Breakaway..

Quite often, there are times in life when you feel that you don’t fit in to the world around you. And the world doesn’t help you much in getting over that feeling, as well. After all, the world is only kind to you if you put up a brave, smiling face and radiant attitude all the time. Else, no one cares. That’s the bitter truth of life!!

Of course, most of these depressing thoughts, the “I AM USELESS” crap, lies inside your brain. As the saying goes, “A man is slave to his thoughts”. You become what you think! And more often than not, these very gloomy people are the kind of audience and mindset targeted by self-help experts. And chances are high that people undergoing such feeling would end up in the “Motivational” section of the book shops. (Of course, I am no exception to these 😉 )

People have different ways of coping with this kind of depressing feelings. Some read books, cultivate hobbies – gardening, cooking, philately, and so on and so forth. Some have very different, unique and at times very weird ways. I know some people who have excessive cleaning syndrome – impulsive behavior to clear up mess – when they get tensed or excited. These are therapeutic ways and can at times provide instant clarification to the disturbing thoughts running across your mind.

I prefer listening to some good music to cheer me up. Any peppy number with attractive beats and rhythm lifts up my spirits within no time. Swimming is another interesting stress reliever, that I am fond of. Then there is writing which provides me an absolute relief.

Different things work for different people. You can choose to swim through your thoughts, write through them or clean through them to reach a way out. Makes no difference, as long as you are content with the outcome. The highs in life determine the lows and vice-versa hence, make your own mistakes.

Make a wish, take a chance, make a change And breakaway..

Each time I listen to this song, I end up feeling excited and rejuvenated.

The Best Motivation Video!!!!

Maximum Cities..

For the last four years, since I have been living in Mumbai, time & again I have come across the comparisons of the city with the New York City. The similarities are quite stark. (Of course, I agree Mumbai can do with a good revamp in the current transportation system it has currently, for better connectivity with the suburbs and the main town.)

New York City of course, has many sister cities in the world, Beijing, Tokyo, Madrid, London, Johannesburg and Rome, to name just a few;  all being major economic centers of the world.  But only  few of the sister cities share New York’s status as a major seaport, like Mumbai.

Manhattan is a “must-go” destination for New York City breaks. It is the major commercial, financial, and cultural center of both the United States and the world. This part of the city has many tourist attractions, corporate headquarters the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.  It is the central area of New York City and the New York metropolitan region, hosting the seat of city government and a large portion of the area’s employment, business, and entertainment activities. As a result, residents of New York City’s other boroughs such as Brooklyn and Queens often refer to a trip to Manhattan as “going to the city”.

Similarly, South Mumbai is considered to be the “Manhattan of India”, with hundreds of corporate headquarters, government offices and the Bombay Stock Exchange. It is also a favorite with foreign tourists due to colonial architecture of the buildings dating back to the British era in India.

The New York City skyline and the Mumbai skyline called the “Queens Necklace” are both a toast for the eyes and a classic view from the top.

Public transit is the most popular one in both the cities due to huge population.

Both the cities have a cosmopolitan culture as people from various places settle here because of the numerous employment opportunities they offer. Unfortunately, due to their strategic financial, political and cultural importance both the cities have been victims of attacks from extremists in the past.

Many artists, songs and movies have been devoted to capture the pulse of these cities.

“There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.” – Simone De Beauvoir

Quite similarly, you can be stuck in a traffic jam in Mumbai way past midnight!!

That’s really amazing!!

Thank You!!

 “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the US and on the second Monday of October in Canada.

Quite unusual for a festival to be celebrated at different days in different  countries. However, the concept of the celebration is full of gratitude. It is celebrated by farmer’s to offer thanks to God for the wonderful harvest. And also, generally to offer gratitude to God and each other.

While browsing over the net, out of curiousity about this American holiday, I came across some very interesting facts and events about the history of the Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day was declared an offcial American holiday by Abraham Lincoln, after more than 200 years of the first Thanksgiving celebration that took place in the 16th century.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor and author, waged a tireless campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in the mid-19th century, was also the author of the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”  (Remember the kindergarten days..it was one of my favorite rhymes along with ‘Johny,Johny Yes Papa’ and ‘BaBa Black Sheep’!!!)

Turkey is the official food on the Thanksgiving Day menu, along with Cranberries, Blueberries and Pumpkin Pie. Although, the first Thanksgiving held in 16th Century, was devoid of all these delicacies.

The modern day Thanksgiving celebrations have changed as compared to the earliers days when it was, a part of the tradition of the harvesting season. Thanksgiving now, has also become an opportunity to express gratitude to near and dear ones.

This day and, infact everyday in our lives we should thank god for providing us all that we have, and making us who we are. And, yet have something to be desired for, to keep us moving on !!

http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-facts

Confessions of a shopaholic…..!!

Confessions of a shopaholic…..!!

“Hurry!! Monsoon Sale! Upto 50% off!!”, read the ad in the newspaper. ‘And here comes the “Sale” season again’, I thought. Just when I had decided that I have had enough of shopping since last six months and won’t indulge in anymore for now. Having millions of different kinds of stylish, trendy clothes in my wardrobe, amusingly somehow, I still fall short of apt ones while getting dressed up for some event. There always seems to be a new style of top or a trendy capri that I miss out on!!

“Oh God!!! What I am gonna do now??”, after reading the ad I thought. “My wardrobe really doesn’t have any space now to accommodate any new ones”, I thought wisely, feeling really proud of my decision. But there was a devil sitting on the other side which said, “Oh, how could you possibly miss out on this?? Don’t buy anything, just go and have a look. Who knows…you might get a really nice deal for that new jeans you always dreamed about, or that new sweat shirt may be??” Now I was at cross-roads, double minded, really didn’t know what to do.

“But you really don’t need this”, again came the angelic side of my sub-conscious. Caught in the tug-of-war between two opposite frames of my mind, I decided to settle this issue later on. But throughout the day, I could not help thinking about the ad in the newspaper and the models flaunting colorful designer jackets and sunglasses. “OK, may be I will go and have a look over the weekend. I would just glance through everything. And I know, it won’t be worth giving a shot, becoz generally they have inferior designs on sale. The more appealing designs would be at original price, really expensive. So, I won’t end up spending lots, I am sure,” I was convincing myself. The devil inside me was dancing with joy, while the angel was devastated, wondering about the significance of its own existence.

I really do not forget commitments like this, so obviously, I was there inside the shopping mall next weekend. “Glancing” through everything, making sure I don’t miss out on anything special. I spotted a purple colored sweat shirt over a mannequin. It struck me because sometime back I saw the actress in a movie wearing the same color sweat shirt, and ever since then had dreamt about it. Lucky me…it was on sale. But even after a discount it was expensive for my budget. “Don’t worry madam, with our membership card you can have a 10% extra discount and on all other items too that are on sale.” Overjoyed to hear this, I ended up buying the sweat shirt and a lot more than I had planned to.

That week when I checked my account balance, well I had exhausted more than three fourths of that month’s salary over that completely unplanned shopping spree. Devil inside me stood proud feeling like the king of the moment, while the angel just evaporated somewhere……

Shopping is an excuse for a girl to runaway from the whole world when she is depressed, or celebrating the joy of a new job or achievement, giving in to that impulsive buying behavior, that makes one wonder about the buzzword these days, “Recession??”. Naah…things like this hardly matter to the fairer sex!!

Serendipity!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serendipity!!

That’s my favorite word, favorite movie and favorite theory!

You might think I am mad to believe in some vague concept like this, also I have come across a few critics of the movie, who think its way far from logic. But not everything on planet earth may have a reason behind it, isn’t it?? I guess, people like mystery and this concept has some amount of mystery associated with it..which I find so intriguing and attracting.

The word serendipity means a beautiful coincidence… (Well, might depend actually on what u call beautiful).. Some say that everything we do is destined to happen. You missed the bus or train today to office, cursing yourself for giving in to that tempting idea of a ten minutes extra sleep or taking long time in shower, but believers of this concept say it was destined to happen!! Funny ha.. You might be thinking how a minor, completely personal decision of your day-to-day life can be related to your destiny or fate!!

Honestly, even I don’t have the answer!! (Might well be feeling like beating me up, after reading till this point…)

If all I were to do in this life of mine, were pre-decided by destiny, some super-natural force or may be God, herself/himself (Don’t want to be gender biased…), why should I even get out of the bed in the morning, why don’t I leave everything on that so-called destiny of mine. This argument has existed and will continue all throughout the life of mankind and will simply go on and on; possibly, till the Judgement Day or Doomsday (Whatever they call it).

The other day, a friend of mine asked me an amazing question, “Do you believe in God?”.  For a moment I kept blinking at him….”whoaa what was that??”, I thought. And then, he went on to describe how everything confirming the existence of God can be verified by the theories in Physics. Astrologers also do calculations based on the birth timings and positions of planets and distance between them. Sounds perfectly logical..only wish life were this logical too!!

In the movie titled Serendipity, the same message of an unseen, unexplained force guiding our lives has been given by narrating a romantic love story, two souls that were destined to meet each other.  Inspite of all the different routes that took them apart, they were brought together. I know, this sounds completely awesome for a romantic Hollywood flick, but not life. But at times, even in life I come across events or happenings over which I have no control, howsoever I keep pondering over them. If the impact is positive I say, “I am lucky” and if otherwise, I would say “I guess, I am having a bad day”. My sister introduced me to the concept of Karma which says whatever good or bad I have done in my past lives will affect my present. Another controversial topic, you can say.

Some things no one has control over and can never be explained, so better leave them to the supernatural or so called destiny and enjoy the moment. As goes my favorite dialogue from the Serendipity movie, “The Romans didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after someone died, ‘Did this man have passion?’”.

“Love to walk in the rain, because no one can see me cry.”- Charlie Chaplin

“Love to walk in the rain, because no one can see me cry.”- Charlie Chaplin

What an ironical statement from the greatest comedians of the century. Charlie Chaplin!! Only someone who understands the significance of a smile or a loud laughter, can actually identify the emotions behind tears. 

Rains have always been associated with some kind of sentiments…it makes u feel so nice to sit inside with a cup of coffee and watch the rains from outside your window, it makes u irritated when a careless, ruthless driver passes u by throwing all the mud and filthy water on you whilst you are on your way to office in best formals, it makes u emotional and nostalgic…reminiscent of the childhood days, when we used to jump in the muddy waters in rain splashing water all around..with Mommy calling you inside loudly saying how it would catch you with a fever or cold.

Wow!!!….I love the rains….and if your talking about the Mumbai rains that make headlines every year…it can’t get better than this. There is something so special about this city that makes the rains special too. With rains comes huge number of problems in the city, the trains are running late, roads are water logged, etc. etc. But since I have gotto live with this..I think every one should enjoy the rains than rather complain because there is nothing much we can do about it. With the BMC and MSRTC playing the blame game on each other for the poor infrastructure and transport facilities during rains every year, it gets so rhetoric and stereotypical…

Besides, for all those who have offices far off in South Bombay or somewhere farther in the city, we always come up with the excuse to our bosses  “ Its raining bad..don’t think I can make it today” or “Gosh…man u should see this..its like a river”  Now you see the advantage….well I know, not everybody might feel the same but rains somehow cheer me up as they make everything look so beautiful and serene even in a city full of hustle and bustle like Mumbai. Yesterday, I took a cosy and comfortable AC bus from office..and what a view I got of the entire city in the rain..while I was in Peddar road I felt like I was in Switzerland…(hehehe…exaggeration I know). I was lucky to catch a glimpse of the Bandra Worli Sea link at a rainy night, and there it stood all proud and shining with its Bajaj lights (hehe..saw the ads in paper)…

And today I am sitting nicely at home…why?? Cos its raining outside guys!!!! God..I love the rains! J