple walking in the park with their sticks..

All this will open up your senses the same way as the spice I mentioned does. All this is not so easy to observe, experience and live, for walking this way in a misty morning, one has to leave the bed, the most comfortable place, get going, and walk! But after all this is done, the ultimate comfort awaits you. The colours of morning are going to embrace you within themselves as if you have worn a blanket of mist, with flowers all around you, smiling and touching you softly, cool breeze caressing your hair gently, a natural music in your ears, that fills you with freshness from within. Would anyone call this a discomfort? Would anyone, after feeling what this feels like, say smooth and perfect life is great? Well, a sane man would, but not someone who has lost all his senses to life! A good sleep deserves a fresh morning, a nice summer deserves a pleasant autumn, a chilling winter deserves a charming spring, a romantic love affair deserves a decent wedding, a good party deserves satisfied guests and nice starters deserves an awesome dessert, a cute baby deserves a sweet sixteen, a nice young couple deserves a peaceful old age together, just as a nice life deserves some struggle, and just as a life with a little struggle deserves success and happiness, every long discussion deserves a conclusion, every question deserves an answer, and just as every start deserves an end. So, it's just the way we look at things, that makes us who we are, and the things that matter more to us and don't matter to everyone the same way, are the things that make us fall into love with ourselves, and this is what gives things an end that they deserve.

You will find it, just when you stop looking for it!

Each of us is looking for something. No one ever finds what they are looking for. Those who don't find it keep looking for it forever and ever. And whoever finds it loses everything else.  And once it is found, there is nothing else they need to look for anymore. But what is it that we are looking for? Is it solitude? Is it happiness? Is it freedom? Is it confidence? Is it love? Is it ourselves?? No. it’s not the same for every person. Yes, it is strange but true that everyone looks for something that nobody else is looking for. Sometimes,  it’s just one word that people are looking for and they keep looking for it and even that one word is sometimes more unapproachable than a lot bigger things. And sometimes, while looking for that one little thing, we start losing bigger things that are already ours and do not even realize! For that one little thing is as vital to us as cheese is to pizza, or a little stone set in your favourite finger ring.

It is not that easy to get it, and sometimes, it is not that hard to find too. Some get it even without searching, and some overlook it even if it is right in front of them while they are looking for something else, and do not even realize they just lost what they should actually be looking for. And it doesn’t happen only to some people, but not everyone knows it. And some do not even know what they want. These are the happiest people. For they are content. Even if this contentment is the result of being unaware of the wanting of something within them, something other than what all they already have. This unawareness is something that is healthy, as such unawareness brings with it freedom from all desires, which, in the spiritual world, is popularly known as Nirvana, which is known to be usually unachievable, or mostly unapproachable, no matter how much experience on has got, or however hard they try. One can call it nirvana when the soul is liberated from all Karma and the physical existence of oneself.

And that is not an easy thing to achieve. It can only happen when one reaches the level of peace and satisfaction, where they achieve complete freedom from every kind of feeling, all the sufferings, desires, wants, needs, wishes, sentiments, excitements, indulgences, love, hatred, winning and losing, comfort, discomfort, convenience, tiredness, all good, all bad, all kinds of emotions, that exist. That, is the ultimate freedom, not only from one thing, or one person, or from one desire, but from the vicious circle of life and death, happiness and sorrow, from the thing that we all keep looking for all our life. And this ultimate freedom comes only from and this ultimate freedom comes only when we find the ultimate happiness. whatever we are looking for can be narrowed down to mean only this one word, happiness. and for our whole lives we keep looking for these big things that we think are big, but are not, and actually are bigger than we think! i know this is hard to get and stupid as it sounds, but what we think is bigger in short term is always smaller in long term..and what we think is smaller in the short term is always bigger in the long term. So this happiness is a bigger happiness than we can ever think. have you ever thought how stupid is working over a project for the whole night is? but you understood its importance once you were appreciated for that effort, when your work was recognized and applauded for? had you ever imagined that this  one effort which looked like the biggest till then, seemed to be the littlest of efforts that you'd made for such happiness and satisfaction? this is what we were talking about! small things turn big and big things turn out smaller than we think.  and these small things bring happiness. not from where we try to get them from, but only from within US! Yes. this happiness lies within ourselves. Yes, what we all are trying to get from the world, from everyone else, looking for everyplace else, but not within ourselves, is always there inside us, and we never find it! Thus, I say, Whoever finds it, finds himself. and whoever finds himself, finds the ultimate freedom from the vicious circle of life, death, happiness, sadness, and everything else, that stops others from becoming one with their souls. He is the one who has gotten what he was looking for, and found it just when he stopped looking for it. He is the one, who found life, who found himself, NIRVANA.

“And he lived Happily ever after”

"Can you hear me????" He screamed. "Please help...I'm stuck here!!" But there was no reply. He was badly tired and exhausted hitting and kicking the glass doors to break them open. But every time he tried he failed miserably. He kept screaming and crying, but for obvious reasons no one could hear the screams. The walls he had built around his house were unbreakable. Long ago, when some friends and neighbours had tried to break those walls and rescue him, he had shouted at the top of his strong voice, "What do you want from me?? Just leave me alone. This is my house and this is the way I want to live my life. Just go away and don't even try to come any closer to me or I'll kill you!" 

This was not one person's story. And this was not a dialogue either! This is the reality of the lives of many people we know! Or may be even our own But its good that we continue with 'him' and indulge in his life..make him US.. wear his shoes..walk a mile..and feel like we are talking not about 'him', but about ourselves :) 

He was happy with himself, all alone. And there was nothing wrong in it. There are a kind of people in this world who want a little loneliness at regular intervals. And that, is their way of living. and for them, it is very important to be left all by themselves every once in a while. This is an inevitable part of their life! And it is totally okay, once in a while. But what then? The biggest dilemma! When he's alone, he wants company, and when he has company, he wants to be alone! Gradually he starts building a soft boundary of comfort around himself and after that usually tries to run away from things that are out of this comfort zone. Its somewhat like a baby that stays in the mother's womb for 9 months and feels the most comfortable in there, and even after he comes out of this protective shell he sometimes prefers to sleep that way! Its okay to be like this for sometime, till he adjusts with the change, and that, we do very easily at that very time. But when we grow up, and build this kind of a wall ourselves, intentionally, troubles knock.

Sometimes issues that need to be addressed right away are ignored just because they cannot be confronted in the most convenient way. And that, is the beginning of all the problems that follow. Always confused about what to do and what not, even small things aren't going right any more. He would always be unhappy about something going wrong, or at times, will be unhappy about not being unhappy! Believe it or not, it is the tendency of human beings to look for a change, even if this change makes them sad. And at times, they're sad if they're totally happy and nothing is happening! And guess what! This is totally normal! And this can be overcome.

Just be your comfortable self. But don't build walls around yourself, Build Windows and doors, that can be opened, once in a while, whenever you need, as much as you need and as often as you need. Let fresh air come inside your room, let people move in and walk out of your comfort zone, let things happen, experience the new, the unknown, press the refresh key once in a while, get out of the doors, once in a while, spend some time outside, experiment, come back and relax. And there you go! Sometimes full, sometimes hungry, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes two people, sometimes one, sometimes young, sometimes old, sometimes open, sometimes closed, sometimes me, sometimes you, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied!

It’s anyway not that exciting living life the same way for a long time. And what's life, if there are no Ups and Downs? What's a movie until you get to laugh, cry and get scared, all within three hours of sitting! The same goes with living alone, at times, and having fun with people around, at the some other times. If one doesn't have people around, his feelings gradually disappear. You just need to try and forget things that bother you. Of course, remember what makes you happy. Do keep some alone time for yourself, but also take out time to be with people, share what you feel, for if you have nothing good to think about, no memories to ponder over, nobody to miss, what excitement will be there to be alone. I say If you want to be with yourself, first become one with those who are around you, for there is no YOU, if US is absent.

And you will soon feel that you have close friends, you have memories, you have wisdom and still have your own space! Just keep reminding yourself this and there you go! For who says you always have to lose them to keep yourself? It would be wonderful if you’ve got everything, company as well as space, emotional bonds as well as freedom, them as well as you, everything!

They can hear you!! Once again, you're having your space, and you still have people to share this lovely wonderful life with!! And what can be better and more relieving than this! I know there is no word called ‘awesomest’, as a close one said to me once, still, you’ll slowly come to know what is the awesomest feeling ever! It’s being in the company of your own self, your soul, and not even having to part with other essential parts of you!

Suddenly he saw a door opening, a door that reappeared, from out of the blue! He slowly put his feet out and everything out there was full of lights, flowery fragrance and happy people. "I'm Free", he said!! Crying with happiness. The happiness of getting his life again, of breathing in fresh air again, of seeing and talking to and being heard by everyone again, of getting an opportunity to see and understand life closer than ever!! And 'HE' lived happily ever after..

Dude! Get a Life!

Yes. Get a life! And for that, you might have to gather some courage and do something that you're waiting to do, since eternity and are apprehensive about. It might be just a small thing you do, or just one word you say, one simple "no", a "thank you", a "go-to-hell", an "i-said-yes-in-a-hurry" or just a "hello". And it’s totally possible that you're going to regret it later. But, for this one moment, if this one little thing, a small word, can open all the closed doors, can make you the happiest, can let you breath, can make you feel free, just do it! Sometimes one word can feel like music to your ears, or if not said, can make your life a living hell too! It’s like we are locked up in a small box full of inconvenience, discomfort and regret and can't breathe. As if we're standing in a queue forever, or we've been served the worst food ever, or we're losing grip over life as we can't even speak a small word for our own good and our Head says to our Heart: "Dude! Get a Life!"

So why not start trying to get a life after all?? Let's just stop planning how we're going to eat or talk or smile or sleep or walk or work or behave or spend our age after 50 or live.. or die.. or breath.. And if you're someone who plans all this, then you're just perfectly living your life! Wow! Living your life. Perfectly. And that..is the problem. No. there are two problems. One, You're living life Perfectly. And two, You're living Life!

Don't you think life is something too large and too much for you to live? So isn't it better that we stop trying to live a perfect life? Or rather stop Trying so hard to Live?

I say: Just stop living life.

         Let life live you!

Let life live you, sing you, see and enjoy the beauty of you. So far life has given you your chance to live it. Now it’s high time you give life its fair chance to live you. Let it love you, enjoy you, dance you, touch you, feel you, celebrate you. Just set it free. Let it rain over you. Stop planning, stop thinking. Prove that size doesn't matter, that even if your heart is smaller and more sensitive than your head, it still is the biggest thing you've got.

Give. Smile. Share. Open up. Breath. Talk Fly. Fail. Run. Feel. Close your eyes & feel the fragrance of your life, the fragrance of your soul, the fragrance of life! Stand up. Clap. Laugh. Paint. Sing. Fall short of things. Say thanks. Be sorry. Regret. Fail. Love. Acknowledge those who've been a part of you, even if just for a second.

Scream. Cry. Eat. Drink. Be merry. Be hysterical. Have empathy. Feel the pain. At times, lose it. Be weak. Be scared. Be hurt. Be You.

Say it! Just do that one little thing, say that one little word. Be it a 'yes', a 'no', be it a 'please' or a 'get lost'. Just don't remain silent when it is about life. Don't live life. Let life live you. And you'll never have to be scared of dying. For it is the body that dies, not the soul, not L.I.F.E

Be Happy

Be Blessed

:Smiles:

:Love:

Madness, Once in a while, is an Intelligent Decision..

Madness. Its the only virtue that can save you from all the madness going on in the world. If you are mad, you don't care about what the world is thinking, doing or saying. Madness. The virtue that only a few people can have. The virtue of always being lost into one person, and that one person is Yourself. :)

Going where you want, doing what you wish to, living life as you wish, eating as much as you want to, not how much your tummy can bear..sleeping as much as your heart likes, not your eyes.. Sing when you want, on the road, in the class, in the office, Dance in the rain, on the streets, in the bathroom, and you'll see what madness can do to your long-ago-dozed-off senses. It is one of the very few things that bring us closer to our soul. Remember when we were a kid, we couldn't understand the simplest of things. Our parents' friends used to come and ask us if we remembered them..and we looked puzzled half the time :) and used to remember only a few people,, only those who were the closest to our heart, those who made us the happiest the last time they met us, without caring about how it felt to those we forgot. This, if one can continue after growing up as they say, can make us the happiest people.

Getting happy with the small gifts of life, meeting someone after years, making a bag out of your old pair of jeans, feeling cold refreshing raindrops on  face, waiting for someone behind the door to scare them when they come, closing your eyes and listening to slow soothing music, watching the rain from your window with a cup of hot coffee in hand, waiting for a friend in a dark room with a birthday cake, screaming like crazy watching a horror movie or crying while watching a romantic one, shopping as if this is the last weekend you've gotten to spend, painting ruining the canvas with whatever silly comes to your mind....

This is something usually we do and forget. We don't even notice that the happiness these small crazy things give to us is what makes us the person we are!

Ever noticed the difference a little salt makes to a dish? Whatever good oils, spices, herbs you put into it, it is always incomplete without that one pinch of salt! Craziness is that one pinch of salt. And without this little hint of salt, life is incomplete. But for sure one thing has to be remembered, even too much of salt can ruin the food :) We have choices. We can eat tasteless food or enjoy the perfect mix of everything or ruin everything. We only live once and if this one life is lived all plain straight and smooth, there's no problem.The only thing is that going all smooth and normal, sometimes we don't like even a movie without some loud special effects. Then imagine how life would be without the stupidities and the are-you-nuts stuff??

Stop worrying. Sometimes jumping down from the staircase and falling IS fun! Sometimes playing "eeny meeny miny moe" with a kid can be more interesting than the weekend party, stealing a colleague's lunch can be more fun that  it was in school, fighting with a sibling, slapping a friend, sleeping in mum's lap, shouting and singing loudly in the car and driving zig zag. All of this is crazy. But all of this is OKAY. Just forget what's happening around you, who's your's and who's not, who's good who's bad what's new what's old..just get it over with and breath! Just do it once in a  while and you will be a completely new person! Don't trust me? Check it up with the eeny meeny miny moe :)

:smiles:

:Happiness:

:Madness:

The Taste of Freedom..

I'm F.R.E.E.

Yes! I'm so free I can Smell it, Feel it, Eat it, Wear it, Sing it, Live it!!! And, I'm typing in pink :)

Unlike all the other days when I used to write bullshit about life here, today I think I want to make some sense..

Would love to share my experience without offending anyone who really loves the industry, my experience of being a tired machine who does something they hate all day long, everyday, for days, months and years. And the culprit was only ME, to allow myself to confine the free bird in me.

Sitting unhappily at a desk, a formal dress named "Banker", I had almost become a black business suit with only brains, who used to spend all weekend shopping at a mall and thinking she was happy because she could buy all happiness with the credit card. Maybe I could feel happiness, that those small shopping bills bought to me, may be it was because of the Imaginative person inside the banker's body, the body that had gotten caught up in a cage made of money, the "UNsocial" life that i used to lead and in the circle of other business suits that knew only cash, cheques, foreign exchange and for whom a change in banking policies or a rise or fall in the share market meant nothing less than a heart fail, and for whom a Wedding invitation was nothing more than a dinner.

The miserable company of each walking cash machine was ultimately killing the original person that used to live on rent in my body as someone who liked to paint, cook, eat, decorate, dance and sing, and live a life. Currency, clients and money. I think its only fair that there should be more to life than just earning a salary and spending it for fun. Typing very fast only for a mail in office id, or a conference call with the higher ups, an office dinner, a business suit, a formal meeting, a year ending profit party. Is this all we need?

I guess not! What one person actually wants is not type a mail to some client, but type a long due letter to a deeply missed friend, a call to our parents or sibling which is more awaited than a conference call to the higher ups, a new red wedding dress that when you wear means more than any other dress in the world, not a black business suit which covers all the emotions a person can have, not a formal office party or profit party where all faces look like they are the happiest but from the inside are the saddest..but a casual get together of parted friends, a get together that makes us happier than any profit party ever.

I knew there was no way I could get out of this cage until I decide to follow my dreams. The only thing that inspired me to stay in this job was the money that I could say was my own and let me shop like crazy. And Nothing Else!

And, finally, I thought "Lets do this!"

Within an hour of this 'quitting', I was out of that world. That fake "counter - client - meeting - smile". Addio, Banking! Addio, Identity card. Addio, No - life. Ciao, LIFE

I broke the cage. I became free. I resigned. Here, "Resigned" doesn't mean "I quit". It means I have now started to lead my new life. Who says one cant switch careers? If someone wishes to, they can, if only they do not, at all, think of their life as a career. For life is meant to be lived, felt, enjoyed not to be worked, practised, experienced.

Its meant to be tasted like a bite of your favourite fruit, sung like a lively song, painted like a romantic movie..So what if  its all a fantasy? Isn't the Fantasy making you Happy? Doesn't a movie as short as 1 hour fly you away to a different world? If you allow such petty things to affect your life, can't we allow life to affect the petty little things that matter only a little?

Sure we can. So what if I cant afford some things today, the biggest thing that I have got is smile. I am a happy person! And that, for sure, is my greatest source of happiness. And one can get these material possessions, if they matter, for the satisfaction one's sub conscious, any time again if they're passionate about what they're doing.

And I can only remember the lines of this song:

I simply gotta march,

my heart's a drummer,

nobody, no, Nobody

Is gonna reign on my parade!

:smiles:

:cheers: