Whatsapp

Another holiday somewhere on earth is culminating with a lot of fond memories, fun, and experiences. Every journey is "out of the box "  learning process. We imbibe so many things knowingly or unknowingly. This holiday I was forced to notice that technology has done wonders.  The World is smitten by this app or that app, but of course, the king of apps is WHATSAPP👑.  First time on our international travel we didn't buy a local calling card, WHATSAPP took care of calls. 

Every morning at breakfast lounge seven-course breakfast meal was laid with beautiful colors and delicacies, but hardly did I see anyone noticing that. All I saw everyone's plate full in one hand and phone in another.

 Hardly did I discern anybody admiring food because WHATSAPP messages were pouring in, which I hope were more amusing or entertaining.  This is probably the reason our digestive enzymes are so confused these days 😄 because they can't understand WHATSAPP.🤔

No matter what age, creed or nationality everyone is hit by this WHATSAPP bug. Not only calling or messaging it has become informative in many other senses as well.

Let's mock about WHATSAPP DP (display pic ) first. Many are there on our contact list but still few are our favorite and like a morning ritual first thing first we all check their DPs. 

Teenagers first ...., their reaction to DPs are best, "Oh man so and so had DP with so and so last night; It isn't the same? Gosh, they broke up last night that means! " 

 " Poor thing is always flocked by the bunch of friends, I think he is single!' " I have no status to show let's put a DP with mom, dad, bro or sis at least it's comforting ☺️."  When you see a couple smiling, clung to each other with so many hearts as status, you can bet couple is going smooth and having the best time of their lives 😆😆.

We middle aged people also have many stories to tell through our DPs and status. Our birthdays,  anniversaries,  Mothers day,, Father's Day are all wished first on WHATSAPP than verily.

 Travel destinations, our achievements, kids results are also displayed beautifully on WHATSAPP 😍. Many a times status also reflects husband and wife had a terrible fight last night or things are not so good here and there. After reading the status, we start calling, and we get the answer, "it's all ok now yaar,  It happened last night I forgot to update status 😌." 

Parents of our generation are struggling as well to get into the groove of this WHATSAPP addiction.Though poor things are trying hard,  my dad mostly sends messages at wrong contact. Doesn't matter they will also learn with time 😍.  

Sum total WHATSAPP has become an open diary of our lives. It's addictive, interactive and entertaining but yes those essay type jokes are the most irritating feature of WHATSAPP 😁. Technology has really revolutionized our lives, but still, I crave for one such app which is more tangible and brings each of us more close than tabs and US 😄.

SCHOOLING ....NOW AND THEN !!!

In the past two decades, our country is struggling to emerge as a developed nation. I can't comment on all issues,  but as far as schooling is concerned  India can proudly boast of having one of the finest schools in the world.

Yesterday was the sports day of my five years old tricky daughter,  who is somewhat prankish and modestly frank at home; but to our amazement, we witnessed her as a most obedient child there. For sure it was a magic wand of the school.
It has been almost twenty-six years since I passed my school. Fond memories of school always remain with us but if I go in the series of flashback, our sports day reminded me of everyday white uniform with white Bata canvas shoes (extra finished with CHALK to look sparkling white).

 PT time and then; Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Badminton, TT  and at the end of the sports day two ladoos!  I was never into any kind of sports, so for me, sports day didn't mean a lot, (though now I realise how important it is ) nor our schools propelled us for the same.

 I can't blame my school, at the modest amount of Rupees 15 per quarter it gave me a lot ( yes believe it or not this was our fee at  Kendriya Vidyalaya ). It gave me worth that now I can afford Rupees X per quarter for my daughters. But money is not the point here. I am talking about the paradigm shift in the education system. When three to five years of tender kids ( of different nationalities ) showcased their skills and knowledge of global sports, in amalgamation with their academic skills on the playground, we parents were wonderstruck.  The whole ambience was so vibrant and inviting that we also wanted to be kids again!

But still melancholy prevails with a thought that how many children are privileged to get this kind of education?  Still, the majority of my country's children go to Anganwadi, State schools, and Kendriya Vidyalaya.


Nothing much has changed there. Now also tender hands are forced to write a,b,c or 1,2,3 without being given any exposure towards sensitivity to mankind, environment, and moral values.

 No wonder we hear stories about intolerance, revolution, and suicides at the college level!  Today only  I listened to the fiery yet emotional speech by Madam Smriti Irani .....poor thing was herself so baffled, hurt and deluded. She showed determination to bring some change . Madam, please visit over primary schools. If at all anything can be changed it can be modified there. Rest all of us have passed the school! 

Humans .......worst cosmic by product ?????

                                           

Astrophysicists and Scientists say this universe appeared out of nothingness in a single cataclysmic explosion ten to twenty billion years ago. It's all science, it is all chemicals, and everything around us is just chemical "lochha".

For such boffins existence of God is debatable. Though I am a staunch believer in God. I bow to His creations every time I try to understand the complexity of this universe.  How precisely HE  has created space, galaxies, universe and how well they all are in tandem with each other for millions of years.


 Whenever I go out in the lap of nature,  its beauty jolts my soul!  What beautiful colours, textures millions of species one for another.   Seeing all this can't buy the crap of  BIG BANG theory that we all are by-products of a cosmic reaction.

I am sure up there God has some highly skilled brains or robots making such flawless merchandise and artefacts.  But if I have to rate one after another, I would say humans are GOD's most ordinary creation. HE gave us white, brown and black colour, one complex brain and lost interest in us after that!

According to Hindu mythology, a human being is born after passing through 84 lacs yoni (vagina)!  So what good we are doing after moving through 84 lacs yoni?   Human being's superior brain than the rest of the species is I think the most significant problem.

Lust, greed, competition, anger, hatred all are the futile exercises of our well-developed brain. Lately, I visited a jungle .......was so much awestruck by the discipline of wildlife. Lions and Tigers also mark their territories, but no one crosses each other's domain.  No one asks for individual quotas, saying they are minorities!  No riots, no dharnas just peace and tranquillity.

But what about our jungle ......nothing in control of our Lions and Tigers. All are sleeping in their dens.  Let there be more ruckus let there be bit more fire in jungle till then why to get out of our slumber!  (Acid attack, JNU attack, Jat quota stir all giving bandhs and chutties ) the alarm is on don't worry!

• Still would like to reiterate that we Hindus firmly believe:

"Reaching 8.4 millionth manifestation announces a soul atman gaining absolute purity forever "let us think over !!!!

TRIBUTE TO YOU ......BRAVEHEART HANUMANTHAPPA !!!!!

Soldiers become soldiers with a dream to serve the country, probably they also fantasize to die serving for the same.  But sometimes death does not come that easily, and this is what happened to   Lance Naik Hanumanthapa.  

Ever since news broke about a soldier found alive after 6 days buried under 35 feet of snow,  many stories kept floating. Some said he survived because he practiced yoga,  some said it was his willpower, some said it was air trapped in the snow pit which kept him alive.   Nobody talked about what he must have thought for all the days he was stuck in the snow. 

Ever since I heard the news,  my mind was off and on visualizing about what one could think trapped deep down in the snow . The darkness of the white pit, hot flashes because of claustrophobia in sub-zero temperatures, sting of hunger and above all fear of death .....with all this what kept him alive?

After all, he was also a human being, somebody's son,  someone's husband and father as well. Of course, as a soldier, he must have thought about his POST.

But  I believe that it must have been his 'will-power' to see the face of his old parents one last time,  desire to hug his wife so that she can live with his warmth for rest of her life, or to kiss his child and to hold him/her never to leave again. 

It must have been much harder than taking a bullet in the chest . I shudder at the thought of Hanumanthapa's  situation. My tears couldn't stop rolling down sitting in front of TV seeing all the biggies meeting his stone-faced wife and wailing child. I am sure his wife must have been thinking, "Wish I could only see my husband and none of these."

I am my favourite....

I am my favorite.....

 Self-love is universal, and we all love ourselves.....there is no oddity in this statement. But in the hustle and bustle of life sometimes we even suppress this feeling of ours. In the stable regime of life; many 'loves'  step over our self-love. Love for the spouse, love for kids, love for mundane and materialistic  things predominantly curb 'dear self.'

But exceptions are always there.....and I am fortunate to have one in my family, not only she epitomizes self-love but has in abundance for others as well.  She cradled her kids with perfection, flattered and nurtured her better half with devotion, kept her home as a revered institution but in the process never held herself in the back seat. It's none other than my dear MIL. 

I am in awe of her self-glory ever since I got married, and always wondered how could somebody be so devoted to oneself. 

But the stream of life never flows unidirectionally. Lately, she met with an accident and laid in ICU for a month. We all were emotionally drained to see her with half of her bones broken, but she kept her spirits high, and I even saw her exercising in the semiconscious condition. She came out of ICU with a vengeance . Hours of physiotherapy, best of diet and above all passion for being back in her placid disposition got her back on her own feet in a months time. 

She proved self-love is the great miracle cure. It enlightened me so much so that from now on I am also going to love 'ME' the most and I am also going to be my favorite. 

Jokes apart but really a lesson to be learned ......we all came alone we all will go alone, so we have to take care of ourselves alone, no one can substitute that.  Someone very rightly said:

So love urself in abundance !!!!!!

• 
  

From the other side of the window

Aging is a gradual process of life ......easy to say,  hard to experience. Even harder when you see our parents going through this.  Though at this age, I am blessed with two set of parents, and I thank Almighty every day that I am being showered upon with their love, wisdom, and protection. Aura of their presence shields me in a cocoon where I can nestle till the time I want to without any fear and insecurity.

But life takes its toll. In the past, I have seen all my four parents from the other side of the window in ICU. Their moist eyes, helpless faces, feeble bodies and the desire to be cocooned had been the most taxing experience of my life. 

At that moment though I wanted to hold them as tight as I could but was weakest deep inside. It is harsh to see your epitome of strength growing frail, but that's what life is.

If life was a reversible process, I think each one of us would have loved to be inside the silken cocoon of love and compassion woven by our parents forever end ever. But nature wants this world to be full of colors and more beautiful. So at one stage or the another, we all have to come out of this cocoon and do our bit. Love you parents beyond words!  

Cocktail of 2015 ****

Cocktail of 2015****

Life is fathomless; more we try to understand more we are gripped by its complexity. Each year comes with its delicacy, and we often question God,"why this is being served on my platter, I don't like this?" usually forgetting to thank for all the puddings and pies HE serves us every day.

This year was special in a way for me too, as I also questioned Almighty many times, "Why this and why that." The year was full of challenges and demanded to stretch my skills to the maximum. It was tough very tough, but in the process, I got introduced to my new level of resilience.  I was compelled to try new concoction in the recipe of the cocktail called LIFE, and  I came out with a new zing. Though I am not a Lord Buddha to preach about life. All I could say that probably HEAD CHEF of this universe puts us on fire; gives us a toss and turn to dish out something new to savor for times to come.

Hopefully, 2016 will bring beautiful aromas and sweetness of life for all of us. Let's celebrate this party called LIFE with more vigor and buoyancy. A very merry and happy new year to all of you. God bless all