Mother - God's way of bestowing never ending love upon you

"Ma", "Mom" or "Mumma" are the three words that I may have spoken the most in my entire life - "Mum where is the dress I bought yesterday? Mumma did you pack my shoes as well? Ma I do not know what other ingredients to put in this curry? Ma can you help me with my project? Mum I am tensed about my Visa interview what do I do?" Questions, concerns, frustration, disappointment, happiness, celebrations, anger, tears - I have shared it all with the most precious person in my life - My mum. However, when I set foot in the U.S., far away from the comfort and support of my mum, I was a wreck!! Could not do anything right and had trouble with everything right from laundry, cooking, cleaning, re-arranging - EVERYTHING.

Every stage of my life she was there for me. She held my hand through my failures, cheered my success, clapped the loudest in my proud moments, and secretly cried when she missed my presence. The day I got married and moved to my new home, I realised that all the happiness in the world cannot make up for the presence of your mom. My new family loved me like my own, but no amount of love in the world can make up for Mom's love. A mother is truly irreplaceable.

Now when I am a mother, I understand everything that she ever went through. The sleepless nights, the tantrums, the love and the tears. She was there for me then and she is there for me now. She is my son's Godmother in every way. "Nani" as he fondly calls her, pampers him like no other. As I look at both of them bond, I wonder how can someone be so selfless. Truly Ma, you are God's angel sent on earth for me!

From Adolescence to Motherhood

When you move to a new stage in life, you sometimes forget to look back. That is exactly what explains my absence from my blog. 2008 was when I penned my last blog on this site. As I graduated and moved on to the corporate world, I wrote website content, advertisement articles, brochures and flyers. I wrote so much for work, I forgot to write for myself. From corporate world I moved on to the REAL world. Marriage and Motherhood is such a beautiful experience. It is also one of those experiences where you wish that days were longer because you always have so much to do and so little time. So finally here I am. As my 2 year old son makes little balls out of Play dough, I finally sit to re-visit this blog.

My little boy has had an overwhelming effect on my life. He controls and willingly becomes a part of every moment of my life. As a child, I could not imagine my life without my parents. As a teen my life was my siblings. Adolescence came with love that encompassed my whole life until my son was born. As I held him in my arms, I knew it right there that from that moment on, no one would ever be as important as him. 

I am Thankful!

Not writing for a while does not make a persons thought process dormant. However the beauty of writing your feelings is the fact that it stimulates thoughts that usually lie in the depths of mind and heart. Such is the beauty of expressive writing.

As I try to pen my thoughts, I not only recollect the most recent events, I also recollect the most eventful ones. Why then do I miss the beauty of a normal day? It makes me wonder that it is easier to blame fate or luck for a bad day, but its just as difficult to be thankful for a normal one. Not everyday has to be great or good. The fact that it was normal means that the One up there is watching over us. Hence now when I look back, I am not thoughtful, I am Thankful!!

Wanna go on a roadtrip?

Nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow! Some people belive they can make their future while some belive its pre-drawn by the almighty. Whatever the excuse, a part of us wants to know what lies ahead and a part of us that likes the mystery. I for one, like the mystery that the unknown brings. Not knowing what will happen tomorrow makes life an adventure. An exciting road trip that we take everyday to explore unknown places. On the road trip we may pass through deserts and jungles where we encounter troubled times, or pass through beautiful towns where there is abundance of people and necessities. The fun however is in discovering all the different places on the way, surviving the different climates and circumstances, and in the end coming home with great memories.

By metophorically comparing the life to a roadtrip, it does not make life sound all that bad. Its not like a big deal or a burden the way some look at it. Its about cruising along in the best you can afford as what one drives is the path one chooses. Be it a BMW or a maruti, just CRUISE along it. Its the the enjoyment on the way that matters, not the duration! Its the journey that matters, not the destination!

Family - Gods way of showing Love

People often say that we can choose our friends but family is something we are "stuck" with. Well if you had a family like mine, you would wish you were "stuck" with it for life.

A grandfather that is by far the most intelligent 70 year old person you can find on the face of the earth. Respected by all and idolised by the young ones, his knowledge is par excellence. You would be surprised if you saw him perform math calculations faster than an average calculator. He is a highly principled person who has lived his life with respect and will continue to have that respect till his last breath. His love for the family is so much that he goes out of the way, even at this age, to be a part of each an every family member's life. No matter what health condition, he has been there at every single occasion in my life, right from my school plays to graduation, from my GMAT exam to my visa interview, from my pre-departure shopping to my take-off - he has been there everywhere, everytime.
I love him tremendously and he is my Idol. I have learnt my money and time management skills from him and am proud to be his grand daughter. He is truly the head of our family and my life would never have been the same without him. No matter how irritated I must have got with his occasional advises and examples, I can never imagine my life without him. He is truly my pillar of strength.

This is just 1 of the 6 other members of my wonderful family. What can I say - I guess I am just lucky ;)

Decisions in life

It not the choices, but the decisions that we make in our life that decide our fate! Luck is an excuse people use when they want to get rid of the guilt of making a wrong decision. Who we are is who we decide to be.

I had a choice to take up a science field, but i decided to choose business instead. I had a choice to go to one of the top 10 universities, I decided to go to 50th one. I had a choice to buy a Sony laptop, I choose Toshiba. I had the choice to drink, I choose not to. I had a choice to keep my heart safe, but I decided to take the risk of a heartbreak.

People often take decisions and then regret them - Why? There is no point. A decision made with careful thought or on the spot, is unchangable once executed. Regretting it or blaming the circumstances does no good to anyone. Unlike a program installed on the computer, a decision can only be modified or repaired - but never uninstalled.

What to do? - Live it. You made your choice, now live it to the fullest. If you think its a wrong one, modify your ways and repair the damage rather than sit and sulk about it. I have made some decisions in my life which were not necessarily "wrong", but were not exactly good ones. The way I dealt with them was to modify the results of the decision. To illustrate what I mean, I did bad on an exam. Here I had a choice to study hard or relax and rely on past knowledge to skim through the exam. I chose the latter. Owing to mounting frustration and behaving like an average teenager, I blamed it on the circumstances. I removed my frustration on my mom and blamed her for being the one responsible and not waking me up on time to study for the paper. This did not help but made me feel worst as somwhere my conscious was full of guilt. The way I modified my bad decision was to go and apologise to mum and take full responsibility of doing bad on the paper. I also assured her that I would do better on the next one to make up for it and that is exactly what I did. 1 good decision can help modify or repair the damage done by a bad decision

The example was cheesy but its true. Bad experiences in life, when modified, can help make better human beings. I have become a better person than before because I easily apologise and take full responsibility for my mistakes. I may still have that C on my paper - but I sure learnt a valuable lesson.

Life as we know it

Life can be a blessing or a curse. It all depends on how we live it. I lived life on my terms and saw the bad side of it. People take pride in the fact that they decide how to lead their life but I choose to disagree. If every body thought that way then there would be no peace among 2 individuals. I am not saying bend down, but I also dont say that stand up by knocking others down. Apna policy to sirf ek - Jiyo aur Jine do (Live and let live). Any 2 individuals in any kind of relationship can only live in harmony if they see a disagreement from the opposite person's point of view.

Adjustment is a boon I got from my sister. Dhwani, my lil angel, the most calm and matured girl I have ever come across. Somebody who has mastered the art of conflict control. You can never disagree or fight with her. Reason - she will never give you a reason to get angry with her and she will never ever do anything that can cause disagreement between her and another individual. Soft spoken, peace loving and selfless - these words best describe my little angel. She expresses her love in silent ways. She is not the kind of person who will do something for you and then keep reminding you about the obligation you have till the end of your life. I treasure her immensely and she is truly and inspiration to my way of living. If people follow Gandhigiri I follow Dhwani - giri lol...