Something About Anything

Dear Careless Four Wheeler Drivers’ Community (CFWDC), How are you all? I never get a chance to say hi to any of you when we meet in the morning or evening or night and so I thought I would write to you. Just like you all, I drive a car to work, to market, to drop or pick up my daughter, basically everywhere. And anywhere I go I am sure I will meet at least one of your tribe members. You definitely have a large community. Actually when I see you driving, I wonder from where did you get your driver’s license? Because when I got my license there were certain rules that I was taught and asked to follow throughout my driving life. But your driving school (if you even went to one) or the driving officer who issued you a license (if you have one) seem to have told you something else. So I thought I would ask you directly if I am doing something wrong. So.... when I see a long queue to cars ahead of me in a narrow road, waiting… I wait too. I don't drive past the queue to go ahe...

I just finished the book ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama. This time not reading it but hearing it. More about book reading or book listening in some other blog. But today I am just going to talk about the book. It is a wonderful book. Michelle Obama talks about everything right from her childhood to now. She talks about her parents, the values they imparted, her school and college life, her job as a lawyer, her married life, her role in Barack Obama’s election campaign, her tenure as the First Lady… everything. There are some points or some of her views that resonated with me more. One of the important phases of life that she has spoken about is becoming a mother, being a mother and most importantly being a working mother. She talks about how her mentors, her friends, colleagues and herself were doing the balancing act of being a working professional and a full time mother. (Being a mother cannot be a part time job). While Michelle Obama talks about it she puts forth a very simple yet po...

I have been wanting to write about so many things over the past few weeks. So many topics and so many thoughts about it, but I always kept it pushing for later because something that I had to do was always a long list. And that list just didn't seem to get over… in fact it kept getting bigger and longer. Today morning when I woke up, I asked myself, “Why am I pushing something that I want to do, something that brings happiness?” And, I realized that I had been pushing my happiness away to get the important or ‘have to do’ things done. Please let me tell you I thoroughly enjoy my work. But this blog writing is for my pleasure, my happiness. It does not give me anything less but satisfaction that I am writing. We all seem to push our happiness, our pleasure lower down in our to-do list and making sure that everyone around us is happy. But now I feel that when I am happy myself, it would be far more easier to spread happiness around me. So I would make sure to schedule time in my to...

My daughter had to deliver a speech on ‘What freedom means to be me’. In the speech, written by my husband, Sanket , there was a statement - ‘Freedom cannot be absolute. Freedom can mean different things to the same person at different times of his life’. Isn't it true? At different stages of our lives, freedom had a different meaning to us. As we grow wiser (I don't know if I am wise but I didn't want to use the word older), the meaning of freedom has evolved. Today , freedom to me is to be free from limitations. The limitations we have wrapped around ourselves. I have often heard women say I can’t do certain things because I am a girl or a mother or a wife or a daughter or a daughter-in-law. Believe me all these limitations are only in our mind, constantly being enforced by our society and cultural norms. It only creates an illusion that becomes our only reality. All these limitations restrict us from leaving our comfort zone and exploring the unknown. I am aware...

Today while listening to the radio in the car heard a very nice quick story. Obviously it was about friendship… but what I liked most about it was the tagline - “Coffee and Friendship are both strong, you should know how to prove it”. And I agreed to it immediately.  Throughout our life we meet different people. Some grow to be our friends and some remain acquaintances. And some friends grow to mean more than just friends. I have one such friend. She is an amazing person with whom I have my fondest memories. I was 21 when I met her and I had not read Harry Potter. She made me read it and thank GOD she did. We read books together, we heard music together, and had lots of coffee together.  But one of the best lessons she taught me was to live carefree. To live without thinking about what the society is going to think about it. ‘The Society’ is going to talk about anything and everything that you do. Let them have fun doing that and you have fun doing what gives you...

Today morning a phone call left me feeling bitter and hurt. I immediately went to my source of comfort, my best friend and my husband, Sanket, who also happens to be a Life Coach . And I told him what had happened and what I was feeling. To which he just smiled and said, ‘You felt all that because you had expectations. Leave all your expectations and you will always be happy.’ It was right, I called the person with certain expectations and they were not met. And so I felt hurt. But then as always I had more questions and doubts. For me to be happy, I would stop expecting from people. But what about the expectations others have from me? To which he asked me to apply my own principle - Don't do anything because you HAVE to. Do it only when you WANT to.

I came across this nice poem and thought this would be a good start to the amazing week ahead for all of us!! Smile Smiling is infectious You catch it like the flu When someone smiled at me today I started smiling too I walked around the corner And someone saw me grin When he smiled I realised I had passed it on to him I thought about the smile And then realised its worth A single smile like mine Could travel round the earth So if you feel a smile begin Don't leave it undetected Start an epidemic And get the world infected.

What exactly is the right time to do something? We keep telling ourselves ‘I will work on an idea when the right time comes’ or ‘I will buy this particular thing which I need when the time is right’ or ‘I will pursue my hobby when the time is right’... So what exactly is this right time? Should we really wait for the right time to do the right thing or do the right thing and make that particular time right? I have been intending to start writing for a long time but kept pushing the idea further stating that the time is not right. But this morning, I asked myself what would make a particular day or hour or minute right… and I had no answer. So I was basically waiting for something I was not sure what it looks like or feels like. So I just opened my laptop and started writing. I don't know what I am going to write next but I knew I wanted to make a start and make this day the right day. How many of you have been waiting for the right time? Believe me… right time is now...