Slow Saturday

Nothing much on my mind sometimes and sometimes its over loaded, but whenever its overloaded I free it all and make it blank, to give space to fresh thoughts and new ideas. The more we think on one issue or topic for a longer time period, the more it starts occupying unnecessary space of our little brain which has so much more to do other than stimulating your responses to situations. Keep it free to do the other vital jobs regularly and in a disciplined way, here we add excessive stress and there the brain forgets the vital activities and malfunctions, there by we get into physical or mental sickness, initially the sickness is temporary, and gradually it becomes a permanent disease.

As we all know "Prevention is better than Cure" we need to make an effort to prevent ourselves from getting sick, I know its easier said than done, but as far as my experience recalls and I have seen that it is not impossible. How can one free the mind with excessive stress, well there can be many ways, making changes gradually in life.
Do not try to do everything and anything on earth whether you are capable of doing it or not.
If at all you take up some task, then do it with proper preparation and in the right direction.
Accept the fact that life can be unreasonable at times, give a chance to things and people.
Laugh as much as you can, and whenever you laugh, laugh heartily.
Be relaxed, don't wait to get tired, take a break, before you get exhausted.
The best and easiest way to relieve stress is speak your heart out, to someone you trust, or you feel comfortable with.

I had a very good experience with all my students of RITEE. I am thankful to all my students for the kind of response they gave to me in all my sessions, and this is a way I want to remain connected to all of them, through my blog and my writings. I love you all and I want you to keep in touch with me, and ask me questions, so that I can answer to you and also to many who do not ask due to hesitation, but I want at least a part of our world to be in less stress.

None of us can be stress free, the level can never be zero, but to a degree, stress is good and helpful, because it helps us to create and innovate, but when it exceeds limits, then the problem starts. The best part is when I interact with my students and think over the answers and relate them to my life and my response to situations, its pleasantly surprising, that I also learn to behave in a better way and improve myself with every passing day.

Thank you God, Thank you to my teachers & trainers, Thank you my family & friends and Thank you to all who are reading this, because you encourage me more and my Thank you list keeps becoming bigger with time. I Love you all and this is for you, all my students, Be very happy and Keep Smiling always. God bless all of you :-)

I smile, You smile, We all smile together and the entire world looks beautiful :-)
thatsbandana@gmail.com

Judge Only Yourself !!!!

" The World is full of Artificial People"

I have often heard people saying this, sometimes even my dear ones and many others who feel so......say this, Is it true ? Is it false ? Is it partially true or false ????

We keep thinking and the answers to the question vary from person to person, but very recently I made a simple observation of different people and noticed that most of the people who have complained of too much artificiality are those who at some point of time or the other never appreciated the genuine. They admired those artificial people or so called relationships so highly that they would have ignored the genuine.

It is a very common phenomenon, when we receive praise, whether true or superficial or flattery we feel very good, and in that feel good factor, if someone comes and reminds us or warns us that this good feeling is not going to last from their opinion (as a third party observer they can see what we cannot at that moment), we tend to ignore those advises and think that the other person is simply preaching. With time as it has to, the artificial aura disappears and reality or facts sometimes shock us and sometimes surprise us. We take no time to think, where we went wrong and we declare that the world is full of artificial people and relationships.

Have you ever noticed the people with a positive attitude and non critical behavior do not complain this way, because they judge only themselves in any given situation and correct themselves, learn from their mistakes, what to do and what not to do and move ahead in life with no regrets and no criticism. They always live life with an attitude of gratitude.

The fact is that if you are genuine and you appreciate the genuine people in your life, be it your family, your friends or your colleagues then your world will never be full of artificial people. It is only what and whom you want in your life, is what you get. If you love to be flattered, you attract flatterers, If you love to be taught, you attract teachers, If you love to be loved, you attract lovers, if you love to be a giver, you attract receivers, if you love to be a leader, you attract followers, if you love to be honest, you attract honest people and the other way round too, if you are negative you attract negativity, You need to know to make the right choice and recognize the qualities you look forward to in the people you have around you.

Life and people can never be perfect, its good with imperfections, rather than complaining, its always better to look for what we want and go in search of that, start walking on the path which can take us to our destination. And during the journey, do not judge anyone and everyone you come across, you do not know what their journey has been all about and how they have become what they are or what they have gone through to be where they are, instead look out for the quality you want to see in them, and if you don't find it, move on without giving names to people, either take them along if you find them compatible otherwise let them be, just let them be with no certifications issued.

The world is full of beautiful people and if yours is not, then you need to " Judge only yourself ", and understand what changes you need to make for yourself and others around you.

Signing out for the day, Have a nice day n Keep smiling :-)

thatsbandana@gmail.com

My only love of life which never ever changed :))))))))

It has been a long time since I penned a few words to my blog, I missed writing but I was into some more interesting things in the meanwhile, but still, its my hour for myself and I can take out the time whenever I truly feel like.

I have always told the above sentence or may be that this is my first and last love of life, sounds mysterious, but there's no mystery about it,my loved ones who know me closely know that no one can take this place in my life, and I have loved it ever since I am born and till date the love remains, well, it is my love for Music. I am sure there are many more people like me who love music with the same passion and depth as I do, because Music is a blessing from above in this world of mankind and nature.

When you say Music, everyone has a different taste and different choices, I too have had my favorites and my choices have changed with time and situations. When you are a child, your mother's Bhajans and lullabies are music, they fill your heart and soul with peace and innocent connect to God there by, as you grow, it is all kinds of songs which could be sung publicly, and which are all time hits, because then relatives and friends would ask you to Sing and if you sang the hit numbers nicely people would appreciate you and a child feels so much loved and praised, so it gave happiness. When you enter teenage pretty much happens to everyone, it is the romantic numbers which would be heard all around and I sang them with so much enthusiasm, and heard them that way too. With passing time when you are sad, and when you are happy, the choices keep changing. When you get into serious parts of life, it feels good to hear motivating songs and songs which fill you with energy and courage to face and handle the stress. When you become a parent you pour the same love your parents would have passed to you, to your children through your songs and chants you heard as a child. There come times when you are low and weak, again some beautiful lyrics and compositions make you understand the meaning of life and how beautiful life can be. There are times when you start hearing what your loved ones love to hear, again some times you hear your old favorites too, but whatever may be the choice of the song, the singer, the lyrics, the music never stops and I believe that it should never stop too.

We all learn so much from all kinds of songs, be it any language, be it any category, be it any composer, the lyrics add meaning to our thoughts, the music added into the lyrics add life to the lyrics, the singer's voice touches the heart and soul if he or she is a true artist, the instruments make justice to all the above, it is a different world altogether but it touches millions of hearts irrespective of caste, creed, religion and cultures.

I loved music ever since I was born and truly this is my only love of life which never ever changed, a good song can bring out the passion, can make a difference to my thoughts, can guide me, can give me company when I am alone, can support me softly and strongly too, can make me talk to God, can make me express my feelings to anyone and everyone, can literally change my moods, can do anything which no one may be unable to, keep me happy always :-)

Music is love, music is passion, music is madness, music is romance, music is expression, music is a healer, music is worship, music is motivation, music is innocent, music is wild, music is mild, music is melody, music is a teacher, music is salvation, music is meditation, music is connection, music is humor, music, music, music, I can go on and on and on, but never stop praising music and never ever stop loving it too.

I wrote this piece to dedicate it to the wonderful people in the world, The Lyricists, The Singers, The Music Directors, The Instrument Players, The Recorders, The Film makers or The Spiritual Leaders who sang their love out, In short All who make music, who give us the most beautiful gift on earth without asking anything in return except that we acknowledge it by hearing the emotions and the devotion the makers want to express through the words and the music in the song. The World would have been lifeless without music in it. Thank you all the creators of Music, Thank you God for creating them and blessing them with so much talent.

I also love all the beautiful people who have added music to my life sometimes by singing for me, sometimes by dedicating a song to me, sometimes by sharing a song with me, sometimes by giving a gift related to music like Audio cassettes, Radio, Tape Recorders, I Pod, FM Player, CD's etc. etc. etc.....and the lovely people who didn't mind hearing me sing too ;-)
I also want to thank all the lovely friends and loved ones in my family who sing so beautifully and make me feel so blessed to have them around. I love you all.

Our World is a beautiful place and Music is the soul, If there was one wish that I would be blessed with, I would ask God let me sing heartily till the end of my life and hear music and live in harmony with Music, because it gives me happiness like nothing else can and no one else can :)

Signing out for the day, Keep Singing, Keep Loving, Keep Smiling :)))))))

thatsbandana@gmail.com

Silence is Golden at times ;-)

Hi folks, I have no relation with silence generally, I am usually the ever talkative and I can go on and on and on for hours together with friends while I get a chance to, and many a people who know me tell me Bandana Grow up :))))))))

Well growing up and being mature is very important, I know, but keeping the child alive in you is equally important, is what I feel, many people differ in opinion, but how does that make a difference to me, if it would have, then people would stop telling me to grow up......lol....

How much fun it is when you enjoy the little moments, like today me, my son and my daughter we all went out for dinner, ate well, then came back home and after an hour again went for a juice almost close to mid night, searching for open shops and available options, empty roads, 3 of us on a two wheeler and no if's and but's. I love to spend such moments with children and thankfully I get opportunities too, my children also enjoy the ride, though they are grown up and more mature than me sometimes............

Today I was after a very stressful mind for last few days, due to various reasons, simply sitting and enjoying the light moments, then added a few songs to my playlist which I am very fond of and just hearing songs and spending time with myself here, feels so good to be silent and at peace with myself.

My friend told me and we often hear, that change what you cannot accept and accept what you cannot change, its not easy I know, but sometimes we forget to differentiate between Self respect and Ego. Today I read somewhere some nice lines written by a person who believes in spreading happiness that
Happiness blooms in the presence of self respect and the absence of Ego :-)
Love yourself and Love everyone around you :-)
Love everyone in the whole world :-)
Know that your own life is of Infinite importance, as is every other life :-)

I often refer to his writings and I feel good to read them because I relate to them and we all love to read and write and also talk about the things we love to do or we dream to do. I am loving this moment where I am not doing anything thinking that what would be the reaction of people, or do they think I am good, do they think I am bad, do they think I am mad......lol....
well most of the times we are in stress because we think more about what others are thinking, if someone does not like me can I change their thoughts, No I cannot, no matter how hard I try and if someone loves me, again I cannot change that too so I just figured out that It actually makes no difference and I should not get affected by what others think about me.

This is the first rule to be at peace with yourself and the second do not judge others, we can never exchange lives with anyone, then do we have the right to judge anyone. Its good to appreciate, do that as and when you can but its very inhuman to discourage and criticize others.

I am blessed to have friends and family who stand by me without judging me for anything whatsoever I say or do and I trust I am also the same way with them and that is why those relations are all alive and do not fade away or die despite the distances in miles and also differences in thoughts. The only true religion which is understood by all human beings on earth is unconditional love :-)

How much is the comfort when someone tells you " I love you just the way you are " and when you say the same to someone.

The grown ups need to learn that trait from little children and I love to accept the fact that I learn a lot from them, attaching a cute snap of a little lovely baby of a friend and these innocent smiles teach us a lot.

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Signing out with a wish that God bless all of us with the power of loving unconditionally and Keep Smiling :-)

I met life one day and....................

Good Morning is what I say to myself and all my friends and family everyday through a sms and today while writing I just started with these words.....

I met life one day and asked: Why do you keep changing your mood so often, You are never the same?
She replied: I change my mood as per your mood :-)

Well with this note I say Good Morning to all who are reading this blog too, Isn't this so true,Have you ever noticed, that there is nothing called the perfect life to any human being on earth and heaven too, for that matter, situations keep changing, every life is very eventful, but what is it that makes all the difference ???

Yes of course it is your attitude towards life and attitude also keeps changing as per our moods and so does Life. When we smile, Life smiles back. When we cry, Life cries for us and with us. When we think that Life is beautiful, it actually is. When we get annoyed on every little and big thing happening, Life also does the same. When we hate life and people around, Life also hates us. When we Love Life and people around, Life also loves us.

Many a times we keep thinking why me, why does this happen to me always.

I am not an exception, I also think this way when I am very low, but then immediately if I switch off my low mood and smile, I don't feel that pain, I feel so what if its me over and over again, because I always loved challenges and that is what Life is giving me, then why am I complaining, is there any need to complain or criticize or even regret and repent. And I say a Big NO, I say to myself Life is beautiful and it always proves to me that YES I AM :-)

I know its easier said than done, but the best way to change your mood is to share, share the good, share the bad, share all you feel with someone you love or someone who loves you and you will see that it is not all that hard to keep smiling and when you do that, just for a minute take out time and look into the mirror, trust me you would look more beautiful than ever if you are a Girl and if you are a Guy then more handsome than ever. One never grows old or becomes dull by looks or age, it only happens by our moods and attitude towards the day to day happenings of life.

Here there might be someone who says, that may be you are lucky enough you have people around you who love you, I do not have anyone, but this is a total myth. All of us have someone or the other who loves us and whom we love, its just that we keep ourself closed.

Open your heart and smile, it will reflect on your face, people come, people go, meeting and departing is a part of life. One person may be happy with you today and tomorrow he may be angry, but here I want to say, irrespective of who is happy with you, and who is not, it is more important that YOU BE HAPPY YOURSELF.

Love yourself, Believe in yourself and Love others and Believe in others too.

Take time to Think, it is the source of power.
Take time to Read, it is the foundation of wisdom.
Take time to Play, it is the secret of staying young.
Take time to be Quiet, it is the opportunity to seek God.
Take time to be Aware, it is the opportunity to help others.
Take time to Love and Be loved, it is God's greatest gift.
Take time to Laugh, it is the music of the soul.
Take time to be Friendly, it is the road to happiness.
Take time to Dream, it is what the future is made of.
Take time to Pray, it is the greatest power on earth.

Life tells you with open arms that " Walk from the gates of "YOU", Stride towards the doors of "ME", Knock not, Just enter, Share your secrets, See dreams, Open your heart for me and I will be your friend forever. "

And you will then experience what I have and you will tell life
" Friend with you by my side, everything seems to be just perfectly right. "

Keep Loving Life and it will Never stop loving you and Keep smiling :-)
Hey I saw you smiling all along the conversation above, just keep it on.
Thank you to God and the wonderful people who are or have been a part of my life, because each one of them gives me many reasons to smile.
I am signing out for the day, attached a snap of Adesh and Srijan smiling together and I love to see all of them smiling :)))))
Have a nice day :-)

A Divine Experience to share, I hope it makes you smile :)

Hello friends, and Rama di, thanks for inspiring me to write and sending me a message that you miss reading my post, since I haven't written for long. Thanks a lot di, feels good to be appreciated.

Well the only reason why I never wrote for long is I always prefer to write when I am happy and positive so that I can spread the same, but when I am low or negative, I prefer being quiet, because I believe in spreading smiles always. I am Thankful to God, because today I have a reason to write and be happy about.

There is a Gurudwara at Ahmedabad, the holy place of the Sikh religion, when we were here in 2009 - 2010 with family and Adesh was in a job here, if we used to pass by this highway, I always used to express my desire to visit this place once with family, but, I don't know why it never happened, usually we people run to and Ice cream parlor if we wish to eat one, we grab fast something we have long asked for, if we happen to come across, but when it comes to visiting a temple or a Holy place, we have a lazy attitude, or we just postpone it usually.

Yesterday was a unusually hot day of this summer season and Srijan told me why not we just move on the streets of Ahmedabad on his Activa just to breathe fresh air and get out of the drowsy feeling of being in one room all day long, so we moved out, had dinner, went to a friends place, had kulfi, then went to a good cafe, and had fresh Juice n cold coffee, also I proposed Rama di for a movie but as she was busy we thought we will go some other day, so this we usually do when we are bored, yesterday when we again passed this Gurudwara, I again told Srijan, that I wanted to visit this place for long and he stopped the bike and we went inside, it was some kind of festival there of the Sikhs and some saint had visited the place and a whole lot of people behind this Great person, touching his feet and seeking blessings, fortunately we entered while he was leaving and we happened to see him at a one hand distance and after which we entered the Gurudwara and though unaware of the way of worship at that place, we knew one common thing which is done at every holy place. We bowed our heads and joined our hands in prayer and Wished good for all the lovely people in my life seeking blessings for myself and my family members.

It was a divine experience, God or No God is a topic debated thousand times, and again the importance of one religion over the other also has been debated since centuries, today I just wanted to express my feelings on this particular aspect. I belong to family where religion is given a lot of importance right from the time of my Grand parents, then my parents and so on it continues. Is the supreme power Lord Rama, my In laws worship, Lord Krishna, my mother worships, Lord Shiva, my Grand father worshiped, or Lord Ganesha whom all the Hindu's believe should be worshiped and kept in the first place. I have visited Churches all my childhood from School, I studied in a convent School, read the Holy Bible, visited temples with my parents and read the Bhagwata Geeta as well, I know a bit of the preachings of the Jainism as we have friends and my bhabhi belonged to a Jain family, I have a lot of friends of all religions and all have different traditions and beliefs, it can never end this way.

But,What I felt yesterday that these holy places,Churches,Temples, Masjids and Gurudwaras all give us a divine feeling because to this place every human comes with a hope, a prayer, a positive approach, an honest mindset, we don't pretend there, we our ourselves, all the people who come there come to ask forgiveness for the wrong they have done, for praying for the happiness of each other, of our loved ones, there none of the person visiting the place does any kind of manipulaton, that whole atmosphere is Honest, filled with gratitude, filled with compassion, filled with Love, filled with Hope and even in the worst of circumstances there's HOPE and strength which every individual gets merely by visiting that place, and the positivity which radiates from each other. God is everywhere, inside us, outside us and in every living being on earth, we worship the Cow, the trees, because we trust, that it lives and it gives us Energy and Strength.

My whole idea of writing this post is that this atmosphere can be created everywhere, at home, at our work place and in our whole world, if we live with the same honesty, good feelings for others, positive approach in all situations, repentance for our wrong deeds, Forgiveness for the others who you feel have done wrong to you and many many more things which only Spread Love, Smiles, Optimism, Strength and Hope. We can have it in ourself and also see it in the others, the good and the God, and if we begin to try now, from today onwards, I feel that if not the whole world but Our World can be the most beautiful place to live in.

Sounds too dramatic or like preachings, does it ????
It may, I don't mind, I always follow my heart and speak what comes to my mind, and the best part is I feel good about it, I love every living being around me and I respect them just the way they are, be it any religion, be it any culture, be it any person carrying a different view point from mine, I love to learn more and share more, We all are blessed and the blessings we receive is in the form of the family we are born in, the place we are brought up in and the people we meet along the journey of life and the belief that we are different yet so common, we are all imperfect yet can make our lives worth living in every aspect, its just that we need to try and keep trying.

Ending with a Quote I read long back " God must have loved the common people, thats why he made so many of them "
I feel blessed to be a common man, because I trust God loves me and he loves you too, so
"Keep Smiling and keep spreading smiles. It is God's greatest gift to mankind and all of us can afford to own a smile, gift a smile and donate one too." This is my own Quote of life.

I am attaching the photo of the smiles which mean everything to me and also the reason why I can smile always, God bless them and God bless all of us.

thatsbandana@gmail.com

I love my India

Good Morning India and my other friends who are outside the country :-)

Today I began writing with a beautiful feeling and I am sure you will feel it in every word written below :-)

Yesterday afternoon I boarded my train to Ahmedabad from Raipur after being at home for a week with all there, Adesh, Avani and Mummy (my mother in law) , it was her 66th Birthday yesterday and we celebrated it together, first at midnight 12 at Bhaisahab’s place (my bro in law) with Jiji, Srishti and Abhinav, with a simple home made sugar free cake made by Jiji and a lots of fun coz all 4 kids were relieved after exams being over and all celebrating together dancing and screaming in different ways wishing their grandmom whom they call 'Maa' a very Happy Birthday, and after midnight again we all met at lunch at Jiji’s place again and the celebration continued, with photographs and smiles on all faces in the family. She gave each of us a dairy milk. :-)

We left home after seeing India losing the toss and gradually in train came to know that Sachin and Sehwag both out…..and the scores kept coming from many sources in the train and also Adesh kept updating me with the scores and in the end as we were close to the historic victory, winning the World Cup over Srilanka the excitement and happiness kept increasing.

Yesterday apart from this it was also my younger bro’s Birthday, who lives at Singapore with his family and my maa is there too. Back home in Chennai today its my bhabhi’s birthday too,my elder bro's wife and my papa is there, so again celebration at my maa’s place too yesterday and today.

Amidst all this I was wondering when I boarded the train that I am going to miss all the fun at my different homes going on and how well they would all celebrate the end of the day when INDIA WON THE WORLD CUP after almost 28 years, I am sure all the people watching the match and the award ceremony might have been at something called the height of Enthusiasm, Joy and Pride. But here comes the reason why I began to write my blog post coz we celebrated it in the train with many people here.

I love train Journeys and I love my India because every place can be comfortable here and every traveller here connects with each other. Mostly the fellow travellers are women going to their mother’s home for enjoying the summer vacation with their kids and men and women of different ages of different origin, different states, different communities, versatile languages yet one common language, our very own Hindi and the fun hearing the scores via sms or internet sites or calls on cell phone and everyone announcing it to each other as the update arrives and even people who may not be so very interested in Cricket feeling that Excitement.

How beautiful is the feeling of celebrating India’s Victory in a train journey, its like being not at home but "IN INDIA". The tea vendors, the station crowd, either the ones who came to drop, or who came to receive in between the match and the curiosity on every face and people screaming at every wicket of Srilanka and every good shot of India and getting disappointed at the losses, I could have never expected a better way of celebrating this moment, at one side Adesh on the phone narrating to me the tears of happiness on the faces of each player, me shouting happily to mummy ki ye hui na Happy Happy Birthday and she agreeing and so on and on.

The summary is that this happens ONLY IN INDIA, its like family the whole nation and specially when its Cricket it’s a game of all the Indians, we all go crazy and emotional about the game and I had the privilege of watching the world cup victory on every face present inside and outside the train at Nagpur station.

I salute the Indian team members, their efforts and their commitment to win, all put together made us all proud last night and my bro. n mummy all out there feel that is was their best birthday ever and me, well I feel that seeing my loved ones happy, seeing so many lovely unknown yet so known faces of men, women and little children, smile can make any day and every day beautiful.

Concluding the post here with only few sentences, I love train journeys, I love my home at my papa’s side Chennai and Singapore and my home at Raipur, I love my India, proud to be born here in this nation of love, over flowing emotions, affection and Unity in Diversity.

Keep Smiling, I am sure I cant stop my smile thinking about yesterday 2nd April 2011 a beautiful day, a lovely journey and a complete feeling while sharing it in words with all my dear friends. Love you all :-)

thatsbandana@gmail.com