Money and Reality

There are so many things we want in life. But the more we get the more the hunger grows. Do not why? Basic human needs are food, clothing and shelter. Then it should be enough if we earn enough to satisfy these needs but it is not so. Once these needs are satisfied, there are other needs (luxuries) that tempt us. These tempt us so much that in the race to earn money and be able to enjoy them we lose everything we have. We are so engrossed in earning money that we do not find time to enjoy the luxuries that we bought for ourselves.

I got a SMS from one of my friend that said: “There are three stages of life: Teens - Have time and Energy but no money. Workers – Have Money and Energy but no time. Oldies – Have time and money but no Energy” So funny but so true. Just wonder what we will do with so much money that we earn. If we have less money, then we would probably put our children in a school which fit our budget. The more money we earn we want them to put them in really big schools which most of the time exceed our budget because they have so many extra charges pertaining to sports, cultural activities, school maintenance etc. Why? Why are we doing this to ourselves and our children? Because what happens is when our children go to these schools, they will have friends whose parents are rich and well off to do and can spend money as per their will. So the rich parent’s child has all these new things that he can get to school. He can give every child of his class presents on his birthday and so on. Our children don’t know that we cannot afford these and this makes them unhappy. So why not put our children in schools which are simple and children in those schools come from parents who are hard workers who know the value of money.

This way we will give our child an environment where he can see the real world and its difficulties and then he will be able to appreciate and respect whatever he is getting. This will make them understand that there are people who face difficulties to earn a living and meals for twice a day. They will realise that there is much more suffering they can see or think of but also there is love and happiness at the same time balancing out each and everything. Wouldn’t that be good? Wouldn’t that be what we want our children to grow up with in their mind? Just think of this. Think of what you want to give your child and what cost?

Chand jaise Mukhde pe

This is my husband's favorite song sincehe has heard it. I think all of us would like this song. It is from the movie Sawan ko Aane Do with Arun Govil and Zarina Wahab. here goes the lyrics which is taken from the net. Sab Tithiyan Ka Chandrama Jo Dekha Chaho Aaj Dheere Dheere Ghoongta Sarkao Sartaaj HOOOOOOOO hoho hooooooo Chand Jaise Mukhde Pe Bindiya Sitara Nahin Bhoolega Meri Jaan Yeh Sitara Woh Sitara Maana Teri Nazron Mein Main Hoon Ek Aawara, Ho Aawara Nahin Bhoolega Meri Jaan Yeh Aawara, Woh Aawara Saagar Saagar Moti Milte Parbat Parbat Paras Tan Man Aise Bheege Jaise Barse Mahuve Ka Ras Kasturi Ko Khojta Phirta Hai Ek Banjara Ho Banjara Nahin Bhoolega Meri Jaan Yeh Banjara, Woh Banjara Kajrare Chanchal Nainon Mein Suraj Chand Ka Dera Roop Ke Is Paawan Mandir Mein Hansa Kare Basera Pyase Geeton Ki Ganga Ka Tu Hi Hai Kinara Ho Kinara Nahin Bhoolega Meri Jaan Yeh Kinara, Woh Kinara

Luv Sadhana

Adventures

A –Amazing

D – Daring

V – Vigilant

E – Energetic

N – Nice

T –Time pass

U- Unpredictable

R – Ravishing

E – Experience

S - Splendor

Adventures are something that need to be experienced and cannot be explained in words. When we say what an adventurous trip it was mostly we actually won’t know what adventurous means we might just say it to sound good or something like that.

I have had many adventurous experiences when I was in NCC one of them was bungee jumping. When I went for it I thought it is a jump just from a higher altitude or so but it was not so maybe it is technically but that was an experience of a life time. Standing at the edge of such a height all I could think was that I am going to die because I could actually not see land at least may be it would have also been because I was afraid or so but that was it. That day in my life I thought is going to be the last day of my life but that was an experience I would want to experience again.

I had no guts to jump from the edge but I was pushed by my NCC head that was doing it to everybody who refused to jump after climbing up. Falling down from there all I thought and felt was that I was going to hit the land any minute.

I was always over weight and all that was going in my mind was what if the chord supporting my legs breaks or what if my leg detaches from my body when I am coming down because of my weight? But the fun and excitement once I was pushed off was amazing and I would like to suggest it to everyone who is scared of Bungee jumping that is something that you got to experience at least once before your life ends and you may never have a chance to do it at all.

Haven’t you ever dreamed of living a life of a bird, have wings and be able to fly away from this world. One adventure that would make you feel like that is Para gliding. Para gliding is all about wearing a glider kind of costume and jumping off from a height and then have the feeling of a bird, which is when you will realize how a bird feels when it flies. It gives you a feeling that your are free and now nothing can hold you down you understand the meaning of being free and what would you do if you ever had wings. So be adventurous in life, try out crazy stuff and then you will know what all life has for you and is ready to give you, it is just that you have to stretch your arm towards it.

Luv Sadhana

Hubli

Hubli is a place in Karnataka which is located at a distance of around 420 Km north from Bangalore. Hubli whenever talked about is talked along with its twin Dharwad which is famous for its pedas. Hubli is famous for Industries.

But Hubli for me is become a honeymoon place. It is a place where I go once a month to meet my husband since he works at a place called Karad which is 120 K.M. from Pune. It is a place which is almost at an equal distance from Bangalore and Karad. It takes around eight hours by train to reach there and thus has become a very convenient meeting place for us so that neither of us has to travel for sixteen hours to meet each other. Sixteen hours is the time required to reach Karad from Bangalore and vice versa.

What more I can tell about Hubli there are a few which I recall because there have been a very few places in Hubli that I have visited. In Hubli there are many theatres that we visit actually there is a group of theater which plays Hindi movies and to surprise the ticket for Balcony costs only Rs. 60 per head. There is also a lassie bar just attached to the wall of the theater where a nice creamy glass of sweet lassie costs around Rs.14. This is a plus point for us because fortunately my son loves Lassie. We always got to the show that is at three and back to the lodge after the movie.

In Hubli there is a Big Bazaar which is very big in size and to my surprise has all the variety and ranges of any and every house hold goods. It is at least better than the one that is near my house at Bangalore. There is always sale in the Big bazaar at Hubli and I get to buy many things for really low price and be happy. This big bazaar is on Gokul road which is around seven to eight kilometers from the lodge and costs around fifty bucks in rickshaw to reach there. Prior to big bazaar on the there is this huge park that I have never been to because it looks very untidy and dirty from the outside. And, also there is no place of shade that we can find from the outside view of the park.

The weather at Hubli whenever I have been has been hot even during the first half of the winter season and this is also a factor which stops me from going to the park which is in the centre of the city, thinking of spending any time there. Hubli is also become my favorite place for one more reason that I can always find reservation in the train to reach there. It is also my favorite because I can leave Bangalore by Friday night and reach there by Saturday early morning and be able to spend my weekend with my hubby and be back to work on Monday leaving Hubli on Sunday night.

Hubli is become like a boon to our marriage life because it is the place where we can meet any weekend of the month we decide and has convenient transportation to and from there without much hassles.

Luv Sadhana

Child Marriage

Child marriage means children who are below the age of eighteen are married. Child marriage is illegal by law but is still practiced in most of the places in India. If you want to know the consequences of child marriage the best way is to do by watching a serial which is telecasted on air called ‘Balika Vadhu’ which portrays what all kids go through when they are married at a tender age even when they do not know what marriage means or is all about.

Child marriage takes out the innocence from the children, at a small age especially a girl child is forced to take in the family responsibilities when it is the age to enjoy, play and share happiness. Child marriage takes out the essence of childhood from children, the ability to have fun, ability to discover, ability to invent, ability to find joy in any and everything.

This is the reason why Child marriage is a crime and must and should be stopped at any cost. Child marriage is also responsible for the increase in population because the girls who have just reached puberty start giving birth too child because they do not the consequences of it. Becoming a mother at a tender age where you are not physically and mentally ready kind of kills you from within. Because the young mother herself has not physically and mentally grown up to up bring another life in this world. What would she teach her child about fun and enjoyment, about happiness when she hasn’t been able to experience any.

Child Marriage thus is also a social crime which is committed against young girls because in child marriage it is not the boys who are married suffer it is always the girls who do. Because they are asked to sacrifice anything they want to do and adapt to beliefs and other things what her husband’s family wants her to. Because of child marriage education is stopped for the girls because the husband’s gamily does not want the women in their family to stand up to the men of the family for any reason and at any cost.

Child marriage if you divided these words they just do not fall in within a range. Child means innocence, honesty, fun, joy, enjoyment, happiness etc but marriage comes with responsibilities, fear, family and so on and so forth then how can we possibly mix them up? We are contradicting the truth around us and trying to mould iot our way and I do not know for what joy.

Child Marriage is also often a case where in young girls under the age of eighteen are married to elderly men probably the age of their father or uncle. Just imagine how would she be able to accept such an elderly person as her husband who kind of represents her father or an uncle and portrays an image of them to her rather than a husband.

What we can do as educated people to stop child marriage is that:

Firstly, try and educate more and more people about it, show the consequences of such a dreadful deed.

Secondly, stop encouraging things like this to ever possibly occur around you.

Thirdly raise your voice against it and if you see stuff like this happening do whatever it takes to stop it.

Stop child marriage and give the child what it deserves, children deserve love, care and happiness. Do not punish them with child marriage.

Woman

Woman means

W – Willful

O – Orderly in her every act

M- Mindful

A – Affluent in nature and

N – Nice and neat in everything she does

Being a woman means being able to take responsibility, be tolerant about worldly harm. Being a woman means being able to be a daughter and stands up to your parent’s expectations, being a wife and be able to the take all the responsibility of raising a family, being a mother and be able to give every happiness to your child, being a sister and be able to actually be a person who can understand and guide their siblings towards the right path.

This is just not all being a woman means being able to be a successful person and lead the way to success. With being a woman comes the ability to handle responsibilities, grace, being able to tolerate any kind of misery thrown to us by world, the ability to give life and much much more.

Woman is the only one as I think can handle both a successful career and a happy family at one time. Woman is the only one who can be a good mother to her children and a person with the ability to be creative and balanced at her work. Woman is the one who can excel in everything and yet be down to earth. We are the ones who have shown this world that we are not mere people who others can rule over but are the ones who can rule over the world righteously and without any ego or stuff like that.

With being a woman comes pride, pride to be the one and only one who can bear a child in her womb for nine months and up bring the innocent little thing to be able to face the real world. We are the ones who are filled with love and care and are ready to fill the world with same. With woman are the words like love, care, responsibility, trust and honor associated. So be proud to be a woman and show this world that we are as capable as any man to do achieve the goals set in our life.

Luv Sadhana

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests primarily as a difficulty with written language, particularly with reading and spelling. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction. Evidence also suggests that dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and/or spoken language. Although dyslexia is thought to be the result of a neurological difference, it is not an intellectual disability. Dyslexia has been diagnosed in people of all levels of intelligence (Wikipedia definition).

I was watching the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’, I have watched this movie earlier also but did not give it a thought but when I watched it again yesterday realized that we would have actually been amongst people who were dyslexic but never realized their problem instead made fun of them. The movie actually reminded me of a schoolmate named Shabeen who was also very silent, would just nit talk to anyone not that she was dumb but she never did. None of us were ready to be her friend.

Her hand writing was so bad most of her alphabets were off the line, crooked in direction and always looked a mirror image of the alphabets specially the number 7, alphabet S and so on. Just imagine what all she would have gone through and I thank Amir Khan that he was able to portray it so beautifully in his movie to an Indian audience who mostly neglect their child even if they were dyslexic just because they did not know about a disease called this.

But at least now every parent who has watched the movie will give it a second thought about consulting a Doctor regarding a problem their child is facing. Not that every child who is bad at studies are dyslexic but at least there might be a few of them who need attention and might get it. Just give it a thought what if your child is facing the same problem and you don’t realize it and just keep on blaming others and your child for not performing good at studies.

Can you even imagine what a child goes through when not given attention or so to say right kind of attention? Just imagine what all the child would be going through when he/she cannot even tell the difficulty that they are facing to their parents. Think about their state of mind when they are not able to explain what is wrong with them and the situation where the whole world around them is blaming them for acting weird and just acting lazy towards studies. We tend to punish our children by slapping them and worse send them to boarding as in the case of the movie. But that is not the solution for the problem, it may worsen the case and we will the one to blame for.

Why should it always be about studies only? Your kid might be good at other things and even excel in them but we just want our children to be another racer in this world to compete. What are we competing for and why? Is it even worth it? In the race which has no end we are ready to sacrifice our child’s happiness for a stupid goal that we have set for them? Why don’t we let kids be the way they are and try helping them toexplore their talent and trying encouraging them to go with it and you will see that your kid is happy and one day will find a way to earn a living out of that itself? Isn’t happiness of our child more important to us than anything else? Then all we need to do is help our kids explore the brilliance and talent within them.

Deepavali or Diwali

Diwali is celebrated in the month of October/ November according to English calendar which is the second day of bright half of the Kartik month in the Hindu calendar. This is celebrated in order to celebrate the victory of good over evil and the diminishing the spiritual darkness. When lord Ram came back to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile with a victory over Ravana, the people of Ayodhya welcomed him by lighting rows of lamps that is why the name Deepavali which means ‘Rows of Lamps’(deep means lamps and avali means rows).

A week before Diwali the house is spring cleaned. All the old clothes which are not used any more are given away to people in need. All the utensils and many other stuff stored in the attic is removed washed and arranged back neatly. Every curtain in the house washed, all the windows cleaned and are rid of any kind of dust. The whole house is washed with soap water. In totality everything you can think of which is there in any corner of the house is removed and cleaned.

Two days before Diwali is the day called Dhanteras or dhan triodashi. It is an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar, marked to bring eternal good fortune and occurs on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight in the month of Kartik. It is celebrated in honor of Dhanavantri, the physician of the gods and an incarnation of Vishnu. It is the first day of the five day celebration of Diwali. On this day we buy gold, silver, platinum in the form of jewellery, utensils for home etc for good luck as a tradition.

The day of Diwali at begins with decorating the house with lights, lamps and the ‘SHUBH LABH’ symbol which emphasizes that good is what is profitable so do good. The main entrance is decorated with beautiful rangoli (colors). Then at a set time in the first half of the day a praying is arranged at father’s office and sweets are distributed to all the employees and friends. Bonus is given to everyone at the office with a box of sweets. Prior to this in the morning a box of sweets, dry fruits and a gift is sent to the entire client’s residence. After returning from the office the preparations for pooja at home starts. All the clay lamps are filled with oil and cotton sticks to be lit in the evening. Once done with all the preparations the prayer starts and everybody in the house becomes a part of it. For the pooja special seven lamps filled with ghee is kept in front of the image of Goddess Lakshmi, the cotton sticks in this are suppose to be a pair. It is to represent seven janmas of married people wishing to be together for all the seven janmas. Once the pooja is over all the lamps, lights are lit and every nook and corner of the house is illuminated with diyas. There is one big clay diya which is lit and covered half with another diya- the sooth of this diya is applied as kajal at night to everybody at home.

Another diya is kept at the corner of main entrance which is thrown away after it burns out. It is called the Yama Diya it represents Lord yama- the lord of death, it is offered to him to keep death away from the ones we love as far as possible. Once all the diyas are lit then comes the turn of eating and distributing sweets which is my favorite part of the occasion. Last but not the least is the crackers. The whole sky is filled with the light, noise and smoke of the crackers which is not every environment friendly and I personally is against it.

So this is Diwali for me – the festival of lights which means not only lighting lamps to illuminate your house but also illuminate your heart and soul with the light of truth and honesty spreading the sparkle of peace and happiness to the whole world.

Children

What do children mean? For me children mean:

C- Cute

H - Honest

I – Intelligent & Innocent

L - Loveable

D - Dearly

R - Rational

E – Enthusiastic & Full of energy

N - Naughty

Children are the ones who teach us how to enjoy every bit of life. If you have ever taken a look at kids, you might have seen them playing with pieces of paper and many things which are of no use to adults but they are so happy about it. We adults are so greedy that we are not satisfied with what we have instead we are always thinking how to get more and more, and while doing this, we forget that we have enough to be happy about.

Children are the ones who over and over again teach us to be honest. Whenever they do something wrong they are the ones to come and tell us about it though they are also afraid about the consequences. But we adults are more worried about the consequences and never want to tell the truth or be honest and rather we end up lying and face worse.

Children are so full of energy from the start of the day till the end and very enthusiastic about everything that is going to come their way, we adults have lost the enthusiasm in our life which in turn has made us a routine nine to five person and thus resulting in no interest for any kind of innovation in everyday life.

Children are so rational about their thoughts what I mean to say is not about their structure of thoughts but it is how balanced they are in their mind as what they want and how to go about it. But we are the ones who though knowing what we want cannot figure out right path towards them. We are always waiting for a bulb to glow over our head without any hard work towards it and be enlightened about the right path leading to our wants.

Children are so cute and dearly – that is not about their physical appearance but their innocence and intelligence that drive people to love them more and they become dearly to everyone who come across them. But for us adults now- a- days it is just become the physical appearance that matters. We have forgotten how to appreciate people based on their thoughts, creativity etc rather we start criticizing others just by their physical appearance and attire.

Children are full of life and they teach us the true meaning of life which is to be happy with what we have and try to appreciate what we have got on our own than being happy about things that we might have got stamping others happiness somewhere or the other. For us happiness has taken a new meaning which is Pleasure – pleasure for materialistic things, things that will not sustain forever, and things which have no life and give happiness only to certain period of time. Though knowing this truth we tend to forget about all of it and are back in the race which never ends and we do not know that are we ever going to win and will it be worth all that we sacrifice for it?

Many of us are still child at heart but our mind has grown big (adult) and we tend to kill the child in us just to think that we are making others happy which actually is not true. We instead are hurting many others and ourselves also in doing so.

So please be what you are which will actually give you happiness and satisfaction rather than being someone/something the world wants you to be and lose all that sweet little opportunities and time that is coming your way which will give you true happiness.

I got inspired by my son to write this article which I thought would inspire others also to see and find happiness in anything and everything possible which are near and around us.

Luv Sadhana

I am my own Grand pa

Look at this lyrics. I know many of you would have read this many times. but it makes me laugh whenever I read it. So here it goes...

I'm My Own Grandpa

( Lonzo & Oscar )

It sounds funny, I know,

But it really is so,

Oh, I'm my own grandpa.

I'm my own grandpa.

I'm my own grandpa.

It sounds funny, I know,

But it really is so,

Oh, I'm my own grandpa.

Now many, many years ago, when I was twenty-three,

I was married to a widow who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red.

My father fell in love with her, and soon they, too, were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law and changed my very life,

My daughter was my mother, cause she was my father's wife.

To complicate the matter, even though it brought me joy,

I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became a brother-in-law to Dad,

And so became my uncle, though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle, then that also made him brother

Of the widow's grown-up daughter, who, of course, was my stepmother.

Father's wife then had a son who kept him on the run,

And he became my grandchild, for he was my daughter's son.

My wife is now my mother's mother, and it makes me blue,

Because, although she is my wife, she's my grandmother, too.

Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I'm her grandchild,

And everytime I think of it, it nearly drives me wild,

For now I have become the strangest case you ever saw

As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa!

I'm my own grandpa.

I'm my own grandpa.

It sounds funny, I know, but it really is so,

Oh, I'm my own grandpa.

Luv Sadhana.

Smoking

Smoking is something I was always fascinated about from school days and would always wonder how it feels when one smokes and would get more excited to know about it whenever I would see people smoking in different styles. And then came the day when I was finally in engineering college which was very far off from the main city and no fear of being watched by parents or for that matter anyone who knows you and your parents.

This was during first year when we had passed the phase from being and bullied by seniors and now, we were confident enough of choosing what is right or wrong for us. I had very good friends who were mostly on the ‘non padhaku’ sort and went to a nearby dhaba a few 100mts from college and everybody was in their full spirit and enjoying to the core. Everybody smoking and drinking and there boom gets me back to my wildest fantasy to smoke and one of my friend lends me a cigarette after many requests to just try it out once.

I didn’t know how to smoke but even then took the first drag and started coughing loud and my eyes turned red and making me pukish. Apart from all of this, I go for another drag and same thing happens. All of them are looking at me and start scolding the guy who offered me the cigarette but me, the stubborn queen was bent on learning it and I had to request all of them to teach me the right way to smoke then one by one every one teaches me the different ways of hodling it and taking a drag. Initially slowly, feel the smoke in my mouth and then blow it out slowly and I being a good student of theirs followed the orders and did it and that was one moment where I realized and could justify my crave to smoke. This was the day which I vaguely remember was somewhere a day before my first birthday in Engineering college because this is the birthday gift I had asked for to teach me how to smoke and I would not want anything else.

This is the day when I became a true collegiate as my friend say because you would try anything you like just to get a feel and hang of freedom. But I never misused the freedom given by my parents for wrong causes and get away with it. What I believe in is when there is a crave in you to try out something new go for it rather than just have the crave for it and do nothing to satisfy it which results in a kind of mental depression in some way or the other. So from this day onwards I picked up smoking and would smoke only if I felt like and not because anyone else asked me to or so. It was solely my choice. I was a smoker until the last year where I was caught up in making projects for eighth semester and had to run to HAL for the project. The last day when I smoked during Engg was the last exam of sixth semester and then somehow quit after that.

After all of this I passed Engg with a distinction, started working for a company called Standard chartered Finance Limited as a sales executive and then got married in the month of may 2005 which kind of ended the relationship between me and smoking until I joined an eLearning company called Edutech after three years of marriage is when I met my "true friend" again – the cigarette. I started smoking in March 2008 and have been smoking then on. There are many times when brilliant ideas click your head when you are grabbing a smoke. Smoking acts as a very good stress buster for me and relieves me from unwanted tension and allows me to focus on things I should really concentrate on.

So, my message is KEEP SMOKING and feel the fun and excitement with each drag.

Hotel California lyrics

I heard this song yesterday and loved the lyrics. I know most of you would know this byheart but then..still here is the lyrics of the song Hotel California (On a dark desert highway)

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
�this could be heaven or this could be hell�
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
�please bring me my wine�
He said, �we haven�t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine�
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin� it up at the hotel california
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said �we are all just prisoners here, of our own device�
And in the master�s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can�t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
�relax,� said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

Note: this lyrics was taken from the link : http://www.lyrics007.com/Eagles%20Lyrics/Hotel%20California%20Lyrics.html

Luv Sadhana.

Truth of Life

We all want to know what the truth of life means. When I think of this I think of a Lata Mangeshkar’s song ‘Tujhse naraz nahi zindagi….’ which essentially means - Life I am not upset from you but confused because of the various innocent questions that you put across. Truth of life is a very big and kind of a vague question that we are trying to find the answer for.

As the advaithan principle says the truth of life is to find essential identity between Brahman and atman where Brahman means the source of everything and atman means the self and the quest of life would be find a relationship between both. This reminds me a story where an emperor sent his scholars the most knowledgeable people to find the answer to the truth of life. The scholars went in all different direction and came back after centuries and told him that the answer is. For today even I wonder what does that mean. It means the answer to the truth of life is 42 but we have to realize for ourselves what 42 means which will truly give us the answer for this question.

All this means it is for us to realize what “the truth of life” is for us. People may come and tell you, you might now but realization is what will give you satisfactory meaning to it. For me the real truth is to find happiness within me and spread it if possible worldwide. Happiness which comes from within, which gives you the ultimate satisfaction, and, realization of your importance as a being.

My friend always says the truth of life is to do what you are doing because that is what you are here for which is Karma and while doing that if you have questions as in why you are doing that in your mind then it is Maya. So the truth is that you are just stuck between Karma and Maya so just do whatever is that you are doing as a part of your karma and don’t worry about the consequences or result. This is what Krishna said in the Bhagvad gita “karm karte jao phal ki chinta mat karo”. So just follow the karmic principle and be happy and feel happy with what you are doing and this is what the truth of life is. Doing this you will see that everything you are doing has a cause and effect and some person doing something somewhere will have an effect on you.

For example the terrorist attack that we had recently in Mumbai which cost many lives and have left a certain amount of fear in the rest who live. But if we were to sit and think about what and why things went the way it did all it would give us is pain – a negative energy and we would be spreading more and more if we continue to think about it. So let go of it and accept it as Karma and then you will see that all this is not affecting you in a negative way but brings in a positive vibe of being able to do what you are suppose to do and this would help you in spreading more and more positive energy in and around you and this is the truth of your life.

So feel good and spread more and more positive energy around you. Be happy and spread happiness around.

Sankranthi for me

Sankranthi is a festival that signifies the beginning of the harvest season for the farmers of Indian Sub-Continent. This is a harvest festival celebrated not only all over India but other South East Asian Countries as well (technical definition).

Sankranthi is called Makara Sankranthi in North India where Samkramana means to ‘commence movement’. Sankranthi is the Sanskrit word for transition. It is about the transition of sun into Capricorn on its celestial path. Sankranthi is celebrated in Mid January where the harvest seasons starts. Since most of the people in North India are farmers it is very important for them. Because this is the time of the year when harvesting starts.

On this occasion sugarcane, rice, sesame seeds and jaggery play an important role. Sugarcane is one of the most important and auspicious fruit that is offered to the gods. The days start with praying god to keep the season uniform throughout which would help in good harvest. On this day the brothers gives their married sisters gifts as the way to represent their love towards them.

Many varieties of sweets are prepared and distributed to everyone. Especially sesame seeds mixed with small chunks of sugar is distributed to everyone that come to your house and you know of, which would not be received by anyone otherwise because the people in North are very superstitious about it.

This day food is offered to the higher caste of Brahmans as a token to get their blessing. Mostly everybody is dressed in yellow which is considered to be an auspicious color and represents happiness. This day a big bunch of sugarcane tress are tied together to look like a tent and worshipped. This day mostly grains are a big part of alms that you offer to the poor. Many places in north India Khichdi is considered to be a very important dish along with many other dishes around. Khichdi is prepared by steaming rice and urad dal mixed with turmeric, salt, asafetida and water on a slow flame especially on the chulha (a clay representation of gas on which food is cooked by burning wood, hay etc).

On this day Goddess Saraswathi – the goddess of knowledge is also prayed to because she is the one who took part in absorbing the teaching of Gita in mind and was able to teach everybody and reached a highest level of purity and thus she represents knowledge, peace and purity. Mostly all the festivals in India are related to each other someway or the other and all the festivals includes preparation and distribution of sweets. This represents that since we are happy and feeling sweetness in life we want everybody around us to experience the same and the best way to do so is by distributing sweets. By eating the taste buds in the mouth feel good and somewhere even our brain starts relating to it and starts feeling the sweetness and happiness around.

Makara Sankranthi also represents two cycles of representing life one which is the first half representing the Rama Rajya, the heaven paradise and the other half representing Ravan Rajya the hell paradise. The First half of our life representing the Rama Rajya are the days of childhood and the other half is the adult hood full of struggle, misery, pain and everybody in vain. This is the significance of Makara Sankranthi in my life.

My favorite game

J – Jumbled up

I – Inverted

G – Great

S – Scattered

A – Awesome

W – Wonderful puzzles

Jigsaw puzzle is a game where a whole picture of anything are broken into small pieces and scattered around. All you need to do to complete is fix the right piece in the right place and right order. Jigsaw puzzles in different shape, sizes and colors and they are very interesting to play. The time taken to complete them ranges from few minutes to few days depending on the pieces.

Jigsaw puzzles in one of my favorite games that I like to play when I am free. The fun in finding the right piece that fits in and fixing them all up to give a definite shape is fun. Making my own jigsaw puzzle is something I do to teach my son different shapes. It is fun way of teaching kids different shapes sizes colors. It is something I found out once when I was solving a jigsaw puzzle at home my son actually picked a piece and fit it in the right corner and then on I have used this thing too teach him things.

What interests me in playing jigsaw puzzles is that all the pieces have to be fit correctly and also be in right order for it to complete the picture. If you can teach your kids to do the right thing in right manner then imagine their future and the life they would be able to live.

The politicians in this age are also jigsaw in nature, as in they have different shapes and sizes as a character in them but certainly the pieces of never fit for a single cause instead it forms a new different whole picture every time according to their needs. They always are inverted, never awesome and certainly not at all wonderful or maybe they are when it comes to finding ways to satisfy their whims and fancies.

So is life, life is also a jigsaw puzzles, where in our needs, relationships, commitments, goals are the pieces which are inverted, jumbled up and spread here and there, and they need to be fixed correctly in correct order to achieve success and complete a whole picture of an awesome and wonderful life.

Beat it and think of other games that you like and think how you can implement the tricks and ideas you use to complete them to solve the problems in your life. Jigsaw is one of them every time you like at a piece you will find different ways to fix them so that they fit and your picture is complete.