For the complex thoughts in simple words..

1.Everyone thinks unique problems occur only in their lives. That only their luck is twisted and they are dealt all the tough cards. If everyone has unique problems, who has the common ones? Trust me, there is atleast one other person in this world going through the same problems as you. 2.Many a time, the fear of our ability to deal with a problem is more grave than the problem itself. Eventually, we all deal with it - there really is no choice. Might as well trust ourselves in the process. 3.No one's problem is better or worse than yours. No one's problem is easier or harder. Each one their own. 4.Unlike what I thought in my school going years, the easiest problems in life are found in the math text books. Atleast, they have a solution. 5.Our problem coping strategies don't speak of our strength or character. Those are just techniques and tactics. Some people shed silent tears, some rely on shrinks. Some stick posters of their problems in their apartment, some just like...

 What is the one attitude that could help us cope with life and what it throws at us, with more resilience? Courage? Humor? Astuteness? I would say 'Acceptance'.  It has been uncanny how in the last few days, I have bumped into some friends and our conversations have hovered around how whatever happens to us in life is truly out of our control. A few years ago, before I was struck by the mid-life crisis, I truly believed that we were the ones behind the 'wheel' of life, and had the power to steer it in the direction we wished life to take. However, as the small lines of silver started to sprout on my head, I realized that there was truly a lot of peace in letting go of that feeling of control, and  in accepting that a lot of life is about what happens to you without you planning for it. Mind you, the attitude of acceptance does not absolve me of my daily responsibilities or duties. It does not give me an excuse to not do my job well, not attend to my needy children or t...

There are all kinds of crazy now a days. Swiggy crazy, Netflix crazy, Myntra crazy...an endless list. One of those trending crazy things, in my experience, is the smart watch. Smart watch is smart alright - It keeps you on your toes, measures your heart rate, and adds color to your life in fun shades and shapes. It only stops short of foretelling your maid's moods or your better half's mental health. While this bling thing is armed with fancy stuff, why I call it crazy is bcoz of its sleep tracker.  I'm sure some of you can relate to this phenomenon that runs in my family - what I like to call sleep obsession, or rather, sleep tracking obsession. I recall my aunt telling me a few years ago, it was almost as if she had swallowed a clock before bed time. Such was the precision with which she could tell the time when she woke up for a bio break and the number of times she woke up. Her precision was to the milli secondth level. As a family, as you can imagine, we were obsessed ...

Where is the time to be proudly lazy When you’ve already gone half crazy Sweeping and mopping, puffing and panting! After twenty cruel seconds of hand washing.. You gaze into your home with new-found awe You realize it’s not such a bad place after-all You wonder why you eloped every weekend Not seeing the beauty of your bedroom’s dead end A pandemic like the Covid, although is not fun With the numbers shooting at the wake of the sun Makes you pause and reflect, take a deep breath And also makes you realize - oh you are truly blessed! Stranded you are not, on the border roads Like the poor migrants who’ve lost all hopes Walking endlessly long miles together One even carrying his child very tender Neither are you a health care worker Saving many lives in every corner Putting your own precious life at risk With not a moment spared to frisk You are not that brave cancer fighter Anxiously trying to remember Which chemo it was last week...

Recently, my son was tasked with reciting a Hindi poem on Indian festivals. As I was searching the internet for a good poem, it occurred to me how many festivals there were, that we celebrated through the year. From January through December. A festival a day keeps the school at bay! Every festival however would send me on a guilt trip. Oh my! I hadnt prepared any seedai for gokulashtami, I missed lighting lamps for karthigai. My modaks took an amoebic shape during gowri ganesha, and whats worse, the cute-bellied mud ganesha that I had bought 3 years ago, was still sitting in the corner of the pooja room and hadn't found his way to the nearby lake. As much as I wanted to prepare for a festival in advance, I failed. How were my friends in the US able to do it and post proud pictures of those perfectly brown salt seedais! How were they able to get their swami room have that makeover during festivals?! Their facebook pictures only added to my woes and I immediately started looking up...

As I read through testimonials of arbit people on Orkut,I realize that they all have a strange thread of commonality across them.So,two people might be complete strangers to each other,yet they would have an almost similar thing written about them.All nice things ofcourse!Some of the most common things I have read are: 1.Came across as "x" but turned out to be a complete surprise later 2.Is a good shoulder to cry on,can advise you on anything and everything 3.Is different,not so much run-of-the-mill 4.Intelligent,smart,good fun to be with so on and so forth You can see these things appearing across most girls' testimonials atleast! It just reinforces some things I have always believed in - That people,by nature are nice.I mean,they are harmless most of the times,like to do good,stay out of trouble and like to follow what are generally accepted societal norms.This should explain why public places are sometimes considered the safest - you'd much rather ...