Happy New Year 2014

It's that time of the year again, the time when we look back and reflect upon the whole year. The times when we laughed, shared smiles and felt on top of the world, the moments of emotions, tears and regrets. There might have been some moments which tested our resolve but we didn't give up. And there definitely were some moments which made everything worth it.

it's that time of the year when we decide which are the memories we want to carry along with us and which one's we need to bury along with the year itself.

It's that time of the year, when we welcome the new year with new hopes and dream, the time for a new beginning.

Let the upcoming year realize all your dreams and aspirations, bless you with health, happiness and love.

Have a fabulous new year 2014.

Bharat and his Youth Campaign

 

The turning point for Mr. Bharat

“All they can do is chat, chat and chat. If they can use their fingers to chat, then why can't they use the same finger to vote?”Mr. Bharat went on and on about today’s generation and youth. He threw his morning newspaper on the front table.
“What’s the use of talking to me?” Mrs. Bharat continued her dusting. She concentrated on a tricky corner of the wall. “I’m no longer young.”
“No one would believe that looking at you.” He leaned back in his chair.
“Flatterer...” Mrs. Bharat blushed. She looked up at her husband and said, “I am serious. It is no use of talking, if we can’t do something about it. You should try reaching out to the youth, persuade them the importance of vote. I know you can do it.”

This vote of confidence instead of boasting his ego annoyed him.“I’ll go out for a walk.”

Quarrelling by the rules

Have you been in a quarrel where you don’t talk with your friend or significant other wishing all the time that the other person ends the quarrel? Well, now you can follow these rules of quarreling shared by Mukta of Muktangan at ‘Vedh’, Thane. According to her, the rules work wonders at Muktangan and also in personal life.

Rules of quarrelling

• No change of subject

  This rule states, If you start a quarrel on a topic, you have to continue to argue that topic. You can’t jump to some other topic by bringing something the other person did the previous day but stick to the same subject.
   Normally, when a fight ensues we tend to bring forth all the previous irritating topics related to the person. For example, if you are quarrelling about someone forgetting something, ask them an an explanation for that thing only. Don’t start how the person takes you for granted and doesn’t keep things in their proper place.
  

Faith & Such -1

“As gravity is to the balance of the body, faith is to the balance of the mind.” 

The first sentence uttered by Dr. Dattaprasad Dabholkar surprised me. It wasn’t the sentence, but the man saying it. Dr. Dattaprasad Dabholkar is the elder brother of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, a renowned anti-superstition activist who classifies faith as superstition against rationalism.

A better way of living

I hate tablets, the white ones, the pink ones, small round ones and even the sugar coated ones. However, since the advent of the newer meaning of the word, an electronic tablet, I can’t live without it.

From getting up in the morning and chatting to reading in the car or cab, even in train or bus, till I fall asleep at night, I need the tablet with me. It has become an extra appendage. I use it for reading , writing, and even talking. One click and you can find anything you need, it’s like a miracle.

Belonging to an average world

The world in numbers

We live in an average world. For anything to be perfect in our world, it has to fit in a range. There are proportions to describe beauty, intelligence and every other attribute. People may detest Maths but they worship these numbers religiously.

Another Liebster....

  Liebster Award

Liebster always makes me happy. It is a joy to know that someone loves your blog. I thank Bhumi Jayalakhsmi of Hey Wait, Listen! from the bottom of my heart.

For all you guys who want to know about Liebster award and it's rules, click here.

 

Versatile blogger award

Yay! I have received VBA for both the blogs. :) I thank Deepa of Random photography from the bottom of my heart for this award. I am overwhelmed by your appreciation. You can check her post here.

This is my award. I always had a soft corner for trophies. ;)

View point

   It’s all in the point of view

Have you observed the city from the top? Everything looks small. The trees, the massive mountains, the magnificent towers, all are reduced to a tiny speck.

It is the same with our problems. They appear big when we are attached to them. If you distance yourself from your problems they are not that daunting.

Be prepared

A boar was sharpening it’s tusk in the forest.

A fox saw him and was surprised, “Why are you sharpening them now? I don’t see any danger around.”

“When danger arrives, I wouldn’t get time to sharpen my tusks,” the boar replied.

How to deal with setbacks

Now, that you know the truth about setbacks, you have to move to the next step, dealing with setbacks. The effective handling of setbacks paves the way for your success. Don’t get back into the race immediately. If you’ve had a severe setback you need to address your injuries. To win long races, stamina is more important than speed.

Four steps to deal with setbacks:

1) Give an outlet to your feelings:

Setbacks cause a feeling of depression and inadequacy. To overcome these negative feelings is the foremost objective. These feelings don’t vanish if you try to suppress them. Instead, they occupy some small corner of your brain and try to plant doubts about your success plans in the future. You need to channel them and and convert them to positive feelings. Remember, the law of conservation of energy, the same law applies to your feelings. Emotions aren’t created or destroyed, they change from one form to another. Let us see, how you can change negativity to positive.

• Don’t be afraid to cry. Once, you have done with crying, you might feel a lot better.
  
• Life isn’t just about goals and dreams. There’s more to life than that. Hang out with your friends and family. They are always there to support you and cheer you up.

My first Liebster...

My heartfelt thanks to PoonamKhanduja of Stir your souls for my first Liebster award. I am overwhelmed that someone likes my blog enough to nominate me. I think the blog awards serve as an appreciation of budding blogs. If it weren’t for the blogging awards I’d never have found some of the very good blogs.

Liebster award means that you love a fellow blogger’s work and show the appreciation by this gesture. Liebster is a german word which means beloved or dearest.

This is my Liebster

Restless Soul

                                “What is this life if full of care

                            We have no time to stand and stare.”

                                 -W. H. Davies

The words seemed to be directed at me, my life. I was impressed by the poet, must be a psychic to know what we really need. So I decided to follow his advice and ‘stand and stare’ at the trees, sky and all of nature that I could find for a whole long day.

For a while, it was a marvellous experience, I felt I should continue this for my whole life, solitude, nature, perfect recipe for life.

India- The wounded warrior.

On 15^th August 1947, India gained independence from the yoke of  the British Raj. India, after long years of sleep, finally woke up at the stoke of midnight. But, the dawn is still far off. We, Indians have to get rid of the vestiges of colonialism before the sun rises on Indian waters. The most important obstructions to our true freedom are the corrupt political and bureaucratic system, the so called just law system which remains inflexible to accommodate any claims of justice but the scales of law can certainly weigh all the monetary benefits, and the unapproachable public machineries with no sympathies for the poor and neglected citizens.

The truth about setbacks

So you had a setback? Congratulations. I am not crazy, I really mean it. Though they tend to have depressing effects, setbacks are a necessary part of our life. They aren't present to keep balance between happiness and sadness. They are essential to increase your real success.

Setbacks aren't failures, they are just stops between your start point and destination. You fail only if you you give up at this point. Do you leave the train if it stops at some station before your destined station? Then, why ditch your dream after a setback?

No one wins every battle in life and wins the war, too. The only people who seem to have won life's every battle are the ones with faulty memories. Liked this line, click to tweet.

We never introspect or reconsider our plans when we are on the track of success. Success boosts our ego but setbacks help us to reevaluate our decisions, to know whether you were actually on the right track in the first place. There are many theories of ancient times like some of Aristotle's observations which are proved wrong now. The only reason, those theories were accepted in the first place were because someone established them successfully. They weren't right, nobody cross-checked them, then.

Setbacks spin you around, that's why your life seems upside down. Don't give up your dreams based on an illusion. Give yourself some time. Once you settle down everything becomes clear. When you have a setback, don't quit. You've got a chance to analyze yourself and your methods. You can deal with setbacks and bounce back effectively. Think about it.

How to deal with setbacks:

Dussehra-the golden day

For me, Dussehra has always been a golden day. It reminds me of a time when being rich was a feeling of innocence as opposed to the feeling of greed. No, I am not talking about the spirit of the festival though to actually understand what I'm saying you need to know at least one of the stories associated with the day. Before, I can get to that golden moments, I'll state the concerned story in brief.

The Lady in red

There She was, dressed in red, the colour of love and of lust, the colour of war and of blood.

Riding a fierce tiger expressing terror yet comfort, ruthlessness along with compassion.

Who is She? They call Her Durga, it's one of Her many names.

She is the epitome of power, She is love.

She represents every woman on earth who is full of love but not powerless.

She is the symbol of nari-shakti or female empowerment.

The trend that lingers

The title looks like a misnomer because trends don't linger. They change so rapidly that it's a mental exercise to keep up with them. They are very unpredictable too. There's a likelihood that it might soon be uncool to be awesome. I hope that doesn't happen soon. I'd hate to be uncool. ;)

The reason, I am rambling over trends is a purse I dug out of attic.

The lonely crowd

Have you ever observed the moving crowd in the city? People are moving about continuously without a glance in each other's direction. For all you know, you might be passing around the same set of people everyday without knowing anyone. The feel of the day, the sunshine, the mixed scent of the crowd, the streets, everything is so familiar yet so unfamiliar.

Emergence of Gandhi- J.N

World war I ended at last and peace, instead of bringing us relief and progress, brought us repressive legislation and martial law in the Punjab. A bitter sense of humiliation and passionate anger filled our people. All the unending talk of constitutional reform and indianization of services was a mockery and an insult when the manhood of our country was being crushed. And the inexorable and continuous process of exploitation was deepening our poverty and sapping our vitality. We had become a derelict nation.

Yet what could we do, how change this vicious process? We seemed helpless in the grip of this all-powerful monster; our limbs were paralyzed, our minds deadened....

And then Gandhi came.

Don't underestimate yourself

Once a farmer found an egg in an abandoned nest. He brought the egg home and placed it among the hen's eggs. In due course of time when the egg hatched, a baby eagle came out. The baby eagle grew up with other chickens and was practically one among them.

Once a stranger visited the farm. He was horrified to see the eagle behaving like a chicken.

“This isn't right,” he said. “An eagle should be soaring the sky not picking worms in the garden.”

The farmer shrugged. “It doesn't matter. He thinks, he is a chicken. We can't make him fly.”

Poems worth knowing - 1

If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;

To vote or 'no vote'

Now, with option of negative voting opened, you can dwell upon the question, to vote or 'no vote'? Either ways, you can participate in the elections. For the first time, Indians can reject all the candidates contesting elections by using the option of no vote. The Supreme Court of India on Friday held that citizens have right to cast negative vote, a decision which would bring about positive change in the election system. This would encourage wider participation of people in the election process.

How to get the best of Democracy

Democracy may or may not be the best political institution, but it’s the one we have and till the advent of a better institution, we are stuck with it. If we have to live with democracy, then we’ll have to find a way to make the best of it.

Some of the perils of democracy are not associated with the government but the people. In democracy, we, the people, are king-makers. Therefore, the failure of the government can be often traced back to us. All the jokes on the government are actually the mockery of the people. If we hadn't elected them, they wouldn't be in charge, in the first place.