These are the days of my life.

I had been to Jogimatti which was my first treak ever. Completed a month in Huawei, meeting many new people every day, spending more time with loved ones. Hunting for a new property for investment in Bangalore, playing badminton on weekends, about to enrol for swimming classes “seriously” & my journey is going on. Thought of taking sometime out to note down things that I have realized & experienced more about life.

- Never judge, accept people the way they are, because you finally would realize that you were wrong.

- You cannot always make everyone happy all the time.

- People will never remember what you said but will remember you for how you made them feel.

- Once you make a decision, stick to it.

- It's hard saying goodbye.

- It's even harder saying goodbye to someone while they tell you they love you.

- It's scary when people know you so well, they predict what you're going to do and you still do it.

- Don't look for people to tell you that you did the right thing. If you think it's the right thing, then it probably is.

- Relationships can never survive in boundaries as they are meant to grow.

- Fear is ones biggest enemy; can’t forever keep running away from it. Face it & you shall conquer it. After which the happiness & joy you get is priceless.

- Realize who & where you are. Know where you wanna go…it’s always a leap that you need to take. Go for it & get ready to face all the emotions that come on your way. Trust me it’s all gonna be worth it.

- Bitching behind someone’s back does not make you best. Stand up & speak up upfront

- Always ask a question “Why” and you will discover miracles.

- Try to do those small things just for others happiness. People don’t expect anything but they deserve to be treated with respect.

- Smaller things in life give real satisfaction & joy. It’s just smaller things that the best things begin.

- Feelings can never be manipulated. One who is loved can never be hated.

- Don’t get upset if people make fun of you, be glad that you made them laugh.

- Everyone has their own set of problems, fears, sadness & aloneness what differentiate the best is the way they are dealing with them.

- Trust the one who remains & behaves the same even in your absence.

- If you can’t reciprocate the same at least respect the feelings.

- Give your best in everything that you do and make a difference – work, relationship, sports, art etc.

- No one is perfect, accept your mistakes & work on them. Life always gives second chance.

- Enough of running away, learn to face it…that’s what living is all about.

I'm enjoying myself so! I’m free, I'm happy, no regrets!

My weekend hobby "Moon watching... "

A letter to my best friend

You and me. We wanted to live our lives in a tree. We played ‘aiming the ball inside the basket, hiding ourselves from professors while bunking classes, joined swimming classes just to enjoy the open shower (with our swimsuits on!). We walked every evening discussing what we’ll be, where we’ll be and who we’ll be with. We loved udhari ka vada pav with ketchup & green chillies. We named the trees. We scribbled Arabic bad words on the walls of our college. We love Bishop’s & singing at sunday mass. We love Pune. We lived together for 5 days in the mountains. I enjoyed getting wet in the rain and you hated to see me sneezing. You loved wine & I loved its color. You were my bodyguard & I was your lucky charm saving from dad & mom's scolding. We ate Bournvita powder late in the night. We loved Titanic and sang “Every night in my dreams....” during pyjama parties. I was like of your first love and you let it go. You supported my act of pretending to be a conceiving lady to run away from the cops. You desired to have a daughter like me & I wished a boy who would pamper me more than you. We rocked the dance floor and slapped may boys. We enjoyed spending our weekends with those cute looking orphan kids. Daydreaming of how we would seduce our love by wearing orange bikini saree while walking on the beach. My test car drive & you sitting next to me saying your final thanks giving to Lord. Pulling Bahadur uncles mustache, plucking roses from your neighbors garden & screaming out our favorite DJ’s name at the DJ war….gosh we have done it all. I have lived many lives in this time and enjoyed all that I never dreamt.

Yes, even if you are away from me…. you are in my every smile as I enjoy the rain
… you are in my every tear when I miss you in the dance floor
… no more credit cards can buy me the taste of our udhari ka vada pav

I hate new people loving you. You love new people loving me.
Jaannn Thank you for these memories.

Your handwriting is your mirror... know yourself

I was always told that I don’t know how to judge people… I have this hobby of blindly trusting people and believe me it has never harmed. 2 years back my friend pulled me to Graphology learning workshop.

60+ aged cute looking and totally in love couple hosted the workshop.

Graphology was their PhD topic & were in India to spread awareness about this science. First day we were asked to submit our sample full paged handwriting. During the introduction round I said, “I wish to learn as I want to judge & know people I am dealing with”. On this my teacher told “Dear, u first need to know yourself & let that be the focus for your learning”.

He analyzed my handwriting and it was 95% true. After each class I was getting to know myself better & that was so satisfying. This workshop not only certified me as a “Graphologist” but did change my life at a crucial stage & I can say it is doing wonders for me.

Graphology is something that I have been interested in since then. Graphology simply means study of handwriting to reveal an individual’s personality.
> You can tell about a person’s nature, whether he or she is an extrovert or introvert,
> Whether the person is impulsive, artistic, materialistic,
> Is the person what he really appears to be or are there layers to his/her personality,
> Their strengths, weaknesses what they really are like
> Signature itself talks about you, parents, relationships, career, passion
> Yes, it can also predict future

Handwritings reveals SO much….I am so obsessed with it that I start off as soon as I look at hand written envelopes, receipts, medical prescriptions and even notes scribbled during a meeting –basically anything hand written and I can tell certain things about that person. Certain strokes correspond to different characteristics. A person’s handwriting is more or less consistent with the way he/she is as a person. If you are angry it will reflect in your handwriting. If you are sad, that too shows.

From my graphology experience I have seen people’s life getting more meaningful as soon as they work on their handwriting. Graphology is a science. Hand writing is a neuro-muscular function of your brain. Therefore every thought, and every emotion you feel reflects in your writing. Your brain is used to certain patterns which are pre programmed and it reflects in your writing. We are socially conditioned to be behave in an accepted way, which very often conceal our true nature. But our writing never lies. It is fascinating how much our writing reveals and Graphology continues to enthrall me.

so much so that a love letter becomes a sample in my term of Graphology

Be right in appearance wherever you are - part 2

For a special date:

- Stay natural & look hygienic
- Study the persons taste and select your color & style accordingly
- Preferably red, orange, purple, black colors
- Don’t overdo that’s what will make u sexy
- Let your outfit depend on the venue & time of your date
- Do something with your style which makes u memorable eg: Tattoo,piercing, designer sleeves or scarf, unseen hairstyle, any unique accessory that define u and only you.

Attending a Wedding:

- NO red & too not much of gold jewelry
- Don’t dress up like a bride or groom (even if you are looking out)
- Respect the culture and dress up according to their respective tradition. Eg: don’t drape your saree in a gujarati style in a maharashtrian wedding
- Dress rehearsals is a must if you are the Best Man or Best Woman at the wedding
- If planning to get drunk and plan to rock on the dance floor: Men: avoid layering clothes and blazers go in for Indian ethnic wear. Women: No heavy or lengthy lengha, saree well draped (hope u get what I mean :-))

Getting ready for a Party:
- Birthday, anniversary, house warming, get-together, bachelor, pyjama party, divorce etc all sorts of parties...
- It’s difficult to list down the dress codes as each occasion is different. So ppl have this theme style dressing.
- While sending out the invite do mention the dressing theme eg: Bollywood, Jungle, Traditional , Tribal, Towel, Disney, Geeky, Historical, Rainbow etc

Visiting spiritual places:
- It’s a very sensitive issues, so lets be very careful while dressing up
- Tikkas & Bindis : NO – Church, YES – Gurudwara, A Must – Temples
- Westerns clothes still not well received in south Indian temples
- No designer or branded shoes & sandals… you'll know why

Traveling:
- Be comfortable. Avoid layered cloths & too much of accessories
- Long flight or connected flights carry an extra pair of cloths
- Avoid hairstyles & plaiting of your hair girls
- Shorts, Capri, spaghetti, tunic tops or flowery scarf and a jacket is a must

Movie/Theater show: - The funkier the better… go ahead with all ur experiments. In Spain I had seen bunch of teenage girls with painted face, lovely hats, uniform frocks with pencil heel sandals walking in to the theater… u see how it builds in the right excitement :)

And what for trekking? Well I really don’t know. Allow me to come back to you after this weekend as I am heading for an adventure camp.

“Keep experimenting… Style is something you cultivate when you know who you are”

Be right in appearance wherever you are - part 1

It’s hard fact that most of the people including you and me judge a person based on what he/she wears. In my case most of the time my judgment has failed badly, as I said in my previous post, styling is more of experiments.

Sharing with you’ll some style tips for these special occasions:

Attending an Interview:

- No oily hair and don’t afford to have a bad hair day
- Avoid red & pink ties/shirts/skirts
- Girls please tie your hair, we are not here to win best hair award
- T-Shirts with bold slogans & prints plzz NO
- Pin your dupatta well & place it in the right position
- No dark makeup & strong perfumes
- No rolled sleeves & appreciate your shirt tucked in

As an Interviewer:
- Dress up causally & just try to be yourself
- Avoid bold colors, preferably White/blue
- Girl interviewing a guy “Please no lip gloss or dark eyeliner”. It’s distracting most of the time
- Stay away from drinks or smoke for a day before the Interview
- No raised colors…let Australian cricketers enjoy that style.
- No red eyes, don’t scare the prospective employee with the company work culture
- Guys don’t go extra miles or fall for doing stuff for your favorite female candidate
- Don’t smell as if you have jumped out of perfume shower, girls like me will faint

First week in new office:
- Don’t try outing new cloths; carrying something which you have always felt comfortable wearing.
- Be sober & not like F-TV models. Take time to understand the company culture & people’s taste with whom you would be working
- Avoid too many jewellery, exception to newly wedded bride :-)
- No bright colors – preferably black, dark blue, off white outfits
- Hair well pinned & no shinny headbands or clips

Participating in a conference:
- As you would be closely interacting with prospective business leads keep your nails clean & use mouth fresheners every 2 hrs
- No deep neck shirts or gowns
- Girls with long hair to be more comfortable go for French braid
- Avoid too much of colorful & mix & match outfits
- Cotton with thin border & no embroidery sareer are total YES.
- Black spegitte with blazers on formal cotton trousers looks NICE.

In a customer Meetings:
- Formal shirts/skirts tucked in with a combination of nice leather belt. Closed shoes a must
- If your presenting use gel to assure that even if you move your hair does not take weird shaped & makes you look funny
- Apply lip moisturizer or lip balm to avoid liking of your lips during the meeting
- Today I see most of them wearing denim jeans and its well accepted but with a formal color shirt or blazer
- Owning side & front slit skirts like me don’t worry - wear leggings. Yes back slit shirts are said to be formal in Europe.

While in a NGO activity:
- No fancy or branded cloths
- No formals just dress up with a simple nice quoted T-Shirt with pair of jeans
- Girls go with traditional Kutras & cotton churidar
- No skin show

Blog is getting lengthy hmmm…. Dressing up for a date, workshop, wedding etc all coming up in the next blog post.
*This is totally based on my experience & my conclusions. You’ll are totally welcome to put in your comments if you’ll disagree.

Only if I would knew when my last day on this planet…is

“No, I don’t want to go by this way… can’t see the cancer patients battling with life”. See choose the other path & reached the ICU where her father was hospitalized, early suspect for Malaria. Ohhh Its “Sie” that’s what I called her. One, who married whom she loved, gave birth to a beautiful son, over trusted a friend, became a suspect in the eyes of her husband, got divorced, chose to study again, started staying with her parents and had the guts to fall in love again and fail.

That day Sie wasn’t sure that her life is going to take a major twist. All reports were placed in front of her & the doc says “Your father is in the 3^rd stage of cancer, you just have 6 months more”. Didn’t know how to react, asked no questions & went up to her god to ask “Why? Punish me, not my father”.

For a month Sie had almost visited all the top cancer specialist of her city, showed the reports & all had different recommendation & stories to say. She was confused & had lost the meaning of the word “Trust”. She just kept running away from home as facing her father was no easier. I accompanied her one such day to meet one such specialist & that day was the day of conclusion. He saw the reports and said, “Your father is at the last stage, take him anywhere on this earth you can’t save him for cancer forever. Stop torcuring him by getting those all medical test done on him, his body no more can resist. You have 5 months in hand. Make it the best for him. Let him live his life… he is a lucky man unlike us. Imagine what would you do if you knew your last day on this planet…”.

That’s the only day I had seen Sie crying out loud, yes because she had accepted the truth & was all set to batter for her father’s life. After this her only moto was to fulfill all her father’s wishes, major being a MBA. 2 months passed her family or closest people kept this secret from her father. They did all that he ever wished and desired for. Taught days were not very far. His body started giving up, tremendous pain in stomach, blood vomits, cuts in fingers which kept bleeding, hair & body weight loss…

4^th month in the mid night when her father was awake she went up to him and said, “Please forgive me for all the pains & hurt that I gave you. We just have 2 more months and I want to live every moment with you papa”. Cancer started playing its game badly and Sie was fighting it well. I salute this woman for never giving it up. Those 2 months, were the worst days of her life. Her father was on the bed 24/7, on saline, could only intake liquid, lost all hair & weight was not more than 36 Kg. He used to cry out loud with the pain & pluck bucket full of blood. Every night she was awake sitting next to her father with her books in hand preparing for 2 exams – MBA & father’s life. Cancer is one should disease which can make a father say to his daughter “Please kill me, I no more can live with this pain…”. Sie’s did all that a daughter could do for her father in those last days. It was his birthday & knowing that it’s her father’s last birthday made all the attempts to make it special. Till date she relives those memories & finds herself in the arms of her father.

The day stroked & he finally got peace when he took his last breath.

I wonder in today’s world where we speak of advanced technology, why we don’t have a treatment for Cancer. Why are the patients forced to die a painful death? Why could we hold on uncle for few more days so that he could see Sie’s MBA certificate?

I would like to leave you with these questions:

What would you do if you knew it was the last day with your parents?

What would you do if you knew your love is embracing death tomorrow?

What would you do for all those cancer patients who are left by their dear ones as they were cowards?

What would you do to not be in the place of Sie?

Life is short…make every moment special for the people you care, who knows if you would get another chance or not.