Little Confusions

Some memories are beautiful and really make you feel nostalgic, especially if it is a childhood memory. Today, I want to share one incident from my childhood which brought a sweet smile on my face today as it flashed in my mind as a random memory for what reason, I know not!

As a child, I was very competitive in all the things I did whether it was studies or any other co-curricular activity. I always wanted to be in the first place but now things have changed a lot, and so has my philosophy. With my experience through these many years, I have learned that being competitive somehow makes you comparative, and you start comparing yourself with others not to better yourself but to get better than someone else. I believe, we must follow our passion and give our best and compete with no one but our own self.

Apologies for this digression, coming back to my story- It was the last day of my first grade & results were soon going to be out.

I was headed towards the School with my Dad. I was immersed into my own world of calculations, wondering what percentage of marks I would get. Will I secure or lose my first position this time? Then I thought –maybe I should pray to God, but what good a prayer would do at this time? I was confused.

I decided to start a chat with my Dad, hoping it would help ease off the anxiety, and the conversation was like this:

Me: What are your expectations from me for today?

Dad: I wish you pass with flying colors.

Me: I just wanted to know one thing.

Dad: What?

Me: When will make you more satisfied - if I get more than 95% overall marks but fail in one subject or If I get just 33% marks and pass in all the subjects. (I knew from the previous night’s conversation with my elder brother that 33% was the minimum passing marks percentage, and he would have been more satisfied with mere 33% rather than failing in one subject.)

Dad: That is such a huge difference. What is your expectation?

Me: I think I would be close to 90% but I’m afraid as I had not performed very well in Mathematics (I had always dreaded Mathematics as a subject).

Dad: Now, I am confused. Let's wait and see what your result is, because there is no point in getting 90% and failing in one subject.

This made me even more perplexed, as this conversation which I started did not solve the purpose.

That was the whole conversation and the good news was that I got 95% (I am not sure about the exact percentage, which I can check out looking at my report card but I am too lazy to do) and retained my first position.

My Dad was very happy but for me the confusion was still on as to what would be more satisfying -   a Pass in all the subjects or a fail with overall good percentage of marks.

Anyways, the day ended well with an end to all my anxiety and my favorite food at home, as a celebration of my achievements.

Sweet Memories and a Broken Heart

Sweet memories and a broken heart

No rolling back, no restart.

Emotions all shattered, and feelings got battered;

To nobody, this ever mattered.

Happiness is eluding and contentment I cannot find;

Memories play through and contaminate the mind.

For He is, I still live in hope;

That the times will change and give life some scope.

For He is, I still hold my belief strong;

That there will be some respite and relief from this suffering long.

*******************************************************************

Precious Lessons

"tuesdays with Morrie" is a must- read book for everyone, here are few quotes from this book which I really like:

~The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love and to let it come in.

A wise man named Levine said “Love is the only rational act" ~

~Everyone knows they’re going to die but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently ~

~Learn to detach

                      But detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That’s how you are able to leave it.

You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then you can say,’All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotions for a moment ~

~As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty- two, you’d always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, it's also that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it ~

~If you’re trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow, and if you’re trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between you ~

~Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone ~

~It’s not just other people we need to forgive. We also need to forgive ourselves ~

~Death ends a life, not a relationship ~

Here's my favorite thought from the book-

                    ~The truth is….once you learn how to die, you learn how to live ~

That's all from me for today folks, good night.

New Love

          

                                                                                                                  New Love    

The Herald of a new era

The enlightenment of soul with divine love

Fulfillment of the longing desires

And absolution derived from the holy skies above.

The notion of well-being and self-contentment

The experience of each moment lived in bliss

The completeness of being

And the sweet memories of beautiful times to forever reminisce

Enough delight for a lifetime to cherish

And the intense emotions just too hard to behold

The opulence of your love imparts life its vividness

And perpetuates prosperity and fulfillment as life’s virtues extolled

The eternal elation of your being shall never culminate

This yearning for life shall never come to an end

Your immaculate love gives life its purpose and scope

And all my cognizance it does comprehend

Happy Reading

I love reading books and nurture this hobby by reading more and more. I feel the time and effort we invest in reading a good book is a worthy investment, as the returns are enormous. Because of my love for books, I recently joined Justbooksclc, which is a library chain working in major cities and has a good collection of books. The books catalog is available online as well.They also provide doorstep facilities for delivery and pick-up.

This is not a sponsored post, but I just wanted to share something which could be of help to many book lovers.

Today while browsing through the book's catalog, I came across a lovely picture with a beautiful quote "Behind every stack of books is a flood of knowledge." It is indeed true.There is so much knowledge that goes into writing a good book, and thus each book has the potential to affect our lives enormously.

With every book I read, I do learn a lot. A single good book can teach you so much. So choose and read your books carefully as it will reflect in your personality and affect a lot of people around you. 
There are a variety of categories of books: some are gloomy, some can have a negative impact, some will give you a new lease of life and some will make you depressed.
So choose carefully for yourself because as they say "Books are a man's best friend."

Enjoy with your family and a good book as the weekend is around the corner. Happy Reading and Be Positive.

Body Shame

Body shame is something which is spreading in every section of our society epidemically, especially among women and children. I am going to share one of such encounters which happened recently.

I was attending one of my friend's wedding and my niece who is just 7 years old (but very smart according to her age) had delightfully accompanied me. When I was involved in a casual chit chat session with other friends, one friend of mine who I had not seen or talked to for last 5-6 years popped up and greeted me with a screaming "Hi" from a distance and in the same loud tone yelled-"You look sooooo......fat". I was a bit embarrassed as there were a bunch of friends around. I wondered for a while if I have really grown too fat. She must have been definitely over 10-12 kgs. over my weight. (though I am poor in calculations but good in speculations and approximations), So I tried to calm myself down and did greet her back trying to be as polite as I could and said: "We all are just competing with each other, right?". But she did not stop there and replied- "No, you are more than me." For a moment, I was speechless and to avoid any argument on an irrelevant topic, I just ended the conversation returning a fake smile back to her.

When we were returning from the event, my niece who observed all these things, came to me and said "Bua, you are not fat, you look beautiful, you know at my school the same thing happened to me, I got bullied by few of my friends. When I returned, then papa told me that I am a rather healthy, cute baby and not fat. So you do not feel embarrassed. I planted a kiss on her forehead. I was amused by her innocence, as she thought that I was still occupied with that friend's remark (and yes she was  right, I was actually thinking about that bull shit)

So the moral of the story is- We should be concerned about our good health as compared to how we look, whether skinny, slim or fat. We should teach our children to avoid any kind of body shame, to detest the unsolicited advice on the sartorial, or any other choices that we make and ignore those who just want to demotivate or bring us down. One should have a good diet and a great heart which always motivates and never demeans anyone.

Flawed Frame

It took me 20 mins to make this sketch and when finally it came up I did notice a lot of flaws in it, but I feel.....

Sometimes it's "OK" to be flawed, it's "OK" to be imperfect. Beauty is hidden between all the imperfections that we see, I like the sketch with all its imperfections and I think the real beauty of the picture lies in its originality. So no matter how imperfect, fallible it is, it is original and real, and so it is beautiful.

A Gift for an Angel

I just made a small cute card for my cute Niece. I used simple paper cutting and a paper art which is called "Quilling". So here is a brief information about the art:

Quilling: This paper art evolved in 18th Century and is an art form that involves the use of strip of papers only. This is simple yet beautiful. It is perfect for making cards, 3D structures, beautify pen holders and create decorative designs.

My niece is soon going to be a 7 year old grown up girl and she likes craft work. I hope she likes it and makes one for me sometime soon.