Who rules our lives?

                                                 

Last night, while lying down on my bed, I was thinking what is that one thing that rules our lives. Having to set an alarm, waking up at those fixed hours, getting ready , rushing to work and so on. Not just work, this had been a routine since our childhood days. Just the fact that back then, it was our parents hard duty to get us out of bed & drop till the school bus. Throughout our life, every hour of the day has been marked for some kind of activity. 9 am office, 2 pm lunch, 6 pm home, 7 pm gym, this hour for this,and this for that. And oh, not to forget, 8 pm for the IPL match! 

I have had a serious tooth ache,and even before fixing an appointment with my dentist I need to set a appropriate time. Need to book a flight- select a suitable hour, meet a friend- kitne baje?,Dinner- 10 pm? Living in a world where everyone of us is running their own race, busy in our own monotonous routines, through all those sunrise and sunsets, it just makes me wonder what is something that rules us homosapiens. Something that makes us run from here to here throughout our lives. 

I still couldn't find my answers and as I finally decided to rest my brain in the silence of the night, I heard the clock ticking. My questioned was answered- TIME!
Yes, time! The superpower which has and will always be the driving authority of this journey called life.

Thank you for sparing a while from it!

Love

Harpreeya 

On a date..with Life!!

A big heart-filled hello to my lovely readers.. And on the grounds of apologies for missing since quite a while. Now that i am back after spending a few days of absolute bliss in the blue seas of the amazing Andamans! So with all the excitement on, i’d take you to the delightful experience i have had at a place which marks the end of India (keeping my geography lessons in perspective)!

 

After scouring the internet looking for the best deals on hotels & airline tickets and yes shopping around for a trendy luggage, it was finally time to fly for the dream holidayJ

Making the most of the in-flight entertainment and glancing at the beauties of the cabin crew, the few hours passed away ending up in a announcement- WELCOME TO PORTBLAIR! The first thing i experienced in that moment was much more than what we call pure excitement..It was a feeling of a different air. I could smell it before i saw anything, even as i walked along the corridor that connected to the airport. I was both excited & delighted in that first minute!

Chilling out at the beaches for hours altogether, trying out every adventure from jet skiing to banana rides, going under the blue waters, watching corals, sneaking into the jungles and ancient civilisations- i explored every nook and cranny of the beautiful place. After all, it was the time to see the world in its glory, sample the delights- both culinary & cultural, and experience everything it has to offer! The blue smell of the sea,  the ferry transfer across the Bay of Bengal, the sand, the metal smell of machines, the heat & the humidity, no matter where you are in a island city added up to amuse me everytime!

Even today, after a week of heading back from there, that vacation evokes some heart-felt memories. Besides giving me a time of my life, it is the bonds forged on such holidays that’d always make it even more memorable for me in the the years to come. And yes, not to forget mentioning,this wonderful break has left me with a message- “Appreciate life. It is meant to be lived!”

P.S.- if you are heading to a beach, don’t forget to pack a white shirt in that trendy light weight bag with wheels which you zip at the airport.. Else you have to deal with your skin tanning issues, just like i am all these days!!

Love

Harpreeya :)

Up Above In The SKY...

Having someone we love, and who loves us back even more is a wonderful, wonderful feeling. I know a thing or two about having one such person in my life. Someone who understood me like no other, loved me like no other, and was there for me, no matter what. An elder sister, being inseparable from me when i was a kid & a closest friend all throughout my growing years- she always treated me with the most aromatic delicacies, dragged herself with me to every possible dress & shoe store in the city, flew with me to beautiful holiday spots, heard all those teenage stories, did my hair....oh wait, she did hearts, not just hair!!  But as it happened, one day destiny greedily changed its mind. She was gone and she’d never come back.

But there will be no tears today.. Its the Happy Birthday to that absolute angel! She isn’t here with us today, but she’ll always be a living breathing human being we loved.. She’s a million billion happy memories. Memories, which we can’t touch; but the ones which cannot ever be faded.

They say nothing lasts forever, but i am a firm believer in the fact that the love lives on even after the person is gone. So who knows she’s reading this, laughing along the jokes, all excited and Is here with us tonight!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER! YOU'LL  BE LOVED TILL ETERNITY WITH THAT SAME INTENSITY...

GOOSEBUMPS!!

I am sitting in a restaurant with a dearest dear, swigging drinks & eating some not so healthy food. And listening to an eclectic playlist of songs that the DJ has lined up for the evening. U feel good when u hear songs that u like or, even better, songs that u like but haven’t got around to listening to in ages, when someone unexpectedly plays them in a public place. But when the place happens to be the one that serendipitously picks out a song, of which you have always understood only a few utterances, yet whose music grows on you each time, what you feel is Goosebumps erupting!

So with a very warm hello to all my amazing readers, here i am. I know i’m a bit too lazy, these upcoming winters & a week full of meeting some old friends have surely taken a toll on me..

Okay! Let me come up straight to the point.. Have you ever thought about things that give you a sudden rush in the pit of your stomach? Do you look down to certain little instances when your heart skips a beat n for a nanosecond your skin has those little bumps?!

Well, you know what.. I didn’t need to do much of a soul searching to write this. And now if you ask me to narrow my views, sorry i couldn’t!

But for instance, lets say you’re imagining a brand new BMW, your hands on the steering wheel. You’re imagining how it looks like & in this whole process, the hair on your skin stand up! Oh, you don’t even need to imagine, a similar car standing next to you on the traffic signal would give you that rush!!

Besides these big things, like building a company, finding your soul mate, there are those smallest feelings that act as secret shifters. Its much of the same story when you visit your favourite cafe for a cup of coffee, when you begin to read the first line of your favourite book, when you get a surprise phone call from a lost friend.... Well, the list goes on! And ah, when you see Ranbir Kapoor on the screen(in case of all my lovely ladies)!

Not to forget mentioning, even in the weakest moments, as you finish watching a horror movie late at night, you shrink! On the way to loo, you might be attacked by a ghost; you don’t open the fridge fearing that a vampire may be hiding inside!

I am never able to understand the concept behind these turbo-charges. But like they say, maserati & pizza are something of a mismatch, yet these things do happen!! May be that’s the power of our feelings, pleasant memories, fantasies. And yes, the power of love.. Remember, a heartfelt hug always trumps everything else!

The winters have finally said a hello to my city today. Its chilly at this hour and i’m getting those much similar goosebumps! So i plan to head towards my bed. But right before you go in for a well earned sleep, close your eyes, see those hands, your fingers, wrapping around the steering wheel of your brand new beamer :)

Enjoy the experience, the flipside of emotions..

Stay happy, have fun!

Love

Harpreeya

Is it THE END or a NEW BEGINNING????

“My life has collapsed. I have lost everything. I’m depressed. I feel like banging my head into the wall”...

Well now if you are wondering, then let me in one stroke, tell u that these are the outcomes of a virus that has infected so many of us. I can see that many of u have already put the cynics cap on & are thinking of a 100^th way to live happily.. So, i thought with life being so unpredictable; who knows till when will i
get a opportunity to give you a magic formula for happiness..

As i always say, life is a magnificent trip! It does bring with it certain joys & griefs, ups & downs, and collapsing times. So to u, my amazing readers, who are recently trying to drag themselves out of a bad phase where you are feeling low and out of sync, please allow me to share a few things with u..

1.       Believe In The Power Of YOU

 To begin with, start believing that you are GREAT, that there’s something awesome about u. Regardless of what has happened to you in your past, regardless of how young or old you might be. Say to yourself, “I AM THE BEST”.. Because the truth is no one else can dance your dance, no one else can sing your song, no one else can write your story. you are who you believe yourself to be, and the story begins here!!

2.       Experience Joy

JOY, LOVE, FREEDOM, HAPPINESS, LAUGHTER. That’s what it is. Its not your job to change the world or the people around you. Its your job to go with the flow & celebrate it with the world that exists. Be happy, feel good now. If you experience joy sitting there n watching a movie all alone, do that. If you experience joy eating a salami sandwich, do that!

3.       Take It As An Opportunity

Simply think of it..You have come to this juncture in your life, merely because something in you kept saying- “u deserve to be happy. You were born to add something, to simply be something, bigger & better thn you were yesterday. The time to embrace your magnificence is NOW!

4.       Think Positive

It took a lot of years for me to understand this point. We all human beings come with a Built-in-basic program. Its called ‘Being Pessimistic’. And that is what leads to living in depression, anger, fear & powerlessness. Flip your thoughts from what you don’t want or what you hate, to WHAT YOU WANT. Remember, often elections are tipped in favour of the person that the people are really against, cuz he’s getting all the focus!

So focus on good thoughts, for they lead to essentially a Happier Biochemistry :)

5.       Have Faith

Think about Aladdin & his lamp. The Genie always says one thing- “your wish is my command. The story now goes that there are 3 wishes, but if you trace the story back to its origin, there’s absolutely no limit whatsoever to the wishes. Let’s take this metaphor & apply to life. The Genie in this case is someone up there! Live from your heart, go for whatever it wants. BMWs, dream house, love.....(i leave it for u to fill in the blank). Remember the Genie always says “your wish is my command”.

Just take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step!

6.       Start Afresh

Alot of you feel that you are victims in life & you’ll often point to past events. If you’ve filled ur life with the baggage from the past, wipe it clean! Erase everything from the past that does not serve you and be grateful it brought you to this place now, to a NEW BEGINNING. Don’t delay. Don’t second guess. Don’t doubt. Just start all over again- Right here, Right now!

The screen hasn’t turned black & its not yet the time to paint “The End” in white. So get up, feel good, create a life you deserve, fight for it, walk on your own & go wherever you like. You are the masterpiece and Michelangelo of ur own life- so Believe in the power of yourself! You can open doors for yourself where there are only windows.

All you have to do is make a start, and as you do, you will unleash the magic!

And the whole world will be at a loss for an explanation like you once were!!!!

P.S.- I just re-read what i wrote.. I feel i’m becoming a way too INTELLECTUAL!

P.P.S-I love reading your feedback..So keep it coming.....

Till then, ENJOY & HAVE FUN..

Much Love

Harpreeya

HELLO..How May I Help U..!!

It was one such day in the summers of 2005 when i ended up reading the best-selling novel by India’s most admired writer, Chetan Bhagat. As the title said, it was all about a night at the call centre. Throughout the years after reading the book, i kept thinking how thrilling the life of the people working in would be. Until i met someone (well in my case it was in the journey of life & not a train), who showed me the real side of that so called thrilling world! Call Centres- the one place that’s consuming a major chunk of our youth in the present day; is an own world-a world in itself. In simple words is inscribed the deep desire of becoming financially independent and a desperate search for economic freedom, precisely what young people are looking for today: an easiest step to this search seems to be a job at a call centre.

It all begins innocuously enough. The beginnings welcome u with a warm working environment, a few hours of training & a pay cheque at the end of each month.. That definitely sounds good! The months pass, the workload begins to take a toll bringing alongwith it, the struggle to survive. In that race of giving your best (ultimate best to be precise) and completing the targets, there are only a few ones who manage to climb the treacherous corporate ladder & reach the very top. The remaining stay at the fixed figures from where they started. There’s no denying the fact that for the former ones, there is enough money in there. A kind of financial status that every young individual wants to enjoy is something they have up their sleeves. With each ten on ten performance, Incentives add up to that month end pay cheque, thus leading to an increase in the salary digits every single time. Once that more & more money starts coming up, people don’t want to give up.

The story doesn’t end here. The person who said that money can’t buy happiness, surely knew both sides of the coin. While the financial and the economic freedom is achieved, there is a huge erosion in the prospect of happiness. This evolves due to various reasons ranging from anxieties & insecurities, questions about career, inadequacy, conflicts at very deep personal levels and the relationship of the employees to both executives and ordinary clients whom they deal with. Moreover, at a certain level, the business of politics starts to peep in. The people who are on a highest rung of success are the foremost victims to it. You could have a thousand critics around you not because of your underperformance, but for being perfectly brilliant!! Not to forget mentioning, the change in the sleep cycle. At the most ungodly hours, when the world has fallen asleep, these people gel themselves to their computer screens, with their head gear & mic on and very politely saying those words “HI.. HOW MAY I HELP U?! ‘’.  This all leads to an impact on mind, a realisation that something’s to be corrected, a logical awareness and then a try, try and a try to come out of it. Amidst all this, the concept of living happily sweeps very neatly under the carpet.

Working in call centres is a fast becoming trend today. Young, educated Indians are migrating from small towns and opting for such jobs. But the enduring question i am left with is:  Does this kind of a work culture leading to a collateral damage to the shining Indian youth? What about the emotional health of the hearts who are constantly getting depressed?

Because in this real & not so fairy tale world, the people won’t atleast receive a call from GOD and get themselves lifted out of the ditch!!

BaCk To ScHoOl

While having a conversation last night with my perfectly brilliant chum, who was complaining for spending extra hours in office all these days due to a company process, a sudden chord hit my mind. Well, the reason for his working overtime was something called “Back To School”. And those 3 words made me write my next post!

SCHOOL- Those are probably the best days of everyone’s life. Now that my school days are a distant memory- but still they have the power to bring out a smile on my face when i’m least expecting it.

It was a perfect training ground for life, a world brimming with possibilities. School was the place where we all began to socialize with other kids, learnt to rub along (even though we often couldn’t bear to be in the same room together). This was where we learnt to share our stuff (pencils & erasers, to start with), this was where we formed friendships that sustain for a lifetime. Not to forget mentioning, the prospect of new beginnings!

As the month of April dawned, it was beginning of a new academic session and time to enter into a new class..One step up the ladderJ There was a certain ritualistic joy to the whole routine. The buying of new books, sitting down and covering them with reams of brown paper,then sticking on a label with name & class clearly marked out; a new pencil box filled with a variety of pencils and yes, a slightly larger uniform! The newness persisted in almost everything. There was a different classroom, and the chance to bag a better seat. There was jostling to ensure that all the best friends were seated next. There was some excitement at the thought of meeting the new class teacher, & much speculation about how nice or strict she would be. Then, there were the lessons themselves, comprising of completely new information. All told, there was a sense of making a fresh start. It didn’t matter if u scored a mere 50 in science the last year, the next time you could jump to a 100!

Most interestingly, there were a huge clash of personalities. The cool kids, the witty & the charming ones who didn’t bother to engage much; the teacher’s pets who used to spend all their time flattering; then were the ones who always had their hands up with the right answers. These were the kids who topped every exam- and then said how they simply couldn’t understand it, given they hadn’t even studied for the damn thing.

School was not just about learning, it was the place where we made never ending friendships, did our share of mischievous activities, got thrown out of the class, skipped doing homework, occupied the last bench & tried the level best to disturb everyone, had our first crush, began to write diaries, shared our lunch boxes and the list goes on......

There was a sense of excitement in every glimpse of that wonderful life. We all might have had a few stroppy mites of our own during school days- for having to study, for having to wake up early each morning, but that was one best phase life could ever offer. Because it was school and these memories become more and more remote with each passing year, i still continue to love them. And of course, those days did not bring along with them, the concept of OVERTIME, as this corporate world does!