Find peace in a piece of you.

All my bad memories are gone. But why…. why can’t I become happy? Then the witch took his soul as they had promised and told him this..."Hurtful, painful memories, Memories of deep regrets, memories of hurting others and being hurt, memories of being abandoned only those with such memories buried in their hearts only those with such memories in their head can become stronger, more passionate and emotionally flexible, and only those can attain happiness”. Remember it all and overcome it, if you don’t overcome it, you'll always be a kid whose soul never grows.                                              -   [excerpt from : It's ok to not be ok]

    

As Sadhguru once said…‘’When something bad happens to us, when something hurts us… we can either become wise or wounded. This is the choice we have. Life is just a certain amount of time, its ticking away. As you sit here now you are 1 hour closer to the grave since you came here.Yes it is! It’s going away for all of us. So in this where is the time to carry every experience like a wound”.

First things First! Stop trying to be like someone else if you are meant to be them, you would’ve been born here as them. But you’ve been given your life, your character, your skills, your talent your personality for a reason…you’re unique… be who you are…stay true to yourself and if you feel you don’t fit in its cause you’re meant to stand out. Stop worrying about what others are thinking about you, worry about what you're thinking about yourself eventually only that matters,because people come and go but you are the one who is going to stay with you forever. 

Get rid of misconceptions and start hanging out all by yourself. Don’t focus on the things you were been fed, over the things told by everybody else...For instance, Dining out at a restaurant or going to the movies alone is completely normal. If it’s something that everyone prefer doesn’t mean that it is something that should be done! Understand and follow your instincts. Never let anyone force you to do things you dont want to. Take control of your life by allowing yourself to have a final say in what you want to do. Dont be scared of change. As we grow, we see things in a different perspective… we understand them far better than we did and it’s the nature of life. Grow in what you believe, grow for yourself, grow to understand better.

I always believe that the value of money can be understood by the person who can differentiate peace and pleasure, there is nothing more agitating to your mind than extreme pleasure. Think of a person who lost his mom as he couldn’t afford hospital charges, a person living with his family in a hut during stormy weather, a person who knows the value of every single grain, a person striving hard for the entire month to pay his EMI, Eventually for them money is the main source of peace, this might not sound fair but it is what it is. So always remember that Happiness is peace, it’s not pleasure.

There is a lot of hate in this world, lot of them may try to hurt you or pull you down, you might even feel weak but on the other hand always remember, there is Love. Our strength doesn’t lie in having a cold heart, protecting ourselves as a shield from our emotions, but the strength comes from being soft and brave enough to welcome things with open hands, courageous enough to try and  accept the consequence.When you finally learn that a person’s behavior has more to do with their own internal struggle than it ever did with you, you learn grace.

Remember that you are exactly where you need to be, experiencing what you need to experience, so that you could learn in order to become the person that you need to become and to create everything that you want in your life. The truth is, healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed…it means the damage no longer controls you, so you don't have another generation of trauma passing itself off as a culture. All emotions are healthy, getting stuck within them is not because acceptance is everything.

No one ever looked at the stars and wished they were gone. No one ever asks the ocean why it stayed so long.No one wishes the moon away. They don’t ask for it to disappear. No one is unkind to the sun we know that it’s needed here. No one ever questioned the existence of these things. We accept that they are exactly what they are meant to be. Don’t question your existence because you are everything. Please accept that you are exactly what you are meant to be.                                                                                           - As quoted by Whitneyhanson.

Accept yourself, love yourself and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down. 

To sum it up, You become the best version of yourself when you know the value of self-love!

Let the hope in you hold you. Count your blessings and breathe..

Always remember that “You are your home”,

Lots of love 💟

Our Society....

We all live in the place called Society and everyday we see people from different generations here. Have you ever thought about the fact that most of the problems that occur in our society is because of the so called "Generation Gap" ? Or is it that we compromise ourselves by defining it with such a name, just because our parents or the people around us really don't try to understand us? What do you think!!?

There are always some pre-defined set of "rules" that is set by the society and if we fail to abide by them, we are deemed wrong and people don't accept us.

Going by those rules, the society is categorized into 2 Genders! "ONLY 2" ! Hope you  understand what I'm stressing upon!!

Well, Let's just deep down into the common facts that we face in our daily lives 

• "Light skinned" people are considered beautiful and on the contrary, "Dark skinned" people are considered ugly
• Men shouldn't get trained to a classical dance because it's like he is less of a "MARD" and he shouldn't cry because "MARD ko kabhi dardh nahi hotha"
• Whenever we step out to buy pads, we must make sure that it is carried in a black polythene bag 
• Here is the most popular statement in the society which goes by the saying, "A girl and a boy can never be friends" !! Like Seriously?????
• As far as professional choices are concerned, a child from a middle/upper middle class family has only 2 options to choose from - An Engineer and A Doctor
• The "Standard height" of an Indian Man is 5'7" and Woman is 5'2" and if you fail to meet this criteria, you are considered to be either "too short" or "too tall"

Coming on to the most sensitive Topic, RAPE. According to people, Rape cases in India increase because of the fact that girls wear clothes that "attract" Men. A small 8 months baby gets raped because she flaunts her "bare body"!! Isn't it?? A covid affected girl got raped by an Ambulance driver, having worn a "decent" dress (going by the language of the society) . Why did this happen then? We just express our sympathy by discussing this with our neighbors over a cup of tea. 

Moving on to the other facts....

No matter what, our parents will always be proud of "Sharma ji k beta/beti", even if we are better than them in so many aspects . Hope our generation always supports our child even though they don't reach our expectations. Rather than telling how much you have invested on your kids, it's better to show love and get back love. It's as simple as that (Newton's 3rd law).

Around 80% of the problems that we see around us gets solved, if we just look at our own work instead of poking our noses into others. But at the end of the day, if a neighbor Aunty sees you with an opposite gender, the gossip reaches from Kashmir to Kanyakumari!!

Going by the society standards, A girl always should have a lengthy hair. If she decides to chop it off, it means she is too fast and if a boy has a lengthy hair, then it means he might be doing drugs. A character of a boy/girl is always judged by how they dress up, and the list goes on and on and on. A girl should not laugh out loud, a girl should "sit like a girl", Boys should always take up additional responsibility, earn good salary and what not!!??

A trendy fight that happens in this society is "Gender equality" (Equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender). I still remember when I was scrolling through my WhatsApp one day, and my eyes caught a status saying that "My mom says, a women SHOULD always be financially independent so that she doesn't have the need to depend on others" . That's when a thought struck my mind, If a woman is willing to work, she should be getting that equal opportunity, but rather than that, here we are busy in adding one more rule to an existing database of rules that Working women are considered to be the best and a homemaker is not that great. 

You follow what you believe and its not at all necessary to give a statement to the society, because each and every one is unique and better in their own way and have the right to follow what they always believe in!!

I firmly believe that we can never compare a man with a woman because it's not an apple to apple comparison. They are different in their own ways. Respect men for what they are and in the same way respect women for what they are!!

Let's now move into the most interesting and the hottest topic in our society called "Marriage".

It doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl. You always have to end up marrying your opposite gender who is of the same caste, sub caste, status and if possible same blood group 😅. There is something called "Love Marriage" and our Indian parents are practical enough to accept it only if the couple falls under the so called "SAME" category.

Eventually, All I would want to convey is that , every Individual has a right to live the way they want to, unless it doesn't create any sort of problems to others. At the same time, we are no one to judge anyone or create any statements in the society. 

We need to be socially aware of the happenings around us, be selfless at all times and help anyone in whatever way possible instead of keeping mum about the situation.

It's obvious that we can't change our society all of a sudden, but to start off, all we can do is to surround ourselves with quality people, thereby not allowing the society to dominate us and always listening to what our heart says.

Love n peace.

Live, Love, EAT!!!!

Hey Guys!! Welcome to my second Blog! Hope you people had cherished your childhood memories through my previous blog and here is the second one, where I wanted to share my thoughts about FOOD which is something one can never resist from and something which I absolutely love cooking and of course, EATING!

So, Food as we all know, is what people and animals eat to survive, but have you ever thought of its taste!? Ok! Let me explain, what is the commonality between food and music!? 

You create diversified tunes through distinct notes, resulting in millions of songs across different genres and indistinguishably, when we talk about food, zillion of varieties can be created from various constituents to stimulate our taste!! Unity in Diversity is best defined here where different ingredients with different taste come together to produce something that is irresistible!!

Besides being a basic need we become emotionally attached to food. Think of your birthday where you always feed the first piece of your cake to someone whom you love the most, or share popcorn with a gang of friends in a movie theater, mom preparing food only to convince your mood or when you go out on a mission and mom feeding you with curd and sugar. In all these instances, there is love that's associated with food , thereby establishing memories and an everlasting strong bond. 

As a matter of fact, people say that India is a country where festivals are celebrated with each passing day and we celebrate our festival through traditional delicacies like Puran poli, Gujiyas, Kachori, Malai kofta, Sakkarai pongal, Pulissery and what not! A truly special feeling that we Indians can relate to, Ain't it?? 

             

A healthy food which goes into our stomach always supports us in getting nutrients and antioxidants. 

If you are able to work till 1:00 pm in the afternoon is only because of the Sandwich or the bread omelette that you had in the morning. Given the current scenario, where our work schedule is usually from 9 to 5, we always tend to gobble up our lunch and get back to work. But the food which helps us in many ways, deserves some amount of respect and a compliment right?? It can only be possible when you enjoy every bite of it.

 

Eating hot fritters (pakora) and sipping hot coffee in a cool rainy weather or eating ice cream in a hot summer defines the reason of our existence!!!                    

As we saw earlier, Food also represents our culture and pride of what we actually stand for, which ultimately represents our identity. Whenever you hear the word "Aloo Paratha", which state or culture comes to your mind??? Similarly for food items like "Vada Pav", "Idly Sambar" or "Puttu", I'm sure the corresponding states of these strikes your mind immediately!!    

And trust me, there is no better feeling than making a dish of your own, tasting it and feeling so proud that you have made it!! It does make life really interesting, people  showcase their talent out of it and of course there are loads of people out there who serve their love and care through food.

                     

How many of you get their mouth watered when you hear the word "Roasted Chicken". I'm sure you can picturize that in front of your eyes!! No offense to Vegans and yes "Aloo Gobi" is equally delicious!!! 😜

Whenever you have food, try enjoying its color and aroma along with it's taste, as it really deserves that importance and it's never really too late to try out something new.

The taste of food differs from place to place. Whenever we explore a new location, one of the most challenging thing is to adjust with the food habits over there and trust me, I have experienced it a lot of times. Personally I believe that the best food we can find in India is from Hyderabad where I actually belong, and we get the best food here especially non-veg. The Nizami one and also paradise biryani is the most famous here and I recommend each and every one of you to try it if you get the chance to visit Hyderabad. The food here is the perfect example of something that is enticing. Hyderabadi food is my personal favorite,and in the same way, I'm sure that you guys would also be proud of your place and the food you find there.

Despite knowing the importance of food, some people still do waste it and not think of the fact that there are people who don't get any!! These are worrying signs and It's high time we save food and step up to show our cause towards humanity!! 

There is a saying that "one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. 

Food connects us in many ways and I believe everyone in their lifetime has one such dish, that neither you nor your taste-buds would ever forget. 

So guys, do start pouring in your comments below about your favourite dish!

Relive your Childhood Memories - By Manasa

Childhood is something which everyone goes through in their lives where some memories bring smile to your face, be comical, be unforgettable and some might be emotionally connected which defines a part of your past. This is my first shot at blogging and I totally wanted to revisit my Childhood which I hope would bring back some of your memories from your earlier days as well! :)

Everything used to be so different when we were kids, the trees used to be taller, the colors used to be brighter and the moon used to travel alongside us whether we walk or run or travel!

Those lovely instant moments of sheer happiness when our taste buds get to experience every bite of the chocolate we eat, getting balloons on our way back home from school, buying chewing gums only to get those tattoos/stickers and the most important thing of all,where we used to enjoy each and every small things that come in our way which gets etched in our memories for a long long time.

  

When I was a kid, I always had this habit of falling somewhere and getting wounded and I guess most of you would've had some unforgettable memories experiencing a pain when an antiseptic is applied. I still remember an incident where I actually met with a "Cycle Accident". Sounds crazy right? And the next moment I opened my eyes, I was lying in my bed at home with my mom sitting right beside me. And the funniest part of all these was that , every time when such an incident happens, my sister always used to be in the receiving end from my mom.

My mom was not the only person whom my sis used to get bashing because of me. During the school assembly lines, I always used to stand with my sister in her class row and because of that my sister used to get "scoldings" from her teacher as well!!

I would also like to recollect one more of this "injury" incident where I tried to jump and cross a drainage canal as a part of a self-challenge and of course you guys can guess what would've happened next. I was inside the canal with teary eyes and yes, the first aid pattern from my mom followed after that and not to forget, my sister was the scapegoat again. And further I believe that I contributed a lot to the business of antiseptic sales those days!! 

 

Now,like all the other kids, I've always had a doubt in my childhood that while walking, why does the sun/moon follow me wherever I go. And yes, on one fine day, when i was looking up at the big ball of fire, I slipped and got injured! Duhhhh!!!!

As a 90's kid on Sundays I use to watch "Panchathantram" (the favourite puppet show of many during those days) and I also used to love and watch every series of "Power Rangers" for which I'm still a huge fan! And as most of the siblings do, I always used to have these physical fights for TV Remote which always ended up in me hiding it in a secured place and the rest of the day would go with my sis desperately trying her best to find it :P

 

During most of these fights, she would chase me inside the house and knowing that I have a fear of dark rooms (which I still do unfortunately), she would chase me to a room and lock me up till I scream out in tears which would annoy my mom even further. 😂

There was also an instance when I was in my 3rd Grade, where I realized that I cant stand at hearing negative things about a person whom I really care about. Once,a boy who was my classmate back then, had fought with my sister had resulted in my sis getting hurt and ending up crying. I couldn't hold back my anger and I just walked straight up to the guy and gave him a huge kick to his belly. Ever since then, the guy did not even dare to come near my sis. 

And now, I'm sure most of you had done this. I used to have this habit of sticking tattoos/stickers almost in every place around me especially households and cupboards which my mom totally hates!!I've been crazy about it such that I used to stick it up in higher places in the cupboards in such a way that it ain't easily visible.

Who doesn't love weekends? Although there used to be this happiness that we don't have to wake up early and go to school, there still lies a tinge of disappointment as most of the day goes off in scribbling all those so called "homework" stuffs. When I think of Sundays, the first thing that I remember is the fragrance of "Clinic Plus Shampoo" where usually that's the only day of the week where I go in for a head bath!! :P

Now how can I forget the delicious butter chicken that my mom cooks. Apart from Chocolates, the childhood food that instantly hits my mind is Butter Chicken . During Summer Holidays, the other thing which I can remember is my Mom giving me a bowl of green grapes while watching TV. That feeling of having grapes under a breezy fan at home during a hot summer was truly a relief from the heat wave.

 

I used to be always in awe of my sister when she used to help my mom in the kitchen. One such instance was when she was cutting tomatoes and I always used to wonder how she was able to cut it so fast in a specific position without getting a cut on her hand. Although I know now that its a normal thing, but whenever I cut something, I always remember my sister. 

During my times in Abhyasa International Residential School where me and sis studied, my mom used to visit us during every alternate sundays which used to be a Parent's visit. I still remember my times where we used to wait for her at the entrance where a security guard used to be there with a Scooby Doo kind of a dog. My Mom always carries that huge handbag where she used to bring some yummy Non Veg food and we would sit under a Mango Tree at School and there was no better feeling those times than my mom feeding me food. On one instance, she got me and my sis a new pair of traditional dress (a pink top and a dark green bottom) which we call "PattuPavada" in South India.

During Childhood, I'm sure most of us wouldn't have been content with what we have and we always used to envy what other kids have in their belongings. One such thing that I remember was a pair of skating shoes which everyone used to have at school and ultimately I shed huge amount of tears to persuade my mom to get me one as well. But when days passed, I forgot about that.

There used to be two groups in our school - Red (Shakthi) and Blue (Shiva). I was drafted into red house and coincidentally my favorite color at that time was red whereas my sister landed up at blue house.Any guesses on her favorite color!!!?? You won't believe, her favorite was "pear green". She always used to select that color as a choice for her outfits wherever she goes as she was extremely crazy for that color. 

Coming back to academics at school, I was not a smart child at all and I was always at the receiving end from my teachers and there always used to be red inks on my books and answer papers whereas my close friends used to get 10/10 always. But anyways since red was my favorite color, I never really bothered about them. I never understood Math, never maintained proper notes for any subject and I always had this problem of understanding a particular question during exams. And you won't believe what I'm gonna say now, My teacher once locked me in a dark room coz i didn't study well!! Like Seriously!!???

 

One fine day, my teacher taught me how to calculate time by looking at a clock and ever since that incident, I always used to stand outside the office room and just stare at the clock closely monitoring the minutes and hours needles to calculate time!!

Every morning, we used to wake up at 4 30 am and go out for jogging where I always had a trouble of tying my shoelaces and always used to take help of my friends. The best part of returning from jogging is that they always used to offer us "Sabudhana Java" which was totally my favourite (and still is..). The Yoga classes back then used to be so much fun and at the same time used to bring peace.

We had this campfire thing every Saturday where we had an opportunity to showcase our talent. And just like anyone, I used to have a crush on a guy whom I always used to stalk and when I think of that now, the blush still doesn't leave my face. And as stated earlier, injuries were always a part of my routine where when i tried to ignite a spark. I guess I'm just another synonym of injuries and wounds.

As months passed on, I studied in Kerala and yet I found it really tough to learn and write Malayalam and when I moved to Hyderabad, it was like Unlearning and Learning where I had to totally start from the scratch. I started learning Telugu after coming here, but unlike malayalam, I really didn't find it tough to learn. And my studies too improved as i started getting good grades which resulted in me getting a grade of 9.2/10 in my Class 10 boards.

But throughout my Childhood, I was never clear in life what I exactly wanted in my life or which path I had to take. I still believe that I haven't found my path yet and on the course of finding it. But I do know which path I must take and how I really would want everything to be.

I felt really happy while writing all these as this brought in a lot of happy memories and gave me a chance to revisit Childhood. Now that we are in our late twenties, I always feel that no matter how much old we grow, some of our childhood habits should always remain with us in order to carry that happy momentum forward. 

This is my first blog and hope you guys liked and evoked some of your childhood memories. Amidst this fast moving world, this definitely brought me a much needed relief to think about my Childhood.