... and life moves on!

Let’s face it, we have all changed, all of us. Somewhere between school ending and colleges starting, we have all gone our own directions. Hearts were broken, friendships were diminished, new loves started and new people came into our lives. We no longer spend all of our time together in our circle of friends, we no longer talk for hours about nothing at all. Some of us are finding love, while some of us are trying to let go. Even though we have changed, we all know that even though we are finding our place in his world, that when we find love, when we let go of love, when the tears falls, or when a smile spreads across our face, we’ll come to each other. No matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will change so much that we won’t be friends forever!! 

Dedicated to all my friends back home. I miss you all <3

This is not the end! It is a new beginning :)

        Woah!! Words don’t come easy at times like these. I leave for Pune tomorrow. And I don’t know how I am feeling right now. It is like I have become emotionless and feeling-less. Numbness has started to sink in. It is going to be an entirely new place, people, friends etc. In short, a new life! And am I excited? Yeah, kind of… And at the same time, I am hell scared of the grind. I know it is not going to be easy, and esp. for someone like me- who has never ever stayed away from home, is pampered to the core, never done anything on my own- it is going to be a real life changing experience.

        I want to cry and i want to smile at the same time. I am a complete Mama's Girl (which you all might have known quite well after reading my mothers day special blog-post) and I don't know what I am going to do without her :( My dear brother won't be there as well. Whom am i going to fight with? Share half a glass of coke with? Hit and then get hit in return? But i guess this is what life is... Moving on with memories buried in your hearts forever and making new memories. 

        I have always loved challenges and always accepted them in high spirits. But this is something I never imagined. I always wanted to move out but never thought I would go this far. Guess, god has his own plans and we can just adhere to those. I am falling short of words (probably for the first time). All I know is that I am blessed to have my family and my friends who love me unconditionally! It is all because of their support that I have reached where I am today. They showered endless belief and trust in me and I promise you all that I will never let you down… And this, by no chance, is the end of it. This is a new life for me. A chance to fulfill my dream and my parents dream. A chance to live my life to the fullest. A chance to explore my options. A chance to see where I stand in life. And last but not the least, a chance to know my inner self. When I come back, I will make sure that I will have made you proud of me Till then, Adios! Stay blessed J <3 

School Diaries #2 Lunch Hall & Railings

“Thank you Lord for all the blessings we are about to receive”

I cannot ever forget this grace we said before starting with lunch in the mess. We used to wait for12:20 pm in junior school, 12:55 pm till class 8 and for 1:35 pm till class 12 for it was LUNCH J Its been 5 years I have passed out from school, but I still remember the menu clear and I don’t think there will be any Yadavindrian around the world who would not remember Monday’s ice cream (in summers) and hot gulab jamub (in winters) and Friday’s Rajma Chawal. Wow! The mess bhaiyas had known our eating habits as well as our mothers did.

Sitting on the railings outside the lunch hall before and after the lunch was a favorite of everyone especially for girls as they used to sit on them with their groups and watch the crushes and boyfriends play football (with tennis ball) or cricket (with books) in the assembly area. It used to be such an amazing time during the day. I myself have done that so many times with my friends. LOL.

Inside of the lunch hall was super cool. High table was a dream for every student, right from the time we came to know the importance of sitting on the high table with the principal sir, vice principal ma’am and house masters, each one of us wanted to be a school appointment and be there some day and sharing some light moments with them. I was lucky enough to be one of those appointments and have my share of dream-come-true moment.

As kids, we used to hate when we were stopped from talking and were punished when we didn’t stop by 12thees. We used to be like why are they doing it? And we even pledged that when we become 12thees, we will never do it. But when we actually got the same duties, we understood the responsibility that was put on our shoulders by our teachers, and we did exactly the same to our juniors what our seniors did to us when we were in younger classes. Hahahaha… And there used to be these boards on which the names of all the appointments were written ever since the school started. I am so glad that today I have a name on that board as the Aitchison House Girls Captain for the year 2006.

And after our lunch we finished it with the grace again.

“Thank you Lord for all the blessings we have just received.”

Love is greater than the pressure to be perfect!

This one is all about The pressure to be perfect and the pressure that our society that we live in puts on young people to be perfect and I am prime example of that. I am a young girl. I know the stresses that come along with having to look a certain way, having to do well in school and college/university, family pressures, internal pressures, things that go on in the inside of you and it leads to a lot of unhappiness and depression a lot of times. I hope by the end of this article you guys are able to realize a couple of things that you might not have realized before now.

There are so many pressures to be perfect; like I said the pressure to look a certain way. We all go to colleges and universities and at some point we all think, “Wow that girl is so pretty I wish I looked like that.” In the magazines, when I see girls with flawless skin and perfectly curled bouncy hair, I always think to myself, “Why can’t I be that perfect?” I feel the pressure to be perfect on the outside. A lot of us feel the pressure to be perfect from our families too to achieve exceptional grades that can get us admission in good colleges and universities and it is very stressful and it’s hard to deal with it. I know I get very aggravated when I do the best I possibly can and my parents still say, “Why didn’t you get more marks?” I feel I’m letting them down, I’m letting myself down. I disappoint them. And it’s hard that they put that kind of pressure on me where it makes me feel that I’m not doing a good job at all.

Pressure comes in many forms, shapes and sizes. And many a times when they don’t succeed in certain area that they want to, they feel defeated and they feel that they are not good enough. One of the worst feelings that I have ever felt is the feeling that I wasn’t good enough. That’s a terrible feeling to feel. And I know that you guys can relate because everyone at some point or another doesn’t feel confident with themselves and feel that they could have done better in that area, don’t feel that they didn’t do fullest to their abilities. It affects everyone. Everyone has these times in their lives where they feel they are not doing well enough to please the people around them and that is hard. But the thing you need to know is that no one can be perfect. And no one fits the mould of perfect. To one person it may be completely different than it is for a different person.

Why not treat the other person with love? I’m sure he/she is not doing things (that you don’t like) out of their own wish. There must be some reason for what they are not doing it. Maybe he/she does not have that much retention power and so is not able to score well. Every person has a retention level, but that does not mean they are not intelligent. Maybe his/her intelligence shows up in some other form. All they are asking for is a chance… So before we ask someone to be perfect, we better look down on our flaws and ask ourselves, “Can we do what we are expecting out of the other person? Do I understand his/her state of mind? Am I right in demanding this?” Whatever answer we may get, what we truly need to realize is that Love, indeed, is greater than the pressure to be perfect! 

Mother's Day Special- Mama's Girl

Why is it clichéd as Daddy’s Girl or Mama’s Boy? Not that I am against it or something, but it just sets me thinking at times. (At times? Am I not always on the “Thinking Mode”? LOL) so yeah, Daddy’s Boy and Mama’s Girl sound equally good, right? Why in our society then, do we hear only what once has been once said? I agree that girls share an amazing bond with their fathers (for most cases) and boys share a great deal of closeness with their mothers. But I believe it is same the case for vice-versa.

I am a Mama’s Girl to the core and the deepest of the core. And I feel so happy when people associate me to her in terms of my resemblance to her. Like seriously! Whenever one of her friends meets me for the first time, they always tell me that they could have recognized me even if my mom did not tell them that I am her daughter. I don’t know, but for some reason, it makes me feel so good. Not just the resemblance, I feel blessed to have acquired almost all of my mother’s features- my smile, my eyes (my two features that I just LOVE). She has taught me to be what I am today and must I say, I am indeed proud of myself. One of the most important things she taught me is never to depend on anybody for anything, be it for some personal works, financially, going somewhere etc. She says that whatever you want to do, do it without waiting for someone else to take you there or someone else to do it. Another important thing she taught me to never keep anyone’s hard earned credit as in like never to plagiarize, be it someone’s money, credit for some work or anything. If you have something, which you know is not yours; you should never take its credit. Rather give it back to the person who actually deserves it. And I feel if one inculcates these teachings in their lives, they can never go wrong with their life, because that ways, they know where they stand in life.

The only thing I did not inherit from my mother is her patience. And how I wish I had the same tolerance level as she has. She has been through the thick and thin of life without a streak of line on her forehead. Such an amazing patience and tolerance level she has (touch wood). I, on the other hand, have no patience at all. And it is something one should really really have. It helps you to get through a lot in life.

The only thing I am happy not to have inherited from my mother is her hair. LOL. She has these coily, curly, wavy hairs which are like ultra-difficult to manage and the worst thing is that you cannot leave them open or even in a ponytail. Other than this, I am so grateful to God for making me totally like mummy.

I share almost everything with my mother. Obviously there are some things you just cannot share. You get where I am going, right? ;) Shopping, cooking, house cleaning, beauty sessions, gossip, secrets, bitching and I could go on and on with the list of things we do together. (Story of every girl!) I guess mothers and daughters share an amazing bond that cannot be shared by anyone else on this earth and it is such a beautiful relationship. I remember a poem we did in class 10, The Queen’s Rival by Sarojini Naidu. She has so beautifully explained the mother-daughter bond.

On this special day, all I want to say is that I Love You momma, and you are my idol. I just hope that I am able to make you proud one day and I wish to be a daughter, sister, wife and a mother as good, wonderful and amazing as you. 

The Queen's Rival

http://www.poetry-archive.com/n/the_queens_rival.html

School Diaries #1 Assembly Area

“Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.”  

This is how our everyday began, with the principal and other teachers speaking it while the whole school stood in prayer position for a good 12 years. Could there be any better way? I doubt!

Assembly area has so many memories attached to it that even if I want to count them, I will probably never be able to do that. Our school assembly started at 8-15 a.m. and the first bell rang at 8-10 a.m. But we always reached school around 7-50 a.m., rush to our classrooms to book our seats and come to assembly area, where we used to wait for our other friends and talk and sometimes copy home-works sitting on the choir stand. I remember once when we were walking and taking down the assembly area towards the main gate, a boys’ group was playing football with a tennis ball (yes that was a very common sight at Y.P.S.) and it hit one of my friends- Shivani. Tigi, if you are reading this, thank you for making this memory ever-lasting. So yes it hit her and the way she jumped, turned around and hit that one guy who came to take the ball was super-duper hilarious. (I’m laughing so bad right now.)

Then during fruit breaks and lunch breaks we used to play corner to corner, stapu, chain chain, crocodile crocodile, oonch nich ka paapda and so many more games as kids. And just talk and gossip as we grew older and sometimes also date ;) hahaha… we used to stand around the Y.P.S. dais and talk about our crush and stare at them.  

From principal’s speech, to his lectures, to Sethi ma’am’s explanation on why we celebrate the festival that was around the corner, to gathering there for treks, to gather there for Aitchison house’s (my house) house assembly, to play, to get punished for not wearing belt in tunic loops or extra short socks or painted nails, or long nails (girls, any bells ringing) or not polished shoes, no school belt on trousers guys not wearing turban (taking rounds around the cemented area), and last but not the least- our farewell dinner, this place has just so many wonderful memories attached to it. And how I wish I could attend the morning assembly someday again in my life. Amen.

Realists v/s Dreamers

So there are so many kinds of people in the world. Lazy, smart, educated, intellectual, confident, over-confident and I could go on and on. Each one has its own view point on various things, have their own theories, and no one can as such challenge them on anything. After all, it’s their life. Only they know what they have gone through or are still going through. And I strongly believe that “only you know the best way to live your life.”

Out of the so many kinds of categories of people, two specific categories particularly amuse me- “The Realists” and “The Dreamers”. I, without a doubt, belong to the latter group of people.

Ok, So talking about “The Realists”. As obvious from the name, they are the ones who believe in what reality actually is and then work their way according to the situations. They believe in what they see. And, why not? Whatever you see with your eyes, has to be true, until and unless you are watching some kind of magic show or something like that. Such people follow a simple theory “You get what you work for.”  For them it is either black or white. The grey does not exist for them. Strength, will power, guts are few of the words they like to keep on their fingertips. They say that without strength, you can’t get through your life, to get to the love and happiness etc. (which, by the way is true to quite some extent.) and this word always gets them through the hard times in life.

Now, “The Dreamers” on the other hand, are the ones who work through their dreams, as is pretty perceptible from the name itself. If they want to get something, more than actually working towards it, they work towards their belief that they will get it no matter what! And many a times, it has been seen that if you really believe in something, your belief does turn out to be true sooner or later. Dream, believe, faith are the few of the words, these people live by. For them, your belief stands equal to the hard work you do. If you do something, in which you do not believe, you are never going to like doing it and chances are that you might not even achieve it (pretty much true again!). Even in "The Alchemist", the author says "When you really want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it". The Alchemist is a story all about a boy who believes in his dreams and in the end gets all that he wants.

I am the biggest DREAMER/DAY-DREAMER you will ever meet (or at least I claim to be). All that I have achieved till date, more than actually working towards it, I have actually dreamed my way through it. I literally mean it! And I thing I am sure of, even if I had worked hard, put in all my strength, I would have been at the same place where I am today, because that is exactly where I am destined to be! I have been dreaming all my life, and, touch wood; I have seen my dreams coming true. Yay J I, feel so happy and privileged to be a part of this clique.  

So who stand strong in life- “The Realists” or “The Dreamers”?  Can we really answer that? No. its just that they both have a different way of living their life and it is not that they acquire any of these two qualities living their life. They are born as one of them. They both pave their way to success. So we can’t really decide on who’s better and who’s not. We just have to remember that whatever comes in life, we have to face it with dignity and not behave like losers. Life is all about living and enjoying it, be it the dreamer way or the realist way. 

CHANGE- growing up or what?

“It is funny how day by day, nothing changes. But when you look back, everything is different.” 

Change, ironically, is the only thing permanent in life. We are all changing everyday without even realizing it. One thing that really starts to bother people is when say “Oh my gosh! You have changed so much.” Now this can be said in two tones- positive and negative. Its fine when people say that to you in a positive way, because that means they are proud of and are happy for you. But I don’t understand when people say it with so much of negativity. I mean, shouldn’t change be encouraging? Like growing as human beings? And what I personally feel is that the word “change” has a very bad stigma to it. People are very scared of it when it should be pretty much the opposite. Accept whatever changes that come your way, with open arms. It will all the more make you a better person.

Let me tell you, from my personal experience, that when some one says to you that you have changed so much in a very negative tone, that simply means “you are now out of my control, I can’t manipulate you, you are now doing things that very spontaneous to me. And I do not like it at all and so I am saying all this out of jealousy and to hurt you.”  It could be as simple as simple as they  can say “you are spending more time with the kind of people I don’t like. You have the kind of friends I wouldn’t ever make. You’re so different.” When the only person you have to go back to at the end of the day, when you are snuggling in your bed is yourself. So just know that whatever situation, whatever decision you make in your life, it is going to be on your shoulder. And if you are fine with it, don’t let anyone’s comments and statements bother you. Rather, just hit them back with “Oh is it? Wow! That is so cool. I really like it now. What is the problem in that?”

You are your best friend. You might have a friend who is very close to yourself. Someone with whom you have grew up and shared all your secrets with. But things could happen later in life, down the road. You need to be comfortable with yourself and need to be able to report to yourself. If you make a decision that everybody thinks is wrong, but if you think its right deep down, and you can live with its consequences, then just go for it.

People really love to go deep down in others life and see what they are doing. They will be just be jealous of you or sad that they do not have the control over you anymore. And all these feelings will turn into hatred, even before you know it. They will despise you. And that is when you literally have to step back and you need to question yourself, “why is this person jealous of me?” Is this because I am not in your control anymore? I am making my own decisions without consulting you? I am doing things without even letting you know what I am doing. Some one really needs to go and tell these people that CHANGE is a good thing. If you are not changing, you are not growing.

My Dream Little Secret #4

When I was a child, probably in class 7 or class 8, there used to be this cartoon series, “Heidi”, that used to telecast 5 days a week at 8 pm. I and my brother used to watch it religiously and never missed a single episode. And when it ended, I remember being really very sad for it. Besides enjoying the story, what I enjoyed most was the house in which Heidi lived with her grandfather, a small cottage in the Alps, surrounded by mountains all around- green and snow-capped. Ever since, I have dreamt of owning my own cottage in the midst of Mother Nature.  Then, in vacations, my family used to plan a trip to Himachal Pradesh almost every summer. When I saw such cottages in real, my dream grew even more strong.

Every year, our school used to take us to the trekking and hiking. In class 11, we went to Brighu Lake (4,235 m above the sea level). It is one of my most memorable trek/trip of my life. I actually lived the kind of life I wanted, even if it was for a few days. The only difference being that instead of a cottage, we used to sleep in tents. It was a lifetime experience for me. Waking up every morning to the chirping of birds, clean air, green and white mountains all around, bonfire at night, brushing teeth and washing utensils with the chilled stream water, cozying up in our sleeping bags and so much more is something I can never forget. I remember the day were to leave for our destination, Brighu Lake, we woke up at 3 in the morning and we literally saw the entire Milky Way. The feeling was and still is beyond words and by far my best feeling.

I just wish to own my very own cottage on the mountains so that I never have to crave for that feeling. I can go there and experience them whenever I can. (And yes, the hotel or rented cottage would not serve my purpose.)

My Dream Little Secret #3

♥♥ I love fashion. And i am a 'Fashion Baby’ (if that makes any sense.) Being a huge fan of movies like The Devil Wears Prada and Sex and the city, it should not be difficult to guess my taste. In The Devil Wears Prada, the scene in which Andrea goes into the Runway’s fashion walk-in closet, OH-MY-GOD! She was awestruck, and so was I. How wonderful it would be to actually own a closet like that, filled with all the latest shoes, dresses, bags, accessories,  jewellery etc. and Brands ranging from Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Guess, Jimmy Choo and all the big brands WOW!!! And for all of those who have seen Sex and The City, the closet that Big gets made for Carrie. I would never ask my partner anything else if he gifts me something like that.(Not to be taken seriously ;))

A little time ago, there was this ad where a girl flaunts this walk-in closet in their new home, whereas the guys flaunts his bar. The point is that every girls would love to own it one day. If I ever own a closet like that, it will be my most prized possession. And the icing on the cake would be a ‘PINK’ walk-in closet. ♥♥

My Dream Little Secret #2

Paris, they say is the city of love & romance. How I would love to live in this city of love sometime in my life even if for just a few days. It would be so wonderful, to wake up each morning and realizing that you are surrounded by love all around. This realization itself would add so much happiness to your life. For, I believe that love is the greatest of all emotions in our lives, which is not restricted to just love between a boyfriend-girlfriend. It can be love between mother-daughter, son-father, siblings, friends, husband-wife, aunt-nephew etc. basically, love in any form. You get my point, right? And how much I would I like to get kissed under the Eifel Tower, and I would cherish that moment forever in my life. 

My Dream Little Secret #1

It has always been a dream of mine to have a hidden room bursting with books from floor to ceiling. So many books that they barely fit, so that they have to be stacked haphazardly all over the place. In this room I imagine there to be one large super comfy chair and a crackling fire. The room would be mine and mine only… It would be my little secret.

15 randon questions TAG!

Question 1:

Where were you born?

Chandigarh- The City Beautiful! J

Question 2:

Were you named after someone?

No. My massi (mother’s sister) named me. The telephones were not all that common at that time so she wrote it in the letter and said I should be named “Puneet” which means “holy pure”.

Question 3:

If you were born another person, would you be friends with you?

Is that even a question? Anyways, yes, without a doubt! I wouldn’t  miss the chance to be friends with the best girl in the world ;)

Question 4:

Do you have any pets?

No. 

Question 5:

Do you use sarcasm?

Yes. Whenever and wherever needed!

Question 6:

Would you bungee jump?

Of course!! Not only bungee jump, I would do any adventurous sport given a chance at the first attempt.

Question 7:

What is your favorite cereal?

Kellogg’s  Special K and Quaker Oats 3 minutes Instant Oatmeal (and that is because I am in the “lose some weight and get slim” mode these days)

Question 8:

What is your eye color?

Medium brown

Question 9:

What is the first thing you notice about a person?

Their personality.

Question 10:

Favorite smell?

The scent when the rain falls on dry earth. It is such a clean scent and brings all the surroundings to life.

Question 11:

What do you think you can but you can’t?

I think I will be able to run 2 km continuously on a treadmill but I end up stopping it when I am somewhere between 1.5 km to 1.7 km.

Question 12:

What are 2 your virtues and 2 vices?

Virtues:

Ø  Loyalty. I am very loyal to people for whom I really care about- my friends, my family, my relationship.

Ø  Compassion:  I have enormous amount of passion for people around me.

Vices:

Ø  I am very stubborn.

Ø  I am very impatient.

Question 13:

Name 3 things that are physically close to you at the moment?

Ø  Laptop

Ø  My phone

Ø  My to-be business school’s prospectus

Question 14:

Can you taste the difference between a Pepsi and a Coke?

In a heartbeat!

Question 15:

What does your last text message say?

A friend of mine asked me if I would like to go and see IPL matches in PCA stadium.