HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022

For those who believe in resolutions may you stick to them and achieve them. For those who don’t, like me, may we put in the dedicated hard work and make progress. For people like me, we need to be constantly checking our dedication towards the end goal. The excitement fades way too soon. So, we need to keep smaller achievable goals and work towards it. Our sight towards the bigger picture blurs out easily and what helps us is the road that leads to it. We need our roads to be smooth and bumpy so every small achievement gives us a high.

Oh and comment and let me know how long do you keep wishing Happy New Year? Is it till January end? Or is it just restricted to 1st of January.

For me its somewhere near mid of January.

Again, wishing you all a blessed, healthy and happy New Year.

TUP TUP TUP – THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS SOUND

One night I woke up thirsty. It was around 12:15. I went to the dining hall to drink a glass of water. My mind was still clogged with sleep when a heard a strange feeble sound. At first I thought maybe some pigeons are outside the window. No. Not the pigeon.

The sound seems to be coming from the kitchen. I tip toed in. Of course I didn’t wanted to wake up the family but also because I didn’t wanted to startle the source of the sound. I moved to the direction of the sound.

My sleepy brain was still not able to process what could be making this unusual sound. Of course, I had switched on the light but I didn’t see anything moving. This had me confused more. Anyways, I had reached to the source of the sound. I peeked everywhere. Nothing.

I was close. I could sense it. I saw a closed bowl. Yes. The sound came from inside. I opened it.

And there it was. The TUP TUP TUP. The soaking chickpeas were making this very odd sound.

Relieved at having solved the mystery I returned back to bed feeling like Sherlock Holmes. “The case of mysterious sound” is closed.

ANNOYING MOSQUITOES AND NAGGING THOUGHTS

Its 2:17 AM in this part of the world. And I am here. After multiple failed attempts to sleep, I open my laptop to type away. No, I am not trying to find sleep nor am I trying to find inspiration at this ungodly hour. Rather, I am here to ask if anyone who is reading this faced this? Of course, you may have.

So what do you do? Drink a glass of warm milk to induce sleep? Pick up paint brush and create a masterpiece? Or the age old technique, pick up a boring book and read yourself to sleep?

It’s not that I wasn’t sleepy. Actually I was. Just then a mosquito, a single most irritating mosquito came humming to my ear. I tried ignoring it and covered my ears with my blanket. But no, it won’t leave me alone. It moved it’s attention to the other ear. You see I don’t like covering my face. So earlier I had just covered my ear that was audience to the mosquito’s musical notes.

This made me wonder. How come mosquitoes come humming only when the lights are off. I decided that I can’t ignore it anymore and got up the bed and switched on the light. I adjusted my eyes to the sudden brightness and started my search for the annoying mosquito.

Found it. It was sitting cozily on my bed waiting for me to come back to bed. And my bedsheet was the perfect camouflage for it. I aimed for it and slapped it, all ready for the bloodshed on my bedsheet. And missed. Apparently, the mosquito was just warming up and I was tired and sleepy.

Whoever has had an experience with mosquito would know that now I cannot find it easily. Coz now it’s hiding spot would be, well, nicely hidden away from human eyes. So I would now need to lure it back. So I switched off the light partially hoping that it doesn’t come and my sleep comes back.

No points for guessing which one came back? Yes, it’s the mosquito. With the same old tune. I was too lazy this time to get off again from bed. I tried to slap the mosquito which ended up me slapping me with no desirable result.

Finally, I got up and switched on the light. No sign of mosquito and here I am writing this post. I am sure I will get the mosquito some time. Either I will find it or it will find me.

Moral of the Story: An annoying mosquito and a nagging thought can keep you from your sleep.

MONDAYS AND THE HATE FOR IT

Why do we hate Mondays? I think it started from school going age. After Saturday and Sunday, the thought of going back to school made us sad. For some it was horrific. That concept carried over into our adulthood. While I hated Monday’s too, somewhere down the line I started understanding Monday’s and why its important.

If you are still reading, then let me explain.

1. WEEKENDS ARE NO FUN, IF NOT FOR MONDAY – The fun , enjoyment and happiness we feel out of anything is because its not a constant state of mind. We know it is gonna change and hence we make best use of those moments. Remember, school summer vacation ? After a week or so, we started getting bored, having no clue what to do. Since we didn’t have any particular schedule and were free to do ‘anything’ we became clueless and lost. We need a ‘Looking Forward To’ and that is Monday.
2. MONDAYS ARE FOR STARTING FRESH – Have you wanted to start something new and ended up saying ‘Accha (Hey), tomorrow or Monday, pakka (for sure).’ That’s what Mondays are about. Starting something new. Trying out a new recipe. Making new friends. Trying on a new dress. Starting new work. Setting a new goal.
3. MONDAYS ARE FOR RECTIFICATION – Sometimes by Friday we are so bogged with tight schedule and commitments that we loose the clarity of thought and only by weekend we realise maybe something was not done right. Maybe something could be done better. Maybe a revision is required. Maybe a follow up is needed. That’s what Mondays do for you. You can sit with your last week’s work and see if anything requires revisit or revision.

So don’t hate Monday’s so much. Grab a coffee and welcome Mondays with open arms. Go on to create awesomeness.

Have a happy Monday.

CLARITY

How to choose the right subject? How to choose the correct profession? How to choose the right partner?

Does any of it makes sense. Do we actually need to be perfect in making the right decision that we spend more time in learning ‘how’ instead of enjoying the ‘now’? And then does all the decisions made this way end up being the right one? Always?

I feel we should focus more on how to have clarity. Clarity on what oneself wants. It may be right or wrong. But at least we would know. Do not leave those decisions for others to make for us. Have clarity that you have to make a decision and it may turn to be a bed of roses journey or a dessert land.

Whatever be the case, we can always restart. Have no shame is making wrong decision and restarting fresh. After all right decisions also turn in wrong ones over the course of time. Have no prejudices that something will or won’t work life long. Give your best and hope for the best. If its doesn’t stay the best bow out gracefully.

And it is important we learn it from a very young age.

But have that clarity for yourself. Have that clarity of what you want.

THE STORY OF MONSTERA PLANT

Photo by Alina Vilchenko on Pexels.com

I have a very cute, easy going and small plant Monstera Adansonii. When I got it, my family was curious about its leaves. They asked me if the leaf had some problems. As it had holes. As if done by a bug. Not that they were judging they were curios of this new kinda leaf which went berserk of all definitions of a leaf.

Me, on the other hand, was very excited. Of course I had bought this plant after falling in love with its leaves. And it knew it was its beauty. The ‘Fenestration’ of the leaves is what makes this plant unique and now highly in demand.

Isn’t it true in practical real life too? That which we do not know and doesn’t fit in our definitions is looked at strangely. Sometimes they are harshly judged. Sometimes they are just subjected to questioning. Sometimes they are passed a comment at. Sometimes they are seen unfit in the current fit of things.

But something to remember is time will change. Your uniqueness should not. Whether your uniqueness is worthy of other’s praise or not is unimportant. It should be worthy of your own respect. In its due time, people will realise your worth and uniqueness. Till then, my dear, sway around with your head held high. Smile as of nothing perturbs you. Focus on your goals and let those harsh comments fall sideways.

Tell me, are you different? What makes your different from others?Do you stand out in a crowd?

FOLLOW YOUR HEART, ANYWAYS

Photo by Anete Lusina on Pexels.com

We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.

– Seneca

What if I fail?

What will people say?

What will happen to me if this does not work out?

How often have we told the above things to ourselves? How often we hurt our own chances to success with these notions? How often we take a step back from what we are interested to do?

First of all, we need to realise that not all things are meant to be successful. We need to understand and respect that failing gracefully is equally important to being successful. Those who are successful today have failed many times in the past. They take their lessons from the failures and re-invest them back into their steps towards success.

So stop, glorifying success and respect the failures to learn from them.

Secondly, if we have time enough to think “what if” then we definitely have time to work hard towards our dreams and goals. What will people say should not bother us coz we are busy in laying the foundation of our dreams? What will happen if we fail, should not stop us coz we are planning for both success and failures. If we fail, we should know to get up, dust ourselves and get back on track.

So stop second guessing. Don’t hold yourself back. Don’t put rocks on your own path. Don’t be your own detractor. Don’t add fuel to the gossip mills yourself.

Get busy trying, exploring, learning and being yourself.

WHO MAKES YOUR DECISIONS?

So I watched this movie ‘Paglait’ in Netflix and absolutely loved it. Many reasons for loving it though I am not here to write a movie review. I am writing about a very beautifully written dialogue and that which forms the cruz and summary of the storyline.

Agar hum apne faisle nahi lenge na

Toh doosre le lenge

Hame acha lage ya nahi

TRANSLATION:

If we don’t make/take our own decisions

Then others will take them for us

Even if we like it or not

From our birth our decisions have been taken by parents, relatives, siblings. Exactly when do we start making our own decisions. And why is there so much fear about taking decisions.

Part of being independent means to take decisions. Yes they cannot be guaranteed to be perfect or correct decisions. Well then who can ? We are here to make decisions – right and wrong and learn from them. Why the stigma around making correct choices and decisions. Yes, some decisions are life changing. Yes, some decisions can only hurt and result in loss. So what do we do. Can we sit duck on that situation without making any decision? No, right? We need to choose.

The one thing in our control is to choose after a good research and make a decision. Then work towards making that decision a good one. Rest everything lies in our destiny.

What are your thoughts? Have you been in crossroads where decisions mattered the most and someone else took them for you?

How to seek your daily happiness?

Yesterday night I was making butter and then clarified butter from home collected cream. Yes, I regularly make clarified butter (ghee) at home. This is the first time I am attempting white butter at home. Totally, loved the process.

But what I loved most was how the family got involved. It was exciting for them to see. And when the butter starting appearing fingers came in to get a taste.

Don’t seek your happiness in big things. Happiness doesn’t belong there. Seek happiness in small moments. Every moments.

Don’t seek your happiness in other’s ideas of happiness. My friend’s family idea of having a good weekend is to enjoy a family movie in the evening. It doesn’t work at my home. A walk to the nearby farm or beach is what works in my home.

Don’t get agitated if things don’t go as planned. Often we make plans that don’t go as we thought it would. Its okay. Improvise. Move on. Key thing to remember here is to have fun in planning and not with the results. The whole process of planning, preparation and execution gives you experience, learnings and satisfaction. Not the end result. So have fun in the process.

Don’t worry if you can’t find new experiences/ journey. We need to start thinking of sustainability in all walks of life. Chuck out new and repurpose. Say if you are used to going to gym everyday. Due to COVID, most gyms had to be closed. What did you do? Did you stop caring for your health because gyms are not open? Did you stop working out? No, right? You made a makeshift gym at home. Or you sought other exercises like Yoga or Zumba. Some even started badminton, football with kids. You get it right? Seek new opportunities and experiences. But if they are not available repurpose. Bring back the old. Think how you can make better situation with existing conditions.

What makes you happy ?

Friends