Some Pics

It's Your Season

It's Your Season

Hope you all had a great summer. 

The weekend that symbolizes the end of summer has passed.

Kids are going back to school. College students are in their dorms. Teachers and professors are back in the classrooms. People everywhere are switching from the summer mindset to the "back to work" state of mind.

The summer season begins to make its elegant exit as the fall greets us with its refreshing breezes. Change is in the air... 

What about you?

Are you going to allow the world around you to change while you remain stagnant?

Why not let this season of change be YOUR season?

Let this be the time when the fresh fall breeze carries a tune of change that makes your heart dance!

It's YOUR season!

You have been waiting to break free and release your greatest self. Let this be your season.

Enough of the same old rut!

Enough of the worries, insecurities, and doubt! 

Enough of the regret! 

Enough of letting undeserving people dictate your moods! 

Enough of giving others power over you! 

Enough of feeling empty and unfulfilled! 

Enough of letting days, weeks, months, and years pass without truly embracing all their blessings! 

Enough is enough! 

Change is in the air. This change reminds us that we are made and beautifully sculpted by the same power that is orchestrating this transition. Let this be the season you embrace and align yourself with this change. 

Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing... changing. You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant. 

It's your season. Don't just put away the beach chair and suntan lotion. Don't just get out the rake and Halloween decorations. 

Instead, make this the time you throw away old habits that have hindered your happiness and success and finally allow your greatest self to flourish.

The time has come. YOUR time is now. 

It's your season. 

And remember, I'm here cheering you on. 

Good And Evil

Every morning a woman baked Chapati, an Indian flatbread, for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She would always place the extra Chapati on the windowsill, for whosoever needed to eat it.

She noticed a hunchback came every day and took the extra Chapati. Instead of expressing gratitude, he would muttered the following words as he went on his way: "The evil you do remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!" 

This went on day after day after day. The woman felt very irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself. "Every day this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean? "

One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. "I shall get rid of this hunchback," she said.

And what did she do? She added poison to the Chapati she prepared for him! 

As she was about to place it on the windowsill, her hands trembled. "What is this I am doing?" she said. Immediately, she threw his Chapati into the fire, prepared another one and put it on the sill.

As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the Chapati and muttered the words: "The evil you do, remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!"

The hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman.

Every day, as the woman placed the Chapati on the windowsill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune. For many months she had no news of him and she always prayed for his safe return.

That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak.

Looking at his mother he said, "Mom, it's a miracle I'm here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged him for a morsel of food and he was kind enough to give me a whole Chapati."

"When he gave it to me, he said, 'This is what I eat every day. Today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine!'" 

As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale. She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned Chapati that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son and he would have lost his life!

It was then that she realized the significance of the words: "The evil you do remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!"

Moral of the story: Do good and don't ever stop doing good, even if it's not appreciated at that time. 

The Future

The Future

Life is a divine chaos. The universe is so perfect that at times we can't understand it, but our futures are what we choose; we create them by our choices everyday.

I am the writer of my own life. Unfortunately, I am writing in pen and I can't delete my mistakes but I can learn from them. That's how I think of life.

My future is not written yet; it's still being worked on. What I am writing and editing is my last year of high school. What I will do alone in this crazy, wonderful world where we live in?

My life, like everyone's, has had its up's and down's. Today I stop and think if I will still be here in Texas, if I will have a chance to become a surgeon, if I will have a chance in life to be someone, or if I will give up half way like almost everyone? 

I am dreamer, that's what they say. Today, while I am writing this, I feel ordinary, and I feel like a part of the bigger picture; not the one at the top of the mountain but just one more.

I am trying to be like before - to be at the top, but it's not really about what's waiting on the other side. It's all about the climb to get there. It's about the hard work, courage, and dedication it takes. 

I am not a hopeful person. I am always sure, because I know better - that what needs to happen will happen.

What I expect in the future is to be able to go to college and move on, to have a doctorate degree as a specialized Cardiothoracic Surgeon and to live in Seattle, Washington. 

I would love to go to Harvard University in Boston. I would love to begin the new level in my life.

I see myself being accepted to Harvard. I see myself in the future pursuing my lifetime dream of becoming a Cardiothoracic Surgeon. I see an optimistic future in my life. 

I see beyond the finish line because I know I am the writer of my own future. 

Dream

Everybody Has a Dream

It was way back in the year 1982. I remember as a young marketing person in this Multi national company in Mumbai, I had a very senior colleague named Paul, who taught me not only to handle marketing effectively but also to deal with life cheerfully.

It was one of those hectic days... management meeting, sales calls, planning my travel schedule, booking hotels, arranging appointments and the list was endless. By the end of the day, I was not only exhausted but was getting irritated with myself and everyone around me. It was at this time that Paul invited me to his house for a quiet "chill out".

We made our way to Paul's house, although tired, I was all excited to chat up with Paul and share and learn through his rich experiences in Marketing. As we entered through the main door to his house, Paul started singing that ABBA's all time favorite: I have a dream, a song to sing, to help me thru' in everything... and so on. I was in no mood to listen to his song; I wanted to hear about how he handled tricky sales calls! 

As I leaned over Paul's shoulder to tell him just that, I was totally awe stricken at what I saw next. Two young girls, aged between 17 & 20, walked over to Paul and hugged him. They couldn't walk steadily, neither could they talk properly; their faces were full of smiles but they too sang a song: No mummy's kisses only Daddy's smiles, nobody wants us, Daddy hug us tonight.

I was still standing and watching all that was going on, totally lost in the beautiful singing, when Paul tapped me on my shoulder and asked me to sit down. Curious to know, I asked Paul who these girls were. I knew that Paul lived in that house but I had never seen these girls.

Over a much refreshing cup of tea and sandwiches, Paul went on to explain:

"I too have a dream, a dream to make these girls happy. They are my daughters and they were born as "Special children" (mentally challenged). And he further added, "They don't have a Mother. My wife died when they were very young", and that he is both Mother & Father to these beautiful daughters.

I could barely control my emotions and was moved to tears. In the office, no one knew what Paul was going through in his personal life. He never, ever, looked for "special privileges" from his higher ups or any sympathy from his friends and colleagues. In fact, he always helped us at the office and being the Head of the Department, always motivated us to move forward in life.

Paul's life has been an inspiration to me. If a man can smile through these so called troubles in life and yet excel in Corporate world, was there something that was keeping Paul happy and smiling inspite of his hectic schedule?

Probing a little further, I found that every night after the daughters were put to sleep, he would spend "silent time" with God, who not only strengthened him and gave him the courage but also helped him to move forward in life with a smile on his face.

I finished my tea and made my way out, when Paul said to me, "All of us have dreams, and sometimes shattered ones. If you take it to God in prayer, He will make your dreams whole."

How true, I said to myself. I had seen that today!

As he bid me good bye and I turned to walk away from him, I heard in that distant night Paul's voice once again singing that song to his daughters: I have a dream, a song to sing, to help me through in everything... 

... and then the daughters singing to Paul: No mummy's kisses only Daddy's smiles, nobody wants us, Daddy can you hug us tonight?

The song faded as my cab moved away into the dark and lonely streets of Mumbai.