Terrorism in name of religion...

   Children are our dream , the future we see in them. They are the future of any developing nation. And what happened in army school in Pakistan is shocking ,more than shocking its barbaric. So many children killed in name of religion. 

   Sometimes I wonder which religion is this that teaches people to be barbaric . As far as I know Hinduism ,Christianity ,Islam,Sikhism, Buddhism  or any religion can never teach us to harm any other living being. Religion teaches us to love each other, protect each other ,than , what religion do these people follow that teaches them to kill innocent people ? I wonder when they said they were retailiating to an action taken by the army against their family, they  wanted all to feel their pain, have the talibans ever thought about the kind of horrifying acts they have spread around the world ,if their family and loved ones are suffering it is coz of their own action. When they spread terrorism do they realise innocent people are the victims who suffer in their hands, in the same way the barbaric actions of the talibans put their own family and loved ones also to suffer . So if they have to blame anyone , they should blame themselves for the pain their family members suffer and not blame the army for the same.

     I am a mother I know how I feel if my child gets even a small scratch, For me it's unimaginable to even feel what those mothers are going through who have seen their innocent babies dead bodies. Just reading about it has made me a nervous wreak ,what are those kids , who experienced this nightmare going through is something none of us will ever know and pray we never know. I pray that God gives them the strength to face this tragedy though I know that is not going to be possible. These terrorist not just killed those children they have killed the whole family. The children who have survived will have this scar that ,they will carry with them for the rest of their lives, they have made them lose their faith ,coz somewhere humanity also died yesterday. Do they realise they have destroyed the future of their nation with their own hands ? Terrorism can never have any religion , these people are cowards who hide their cowardism behind religion. And people who blindly follow such cowards are bigger sinners and the ones who create such terrorist are the worst kind of human race ,I don't even think calling them human is justifiable.

     An eye for an eye can never be a solution it is the cause of all problems around the world ,and in all this the innocent people are the ones who are suffering. I hope that every nation around the world take firm action against such terrorism and also make sure the ones who protect such terrorist who call themselves protector of their religion should be punished severely.

    I pray for the children who lost their lives rest in peace , and children who survived this tragedy have the strength to be strong again. 

    It's truely said ' The Smallest  Coffins Are Truely The Heaviest '🌹🌹🌹

Need ur support plsss.

Hello

This year for SCMM I have decided to run for a cause. And I am raising funds through the Mumbai Marathon – Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA).

In this Season of Giving, I am sure, you have many causes tochoose from and many who will appeal to you, as I am!

CMCA or Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness has been doing unique, path-breaking work for the last 14 years, as one among very few organizations in India which focuses on strengthening citizenship and democracy values in children and youth, through ‘active citizenship’.

At a time when our newspapers are filled with news of women being molested, or threats of radicalisation by political groups, or our open grounds and trees being slaughtered by vested interests, it is ONLY ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP that can save our democracy.

Is our education system preparing our young to put the nation above self and to engage with governance processes to preserve and strengthen democracy? Our current education system is sorely lacking in this area and that’s where Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) steps in.

Our students have filed RTI applications, complained to civic authorities, participated in clean-up drives, spread awareness on issues ranging from Right to Education to voting in elections. A group of students in a government school evenfreed their classmate from a factory and got her back to school!  You can read more such stories of our young “Action Heroes” and more about our work on www.cmcaindia.org.

Support Active Citizenship!

The Mumbai Marathon of January 18, 2015 is an opportunity for you to support ACTIVE CITIZENSHP and CMCA - an opportunity to be responsive to the urgent need for citizenship values in our nation.

Donations received by CMCA are used for the running of the civic club programme in schools, where it is run free of cost.

All donations raised through the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon are routed through the official charity partner – United Way of Mumbai.

Donating is quite simple.  You may send me a cheque in the name of “United Way of Mumbai” and I shall send it to them.  Alternately, you can donate online through the following link: 

http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/fundraiser-4075

I will be highly obliged if u can help me raise funds for a cause close to my heart. Looking forward for ur support. 

  Thank u 

Sushma.

Blame it on the clothes....

     A man slaps Guahar Khan on the sets of  a show ,is an article I read today... It made me wonder ...we always think the older generation would be the one saying wear decent clothes wear covered clothes don't show your body blah blah blah... Not that I blame them ,that was how they were bought up . But here we have a 24 year old man saying this rubbish . We believe this is the new generation with new thinking we live in the new progressed world . We believe this are the generation who believe in change... Now ,this incident makes me wonder ....

   When I was reading the article I really wished I could go and meet this man. I really want to know does he really believe he is sane ? Has he ever heard himself speak ? According to him women in short clothes make boys /men sexually attracted to women and force them to commit crime like rape .they spoil the head of the man. Come on men for God sake stop hiding your perverted minds behind women's clothes. 

   Men always have some excuse ready for their perverted mind . They feel  women who wear short clothes ,wear it only to attract men . It's like we women are so desperate to get men's attention that we have to use such tactics . Seriously perverted minded men stop giving yourself so much importance . Honestly do men even ever know what a women wear . For such men even if a women is fully clad ,she is always naked all ready for him to oogle at and then say the women messed with his mind with her attire. Think about it why are school girls teased ,why women who wear sarees teased they are fully covered ,but still the men don't  spare them . If women's clothes were the reason of rape and Eve teasing then only the ones who wore such clothes would be raped then why a saree and salwar kameez clad girls get raped ? why are small girls raped ?why are babies raped? 

    Sometimes I wonder what would happen if women told men stop looking handsome you are messing with our minds ,stop wearing tight clothes you bring bad thoughts in our minds. After all women are human too they too have the same needs like the men have.. And believe me we too have minds . 

    To all such perverted minded men stop hiding behind women's attire to hide your own weakness and twisted mind . Show your manhood by changing your thinking instead of changing women's appearances ,afterall it should be easy for you. You ARE a MAN.....

     

I wonder why!!,

        I wonder why!!!! A discussion at dinner yesterday with my sisters made me wonder ,why ?? Well it was a discussion about a marriage of a girl we know who lost her dad ,so now for her wedding her mother won't be giving her away coz in India we don't let a woman who loses her husband be a part of any auspicious occasion ,and funny thing is we let a man be a part of any occasion even if he loses his wife.

      Why so much difference between man and woman. Woman gets married leaves her loved ones comes lives with man and his loved ones , she starts her life there ,adopting her husbands life as her own, starting a new life in new environment, she gets pregnant ,9 months she carries the baby in her womb and when child is born ,immediately the baby needs a fathers name . It's always about a man. Mother nurtures the baby ,she gives her whole youth and life to the child. Her every dream is for her child, she dreams of all the best things for her baby, she dreams of the day her little angel get married and starts her new life , she dreams about giving her daughter away to start her own happy journey, But suddenly if she loses her husband then she loses the right to give her child away too. I wonder why ,just coz the woman loses her husband ,how ,does she lose the right to give away her child ,why should she lose her dreams ? why should she lose the right to give her child away whom she has loved with her whole heart? What really changes in the mother and child relationship? So actually if we  think about it woman have absolutely no identity. She is just a daughter ,sister , wife ,mother with no rights without a man.

        How is it that a man when he loses his wife is allowed to dress the way he want ,he is allowed to sit for puja alone, give his child away , be a part of any aupisious occasion, Do what he pleases . Life doesn't really change for him, he can grieves for his wife for sometime and then go back to living his life just the way he wants,while for a woman everything changes . Society expects her to grieve for the rest of her life. So many don't , so many superstitious hockus pokus is thrown on her . 

        We call ourself people from developed country but somewhere we are still so backward. It's high time we stop all these superstitious nonsense,even if the mother is a widow it is the right of the mother to give her daughter away, it's she who has sacrificed herself for that child and honestly as a woman I don't want to be auspicious nor inauspicious let the woman just be a woman her marital status has nothing to do with being alive. Why can't we start treating a man and woman equal after all both are human ,the only difference I see between a man and woman, is man has xy chromosome while woman has xx chromosome. 

        

  

Life .... A learning process in every stage.....

         Life is a learning process in whatever stage we are in. Sometimes the learnings are good ,it changes you to be a better person ,and sometimes life takes tests which makes you wonder what is better ,to be good or to be bad..

        Sometimes people we meet really confuse us. It makes you wonder can we really trust anyone ever. Recently we met many people from different walks of life. We remember talking to these people listening to their problem sympathising with them, trying to understand them, believing every word they said. Their smile their love looked so genuine ,so real ,till reality striked. Every word they spoke was nothing but a lie. Nothing but an illusion that they wanted us to believe. Believe that good work is never forgotten, good work always pays . How they blinded us with their words. 

      But honestly were we really blinded or we just preferred the illusion than the reality. And what is more confusing is how people think , people know a person is good they know whatever work was done was totally for the people and it really helped the people, they were all only praises for him, he was appreciated by the world for his good work , he changed the whole place worked unconditionally for the people not thinking of his family  or himself ,and then what ,he was back stabbed by his own people. The people he trusted did not support him.

       Honestly what do people get by backstabbing , do they even realise that now they are a laughing stock coz everyone knows whom they back stabbed was truely a honest man. Who will be helping them now ? Will that person who was back stabbed ever be able to trust we the people. We say we want honest hard working educated people to work for the country and we the people only bring down such people ,did we really believe we made a right choice or we just closed our eyes and blindly followed a wave. Blindly followed words  not action. 

       Anyways I believe good people are always winners , coz their work will always be remembered ,they will always be protected for somewhere out there good people are appreciated  , and back stabbers will also be remembered for the stupidity they did and stupidity will always comes back to strike .Anyways all the best people hope life does not put you through a test where you wonder what you did was good or bad ........

Animal pays the price for mans fault

         The other day I got this video of the white tiger attacking the man and it made me think ...now this poor tiger will pay the price of a mans stupidity. We human are supposed to have something called brains which makes us different from animal. Unlike animals god gave us the power to think and use our brains ,but many times I wonder do we humans really use our brains sensibly?

        While watching the video I was wondering what was this man thinking ? 

How could he be so silly as to climb the walls even after being warned by the security personals . The white tiger actually was playing with the man for almost 10 minutes before he attacked the man, if u watched closely the tiger was wagging his tail and was what looked like playing with the man, I always thought when an animal wags his tail he is happy and in playful mood, at least that's what I see with my pet dog. Maybe I am wrong, but honestly I really didn't feel the tiger felt any danger by the man the only reason he attacked the man was when people started pelting him with stones, and it's very natural for an animal to attack to protect itself . While I was watching the video I was really feeling bad for the tiger coz I knew the man died coz of his own mistakes but now this cute animal would pay a price for someone else's fault. He will either be caged and isolated or put to sleep ,as now he is a man eater most unsafe for man . Sad such a beautiful creation of god will be suffering for a mans insanity.

      I still remember when we were younger we loved going to the zoo in Bangalore ,the Banargatta zoo. How I would get excited seeing the tigers and seeing different kinds of birds and animals there. We always made it a point to visit this zoo whenever we visited Bangalore . All our kids always enjoyed the day out in the zoo to watch  these beautiful animals. On  1 such visits we saw some hooligans troubling the animals they were making noise and throwing stones at the animals which was scaring the animals ,we could see the animals getting agitated. My sister and myself were so angry ,we screamed at them and asked them to stop behaving like that even after pleading with them they didn't not listen to us ,we than had to call the security guards ,who made these people leave the zoo. Why are we like that, what pleasure do we get by harming such beautiful animals , it's like we get some sadistic pleasure in doing so . How much noise we make when an animal attack us. Have we ever seen any animal harming us without a reason. Whenever an animal attacks it's always the fault of the man. We either encroach their place or we hurt them and self defence is legal even for human beings.

     Sadly in this incident a man lost his life and the white tiger may lose his freedom to live, freedom of the be with his own kind ,freedom to be in the open and enjoy the nature which is rightfully his to be in.. God bless the white tiger and give him strength to bear the consequences for the mistake of the man yet again...

     

Topic for today moral police....

       Mumbai mirror headline "Moral police out again armed with cp's 'new order'. I wonder if all read this article . I know this is a topic that many will have different views . So thought let me share my view . Well firstly I don't think there is anything wrong in hugging in public or holding hands in public and I don't think being in love or being infatuated is anything wrong.

      Well we live in a world with so much hatred around us, so a little display of affection is not bad. Why shouldn't someone who care for each other hold hands and put his or her hand on his or her friends shoulders. Is it really so wrong to hug a friend . We let rapist get away from raping a woman ,we don't say anything when someone teases a girl publicly ,the child molester gets out freely , everyday girls are groped , teased touched ,in every place they go , where are the moral police then. The moral police said they got a complain against the people holding hands or hugging or whatever they were doing ,but sometimes I wonder when a woman is teased or molested where are these people who complain. 

    So if I walk with my husband and hold his hand does that make me do something morally wrong or if my friend who is a man puts his hand around my shoulders with my permission make me lose character person?? We are a group of marathoners after we complete our run we just hug each other with excitement ,at that point none of us think we are man or woman we are just sports people , friends who have the same passion so does that mean people around us have the right to judge us and tag us as morally wrong doers?? Who decides what is morally right and morally wrong? And how do we decide that ? So are we saying a boy and girl ,a man and a woman can never be friends ,if they are together even as friends then people will always tag them as morally wrong doers....hmmmm so soon we should stop coed education and even work places will have to be only for men or only women.....I wonder do we really want to be a part of this kind of morally right society. 

      I agree we do need moral police but for the right reasons ,not reason like holding hands or hugging a person. We need moral police for stopping someone from forcing themselves on others , for stopping an eve teaser, for protecting our children from perverts . We need moral police to protect boys or girls from miscreants and protecting our right .

    I know many may not agree with my view ,but this is totally my opinion and I live in a democratic country so I am as of now allowed to express my view.. If I have hurt anyone with my view then seriously it was not intended ....

Happy happy Wala birthday.....

       Yippppeee it was my birthday . I love my birthday .i love reminding people it's my birthday ,it's my special day , bas it's all about sushma today ..wah wah I am happy. I always make sure I send a reminder to everybody to wish me and anyone who forgets to wish me has to bear the consequences.. Oohhhh  how I hate it when people I love forget to wish me ,so I play it safe by reminding everybody it's my birthday .i would love to stand on the highest mountain and scream "It's My Birthday....."

       Everyone always laughs thinking what halla Goola I do about my birthday but for me it means a lot. I believe every relative of mine every friend of mine who loves me should wish me ,as somewhere deep in my heart I feel my happiness is connected to all these wishes that I collect on my birthday. Each wish is so special to me  when I open my eyes in the morning to all the lovely messages I receive ,it automatically brings a smile to my face and at that moment I feel so blessed and so loved. 

        Today on my special day let me take the pleasure of thanking all my loved ones who made my day so special. Let me start from my brother in law sending me a birthday wish at 12 sharp ,My family waking me up to cut the cake at 12 ,my mother in law staying awake till 12 made me feel so special, my brothers and Bhabhis wishes ,made me feel like I am a good sister and good sister in law , My friends who stayed up till 12 just to wish me ,I felt so blessed , sushma more a sister than a friend sending me a happy birthday the whole day and coaxing me to cancel the class using different kinds of excuses made me laugh , masee making a beautiful saree as a gift, my Vivaan's best wishes made me so energised ,Sameera writing soo beautifully about our relationship bought old memories back, usha bringing a cake and my favourite chocolate made me believe friends can be found at any age , vikas and the my  bestest friend getting cake for me in the gym made me feel so loved ,and all the trainer and people in the gym became a part of the celebration, made my day more special. My djags group surprise gift and each of my running friends coming home just to wish me made me feel life is so complete and day felt so festive, oh my favourite 5 star cake felt and tasted the best .Jayshree thank u so much for actually doing such a wonderful job with my  snap ,it was beautiful. My sisters calls ,my niece and nephews from my and my hubbies side wishes always makes my day for me as I wait for their calls the most. My son in laws calls and messages are always special to me. Hey how can I forget my school friends well wishes after all old friends are like old wine always the best. Last and the most important people , My parents when they wish me I feel the most happiest as somewhere I feel they are proud about the fact that I am their little girl.

          Every wish that I got today is special for each wish meant you all were there with me to celebrate another year I completed happily ,and hoping and wishing I have many more years to celebrate with all of you year after year.thank you again each and all of you for all ur lovely wishes . Love you all dil se....

          Ohhh and the people who forgot to wish me I am soo excited that I can torture you for the next whole year for forgetting my birthday...now be prepared to bear the consequences ha ha ha .......

  

Teachers the makers of our future...

     Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara......Guru ,Teacher, Shikshak,Master ,Madam...are different names we address them with but the meaning is always the same . A guru is someone who teaches us the difference between the right and wrong they are the guiding stars who shows a child the way to the better future ,a teacher is someone closest to every child after their parents, someone they trust always.

    It's not necessary a teacher is only the one we meet in school or in college or any other educational institute. What is a defination of a teacher ? A teacher is someone who teaches us things to make us a better person ,and you meet a teacher in every stage of your life. The 1st teacher we meet is our mother who teaches us to love unconditionally ,a father who shows us how to care for the loved one ,a sibling who teaches us meaning of sharing ,grandparents teaches us to be pampered, a spouse teaches u about companionship and commitment, a child teaches us meaning of patience and love ,friends teach us to choose our own relationships and value that relationship ,a pet who teaches us true meaning of being truely loved,even enemies teach us to learn from our mistakes. In every stage of our lives we meet people who in someway or other are the reason for bringing a change in our lives.

       Today on the occasion of teachers day let me thank all the wonderful people in my life who have taught me to become a better person. My parents ,my school and college teachers ,my husband ,my mother in law, my children , my mentors, my friends , my coach ,my trainer ,my pet rusty and to every person who has come to my life and bought a change in my life ,you all are the ones who have made me who I am today and I will always be eternally grateful to all of u for being a important part of my life.

   So let me take the pleasure of wishing all the teachers in my life a very happy teachers day and thank you for being in my life.....

  A  Happy Teachers Day to all the wonderful teachers out there in the world . Your work is the most honorable work in the world ..keep up the good work. God bless all the teachers. 

There is still hope for us....

Ganpati bappa morya Pudcha varshi lauvkar yaa,ganpati gayele gaonaala chain pade na aamala......we sang this song as we bid our ganpati good bye. As we bid him goodbye my faith in children became stronger... You maybe wondering how. Well my bestest friends seema 's son Vivaan this year celebrated ganpati in a unique way . Vivaan is a 7 year old young and active citizen of our country ,truely an active citizen. Vivaan is an ardent fan of ganpatiji and he has been getting ganeshji to his home for the past few years. He loves celebrating this festival . When he was smaller he did not know the difference between POP ganpati and clay ganpati so he never insisted what ganpati he wanted but once he knew the difference he insisted on only getting clay ganpati ,he is very particular when we do the visarjan we don't put the garland into the sea. Infact last year he insisted we shd do the visarjan in an artificial pond. Every year he makes me more and more proud of him  but this year he made me have hope for my nation and trust our generation next , I am sure they will bring the most needed change we want to see in our country.

       This year Vivaan made his own ganpati . He attended the workshop for making Eco friendly Ganesha . He made a cute little ganpati and the family decided instead of buying a ganpati they will pray to the ganpati that Vivaan made with so much love and affection. Even for decoration he used his blocks and others stuff that was at his home. We all prayed to our own little ganeshji and believe me that small little ganpati    gave me soo much peace in my heart honestly have no word to describe it. This year he was very happy as he knew he made a Eco friendly Ganesha so he did not mind doing the visarjan in the sea. We all prayed to our little ganpati ji for the last time before we took him to the sea to bid him goodbye so he can meet Mother Earth,and the best part of the visarjan was that Vivaan could carry his own ganeshji to the sea shore and do the visarjan also by himself. He was so happy ,as usual when he finished his Puja before the visarjan he made sure the flowers and garlands were put in the bag so that we don't put it in the sea ,everytime he does that we all friends have a proud smile on our faces. He carried his little ganeshji to the sea dipped ganeshji 3 times ,and then let ganeshji go ,what a wonderful feeling it was we actually saw ganpatiji dissolve in the water as soon as we put him in. This feeling was a feeling that made us all decide every year we will only use the ganpati that Vivaan makes . 

    Everybody on the beach found Vivaan's ganeshji so cute ,there were so many who came and praised him infact many people clicked his photo also. Thank you Vivaan for making us proud yet again and also giving us a hope that change is possible and it's not far when each child of our country will be instrumental in bringing about this change......there is hope ......

   

   

Ganapati bappa morya...

     Ganapati bappa morya mangal murti morya.... Every where we can hear this ,today and for the next 11 days. It's the time we welcome ganeshji with love and affection. Let me start from the very beginning a very good place to start ,Why do we really celebrate this festival ? Lokmanya Tilak started this festival that we call sarvajanik Ganesh utsav. The reason behind this occasion was that British put a rule on Indian during the revolution period ,we Indians were not allowed to be in a group anywhere as they did not want the freedom fighters to meet and plan their revolutionary moves, if they were found in groups they would be arrested,so it started becoming difficult for freedom fighters to meet . Britishers would never interfere with our religious functions ,that's how this utsav was created it was called a sarvajanik utsav means a festival for all people. 1 place was decided where all the people would meet and celebrate this festival and it also became a meeting place for our freedom fighters to plan their next moves without the Britishers interfering . We got our freedom but we still continued celebrating this festival as it was a good way for everybody to meet .

       I have grown seeing and enjoying this festival.  I have seen this festival turning from sarvajanik utsav to political utsav to individual utsav. When we were kid we had 1 common pandal where everybody visited ,prayed and had cultural events. it was truely a sarvajanik utsav . Then as we grew we started seeing different political groups having different pandal .we saw friends becoming rivals ,each 1 trying to make their Ganesh pandal more bigger and more commercialised . Ganapati became bigger and more expensive. Clay ganapati turned to pop ganapati ,organic paint turned to toxic paint . The noise level increased ,every possible pollution level increased. Soon each pandal collecting funds for their pandals became a big hole in the pocket for business people and individuals ,I am sure many agree with me though many may not accept it as in India we fear god ,people fear it so much that they think if we say a no for anything to do with religious purpose will make god angry and he will punish us, but seriously why should we be god fearing ,instead we should be god loving and god does not hate or punish his children. Anyways coming back to Ganesh utsav ,what we see now is sarvajanik Ganesh utsav has become individual house festival. Each individual gets The Lord to their homes . So what is actually happening today is everyone is so busy running from one home to other to take darshan that we actually have no time to meet each other at all. It's become more a formality than a utsav. It's lost all it's fun. Few days before ganapati we can hear people only say "arre yaar have to go to 10 different place will be dead tired", "don't know what excuse to make for not going to so and so house","what ganapati was just running around so much had no time to actually see or pray." Funny a sarvajanik festival has become just a festival now.

       Then comes the bigger day ,the visarjan day ,the day we bid goodbye to ganpatiji ,we send him off with same enthusiasm as we got him to our homes, with the same amount of love and affection we put him into our ponds,lakes and sea hoping he meets Mother Earth  again , but does he really meet Mother Earth. We put him in water and don't even turn back to see what is his state after the visarjan. The same idol that we get to our local pandal and our homes becomes nothing but a pile of garbage the next day of  the visarjan . Sad Reality of this festival. The after effect of this festival is worst ,the roads where pandal are made have big holes ,and so  much garbage is created, and how can we forget the traffic jams. Life becomes a big chaos for all.

       I hope the sarvajanik Ganesh utsav comes to its original form. A festival for all and for that we do not need 100 ganpati's but 1 ganpati for each area ,we do not need ganpati in each lane ,each bylanes ,each bylanes having 100 different groups with different ganpati and each home having a separate ganpati .This festival was made to unite us Indian not separate us. 

        We need to remember it's called Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav ,not just Ganesh utsav.

   

Women really who???

    " Hai meri chamak chalo". " hi sweetie." " hi sexy ." Are some of lewd comments we women have heard sometime or other hmmmm not sometime actually all the time. Honestly what do these men who pass such remarks think ,do they think they are Salman or Shahrukh that they will say such things and women will give them a shy look and come running to them.... Come on people there is difference between reel life and real life . Women hate such comments seriously it boils our blood . Believe me even Katrina or Kareena also will find these comments insulting.

     Today's headlines as usual was about a woman molested by 3 men. She had to go  to 4 different police station to just register her FIR. Can you imagine what that woman must have gone through , and to make matters worst our law enforcers made her go through her nightmare for 9 hours before they registered her FIR ,she had to repeat the same experience again and again with every hawaldar inspector and driver too. That was not the end of her plight she was asked why she was dressed in shorts ,why was she out so late at night ,what was she doing with a boy. She was molested again and again not physically but emotionally and mentally in the police station.How will that women ever feel secured ,how will she ever trust our law system. Why should she trust our law system who treated her more like a culprit than a victim. But hats off to this women, she relived her nightmare again and again but made sure she lodged the FIR. She didn't give up. But why did she have to go through all this ,why is the law so different for women. We live in a democratic country where all are equal or did we miss the small writing which say democracy applies for human , and women don't come under this catogery. We women have a special rule book which has many do not's..... Like do not wear short clothes, do not look pretty, do not smile, do not laugh ,do not do this  do not do that,  coz there is some pervert who will be eyeing you somewhere or other. Honestly does a pervert care if a woman is wearing a short dress or is fully covered ,does it matter to him if she is smiling or crying, does it matter if she is few months old or a 100 year old ,for that person she is just a sex object who has a been given a rule book by our society which she has to follow ......

   Somehow women's silence has become her biggest weakness. Women please stop being silent stop taking such remark with silence ,our silence is just encouraging such people to increase in number. Let's be the change we want to see. Mothers before we teach our children ABC and 1,2,3 let's teach them to respect our daughters ,teach them to treat a girl like a human who has feelings and is very much alive . Teach our girls to have a voice ,tell her ,her words are important she is important and she should learn to respect other girls also because nothing can be worst than a women treating other women with disrespect. 

   Women do not want to be treated superior she wants to be treated equal treated with same respect you expect others to give you. She does not want to be your mother ,sister or daughter to feel safe in our city she wants her individuality her identity and respect for who she is. It's high time women we all say " Enough is Enough" ab sach main bas.......

Juhu beach or garbage bin.time to think ...

       " Long run at Juhu beach on Sunday ". A message from our coach excited all us runners. Maybe all of us wanted a change from our usual place. Sunday 5:30 am we all meet at our usual place and car pooled to our destination ,all excited about our pleasurable run.

        We reached the beach and were welcomed by the beautiful site of the sea it looked soo beautiful and serene. The high tide and big waves hitting the shore was a pleasant sight ,till we saw the shore . We all were in for a big shock, we all could not believe our eyes . The beach was filled with nothing but garbage I didn't even know if I could really call it a beach I felt it looked more like a garbage landfill. As we were already there we decided to start our run ,we did our warm up and started running . What came ahead was more shocking ,there were tons and tons of plastic everywhere ,so many different type of garbage varying from plastic bag ,flowers ,bottles ,wrappers , cushions animal and human excreta yucks ,there was just garbage ,what we saw everywhere . The tides were high but my spirits was low and my OCD issue hit the new height. Running became the most difficult task for me ,it was not a pleasurable run but a stressful one,somehow I just could not handle the sight that welcomed me. Everytime I met other runners each had a sad and disgusting expression and only words that came out from everyone's lips were " Oh My God" . I don't think god himself could help us. The cleaning crew was a welcoming sight oh it's felt so good to see them clean our mess, yes I call it our mess after all we are the ones who create this mess ,we humans are so ignorant we think by throwing our garbage in the sea ,it will disappear,forgetting Mother Nature never keeps things that's not hers she always returns it back to us ,but we still do the same again and again and again. Today I was reminded about what my daughter vanshika once told me when we were discussing about the dirtiness around our city. She says we Indians are very spoilt people and very pampered people,we have house helps to do the cleaning of our house the housekeeping staff to do the cleaning of our surrounding ,we have drivers and car cleaners who clean our cars, we people are so used to others doing our work that we always think wherever we throw garbage there will always be someone behind us cleaning it and that is why we so openly litter while in other countries they don't have help so they do their own work so not littering is a habit with them,unlike us . The sad part is we call ourselves children of Gandhiji ,a man who believed we must do our own work not expect others to do it which he followed till his untimely death. Today when running I wished he would have made it a rule for us Indians ,maybe then today we would have made it a habit not to expect someone else to clean our mess .Sadly this bad habit of ours is spoiling our Mother Nature.

     I continued my run no today I couldn't call it a run I walked ,dodging the garbage and looking around at people walking ,children playing ,some enjoying the sound of the sea and some like me just dreaming one day we will see our beaches clean and just clean plain clean.....bas itna sa kwaab hai....

India is my country and I am proud to be an Indian a pledge I take and hope you too will.....

             Bharat humko jaan se pyaara hai sab se pyaara gulistan Hamara hai. Janma bhoomi hai Hamari shaan se kahage hum.....I am sure when we hear such songs immediately we become patriotic. We suddenly become proud Indians and say Bharat mata ke Jai.......'But 'there is always a but....are we really proud to be Indians really really proud ,and why does our patriotism show only on Independence Day or Republic day.

             Honestly by changing my display picture to a national flag or putting a flag in my car,show I am a true Indian .is that enough ???? This is something I always think when I see someone spit on the road or travel in expensive cars and throw garbage on the road. Do these people really love their country...I always remember taking a pledge all Indians are my brothers and  sisters and then I wonder how does a brother watch a sister being teased or raped or killed..I was told India is a free country...but honestly what are we free from..poverty, illiteracy ,inequality, corruption all these things makes me wonder are we really free? I was told Indians are proud of our history but what do we do with our historical monuments and our natural resources.. Historical monuments are becoming  a canvas for people to portray their artistic skills and our natural resources are so badly polluted. Indians are supposed to be united always , we got our freedom because we were all united but somehow I see this unity more during a disaster .... do we really have to wait for a disaster to show our unity. Everytime I read the newspaper and read about a child raped, molested ,killed or abused I wonder what is the future of my country when we cannot protect the future of our country. After every Independence Day and Republic day when I see our national flag thrown around my heart cries and I am sure many people also feel the same. So many things are there that makes me wonder are we Indians really proud to be an Indian ???

              This Independence Day lets do something different let us all really fall in love with our country not just for 1 day but for everyday till our last breath.Truely be proud to be an Indian by not letting anyone litter,not letting anyone abuse anybody ,let us all respect each other and respect each other's rights ,lets all stand with each other always and not wait for a disaster, be truely proud of our history and treat our natural resources with its due respect. Let's treat each human being equal . Let us all stand up against corruption. Let us not throw our national flag but keep it safely and use it again and again and again.....The day all we Indians do this that will be the day when truely we have the right to say 'India is my country and I am proud of my Janma bhoomi'.

             A Very Happy Independence Day to all the true Indians who will be the change makers for a better and prouder India....

        

 

No time to stand and stare.....

       What is this life full of care no time to stand and stare.....these are the lines of a poem that I remember I learnt in school. Somehow these lines have always remained in my mind. It comes to me everytime when I am rushing around trying to do everything at once,and when I remember these lines I wonder what am I running for . What is it that I want to achieve in such a hurry? And sometimes I wonder do I really enjoy this running around. Then I look around me and I see every person is doing the same thing,each one wants more in life and in wanting that more we don't even realise the best days of our lives has passed by and we still running trying to have a better life.

    I had got this lovely Hindi poem forward which talks about small happiness coming knocking at our door everyday but we keep pushing her away hoping for that 1 big happiness that's no where at sight. It made me think it's so true we are always waiting for that 1 big happiness that we don't even see . We plan our children future but miss on their day to day achievement. We dream about big happiness with our loved ones but we reject their small happiness everyday. We spend a lifetime waiting for that 1 big happiness without realising life is all about small moments.these small moments join together and make us achieve that 1 big happiness and when we reject all the small happiness how will we possibly reach that big happiness..something to really ponder about .

    I sometimes wonder what are we really running after ? Are we really running after that happiness or are we just pushing away that happiness so far away that it is not reachable at all. Planning for our tomorrow we totally forget our today . Everyday we postpone our plans for today thinking we need to plan for tomorrow and what if that tomorrow never comes, what if when that tomorrow actually come would you really enjoy it as much as you would have enjoyed it when u really wanted it...hmmm I wonder.

   Honestly I believe today is more important for today is mine today I know I am here, I am healthy to enjoy whatever I want ,I can and am able to enjoy what makes me happy . Tomorrow I don't know ,tomorrow is so unpredictable.

     Truely said 'Today is mine ,Tomorrow who knows'...so people enjoy the small happiness that come your way..... kya pata kal hoon na hoon..

     

    

My 1st trekking experience ...kalavanti pinnacle.

               Kalavanti pinnacle my 1st trekking trip . One more thing striked out of my bucket list , I am sure all of us have a bucket list ,things we want to do before we die . Trekking was something I always wanted to do but somehow never managed . Luckily in my running group we have a friend who is into trekking, Dr Hema ,and ,she was nice enough to organise a trek for all of us ,along with my best buddy dhiraj. Both of them planned the whole trek with precision. We all were soo excited about the whole event. Though many people dropped out and few joined in we managed to actually leave for the trek.

            We 23 people that's including few children met early in the morning and left all excited about our trek. On our way we had the most amazing vada pav ,poha and tea. We reached thakurwadi village and parked our cars there and started our trek . We started the climb with full enthusiasm . We had to climb for about 2 hrs to reach the village above and then from there others 2 hours to reach the kalavanti pinnacle. The road was tough with lots of obstacles, but the view was breathtaking it made us forget all the hardship we went through ,though the road was tough with lots of slippery stones and mucky track and narrow way we managed to reach the village ,the view was breathtaking something that I cannot describe or even the camera cannot capture the beauty of the place. The air was so fresh and pure the mountains were so welcoming ,though rough but still welcoming the greenery was soo amazing ,all the tiredness we felt when climbing was forgotten and we were all ready with new enthusasium to start our trek to kalavanti pinnacle.

         We passed some villages and then started our climb to the pinnacle. If we thought our climb to the village was difficult this climb was totally different level of difficulty we had take every step carefully ,there were place where we literally went on our fours to avoid from falling. We had to hold on to trees for support some shrubs had thorns which scratched us but we all walked up just enjoying the breath taking view. We reached the 3 highest point where few of our friends decided to stop and not go further ,the view there was magical . Few of us wanted to experience the pinnacle so we started the climb for the pinnacle it was the most difficult trek we had to literally walk on our sides sticking to the mountain ,lifting ourselves ,climbing the rocks and slowly steadily climbing each step with upmost care. We reached the 2 highest point . The view their was like a dream ,the mountains, the fog ,the greener was like nature at its best. Most of our friends decided to end trek there,but dhiraj wanted to go to the pinnacle so he climbed the final climb,to climb the pinnacle we had to use the rope looking at him climb kunal also decided to climb ,looking at him climb up ,usha and myself to got excited , usha climbed 1st ,seeing her climb I too got the confidence to do it. But when I was climbing suddenly a strong gust of wind came and I was all shaken ,my cap flew off my head and feel into the canopy down below ,I was very scared thinking wht if I also fall but with my friends encouragement I confidently went ahead with the climb and reached the highest peak of kalavanti pinnacle .Wow the feeling of reaching on the top was something out of this world. If down below we felt the view was like a dream the view here was like a dream come true. The feeling we all felt when reaching the top was actually like a dream come true. We took in the view of the nature around us to the fullest . We did not want to leave the place but we knew we had to descend  which was a really difficult task down. We managed to slowly and steadily get down ,we slipped many times but managed to reach the village .the villagers had cooked for us an amazing meal,we enjoyed the meal soo much.we played like kids in the waterfall for sometime ,clicked some group snaps and started our walk down to thakurwadi village . By then it had rained quite a lot ,so the track had become more slippery , and sadly my husband shoes broke and he had no option but to walk barefoot for the rest of the trek. He really had a tough time the pointed stones made the trek more difficult for him. Dhiraj and me kept our eyes on the track to make sure that he wouldn't step on some glass pieces which were there on the track. And me in the process slipped and was totally covered with mud but I just couldn't stop laughing coz I don't remember when was the last time when I was fully covered in mud. We laughed our way down to our car and that was the end of our wonderful trek.

    This trek made me closer to my friends ,the support we gave each other made the trek easy and fun. I learnt more about myself ,I was surprised with my own strength and determination. I am sure all of us who went on this trek were surprised with our strength and determination. This trek made us feel ,age doesn't matter any obstacles can be conquered if we have the will power and the support of our friends . Trekking is all about how well each one supports the other and how much determination you have. Here I should thank my friends for all the support ,our marathon coach suhas sir and Samson sir ,it's only because of their training we have managed to do the trek so easily, and be fit and fine the next day, Thank you hema and dhiraj for organising such a wonderful trek and making my first trek the most memorable one. I am looking forward for many more treks and memorable times ahead.

My daddy bestest always

         My nephew nirvana and aahren age 5 and 3 always look at their dad with so much fascination ,we can always hear them say my dadoo handsome ,soo strong ,bestest . I love fighting with them saying no my dad bestest it's like a competition and more like fun for me to irritate them, but honestly yes it's true for me my daddy bestest ,and actually for every child it will always be my dad bestest.

       My dad is a self made man ,he struggled from childhood ,he came to mumbai city from a small village in mangalore he worked at a hotel doing odd jobs and studying by the night ,he is and will always be grateful  to all the people who helped him in those days. Dad graduated did his labour law also did management course landed a job in a good company and progressed wonderfully from company secretary to the general manager of the company .My dad always says his life is like a miracle ,he says he always believes god always watched over him so he managed to do whatever he did. He worked hard and managed to make a hotel in a city like Mumbai ,whenever he talks about his hotel he always says he still can never believe how he managed to make a hotel but by gods grace and with the help of his well wishers he managed to make this hotel . Rags to riches is the perfect way to describe my dad's life. Dad always says when we see miracle happening we should make sure we spread that miracle and help the less fortunate ,that is the way we can thank god for all he did for you and your loved ones. This is something my dad follows till today. I am so proud of him . At the age of 80 he does his own work doesn't depend on anyone for his day to day work ,touch wood I hope he always remains the way he is. For me my dad is someone who has always protected me ,I always feel safe coz I know he is around me watching me making sure his daughter is safe. Now he is growing older ,there are times when I have to be strict with him for his own good ,life is so funny ,when I was younger dad used to be strict with me ,now when he is growing older I have to do the same. But yes as a daughter my dad will always be the bestest ,strongest, and I hope he is as proud of me as i am of him. For me my dad is king of the kings and no one can ever take his place in my heart.

       So to all the daddy's, daddoos,appa, papa,pitaji ,abba,you are yours child's hero and will always be ,they may not say it but honestly each child believes it in their hearts...so to all you daddies and would be daddies a very happy daddies day have a love filled heroic day today...

  

My hometown

       Today was one of those days when I am in flying mode ,had to travel to mangalore my hometown to sign some papers and return back to Mumbai ,funny when I call mangalore my hometown I feel a little confused coz for me mangalore has always been my mom's and dad's hometown.I am born and bought up it Mumbai for me home can only mean Mumbai.

       Whenever I fill any forms i have to call mangalore my hometown actually isn't mangalore more my ancestral hometown . why can't I call Maharashtra my hometown where I was born ,bought up ,married ,had my kids here ,infact my kids are grown here too .yes I belong to a democratic country and I am allowed to move anywhere in India freely ,but still when asked abt my hometown I have to say mangalore.

     Today when I travelled to mangalore I loved everything about the place, the greenery the fresh air the innocence of that place but I couldn't connect to it, I was a stranger to mangalore ,and mangalore was a stranger to me.I was one lost soul there. My parent come here often and when they are here ,they are so happy they recognise every tree ,every path ,every lane ,every person. They have so many memories here while for me there is absolutely no memories here.i know I spent a lot of holidays here in my childhood ,visited every possible temples,for us mangalore has always been all about Puja's and temples and sometimes that really got to me. I know in mangalore I become someone I am not ,maybe that is the reason why I can never connect to this place . For me home will always be Mumbai. My birth place the place I took my 1st step the place I learnt to speak,had my crush ,heart breaks ,education ,marriage ,children. Every memory of mine is connected to Mumbai,the good bad and the ugly. Mumbai is where my home is ,my heart is,wherever I go I will always be a mumbaikar whatever my hometown be..

     

     

The unforgettable Nepal ....

Vacation time always the happy time and family time for us. The whole month was a busy month for us with 2 weddings in the family so we had to plan a short holiday. The travel agent suggested Nepal and we too said yes without googling it as we just wanted to get out. Luckily my sister in law decided to check the weather and told us how hot it would be. But as all reservation was done we could not change the plan .         

                  Taking the lords name we left for our holidays with lots of doubts and confusion. We landed in Kathmandu the capital city of Nepal . We were totally shocked by the city there was so much pollution and we actually felt we were choking. But we are a family of happy people we try to enjoy ourselves wherever we go. The 17 of us decided we are not going to be disappointed by anything we were there for a good time and we would have a good time. Luckily( a word we used many times during this vacation ) we just had a overnight stay at Kathmandu so we were all happy as next day our itenairy said river rafting ,that excited us ,we had done it in Kashmir and we had the best time there. We were given all the instruction and were given our life jacket helmet and paddle and also lots of warnings which our guide said we should listen carefully as there were chances of some accidents happening and we laughed thinking what can really happen..And it did happen we met with an accident 1 raft that was carrying my cousin,brother in law , brother and sister in law overturned and they were trapped in the whirlpool and the rapid and we had to to be the rescuers ,how we paddled seeing our loved ones in danger and managed to get them to safety .At that moment I was so proud of my family for being so calm and composed ,each one of us handled the situation so bravely and calmly ,it surprised even our guides. By the grace of god each one came out of the situation  safe and sound. We had a overnight stay in the tent on the shore ,but there was a sandstorm so sleeping in the tent was impossible so we had to sleep in our bus and some of us slept on the road .

             The next day we went to chitwan an amazing forest resort called tiger hill resort. We were welcomed by the hotel staff with a wonderful smile which believe me we saw through out our stay there. Chitwan was beautiful with their cabin like rooms with basic necessities and Eco friendly stuff. We went on an elephant ride in the jungles saw the rhino ,deers ,peacocks in close proximity . Oh it was fun. We even had a jungle walk there too we saw wild elephant ,rhino ,deers we prayed no one comes near us we really didn't want other out of the box experience.we really enjoyed the walk and the boat ride watching crocodiles and fishes,we enjoyed the walk  in the meadow with heavy rains pouring which drenched us from head to toe,my little nephews had a blast getting drenched in the rain and the elephant ride and seeing so many different animals. After 2 wonderful days in chitwan we bid  goodbye to the wonderful staff of the tiger wood resort,they truely were wonderful and made our stay more fun.

            From chitwan we went to pokhara a city of waterfalls ,temples ,lakes and many lovely stories from the past . We were fascinated by this quaint little place next to the lake seetu and surrounded by the himalaya ranges Annapurna and fish tail. Himalaya what do I say about it ,the size and the beauty of it always gives me a sense of pride thinking we  Indians are the ones protected by this amazing mountain range called the himalaya. We got up by 4:30 to see the sunrise from the mountain ranges ohhh what a sight it was,like I have said earlier what our eyes see the camera can never capture. But whatever we did capture can never beat the actual beauty of the place. Himalaya is one place that I can talk about forever and ever,and a mountain range that how many ever times I see ,I will always be fascinated by it. We left pokhara with a heavy heart for that was almost the end of our holidays . But adventure had to follow us we were stuck in the mountains for almost 10 hrs coz of a heavy traffic jam.

               We reached Kathmandu late in the evening so had to change our plans of going to the pashupathi nath temple the next day early morning just before we left for the airport. Next morning 6 am we were on our way to the temple . The temple had so many lovely stories which we heard with fascination, the shivlings around the temple ,the faith with which people prayed amazed us. After the temple we reached the airport to come back to India. When were at the airport we relived all our wonderful moments we had in Nepal. A place which showed us adventure in the rough rivers,peace around the himalaya,the amazing and the silent world of the jungle, we experienced every possible weather change from extreme hot ,to shivering in the cold near the river and the pleasant weather near the lake.

          For all of us this was 1 holiday that I am sure we will never ever forget. We call it the unforgettable Nepal ...

 

Words hurt more than action....

       Words  speech gods gift to us human . Words express our feeling it's makes things beautiful, it opens the unknown world....when a story teller tells his story it's the words that takes us to their world ,a world they imagine and we create with their imagination ,it's just their beautiful words that make us actually see what the writer wants us to see to feel ,what they want us to feel. Words are the most powerful tool we mankind have.

       Words of appreciation can make a person achieve any goals ,word of encouragement can make a person do the impossible , words can change the world for us 

       But words when not used sensibly can hurt a person so much. Sometimes I wonder how people can hurt someone else without thinking ,without noticing that each word of theirs can really hurt the person emotionally,When we speak have we ever thought how the other person feels with our words. We sometimes get so carried away with just proving ourselves to be right that we don't even care if we did the right things or not, and what hurts more is the people who hurt you are the people you consider closest to you,but you still have to smile and say it's okay no issues it's just words we  can't spoil relations for just words.sometimes life teaches you to eat ur pride for maintaining a relationship,and sometimes it teaches u ignorance is truely better,but how do we explain our tears also to ignore the words and how do we erase the memory of that words. Physical harm can be mended but verbal hurt can be forgiven but never forgotten,they will always be with you in some corner of your mind forever.

      But it's true life is all about adjustments ...but it's also true' It's only words and words are all we have to take your heart away' and break your heart too????

An emotion called Mother....

       Ma,amma,aaee,mother,mom mummy,mate,momzie,mama,whatever u call her is irrelevant ,she is one person who is the closest to her child ,a word that is universally loved and cherished by all. When a women becomes a mom she is totally absorbed in that role.she becomes a multi talented person always multi tasking without any efforts. She makes everything look so simple. She is one person who can read her babies mind ,she forget everything else and makes that baby her world.

      Sometimes I wonder how god created a mom,how someone gives up her whole life for other living being. I have realised one thing the word mother is a feeling  ,an emotion that every women has inside her. She doesn't have to have babies to get these feelings and emotion,it's inbuilt in her from the day she is born. This feeling is shown in all stages of her life,when she is a kid ,that feeling is shown to her dolls ,as a sister the feeling is shown to the siblings,the feeling is shown when she is with friends ,lover,husband ,pet ,child actually in everything ,anywhere and everywhere.

      I too am a mother a good one or not am not sure but yes I too am a mom, I chose to be a full time mom for i wanted to be around my babies all the time i wanted to take care of their every need till they can take care of themselves,and believe me it's not an easy task there are many sleepless nights,you have to study all over again with your child,read the same fairy tales again and again ,till it's running in your blood stream,watch them throw tantrums,carry them on your shoulders till every bone of yours is crying with pain,many times u feel you are mentally and emotionally drained,many times u cry yourself to sleep ,thinking your youth is passing by in just cooking cleaning and handling whining babies. And your social life is in a standstill actually u have absolutely no social life,but then everytime u see ur child smiling you are back to action forgetting your own needs. There are times when  your child screams and yells at you saying hurtful things coz you have to be strict with them, the reason behind is to make a child understand the good and the bad,many times I too have fights with my girls as they feel I am always saying a no for something's they want to do, but i wishes the child would understands why the mother says a no,it's never coz she doesn't trust her child,her child is her only precious possession whom she wants to protect from all evils,she knows what nirbhaya's mother is going through,she can understand the pain a mother feels when she could not protect her child,though she understands life cannot stop ,but for a mom her life stops if anything ever happens to her child. Even a small scratch on her child is something the mother cannot bear. Sometimes I too wish my babies would understand me ,understand I trust them more than my life itself,but I know it's very difficult for them to do so, as they would never understand that emotion till they become a mom themselves,till then all babies We will be strict ,stop u ,protect u from all evil..that is our job you hate us for it is totally okay by us..

       There is so much we can talk about the emotion we call mother,but we just cannot compile it in one page or 100 pages. It's an emotion felt by every women irrespective  if she has a baby or not..I hope all of you out there agree with me on this... Anyways let me take this opportunity to wish every woman ,every girl,A Very Happy Mothers Day let's celebrate the lovely emotion that's inside every women that people call  a MOTHER.....

The virtual world or the actual world?????

Recently on Facebook I was watching this video how we the people are always online and on social networking sites,and let life go by ....according to that video even though we have 100 's of friends in virtual world but in the actual world we are so lonely.and it made me think  really is it true..... maybe in many ways yes it is. We do miss out on true beauty around us ,as now we watch everything through the eyes of the camera lens coz we want to upload photos on our social networking sites,somewhere we have stopped seeing things through our own eyes.honestly I do it also all the time.

  This time for my nephews wedding my brother did the honour of clicking all the personnel snaps and I think it was the best thing for all of us ,for once I enjoyed the function seeing it with my own eyes and not through the eyes of the camera lens. everything around looked so beautiful,I truely cherished every moment coz I was not busy clicking photo ,but was enjoying my brother in law and sister beaming with happiness when their son tied the knot,all my sisters looked so beautiful and the kids oh my god how beautiful each one looked,the bride and groom looked so wonderful together, what my eyes could see I know the camera will never show the same things and never show the feeling I was going through. I do believe we need some photographs ,but honestly memories are made from what our eyes see,photo can just be proof or something to jog our memory but they can never be the actual picture.

  Many times even during holidays we are so busy clicking photos that we forget the eyes show us truely what Mother Nature actually looks like ,all her colours and beauty are so real ,not like the photoshopped version of the camera.when I go on a holiday I actually feel the camera can never do justice to how truely beautiful the place looks, but still we do click pictures coz we want others to see the beauty of the places we have been and how much fun we had,but honestly don't you wonder what the camera shows is it really the truth...though somewhere inside us we know the camera can never show our true feelings,it shoots what we want the world to see,but our eyes sees everything just the way things are they show us the beauty the ugliness the smile the tears everything just like the way it is .

 Eyes are gods best gift given to us ,god wanted us to enjoy the world and see the world the way god sees it ,so sometimes let's get out of the virtual world and enjoy the actual world .Like the video said let not look down at our electronic gizmos but look up at the beauty around us and cherish each moment ..

 

An angel I call sanyukta...

21 years back I heard a soft cry and I heard the doctor smile at me and say 'it's a girl',happy I was ,my 1st born ,my little angel has come to this world.she was perfect in all ways ,everything I imagined her to be in those 9 months when I was carrying her . Those days I remember I used to be so scared wondering would I be a good mother will I know how to handle a baby,what if I do some mistakes what if I hurt the baby...so many things ran in my mind ..but when I laid my eyes on my angel all my questions and confusions were forgotten I was totally in love with this little bundle of joy the doctor gave in my hands. We called this little angel of ours Sanyukta. There was so much happiness around, my parents could not stop smiling looking at their 1 st grand child she became the apple of my dad's eyes from the day 1,and both her grand moms were always making sure she was well taken care of . Sanyukta soon became center of our attention,we lovingly called her sannu ,sometimes me and vanshika call her Saddu to tease her.we both love troubling her.

Being the 1 st child and at that time being the only child she was a little pampered,luckily that didn't really spoil her.she was always calm and peaceful child a quality I am sure she got from her father , she is a mirror image of mine infact her voice also is exactly like mine but I believe she is much much prettier than me and the best quality of her is her nature which she has inherited from her dad.she is good combination of both of us. Sometimes her maturity surprises me . She is the one who handles me and her younger sister when we get into a fight and there are times we both wonder who is the mother. But touch wood I am lucky to have her as my daughter.

 Today she 21 my god 21 suddenly my baby has become an adult,but for me she will always be that baby I fell totally in love with 21 years back.the 1 who taught me the meaning of being a mom.I know in a few years from now she will leave me and start her own dreams till then I want to hold her close to me and keep living my dreams with her.Sanyukta on your 21 birthday remember nothing's going to change I will still be nagging you,still call u 100 times,still ask u what time you coming and continue troubling you...that's my job baby...love u my angel.

   A Very Happy Birthday Baby.....

  

My little angel vanshika....

Today is my youngest daughters 15th birthday ,children grow so fast ,feels like just yesterday she was born after 2 days of difficult labour and a month before the actual date ,she was a baby who was full of surprises.my baby vanshika ,she shares her birthday with her dad but she is totally a mama's girl,everybody says I spoil her rotten.maybe in my own ways I do ,but what to do she is my youngest baby and somehow the youngest one always remains a baby for us moms,that's cause they are our last born and there won't be any more babies for us ,so we try to keep our youngest always a baby as long as we can and we hope that long is very long...my elder daughter and my husband always tell me let her grow,dont treat her like a baby ,but they don't understand for me she is the one who comes and cuddles me who lets me cuddle her ,kisses her,hugs her, she is the one who fights with me and always

makes me feel so special.

  Vanshika why you growing so fast just yesterday you used to love barbie dolls and barbie clothes ,and wearing those cute baby shoes which somehow u always lost ,I remember telling people stop calling you vanshu as you always lost 1 shoes.. And what a brat you were you broke every toy what your sister saved for years,how you beat up boys..you always kept me on my feet..and today you are 15 ,gone are the barbie days now it's 'forever 21 'to  'veramoda' ,to every possible fashionable clothes,your baby shoes are now high heels which you wear and look much taller than me,the little girl who would never comb her hair now has long beautiful hair,and does her own makeup.my baby is growing,but I know somewhere she will always be that little baby who I will always want her to be ,but ,I know 1 day I have to let her grow and spread her wings...

 A very very happy birthday dearest vanshika hope u have many more happy birthdays and still be my little sweet baby.love u my darling .

Bitter sweet truth ....

       It's my best friends daughters wedding ,and he is the father of the bride..we friends were chatting about the wedding preparations and what the different functions that they will be having and how the sangeet practise was going etc etc...weddings always brings so much excitement in everyone's lives,we had so many question for him and he had so many things to tell us,and then we asked him the most dreaded question would he cry when he does his daughters kanyadhaan,immediately he replied' I am already crying infact I am crying every single day '.and we all started pacifying him telling don't worry ,along with ur daughter u will be getting a son ,and ,don't cry daughters are the sweetest thing god created sooo on, but somewhere we also had a small tear brimming down our eyes.

        We too have daughters and we all started thinking one day our girls also will get married and go. Everytime  I think about them getting married , I get that sinking feeling in my heart and somehow my eyes fill with tears.every parent is happy about their daughters wedding but her going away to others house is the saddest part .our baby girls go away from our world to make a world of their own,leaving behind loving memories for us to always cherish.always knowing they have taken with them our souls.

 I remember my wedding time my dad was the happiest man running around making preparation,making sure his daughter had the best of everything and silently praying that his daughter is always happy.On the day of my wedding he kept staring at me,and everytime he looked at me his eyes were filled with tear ,it's amazing tradition of ours,though we are so happy about the wedding but along with it there is so much sadness . 

          I always tease my children when they get married and go I will be dancing and laughing,but I know I will be crying my heart out.imagine not seeing my daughters everyday,not arguing with them,fighting with them about anything and everything,my daughters are my life and absence of them in my life is a pain I can't even imagine .but somewhere as a parents we all know we have to let them go to start their lives ,to go behind their dreams and make their own memories i guess that's what is called life.

       My friends daughters wedding has bought so many lovely memories of the past and some lovely memories that will be created in the future...god bless the lovely couple ..

Friends forever....

        My friend forever asked me if I have to talk about friends what would I say . So here I go ,for me friendship is not just about friend in need is a friend indeed.what if a friend is not there when I need them does that mean that friend is not a friend indeed ,i don't believe that ...for I believe friendship is never selfish it's beyond all this.

          A friend is not someone related to us by blood ,it's a bond made by the heart,it is one relationship we chose on our own,and if we have chosen them then ,definitely that person is special to get a place in our heart.

       Well a friend to me is someone I can be just myself not a daughter,sister,wife mother,but me just myself.I can do all the stupid things and still be loved.loved for who I am not who others want me to be.A friend is someone who will be standing next to me forever without  judging me ,and the one who will be ready to kill anyone who even tries to harm me.when I make someone my friend. I need to love that person with my whole heart and that love is very unconditional.In friendship their is no age ,gender ,caste or religion it's all about how well we bond ,sometimes we know people for years and years but still they can never be our friend,but there are some we meet just for sometime and they just click,it's like ur heart tells us"yes this person is meant to be your friend".

         We meet many people in our lives but only few take that special place ,there are times when friends understand you more than your own siblings and relatives.they become your soul mates as with them you don't have to be perfect they love you with all your faults,they don't need to praise you all the time or be in touch with you all the time.there can be days u don't talk to each other or meet each other but you know that your friends are always in your mind and you in theirs ,when ever you are with them you become ,that little child who is always giggling and laughing without a care in this world,they bring out that stupidity that sometimes we lose with age and the different duties that life brings to us...friends are like fresh breath of air when you meet them,you are all strong and happy again to face anything and everything that life throws at you.

      Let me take this opportunity to thank all my friends for choosing me as your friend and for being that fresh breath of air that makes me smile not just smile but laugh.everytime I meet my friends I can't  help humming this song 'yeh yaar sun yaari Teri muhje zindagi se bhi pyaare hai'.... Love u all my friends 

  

The big fat Indian wedding dedicated to my crazy family love each one of them

It's wedding season again...and my nephew is getting married ,the most exciting time for all my family members.So much planning  has started for the special day suddenly everything ,every conversation is about akshay's wedding .

   First few months went in just deciding the venue ,how many people to invite whom not to invite, should we keep  the wedding a big affair or the reception a big affair.do we really need to invite this aunt ,I don't like that lady lets not invite her ,she / he was mean to me let's scrape him off the list are some of the conversation that could be heard always when we met..then comes the best part for all us ladies "what clothes to wear" " what jewellery to wear.""which beautician to book" It's the most exciting part of the whole function .oh how we drove my sister who picked sarees for us go mad ,soo many dos and don't we had,not that colour ,I want something different and unique..why her saree heavier than mine..oh my god soo expensive .poor sister of mine went crazy but in the end she managed to make us happy.oh then the worst part comes designing the blouse,we drove our designer mad or she drove us mad is something that I am still figuring out...but we actually passed that obstacle .oh how could I forget how we drove my niece crazy for the dresses for other functions for our daughters and us,poor shefali I am sure she is tearing her hair apart by now,but she did a wonderful job too.All of you must be wondering what about the grooms clothes ,we did give him little of our time for selecting his clothes and paraphanelias ..we are not so mean though that was the last thing on our list...

  Then comes the fun part the sangeet practise ,though we have adopted this function as it was traditionally not a part of our weddings. finding a choreographer was big decision we had to take ,and then the bigger decision was to zero in on the songs we wanted to perform,poor guy was soo patient with us .our practise sessions are something to really watch,I wonder is it really a practise session or just a party time for us ,my brother says this  is the time we just drink and eat he is sure none of our dances will be ready till the d day..but 1 thing for sure I am going to miss all this fun after it's over.suddenly we all waiting to meet our family members everyone are just laughing and behaving stupid but all this has bought us so close,me have made my choreographer change 4 songs by now every time I meet him I tell him song change ,hopefully  this week the song I chose should be it...poor Ali looks at me as if I have lost it,he wonders will I change the song till the final day,and to make matters worst my brothers and husband are wondering either the floor is crooked or they have 2 left feets.my son-in-law is wondering seriously does the choreographer really want him to do those steps while his wife is all ready to kill him every time he stamps her feet or hits her face..oh how can I forget our expert commentator who sit on the sofa and watch our steps and say how badly we dancing..each one of us are soo enjoying behaving stupid and childish,while the children are soo fed up of our childishness..irony of life kids behaving mature and elders behaving childish..but whatever it is we having a blast.oh how I am going to miss these days .

 Few more days left for the most awaited day..the day all the planning and practise will be put to action...the big fat Indian wedding...

Down memory lane

After a tiring workout I was walking back home from my gym ,lost in my own thought as usual ,I see ahead of me this sweet girl dancing and walking with her mom..she sees a branch of a tree and jumps on it and starts swinging and kept giggling away somehow it bought a smile to my lips..and took me down memory lane..the time when I was a kid

        I remember how much fun those days were ,the laugh was truely the most beautiful laughter,the smile were real .we had so many things we did ,we did not have video games or computers nor all the gizmos what children have today. We never went for 100s of different classes ,we did not have classes for extra curricular activity,and we never knew what the word I am bored really meant.

      We climbed trees ,scraped our knees ,jumped walls ,went cycling all over the place played all kinds of games from lagore ,dabba ice spice ,catch catch,hide and seek football cricket oh god I can go on and on about the games we played.i remember how we would come running from school finish our homework run down to play with friends.whole evening would be all about running jumping and just having pure fun and yet reaching home on time,we did not have a mobile phone neither did we need 1 for we were totally aware of our deadline.sometimes I wonder how did our parents manage without a mobile phone,not that we were very obedient kids but somehow they always knew how to be in touch with us.Life was so different that time ,we hardly had any TV programme I remember how much we enjoyed watching chayageet ,chitrahaar,amchi matti amchi mansa and Sunday movie was like family time, mom would make lovely samosas for us to eat when we watched the movie.I still remember watching star strek,he man,we love Lucy,Charlie Chaplin now too when I watch these serials they bring a smile to my face.Cycling to skating to anything was taught by family member or friends.i remember my younger brother teaching me cycling how he held the bike when teaching me to cycle and how he left me so I could fall and he could have a nice laugh,but he made sure I did learn to ride the bicycle.we did soo many stupid things which till today when all us cousins meet and talk about and laugh our hearts out.soo many lovely memories of the days gone by.

          Not that today's children don't have fun but I feel or maybe all us feel we had the best childhood memories.. And honestly yes we all have our own childhood memories which will always stay with us which will come back to us every time we see some child doing the same silly things we did...

  It was wonderful walking the memory lane ...thank u little girl for bringing back those lovely memories to me..

Iss shahaar main har shaks pareshaan sa kyon hain......

      Seene main jalan aankhoo main toofan sa kyon hai iss shahaar main Har shaaks pareshaan sa kyon hai ...is the song I am hearing on the radio and when I look around its so true every person in this city is so stressed.. Everywhere you look you will see everyone is in their own thoughts,some maybe thinking mid month and money is over,or  some thinking what should I go home and cook.someone out there must be thinking aare yaar I didn't pick her call now what will happen or is he thinking arre why isn't she picking my call.Every person in this city is just thinking.

     Sometimes when I am alone in the car I like looking at people in the bus or other cars and wonder what are these people thinking,I am sure many of us do it .but it is a fact whenever we are alone we are always thinking ,like for me when I go running in the morning I am always in my own thoughts the music keeps playing on the iPod but honestly I sometimes don't even know what song is going on....and believe me I can think about anything like oh god what should I cook today ,oh did I put the gas off.will children get up on time for school,have I forgotten something,I should call mom and tell her the gossip I heard,uffff sooo many thought keep running in our tiny little mind.

     Funny part is thinking is something that never ever leaves you alone,it follows you every where you go ,just like the hutch dog...but have u ever looked at a child and wondered what is this cute baby thinking ? my mom would say they think about god ,while my dad would say they think about their past life,I wonder do they also think..when my pet rusty is quiet and staring away I wonder what is he thinking ,is he thinking when will she take me down ,or ,hey it's time for you to give me some attention.

     Sometimes we are thinking when we in a group also ..I know I do it many times I know when I am around people I can totally blank people out I can see them talking and I will be even hearing their voice but my thoughts are not with them .i don't know if that is good or bad but sometimes we are alone in a crowd with just our thoughts.sachi iss shahaar  main har sakhs pareshaan sa hai....

    Thinking has become such a major part of our lives.chalo all enjoy thinking.and remember VOTE FOR INDIA....

        

  

Vote for India

We at our NGO have started a new campaign .we call it vote for India .its our way to make sure people remember the Election Day.we greet people and add 3 words vote for India .we end the conversation with vote for India. It's nice to see many of my friends and student follow this.. But  today when I wished a friend and said vote for India he asked me but whom should I vote for and  it made me think isn't it what we all thinking whom should we vote for?well I believe if we want better country we all need to stop voting for criminals we need to know our candidates well.we should vote for someone who puts the country's need before their need. We should know if the person we voting really will work for us.
  Then I wonder honestly will that just be enough.isn't  it important we the people of India should really change our attitude.we really need to get out of our chalta hai attitude .we need to not just say India is my country and I love my country. We should truely mean it.sometimes I feel we really don't love our country if we did love our country would we throw garbage on the road,would we spit on the road would we treat girl child so badly ,would the women be so insecured ...sometimes we all think a new leader will come and change our country and honestly how do we trust a leader who are just bad mouthing each other.how do we trust someone who don't talk about their work but are hellbent on just insulting each other..if we want to see a change in true sense we need to change our attitude.we need to not just say I love my country but truely mean it .we need to come out and use our rights with greater responsibility after all ,the choice we make will affect our lives tomorrow .
  So let me end this write up with just 1 question  are u really ready to love our country ?
 VOTE FOR INDIA !!!