Sweet Memories

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The first day I met Munira was in school. She was, and still is, a young lady with a charming personality, a gorgeous smile and a calm serenity that is sure to surround anyone in the vicinity of her beauty. She is truly a lovely person radiating and sparkling from within.

I will always remember those lovely moments we spent together being silly, giggly, crazily happy little girls. Never at that point of our life did we foresee what we would be doing ten years from that point onwards. We were just mere carefree souls ready to embrace life and love everyone and everything with a vengeance that came in the combination of forces full of trust, fun and laughter. Life has evolved for both of us over the years, taking us over the precipice of changes that it had to offer and finally bringing us to the pinnacle we are standing at right now. So, here we are now, where we had possibly never planned to be!

Over the years, we have been in touch. Even though I haven't seen Munira for almost a decade now, I can admirably gaze at the picture she sent me today and reveled at her ability to look "just the same" despite the trials and the years in between.

So, here's "hat's off" for the pretty lady. May her smile glow forever!

Instant Decision Making Factor

I have always wanted to own a crystal ball so that I can foresee changes in life and act accordingly. But, unfortunately, I don’t own a crystal ball, a genie or a magic lamp. What does one do in cases where decision making in a split second is an instant requirement? Do we always take the right decisions in life? Freud may not be scientific when he says "every dream fulfills a desire," but his new interpretative key produces in many subjects some sort of "insight" which falls between knowledge and mere interpretation. But do we shape our lives according to our desires or other circumstances, or a combination of both? While I am still grappling at decision making phases during the turning points of my life here’s an interesting excerpt on magical crystals.

In a crystal ball the points of light reflected from the polished surface (points de repere) serve to attract the attention of the gazer and to fix the eye until, gradually, the optic nerve becomes so fatigued that it finally ceases to transmit to the sensorium the impression made from without and begins to respond to the reflex action proceeding from the brain of the gazer. In this way the impression received from within is apparently projected and seems to come from without. For more: http://www.jjkent.com/articles/crystal-balls-divination-history.htm http://www.jjkent.com/articles/crystal-balls-history-religion.htm

Moral of the Day: “Don’t ‘believe’ in all you see, ‘listen’ to all you hear and ‘speak’ out all you know”.

Procrastination – The Thief of Time

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right”- Napolean Hill.

I have finally done it! I have finally started the journey in slow progress . I have learnt to curb the P word. I am not fully cured but since I have combated it better this month I decided to pen it down for all it's worth. It definitely gives a tremendous boost to confidence and thats a wonderful feeling! Many would describe procrastination in a plethora of ways. It’s a long and tedious process to conquer but it’s achievable. For me, it was just a mental mind set. You have to do what you just have to do and you have to do it now! There are various articles on why we procrastinate and its nice reading. But like all reading materials, we tend to forget it the moment we close the pages, and than, when things never get done we logically justify our actions consciously or unconsciously with...“It’s just that there is no time", "tomorrow the weather will be better", "I am just too lazy", "there arent enough materials', 'I am not just in a good mood right now", "I just have to do this some other time", "I want to do it right with a little more time", ......….! We denote procrastination to incurable in extreme cases and and write it off as part of our personality or worse, our incapability. But, by doing so we are allowing our body to take control over our mind. Take for example, the “cleaning out day”. Cleaning out cupboards and shelves was a huge topper on my list of “procrastinate with glory”. I realized that I would put off what I really needed to do and feel immense guilt for it later. To conquer this feat, I selected a day and time, switched off everything else that would call me away from the task in hand and switched on wonderful music to give me that extra motivation. Just as I began, my friend dropped by to ask me to join her for a cup of tea. Torn, I hesitated for a moment, asked her to give me a few minutes and did a wonderful speed job of cleaning. Voila! Not only did I have tea but I circled a day on my calendar for the next cleaning session. Another good example this month of combating procrastination is my previous tale of walking away the calories. A friend had the privilege of listening to me everyday for the past five months of how much I would prefer to find some time to work out those calories. Finally, with exasperation my well-wisher just stated succinctly. “Don’t talk about it, just do it!” though it quite sounded more like “stop whining and wasting my time!”. it certainly helped! For ammunition on this virus check out

http://www.43things.com/tag/procastination

"Don’t do today what you can put off until tomorrow.""In putting off what one has to do, one runs the risk of never being able to do it."-Charles Baudelaire

"Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." -Spanish Proverb

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." -William James

Spending Quality Time With Mom

Restaurants here come in all shapes, sizes, decor and ambiance. Growing work pressure, competition to perform well, stretched work hours, stress and other reasons such as little or no social life here is providing a thriving business for gourmet and non gourmet meal suppliers.

I should have been a restaurant owner.

Especially since, I see myself gravitating towards these irresistible embodiments very often. The dent in my purse along with a fear of standing on a weighing machine on my own had me gnawing on my nails in despair. Saying “abracadabra” was not enough to wish for calories to simply disappear.

With restricting hours for the gym at proper timings, I decided to resolve the issue of loosing weight while spending quality time chatting with my mom as a combo meal for staying fit with happiness. Armed with enthusiasm, a happy partner and a new pair of sneakers I decided to burn a trail on the joggers’ lane near home.

With mom as my companion, we were soon flocked by very friendly neighboring aunts at the joggers’ lane. Therefore, instead of a combo meal, we ended up having family sized packets of gossip and tales of family life dilemmas. This entails slow paced walking and non-fresh, sand-filled groundnut eating ritual for as long as the walk lasts.

At this rate, the groundnut seller is possibly thinking of opening his own groundnut restaurant!

The silver in the lining is that with time flying past at the blink of an eye, any amount of time spent with my mom is quality time. Of course, this probably means I will not loose weight the faster way but the compensation benefit is well worth it.

A Pair of Red Shoes

While I was working on a report today I came across a picture of a beautiful pair of Celine Shoes on the web. It took me back through time. In all the years of our lives, there are certain moments that never fail to put a smile on our face. Like a pair of Red Shoes for instance; it was possibly one of the most wonderful gifts I ever received in my life.

Now what makes a gift so memorable? It definitely depends on the person who gives it along with the situational factors entwined with it. What is important is not exactly the gift itself but the purpose behind it. One would say “it’s the thought behind it that counts”. A survey conducted by Barlow T. Mann under the auspices of the National Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG) in 2000 revealed that the desire to create a lasting memorial for oneself or a loved one motivates almost anyone human. From a graph compiled from the survey, it can be seen that a desire to give to support charity is about 97%, compared to 33% for creating a memorial for loved one and a mere 13% as a desire to give to friends and family. It thus makes me wonder that if a person can spend so much, giving wonderful gifts to known people on occasions, that person is also capable of giving a lot to charity. This country certainly needs more people like that. Philosopher Ann Rand, states that philanthropic giving does not exist. She feels that we give gifts to others to satisfy one basic need in ourselves." The need to feel personal gratification about the physical art of giving and the emotional art of being remembered"! I believe that we should all enjoy the art of giving! It doesn't really have to be restricted to monetary endowments, it could be as simple as a flash of smile. There might be someone out there who might always remember you for your simple generosity, perhaps throughout their life !

Winter And Butterflies

I have had a few butterflies land on me and even follow me lately. Actually, it probably means we both like the same color. Butterflies are attracted to blues, lavenders, pinks and some yellows. In butterfly museums they suggest you wear those colors. Then when you go into the butterfly enclosure, they land on you and it’s quite a wonderful experience.

My sister, a notable student of entomology stated the obvious. Winter is almost here. I can feel the chill already and its not even December. According to my erudite sister, butterflies apparently portray a chilly winter just around the corner as they tend to migrate to winter regions in search of suitable habitats.

I was amused to read what Rick Mukila, a web naturalist had to say about his butterfly cultivation. In the excerpt of his article where he talks about how butterflies are hidden in envelopes and flowers and are released at weddings painted a paradise vision. He began his article with an American Indian legend on butterflies which was cute. If I was younger, I would have believed it:

“To have a wish come true you must capture a butterfly. Whisper your wish to it and set it free. The winged messenger will then take your message to the Great Spirit and it will be granted."

For more, check: http://butterflywebsite.com/Articles/wedding.htm

The only way I can attach superstition to seeing butterflies has been similar to some myths stating that butterflies signify changes. Its mere coincidence that whenever I saw butterflies starting Dec 2005 it had some effect on my career and even I must say thrice could be quite a coincidence.

But people out there, if you believe in superstition and butterflies symbolizing marriage, don’t fret. There is nothing wrong in a little fantasy and belief in fairytales.

Dealing with Morning Traffic

Anger is a destructive element. This morning’s traffic threw me off balance. A friend was supposed to pick me up for work and I had to wait over 30 minutes before the vehicle had the opportunity to cross the road to reach my destination. I even wondered why I had to go with someone to the office in the first place.

One thing about this place you just have to know about is how things are done in groups; there is a social annotation to everything. For me, going to work with a friend has nothing to do with philosophies, its a simple excuse for enjoying the most mundane task of going to work each day and turning it into a social pleasure.

Today, a simple story told by Rajan De Silva, a personality development trainer who I have been fortunate enough to meet saved my anger. He had pointed out a wonderful way of dealing with unfortunate situations by stating that when situations are beyond our control and there are no shortcuts to solving it, we could redirect our energy to more productive avenues that gives us pleasure.

So, I thanked my friend for being there, discussed the day ahead, rearranged my busy schedule unconsciously, made a few phone calls and planned out my next vacation out of town. By the time I was in office, albeit late, I smiled my way right through the door!

Quote for the day: “In order to be happy, identify a thing that you love to do and throw yourself at it wholeheartedly”

Friends and New Beginnings

Do we ever walk down the road and than realize we have forgotten where we were meant to go? Every time a new direction in life surprises us with its spontaneity, a whole new aura to our life takes place. For me, changes are always welcome. It's strange that I am writing this now, because I remember sending a sms to a person less than a month ago saying "changes make me squirm". I guess both statements are correct depending on the time and situation.

I truly believe by now that things happen to us for a reason. A wise man had once said, “When you look back ten or maybe five years from now you will know why things happened the way they did, and everything will eventually make sense”. Similarly, every person come into our life for a purpose other than just mere companionship. You just have to realise their worth for what it is. So, changes and doing more in life entitles us more time span of living and enjoying. Today I have started this blogger with a flash of inspiration from my friend Imti. I have learnt that there is always someone there for you to make you feel good just at the right time if you have the right person around you.

There is no hard and fast rule as to where you will find such people. There are some we grow up with, and than some at University too. But friends can be made under the most surprising circumstances. Rica and Farhana were people I met through a voluntary organization about a few years ago, ever since than we have been quite close.

Meeting Imti was a stroke of luck and a New Year's blessing. So here I am, sharing my blogspot first with three special people shown above. Hurrah to friends and new beginnings.

So genau.....I am finally going online with my thoughts!