Diary of a Lost Wanderer

As another enticing year comes to end, I would like to gift you Eleven Promises in memory of the wonderful 2011 that we spent knowing each other, fighting, arguing and parting ways only to meet again. Wishing you more such lovely times ahead to create memories that last a lifetime!

In whatever little life I have seen till now I have never been able to associate myself with the term BFF. And by the quirk of fate I have not been lucky enough to have one in my life till now. It’s not that I don’t like friends or I am antisocial. 

On a lazy afternoon I was whiling away my time by surfing channels. After a while I was feeling very sleeping and I dozed off on the living room couch. As I drifted away to a dreamland I saw myself standing outside a huge mall. It was beautifully lit with very attractive hoardings and advertisements which were luring.

Winter season comes not only with cold waves and chilly nights, but it also brings around a wonderful atmosphere where love is in the air. I am not saying this because the biggest festival for all lovers Valentine’s Day falls in this season. I am saying this because in this season due to the cold weather you feel lazy and the only thing you can think of is hot chocolate and a warm blanket. The idea of having a loved one for company is definitely tempting though! Come summer and all you can think of is ice cream and floaters for company. How about taking a walk on pleasant summer evening by the seaside, under the stars hand in hand with your sweetheart? Welcome the colourful spring by bringing in the colour of joy, love and laughter in your life with your partner in a simple long drive along the country side admiring the breath-taking beauty of nature and reminiscing about the good old times.  Get wet in the rain of love in monsoon. Let your parched soul be drenched

 Most of us are lucky enough to be surrounded by loving family members consisting of parents, siblings, grand-parents, distant cousins etc. Some of us are even luckier to have parents, siblings other than the biological ones. We are connected to them through the heart, sharing a very deep bond. I like to call them my soul family. This name because I feel I share a beautiful connection with them which from the souls. Our souls are able to find a common ground to be bound by an invisible chord full of genuine love and affection. I have a soul mother, a soul brother and a soul sister. I am very close to all of them and though we are not blood relatives what holds us together is equally stronger – love. Not for a single moment have I felt like an outsider and I am sure neither have they. We co-exist like any other family members sharing joys and tears all in one go……. It is these small aspects of life which add spice to the otherwise dull routine. Imagine you have more birthda

Did you know that you need 12 hugs a day to stay healthy? Every time you hug someone you pass on your positivity. There is something about the human touch which is extra ordinary. It touches our deeper self creating ripples within us. It is a very special experience beyond description.  There are instances where we are feeling very low and bogged down by the circumstances around us. All that we can wish for is a tight hug from a loved one just to make us feel good as if to say “ Everything will be fine .” A hug has the magical ability to perk us up within moments of receiving it. This was even endorsed by none other than Sanjay Dutt in the movie “Munnabhai” fondly addressing it as Jaddu ki Jhappi. And yes definitely it is Jaddu. During sickness a medicine gives us immediate relief, similarly when we are emotionally sick a hug can make us feel better. You never know what wonders your hug could do for a person. I hug all my friends and family every time I meet them. Many d

  Angels are those cute little winged creatures with a halo on their heads. They are very helpful and loving by nature. They also have a characteristic of being magical; just a glimpse of them makes you smile and forget all the troubles. If you are lucky enough to go to heaven after your death you will definitely be surrounded by them. But not many of us know that even while we are on earth- very much alive we are surrounded by them. No I am not talking about our imagination. I am talking of reality. Yep!!! We all have a special category of people in our lives when we can actually call as “angels”. Though their halo and wings are invisible, their other characteristics are very much there. They are magical in nature and they seem to have solution to all our problems. Their helpful and loving nature makes us feel blessed to be alive and special to have them in our life. I must confess I am very lucky to have such wonderful angels in my life and I am fiercely protective about t

I am sure all of us would agree to the fact that we are surrounded with few people who have a tendency to hurt us very frequently. But the million dollar question is “What do we do about it?” The answer is simple – wear armour. Yup you got me right. Wear armour just like the one soldier’s used to wear in battle fields during olden days. The motive is still the same. They used to wear it to protect themselves from any battle wounds. And we need to wear is to safeguard ourselves from the hurt being inflicted by the sharp words of bad behavior of other people. It sounds such a wonderful solution to a serious problem. Trust me I have practiced this and it works. E very day before I begin my day I stand in front of the mirror and say, “ I choose to stay unaffected by all the negativity that people choose to bestow on me ” I say this three before leaving my house for work. I don’t know somehow reciting this magically gives me an inner strength. It manifests into an invis

Every time we come across something difficult, even before trying it the first thing that comes to our mind is “Will I lose anything if I try it? What is the harm in trying it? On facing defeat our immediate reaction begins with I lost….ending with adjectives like my trust, faith, strength, will power or my zest. I think we all are wrong. Every time we try something new we lose something – our fear. Fear is the only thing at stake to be lost otherwise we only stand to gain. We gain experience and a lesson of what doesn’t work. Losing your fear is one of the best things that can happen to any of us. Somewhere deep down we all want to conquer our innermost fears and overcome them. Trying something new gives us a chance to exactly do the same. Then why are we so scared of trying something new? Rather we should look forward to such experience with lot of excitement. We should be eager to learn and discover new ways of doing things. At the same time we should also remember

“Romeo…oh my Romeo…where art thou?” said Juliet in the famous play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. Little did he know in the 21 st century these words would take the literal form but in the opposite context? Today’s Romeo and Juliet are busy searching their own selves’ neck deep in relationships. Thanks to the progress in each sphere each one of us has been gifted with an “individualistic mindset”. It is race between the fittest individual who is able to fine tune others to meet their requirements. Holding hands, looking into each other’s eye to say….I do……the entire feeling itself is so beautiful it is difficult to describe it aptly in words. A new life, w new beginning sounds exciting initially. Once the newness wears off we fall into a routine where everything loses its sheen. Our monotonous jobs and mundane routine steals the charm from our lives. And one fine day when we see ourselves in the mirror we no longer recognize ourselves. After a long bitter battle

I surrender to: A world which if full of hypocrites and back stabbers. People who have no conscious and sleep peacefully at night after hurting someone. Those selfish hearts who are alive with their heads held high Inflated egos and heartless souls I surrender because: All they can give me is pain and all I can give in return is my smile. They can’t take anything from me unless I want them to. It doesn’t mean I am weak. It means I choose to stay unaffected by them. I accept them with their flaws.

I feel that “perfect” is the most misused term in English dictionary. There can’t be one definition of perfection. For arguments sake one could say nothing is perfect in this world. On other thoughts if I let my thinking horses run wild and put on my rose tinted glass I might be able to see a perfect world . A world where there is no jealousy or hatred, where we all co-exist with respect for each other ; a place where we are all surrounded by mutual love and trust. We are able to voice out our opinions fearlessly. We are not scared to say of who we are, which caste of community we belong to. We respect the values and beliefs of each one. We are not under any social pressure to outdo each other in pleasing everyone. We do things because we want to and not because we need to. We are helpful without any expectation in return. We don’t judge people and accept the as they are unconditionally. There are no shortcuts only pure hard work and passion. Where every I resonate

Remember the last time you were sick and the doctor had advised you some colourful pills as medicine. The pills seem to be so bitter in taste leaving a horrible after taste in the mouth. Did that make us discontinue that? Definitely NO, because somewhere we all know that despite the bitter taste the medicine is good for us and will help us recover. In the way all the hurt, grief and pain we come across in our lives is beneficial for us as it makes a stronger and a better person. Just like the medicines are inevitable the same way it is important to also remember the cause. The cause and the effect go hand in hand. So to avoid the same medicines again you need to ensure we don’t do the same thing again. This teaches us not to repeat our mistakes so as to not get hurt again and again. So the next time you are hurt or in pain remember that you are ill and need this to recover, as my mom always says all the good things in life taste bitter.

The person who said,” Nothing is free in this world” was highly mistaken when he said that. At least in the Indian context there is something which is definitely free and most of the times unasked for. You guessed it right – ADVICE!!! If you are surrounded by many well wishers who are more than willing to share their expertise with you doling out advice after advice even when you might not seem to need it, then I would like to say,” Welcome to the Indian Fraternity”. From childbirth to death ceremony, from marriage to divorce, from health to wealth these people seem to “KNOW-IT-ALL”. There is no topic under the sun on which these people have no information. Many a times their advices tempt me to answer them sarcastically but I don’t as I am reminded of my mom’s cold stare if I would just say that. Pouring my so-called frustration out here I present some of the most common phrases along with my most quirky answers possible to them here: “Oh you have grown up!!!”

Today even after more than a decade of those incidents the memory is still very fresh as if it just happened yesterday. During my entire teenage years, both in school and college I was bullied and treated as non-existent, as if I never had any feelings. I was ridiculed upon for my weight, for my looks for almost everything related to me. I was shunned and also boycotted from parties and get-togethers. Here I am talking about the days much before Face book / twitter/ you tube was found. So other than meeting at school or outside school in person there was no other way to track your friends. I still remember the time when during break I used to sit alone in a corner and eat my lunch trying to hold back my tears while the others were having fun with their friends. Till date I still don’t have an logical reason for their behavior, but the only reasons that come to my stupid mind are: -> I was from a middle class family which meant I could not splurge like them. ->

  Marriage is a compromise, which means, “Come, promise......... –          To be together forever. -           To be there through thick and thin -           To never let jealousy and doubt gain power over love we have for each other. -           To never take each other or our marriage for granted. -           To ensure the bottom line always remains “I love you” -           To always face all the adversities together with a smile. -           To have a goal and walk towards it hand-in-hand -           To love you tomorrow more than today -           To truly believe and follow, “Forgive, forget and more on.” -           To never let anything shake the core of trust, care and concern.

“The delicious creamy double layered chocolate cake with cherry toppings melts in my mouth with its frosting layered on my tongue. ..” sounds delicious…Is not it? Have you ever noticed that when you are truly enjoying something, any sort of description seems inadequate. “Words are not enough” is a very commonly used phrase used in such situations. Words –however important they may seem to make a meaningful conversation there are some moments in life when words fall short. And in the blink of an eye such moments turn into be the most memorable and beautiful moments of our life. At such times when words lose their sheen, our eyes become the medium of expression. They speak volumes and convey everything we have in our hearts. It is very rate to find a person who can actually understand the unspoken. It is very rare to find a person who can actually understand the unspoken. Holding hands sitting together staring into the space saying nothing still feeling you are having a

Life has a beautiful way of teaching us some of the most wonderful lessons which help us lead happy lives. Though at the first they might not be visible to the naked eye when watched closely they are very much there all around us, eager to share their stories with us. I sat and analyzed how the minutest activity of our day to day life has so much to teach us. The list is purely amazing: Getting up every day   : Waking up each day symbolizes hope. It denotes that whatever wrongs you had done yesterday you have a chance to undo yesterday you have a chance to undo it and make an attempt to do it better. A plain canvas has been presented to you to fill it with vibrant colours of life.     Dress up:  We need to put our best side for display to people. Be it clothes, thoughts, actions or simply our expressions. It just simply means, “ Put your BEST side forward .” Rush to meet deadlines : Life is a race; as Darwin said, “ Survival of the fittest ”. So you need

At the age of 10, the only thing I wanted to do was to grow up. I was tired of listening to various excuses like, " You can do this when you grow up ." " You are too young " for almost everything that was on my To-Do list . A grown up was the most enviable person for me at that stage On the contrast today when I am all grown up I could do anything to trade it for my childhood days. Such wonderful times - no worries, just fun and frolic!!It was so good to see life is only black or white shades. Everything could either be good or bad. Though my most desired dream of growing up has come true I feel that I have paid a very heavy price for it. I have lost those simple pleasures of playing in the backyard with a friends on a rainy day. I don't recollect the last time I did star gazing, cuddled up with my teddy for company. I want to wake up lazily someday with no worries about tomorrow but ample plans of how today would spent. Those summer holidays spent with

Source: Google Images It is a common trend to ask someone " How are you " every time you meet them. It has come to become such an integral part of the inaugural discussion that it doesn't seem awkward to say, " Hi, How are you? " in one breath. Asking someone their well being is considered to be decency and someone not reciprocating actually risks being labelled as indecent. Well, let me confess. I find this pretty annoying as most of the people asking this question don't intend to know the answer. The " how are you " after the " Hi " has become equivalent to a greeting and lost its meaning somewhere. In simple language asking " How are you " means inquiring about the other person's health.But now we are so engrossed within ourselves that we find it difficult to find time to genuinely understand the importance of this answer. Our busyness has robbed the beauty of this question. Everytime I am asked this it hu

This is a special note of Thanks to all the people who have been a part of my life.  It’s “ YOU ” who have made me what I am today by leaving me with unforgettable lessons; both good and bad. Your every hurt has made me stronger and your every hug has made me smile.Every smile has given me the strength to chase my dreams with more gusto and every tear has pushed me a step closer to my most cherished dream – NIRVANA.  You all have left beautiful footprints on my life. You might be there for some reason or some season but I would like to just say from the bottom of my heart – Thanks for meeting me in this journey of my life!  

Sometimes we get so engrossed in our day to day lives that we fail to recognize the real value of our most prized possessions - our loved ones. They deserve to be treated differently because they are special and they make our life beautiful. Any dish looks more appetizing with added garnishing and dressing. In the same way, relationships become more strong and beautiful when wonderful words are used generously by us. Here's a list of some statements which when used in your conversations could create magic by making your loved ones feel very special: I love you [ Use this very often ] I adore you [ Make your loved one feel special ] Miss you! [ Let them know the importance of their presence ] Take Care [ Sometimes it feels very great to hear this statement ] You are precious [ A heavenly thing to hear from your loved one ] Thank you for everything you have done [ Sometimes it becomes necessary to let them know you acknowledge their presence ] Can I be of any

Last night I was sitting by the roadside, looking at the constant flow of people on both the sides. What stuck me the most were the expressions on each one's faces. The expressions were either baffled or puzzled. This is exactly what we do in the journey of our lives. We are so obsessed with our destination and other additions that come along with it, that we forget to enjoy the journey of reaching it altogether. Answer it for yourself - How many times have we felt the cool breeze blowing through our hair while driving back home? On our way to office while passing through a garden how many of us have smelt the flowers? I am thinking........are you ?

Recently while surfing the net I came across a wonderful blog . Going through their blog leaves me with 5 things - Tears in my eyes Lumps in my throat Goosebumps A huge smile on my face A beautiful thought " It feels so....oo...oo good to be ALIVE!!" I read one of their articles titled " 50  Questions That Will Free Your Mind ", tempting me to try and answer those questions. Here we go...... How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? 5 or 6 years old. Which is worse, failing or never trying? Never Trying If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do? Because that's the way it is. We love to hate it and hate loving it. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done? No What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world? Hatred If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich? Making others HAPPY Are you doing wha

Sometimes it gets difficult to decide - To be bluntly honest in our opinions to people around us?                                      OR To be a very good liar and talk behind their backs about their flaws? This is a choice I find very difficult to make as I prefer being in the former category while people around me are always in the later category. They force me to rethink incase I wrong. I believe in being honest because I feel that it strengthens the relationship rather than a lie which tomorrow might cause an irreparable damage to it. I am still wondering............

Once in a while, I try to gather my thoughts and count my blessings. I confess it mostly happens at times when I am very upset about something. But simply making that list makes me feel so good, it's difficult to express it. That list has something as simple as " I am healthy - No medicines " to something like" I am surrounded by some wonderful loving friends. " Try making that list and realise how lucky we are in lives!!!

Life is like being on a swing….there are moments when you triumph and go up on the ladder of success while there are moments when you fall down only to rise again to another height….Just enjoy the ride and keep laughing even when you are coming down as it means that you are soon going to go up again!!!

People are a mystery. All seemed to be moving around with a "?" on their heads, waiting to be understood, to be known, eager to tell their stories and unveil themselves. The real quest is to turn each "?" you come across into a "!" while continuing with the journey of your life.

"Living apart and at peace with myself, I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance. To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling in the affairs of other, to refrain even though the motives be the highest from tampering with another’s way of life so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit. "- Henry Miller Simple yet so insightful.......wish we all could follow this!!

Whenever I am alone I find myself thinking of you,Who are you? Where are you? I don’t have any clue. But in my dreams every night I see you, I feel you, I talk to you. I wish I could tell you how much you mean to me.It is something for yourself to come and see. As if my heart has become a lock to which you hold the key. Come, hold my hand and take me away with you.Make all my dreams come true. Lets make a different world of ours,Lets become “WE” from me and you!

Marriage is like being on a see-saw!!! Sometimes you have to go down to let your partner go up and sometimes you have to go up letting your partner go down. At the end of the ups and downs ride, both should have huge smiles on their faces....

Life is a like a bottle of champagne!!! When you hold it in your hands, what you see is a beautiful bottle full of sparkling water...bubbling...waiting to burst open revealing all that's inside. But if after shaking the bottle the cork is not opened properly the bubbles fizzle out. In the same way life has got so many beautiful secrets for us to unveil every day every moment. The secret of unveiling it is in our hands so that the magic is still retained even after opening of the bottle. Wishing you loads and loads of bubbles full of happiness in your life!!

My room is my haven. There hidden beneath all my clothes and books is my most cherished treasure. On the first sight they seem like 3 small cardboard boxes coloured black, red and white respectively. On close observation you will see all of them are labeled; the black one as “ Trash can ”, the red one “ FYA can ” and the white one “ FYI can ”. If you open any of these boxes you will find small notes inside them. The reason why I call them my most cherished treasure is because they help me lead a stressful life. Wondering how?? This is the secret – The trash can consists of things which are of no importance. The FYA can has things which need to be acted upon.  And the FYI can has things which can’t be helped on. They are just for my knowledge, know about it and leave it. Whenever I face any problem or I am in dilemma, I categorize it as any one of the above and thereafter its cakewalk. Incase it’s into Trash can its useless, FYA then I need to do something about and incase FYI then

In life having met some good people and some bad people, I feel that every individual has a lesson to teach. Its like a story which begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with a moral. But somewhere down the lane, the morals are forgotten and so are the stories leaving only blank pages for new ones to be written again!!

I dont understand when after a bitter experience people say I cant love anymore or I cant trust anyone again. Meeting someone wrong in your life is like selecting a bunch of grapes out which few turned out to be sour. The question is - Do you stop eating grapes after that??

For me marriage has always been mystery waiting to unfold. The more I try to unveil it the more it seems to shy away from me. For a girl it all starts since the day she is born. She is brought up with one gnawing fact to be accepted – Her marriage. Her every act is somehow connected to her marriage. Look beautiful. Study well. Be good at household things. All this and more only for a nice groom. And then she is put up for display once she attains the marriageable age. Near and dear ones are told about her exceptional cooking skills, her loving and caring nature and not to forget her exemplary educational abilities. Not for once does anyone thing that she might not be all this but has been made like this just to ensure that she is married at the right time to the right person. Its sounds so hilarious – you can’t laugh out aloud, you can’t display your opinion on any matter, and you can’t sleep till late on Sundays after slogging for the entire week both at home and at of

“ To err is human~ to forgive divine………….. ”In my childhood when I had heard this saying for the first time I had concluded that making mistakes in human and forgiving is next to Godliness. Gradually as I grew up I realized how difficult it is actually to forgive and be forgiven. After being through a series of hurt hurting others I finally concluded that forgiveness is actually divine.   Listening someone say “ I forgive you ” & Telling someone “ You are forgiven ” These two statements sound so magical to listen; as if a huge burden has been removed from the heart. But how often do we actually follow it? There are so many instances in life when people hurt us and we are unable to forgive them. And even if we forgive them for the sake of it, we are unable to move on from the incident. It is like an attempt to connect broken pieces of a porcelain cup where though connected, the cracks are clearly visible. On the other hand when we commit a mistake we expect the other person t

Whenever in doubt, think about the possibility of it not happening at all. You will come to know what will result in more losses and that will make the decision easy for you!!!

All of us are in love with our independence. And after we start earning it’s like an added bonanza. Living in different cities away from parents, taking care of ourselves, managing expenses we feel we have made it in life and can be termed as “Independent”. We feel we are survivors and can manage things on our own. Till yesterday I also belonged to the same school of thought only to realize how wrong we all are…! “ No living person is independent….. Even if you abandon everything and go to stay on the mountains you still need the air to survive. You are dependent on that. You are not independent till you die ” – said Osho. This quote of Osho was like a wake up call to me. Thinking about it…it’s so true…. We are dependant on so many things in our life even when we feel we are independent. We need the milkman to deliver milk to our doorstep, the grocery shop owner to purchase our monthly groceries, the taxi driver, the auto driver, the bus driver, the dabbawala…. The list is endles

Companionship is one of the prime reasons why we all should marry. But are we ready for that? The current world has made all of us so individualistic that we want our opinions to be heard and views to be respected but we don’t want to do the same in return. We want our say to retain our identity but we don’t respect others for the same. In short we need someone who is dependable, obedient and gracious. Oops...Wait. Did it just spell D-O-G??? Interesting thought; I think we all need just exactly that. We are going through all this for the sake of companionship. And who could be better than a DOG as a companion. Just think of the benefits of having a dog in your life: No matter whatever screaming or fighting happens in the morning, when you return back home in the evening your dog will definitely come running towards you. Whenever you are angry and screaming; your dog will just look at you with those puppy eyes and moan in response. When you instruct your dog to do something or