Why grow up?

Hi folks....

Its been a long time again... Life has been so busy and hectic..

Sometime we really feel, why do we grow up?

Sometime in life, we get so much frustrated that we feel like everything is going against us. But it is when we overcome the frustration and continue to believe in our abilities, we realize that life is not as difficult as we think.

People always say that you are grown up and you have to act mature now. But is it really necessary to lose your sense of humor or childish nature just for the sake of becoming mature? I don't think so.

Sometime it is good to be stupid, funny and childish. Life is all about how you live it (whether you bury yourself in job, work, money, and other materialistic things or enjoy with the things / people you love).

You feel life is more meaningful when you make someone happy, when someone says you are special, when you put a smile on your family/friends' faces. All other things seem to matter least.

Things like a colleague's farewell, your friends' birthdays, small rides, short talks have more pleasure than your professional growth and salary hikes.

Last week, I came across couple of incidents where I felt happy from inside and thought that I have so many other things in life to care about, rather than getting frustrated and angry for the things that are going wrong.

June 10th was one of my colleague's last working day and suddenly I realized that time passes so quickly. We had become good friends in more than a year and half's time that we spent in office. On the day of his farewell, I felt bad that now we would not be able to meet frequently or enjoy the trips, bike rides and all the fun that we have had together in past. But life has to move on, only thing that stays with us is memories and that's what makes life more meaningful.

2nd incidence was about one of my close friend's birthday on June 6th. Last few days we didn't see/meet each other frequently because of our busy office schedules. So one of my friend and I had planned a small surprise for her on her birthday by suddenly going to her home.

I didnt call her until afternoon and when I called, she got angry on me saying she is all alone at home and didn't had any kind of celebration and she is not having a good birthday at all. And her anger was well justified as because of me, she was going to reach late to office and had to spend more time alone at home, but what my other friend and I had thought of was a surprise for her so I had to take all scoldings from her.

Late afternoon, I had to pick the other friend and we had decided to go togather, but sometimes things don't go the way we want them to go. The whole day the sky was clear with no sign of rain, and the moment I reached half way to my friend's place, it started raining cats and dogs. I had to come back from half way. For a moment I thought that the whole surprise is gonna be a big flop and my friend will have to spend her birthday all alone for which she had scolded me like anything. Then suddenly I thought, no, my friend should be happy on her birthday and I finally reached her home. I called her, she was still angry, I said sorry for spoiling the surprise, her reaction was like what surprise? I told her to open the door, the moment she opened the door, all her anger melted in air and she screamed in joy. Then, when she opened the gifts we had got for her, she couldn't control her tears of joy. She was so happy and that was the best feeling. Those tears of joy and immense happiness on her face made up for the whole day that wasn't an ideal birth day.

I did all stupid things that one can do in a day, got drenched in rain for no reason, didn't find a full cake so bought two half cakes of two different flavor and put it together to make one full cake, with so much difficulties I managed to keep the cake and gifts on my bike's tank. But it was all worth the smile that we put on her face, all the stupendous things that I did was worth the tears of joy in her eyes.

Now tell me, do we need to act mature and just call our friends to wish on birthdays or can we be stupid and childish enough to give a surprise and make our friends happy? This incident made me believe -

"Growing OLD is mandatory, but growing UP is optional..!!"

I agree, maturity is necessary in life, but sometimes you need to be little childish in order to live your life with its true meaning. Life can be busy, frustrating and harsh but it is entirely our choice whether to get frustrated and crib about the wrong things or to overcome the frustration and enjoy the life by sharing your happiness with the people you love.

I experienced true happiness by doing some silly, stupid things... will you??

And with the same stupid and childish feelings, I sign off saying - GROW OLD & GROW UP, but don't lose a Child in you..

NOSTALGIA

Hey folks, it's been a long time since my last post.. As always, I'm not sure what to write about, I don't have any particular topic so thought of writing about something different.

The title of this post is NOSTALGIA only because my state of mind now is a bit nostalgic. When you don't feel sleepy at 2:30 at night, when you think about your present life and miss your good old days, some old forgotten friends, that time you become nostalgic.

Every person has his/her best days/moments of their lives. Some will say their childhood was the best, some will say their school and college days were the best. And I am a kind of person who enjoys and cherishes every single moment of my life.

Life always comes up with new surprises, new twists and turns for you. In my school days, I never thought or worried about future. I had never thought that I will come thousands of km away from home for my Engineering. But I did. And that phase actually changed my life. Those college days were like a dream, like a fairy tale.

If today someone asks me what was the best phase of my life, I would say without any doubt - COLLEGE DAYS. Life was not so easy but we made it look easy. The friends, classes, campus, endless talks, hundreds of night outs during exams, praying for passing marks, sitting at a Ganesha temple for hours doing nothing, trips every now and then, parties for every silly reason....... GOSH.... Now I'm being NOSTALGIC... :)

I've had all kind of experiences in college. I've had my share of happiness, sorrows, a lot of friends, lots of laughs, a bit of cries :(, a lot of misunderstandings leading to fights in friendships, A lot of patch up too :) .. But today when I look back, I cherish those moments. No matter how good or bad those days were, it was a golden period.

But for a matter of fact, nothing is permanent, life takes another turn and we move into a new phase- corporate world. Everyone is busy with their own lives. Today we are more concerned about our appraisals, promotions and deadlines than our family, friends and relations. And suddenly, one fine day, you realize what you are missing.

Today my eyes just crossed this message I received from one of my college friend :

"Once life meant: A winter evening, 4 friends, mild rain, 4 pegs of old monk..

Once life meant: 100 bucks for petrol, two rusty old bikes, an open road..

Once life meant: Maggi noodles, a hostel room, 3:25 A.M..

Once life meant: 1 prep leave, 1 night, 1 book and 4 duffers..

Now life means: Old friends, separate cities, separate lives and endless effort to earn.."

SO KEEP IN TOUCH...

Isn't dis true?? Today we don't have time for life's small pleasures, our family, old friends. Our only friends are office mates, our pleasures are salary hikes. How many times have we sat idle watching a sunrise or a sunset?? How many times have we called an old friend just to say a simple 'Hi' ?? How often do we spend time with our family?? I guess I need not answer any of these questions. We all know the answer.

Life isn't all about earning money, getting promotions and being successful in your professional life. we have become so mechanical and practical that there is no room for emotions and relations. And sometimes we think, is it really worth??

I remember a text I sent to a few of my friends a while ago:

"Few years back on this day, we used to celebrate ____'s birthday..

Just remembered how we enjoyed even small things.

Collecting 40-50 Rs for a gift even when we had no money.

That was something called friendship.

Today people don't have time to accept our wishes.

And we have thousands of Rs we earn but there's no one giving a gift to.

Is this what you call a LIFE?? I GUESS NOT..."

And then we realize that we've isolated ourselves from our friends and relations so much that there is no road that takes you back. And that time, only your past memories will come back in your mind with a drop of tear in your eye and you know there is no one to wipe that tear off your eyes..

So with this NOSTALGIA, I dedicate this post to all my friends who made my life wonderful by always being there for me. And for all you guys out there, take some time off from your busy schedules, call up, meet, message you old forgotten friends and tell them that you remember them, and you will know what the real pleasures of life are.... CHEERS....

SMILE FRIENDS...!!!

SMILE - Have you ever thought about the power of a simple sweet smile?? A smile is said to be the shortest distance between two persons. A smile can make your day. A smile from a friend or a loved one or even from a stranger can give you immense pleasure when you are feeling low. No matter how bad your mood is, just a simple smile can change your thoughts completely. It gives you the confidence and support.

I have this tendency to smile at people around me, I like to see everyone around me happy and I always try my best to make someone smile. It doesn't matter to me if I knew that person or not, and let me be honest, Sometimes I really get some weird looks from the other person as well. Some people has a puzzled look on their faces, where as few people return a smile too. I really feel nice when I get a smile in return, it really makes my day.

As I mentioned that it doesn't matter if I knew that person or if I had never ever talked to that person, I call such persons "SMILE FRIENDS". And I have such 'smile friends' in my society, in my office, in shopping stores.

As a person, I'm a kind of fun loving, happy go lucky person. But when it comes to talk or approach a girl then I'm very shy. Let me write about one such smile friend of mine.

Every afternoon I wait for my pick up cab near my home at a regular pick up point. A girl from some other dept of my company also comes in the same cab. First few days it was all normal, I used to wait alone with my earphones plugged in and listening to music/FM as if I'm not aware of any such creature coming with me in the same cab. Those days I was really feeling low because of my project and location transfer orders from my office. I could not concentrate on any one particular thing and was least interested anything related to office.

Then one day something special happened. at first, it was the same normal day for me, I was depressed because of office environment and pressure. I was feeling very low and was waiting for my cab at the usual spot. Then that girl came, I just looked into her eyes for a moment and I smiled at her. (I was really confused about my smile as it came out of NOWHERE.) To my surprise, the girl returned a smile. somehow I felt nice receiving that smile.

Then it became a kind of routine and everyday we exchanged Smiles at the pick up point. We never spoke to each other even once till date. But the first smile of her gave me the confidence. It actually didn't make any difference to my office environment or my transfer at that time but it made a big difference to me. It gave me new strength and hope to fight even harder. It was only because of this 'SMILE FRIEND' that I'm now back to my original self. The girl still smiles at me at least once everyday and I sometimes wonder if she also believes in 'SMILE FRIENDS' and may be I'm one of her such 'SMILE FRIEND'??

This is just one incident about one of my 'SMILE FRIENDS' and I have plenty of them out there who makes a huge difference in my life everyday. It gives me positive energy and new confidence and hope to face anything that comes across. And I really want to thank all my 'SMILE FRIENDS' for one simple curve on their face which literally costs nothing to them but still means a lot to me.

And with this experience of mine, I would end this blog with a message to everyone - ALWAYS GIVE A SMILE TO OTHERS, because a simple smile from you can make someone's day. THANK YOU ALL MY DEAR SMILE FRIENDS.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS SOON...!!!

Have you ever felt alone in the crowded place?? have you ever felt so frustrated and think of leaving everything behind?? Sometimes life is not fair, but then the failures make the life worth living. Many a times we ask is there any simple and common answer to all our problems in life?? YES there is. the answer is - "THIS TOO SHALL PASS SOON."

Nothing in life is permanent, whether its happiness, success or failures. Every moment, every success and every failure is temporary. It is the attitude towards the situations which makes all the difference.  You just need to think that this too shall pass soon and these magical words works wonders. 

When you feel you are low and nothing is working for you, you just need to remind yourself that this bad times shall pass soon. The moment you start thinking that the bad times will change, you get new energy to work harder towards your next goal, your happiness and you start feeling lighter. The words "This too shall pass soon" is the answer to all your problems.

Life is short, make the most of it. Why waste time worrying about the failures and problems. There are lot more things in life than worry and feel bad about your situations and failures. Wake up in the morning and feel the breeze and the sunshine, thank GOD for giving you one more day to live, to love, to spread the happiness. Give a smile to someone who is sad, give a hug to your loved ones. 

Tell the world "THIS TOO SHALL PASS SOON" and get ready to face new challenges.