Random thoughts.

Perfection !!!

2021-12-20T17:43:00.006-08:00

Everyday I wake up in the morning with a motive to be Perfect!!!!

The Perfect mother, the perfect homemaker and most importantly the perfect human being.

I have a perfect time-table carved out in my mind, if only it could percolate into my real life.

Something or the other falls short!!

Some days, its Tavu who just isn't ready to listen to me or co-operate and other days my own inconsistencies as a person.

Since the day we have come here there are so many things I wish to accomplish and achieve.

I want to get back to studies, its been a long gap since 2012 when I last went to a corporate setup.

Since then it's been home and just home, buying a house, fighting with the builders for its possession, convincing them into getting the required amenities(we were the First family to arrive there), to finally setting up the house into a home.

But all this was back in India, here in this new country, its a new start almost on the same lines but with a different journey all together.

Everyday, I want to get up at 5 and be ready for the day but old habits die hard and I am half-tired, half-asleep by the time I am actually awake from my deep slumber.

Finally I realized, it won't help setting up a waking up target, lets work backwards and set a sleeping target, hence a, by this time latest dinner target.

So now, I ensure the family has dinner on time and sleep max by 10, only then am I able to attain my waking up aspiration.

Still trying to be perfect but setting up a time-table certainly helps, especially if you write it in black and white.

At least, this initial step helped me to be back on track.......

Stop being Judgemental

2013-02-10T23:43:00.001-08:00

Its been quiet some time I felt like writing , I admit I am an erratic writer, a writer of sorts I observe a lot speak quiet less, which is touted as being arrogant and haughty, but have people actually thought that I might be plain shy, plain introvert somebody who struggles with topics for discussion.
Funny but that's the fact what people perceive you to be and what you are in reality can be quiet different at times.

That brings me to a very important error we normally make as human beings, being judgemental. Yes all of us have committed that mistake once or the other I can't perhaps exclude myself from that ideology. I did that with a friend of mine some eons ago. Today she is my best friend, whom I perceived to be a self centred importance seeker was indeed very helpful and sensitive towards others and I admit I learnt a lot from her.

So,Stop judging people according to your whims, give them a chance to show their real self to you and then perhaps form judgements because I know you can never avoid it.........

I Love You.......

2012-10-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

Its not unusual to indulge in fights with your loved ones, I have realised that small altercations tend to bring you closer. An aunt of mine advised me, do make a note of all the pleasant moments you have in your relationship, cause when people fight they tend to forget the nicer moments spend together, suddenly their focus shifts from all the nice things about their partner, to all that they abhor in their partner.

We tend to be ignorant of the fact that he is the same person we are so much in love with, suddenly your thoughts are flushed with all the ugly things he said to me,all the times, he misunderstood me, to all the times he didn't support me.

Whenever you have a fight with your loved one, or you believe you are being treated indifferently, sit back and think "What all do I love him for, make a mental note, if possible jot it down somewhere and think of all the moments when he really brought a smile on your face,(I am sure you can think of a few right away!!!),when he did something really special that touched your heart,when he expressed how much you mean to him in his life, when you were really moved by all that care he holds in his heart but at times is unable to express whatever be the reason.

I would suggest go by the inherent, rather than the obvious answers to all the doubts you have about your relationship, as Ambrose Bierce said, "Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."How true, how many times have people ruined their relationships by reacting in anger. In fact a person's greatest achievement is his ability to control his anger.

So next time, you are surrounded by the thoughts that he doesn't love you like before sit back and think open that diary of yours and read how did your partner make you feel special, how much you mean in his/her life and go patch up, its doesn't matter who says those magical words once again, it sure will melt hearts, yours and his!!!

To You my Friend, I Salute!!!!!

2012-09-17T22:45:00.001-07:00

Some people inspire you with their sheer grit and determination…….

Just had a conversation with an old friend, we had been on and off friends, talking to each other once in a blue moon. I was astounded to hear his tale of last one year, how time decided to test his determination and how he held on. A 20 something ambitious guy, who married early to his childhood sweetheart, joined a company and then quit to pursue his entrepreneurial dream. From an outsider’s point of view all was perfect in his life, what more did he want not many are as lucky as him to get all they want. Seemed like for the rest of us who were still struggling to comprehend what we expected from our life, he had already got what he wanted, until the day came when his mother had a heart failure.

He somehow grabbed himself to this news, after all parents are most precious for any child. He got her admitted in a local hospital and after much ado the doc said that she had to be taken to a bigger and better hospital considering the gravity of her ailment. He soon shifted her to a competent hospital in Delhi, whereby the treatment started, with his mom in the serious condition that she was, the doc declared that his mother had to be put on a ventilator whereby her chances of recovery were just 50%. He was speechless but he had to take a decision, he did. No sooner was his mother being treated in the hospital, that his wife started feeling an acute pain in her chest and she had to be admitted. He received the biggest jolt of his life and was shell shocked, "but my wife is just 22 how could this possibly happen to her",he was reasoning with himself. He kept rushing from one room to the other in the hospital, attending his mother at one end and wife at the other, and this time again he took a tough decision, “You need to decide fast, your wife will have just one more month to her”. Petrified by the thought he agreed to an open heart surgery, he hadn’t ever imagined his wife will have to go through at such a young age.

But this wasn’t the end of his woes, with over a month of making errands in the hospital, he was almost at the verge of bankruptcy with a business which had nobody to look after. And once again he decided, he decided to fight, he decided not to give in, he joined a job which compelled him to stay out of town for 20 days a month, far away from his mother whom he loved, and longed to see, away from his beloved, whom he longed to accompany and make her smile so that she doesn’t take life too seriously.

While writing it down, I am wondering how many of us have the power to go on, when the whole universe is testing our ability to carry on the burden it has thrust upon us? how many of us realize that we need to express the affection we hold for our loved ones, and not claim paucity of time, the reason for our indifference? How many of us don’t curse the minor problems we face and claim that life has been unfair to us, Wasn’t life at its unfairest best to him????? How many of us still have the grit to lead our life with the same zeal and enthusiasm? how many of us could still manage to be optimistic about life? How many of us get bogged down by the simple tests life wants us to undertake, for Ladies and Gentleman, here is a MAN in the true sense of the word who gave it all and still had the courage to stand up and fight back, to which I am reminded of these lines from a poem by Rudyard Kipling, I swore by as a kid.

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

Hail my friend, of whom I am proud to be associated with, you give strength to many others though unknowingly.

God Bless!!!!

Tryst with Adventure.......

2012-09-17T03:55:00.004-07:00

Last year’s, summer, had a lasting impact on me, which will remain etched in my memory till my presence on this earth. My college mates and me decided to give a jolt to our boring nerves and planned a trip to Rishikesh, to experience river rafting!!!

We moved out of Chandigarh by mid -afternoon and reached Rishikesh by 8 in the evening. The trip was full of fun and soon we reached our place of stay, where camps had already been set up for us. Besides the river Ganges, it was indeed a sight to behold. The sheer calmness of the environment fills you with a sense of peace and you wonder that God must be somewhere here only. No wonder Rishikesh is the abode for many ashrams, and is a famous pilgrimage for Hindus.

Away from the hustle-bustle of the city life, the night was serene and we slept early to wake up for a day filled with fervor and ardor. Quite surprisingly, a late riser like me was up and running at 5am in the morning, thanks to Mother Nature. The scintillating yellow sun behind the mountains, the sound of water gushing and the clean air filled my lungs.

We got ready by 8 after a light breakfast and geared up to take on the river, unknown of what Ganges had in store for the 6 of us that morning. We drove to Shivpuri beach, where our rafting gear was handed over to us, all decked up we were ready to sail. Our instructor was a 20 something young guy, at one point in time I was unsure of his ability to sail us through. Nevertheless, a 20 min training session was conducted wherein we were introduced to the techniques of rafting, a few safety tips and the confidence to keep our cool in case any untoward incident occurred. The rafting stretch was around 17Km long , with a lot of rapids on the way, viz Golf Course, Roller coaster, Return to sender, Double Trouble, Hilton and Terminator. A Rapid is referred to as the turbulent currents in the river generally obstructed by a rock and rafting is the art of crossing the river in a raft. It involved a lot of concentration and collective effort on our part and I was quite exhilarated to begin, one thing I was sure of, with our life jackets on we were safe and with these thoughts I proceeded further.

In a red colour raft, 6 of us were seated, three on each side. The initial phase of rafting was cool, since the Ganges is steady and calm. Being an adventure enthusiast, that I am, I was sure that the complete rafting experience will be full of fun and thrill. We took a halt where the river was calm, most of my friends climbed out of the raft and were free floating in the Ganges, I on my part was happy in it. Moving further ahead, we faced a minor rapid. We crossed it with such ease and dexterity that our confidences bloated, Yes we could do it, look it’s not that tough, the instructor was unnecessarily scaring us, I reminisced.

Advancing forward, there was another patch of tranquil Ganges, brimming with confidence I decided to sit at the front of the raft, with my friends seated on the sides. We hadn’t sailed a few metres that we encountered the most dangerous of all, Roller Coaster rapid. With me at the front, I saw a mammoth wave above me and before I could comprehend what was about to happen, the wave was all over me and I was thrown out of the raft with full force.

I couldn’t believe what I faintly saw from a distance, my raft toppling over with all my friends scattered here and there. At first I was in a mode of denial, NO this perhaps couldn’t happen to me, NO I can’t die that soon, not the right time, how will my parents be informed, it would be a shock for them, how will they react, God couldn’t be that cruel!!!!! Before I could even summarize my thoughts I had managed to come on the surface and was trying harder to stay put, since the life jacket was on I could only float at the very least, but before I could even manage it, I saw a larger wave on top of me that pushed me down underneath the river, I somehow struggled my way up and managed to reach the surface again. Perhaps, I assumed it to be the end of that trauma, but I was wrong, it continued for a couple of times, before our guide was able to spot us some 500 metres away from where our raft had toppled.

The raft was lying upside down infront of me, somehow I managed to reach it, but I didn’t have the energies left to grab it, exhausted by the tussle I had with the overpowering waves. Our guide was beside me and another friend of mine, abiding by the universal rule, to save women first.We struggled hard to climb up the raft with our minimal vitality, and patiently waited for him to gather the rest of our friends, from different parts of the river. Two of us were floating nearby and were able to catch hold of a rock and stayed put, another two were gliding, along with the waves and the guide caught hold of them at a distance.

Petrified by the incident, we thanked our stars, but didn’t have the inclination to continue with the remaining stretch. Incessant goading by our guide fell on deaf ears, and we weren’t ready to concede. We stayed put at a neighbouring beach, trying to comfort each other, and loosen up a bit. The remaining rafting stretch, would have taken another half an hour to complete, but covering the same distance by road would have taken us 2 hours. This fact left us with no other option and we gave in to our guide’s suggestion of completing the rest of our (mis) adventure trip.

Partially scared and partially confident we mustered our courage and resumed our journey. I must say the incident did have a positive impact and I could sense a better camaraderie amongst all of us. We started off yet again, optimistic of overcoming the upcoming rapids, though I admit inside our hearts we were fearful. The first rapid we encountered was a much smaller version of the roller coaster, we gathered our courage and gave it our best, and the planks on both the sides of the raft moved in complete symmetry and we were able to vanquish it. Yes!!!! We did it we could do it!!!!! We had shown courage and we didn’t submit to our fear, we fought and we triumphed!!!!!!!!!

Crossing a few more rapids with increased courage and vitality, we finally reached our destination. Slogans of Hip Hip Hurray!!!!!!!!! filled the environment, and our hearts with a sense of pride and enthusiasm on our victory.

We changed and started our journey back, enriched with the experience we were taking home with us.

Online Shopping and me.....

2012-09-11T23:25:00.001-07:00

Like many other skeptics, I too wasn’t sure of the success of online shopping. It was way back when I was undergoing my grads that ecommerce was a much heard about term, and was often referred to as the next generation "in-thing". I won’t lie I had my reservations, even though at that point in time I was myself learning about html and how to code websites.

But as they say, any novel idea, when implemented with sincerity and passion provides wonderful results, and today we are in the midst of an era where online shopping websites are mushrooming by the day.

I used to live in a tier 2 city in Uttar Pradesh, and was introduced to Snapdeal by a friend. Being the curious kind that I am, I was eager to comprehend their business model, how does their business function, how can they make profits by providing subsidized products and services to people, and why on earth would businesses give away their profit margins to them. I must say it intrigued me a lot, since it was indeed a unique concept.

And, as it was meant to be Snapdeal became a success to behold, inspiring a lot of replicas in the market.As for me,I did try a few vouchers, once a while but that was about it.

Come 2012, and you are a witness to blaring TV ads of various online shopping sites, claiming their products, to be at times cheaper than what their retail counterparts offer at the physical outlets, and what more could skeptics like me ask for, they offer "Cash on Delivery", with some of them even providing an option to try and then pick goods of your choice,at the comfort of your home!!!!

Exciting as it may sound, I picked up my laptop, logged on to these sites, and even filled my cart with goods, zapped with the amount of money I could spend in a jiffy over products, I at times badly needed, to products I could easily do away with. It just increased my urge to shop, but as they say, a woman is known not by her shopping skills but by her window shopping skills.

And people!!! I turned out to be the biggest window shopper or, should I say online window shopper of all times, filling my cart and then emptying it at one go, this trend continued for quite some time, before I gathered the courage to give it a plunge, thanks, to the Cash on Delivery option.

Fair enough!! I am not risking anything, no investment made, if I like the products ordered fine, or else I would have them sent back right away, after all they are giving a guarantee, and they will have to oblige, I hope this is no photography gimmick, is it really the actual photograph of the product....

With these perplexing thoughts, I proceeded with my selection of clothes. Nevertheless, I made a decent amount of purchase of discounted items, at prices I couldn’t even think of getting in a retail shop!!, and to my surprise, I liked the stuff as well, contrary to my nature of doing innumerable comparisons and analysis, much to the wrath and frustration of my fellow shoppers.

At last, the purchase was made, and I was anxiously waiting for my packet to arrive.Surprisingly enough, I kept logging and checking the progress of my courier, like an anxious 3 year old waiting for her birthday present.

Finally, my packet arrived, and to my delight it was delivered 3 days prior to its scheduled arrival. Wow!!!, what a relief!!, what a company!!, they do not only deliver what they promise, they deliver it before time, nice strategy, promise less and deliver more, a management lesson very well-known but seldom applied.

Like an excited kid, I opened the packet, and what a delight of a sight it was to see,the goods to be exactly what had been depicted in the website,contrary to my doubt.

A success indeed!!!!…. It’s not that tough to order goods online, and they do deliver what they promise after all, they have their reputation at stake. However, there was a minor problem, the very same day I was diagnosed positive for pregnancy, and unfortunately, they had to be returned back, needed a bigger size, keeping the future in mind.

Now, getting an exchange will be another story, let’s see how they would fare, after all their after sales services are also supposed to be at par…………...

This post is a part of the contest at <a title="BlogAdda.com" href="http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">BlogAdda.com </a>in association with <a title="Snapdeal.com" href="http://www.snapdeal.com" target="_blank">Snapdeal.com</a>