Extra can make you Extraordinary. - #E

Dear Daughter,

Have you ever noticed how the word Extra or Free on anything just brings a smile on to our face? When you get three chocolates at the price of two or 20% chips or buy one get one free promos, you feel as if your trip to the supermarket was just worth it.

Now think, what wonders an “Extra” can do in your life? An extra mile in your walk, an extra step towards your dreams, an extra ear for those who want to talk, an extra hug for those in despair, some extra time for those in need… you can be extraordinary because the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.

There will many times when you would have done everything to excel in a job or studies or reaching your goal and yet failed to see the result and thinking of quitting the whole thing. But before you do that, just put one last extra step towards your goal. I am sure you’ll see amazing results. Because most of the times we give up before few miles to our destination. Never do that.

More than all this, I want you to go an extra mile in your relations with others. There are so many people in this world who’s suffering alone. You don’t have to travel around the world looking for them. Mostly they will be people around you, your near ones, acquaintances, colleagues, that stranger sitting next to you in metro or subway. It can be anyone.

Some years ago, I and my friends organized a summer camp for teenagers. And on its one year anniversary we were planning a reunion but it didn’t happen, because we couldn’t find time in our schedule. A week after that, heard a boy in that gang committed suicide because he didn’t clear some papers in his first year Engineering semester exam. And till date I feel guilty about it. I keep thinking, if we took that extra effort to do that reunion, or just called and talked to everyone or kept had personal contact he would have been still alive. If someone anyone had some extra time to console him or give him support or talk to him and make him understand that life is not all about the mere things we encounter daily but it's all about the people that are around us, the people that love us for who we are. Sometimes all a person wants is an empathetic ear, all he or she needs is to talk it out. Just offering a listening ear and an understanding heart for his or her suffering can be a big comfort.

So my child understand that,

Words are strong. Hugs are assuring. Listening is comforting. Been just there for someone can be life changing. Because all these can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good.

Yours,

Me. 

I'm Participating in the #AtoZAprilChallenge with the theme .... 

“Letters to Dear Daughter… “

Q for ... #AtoZChallenge2016

“Quality Time”

He came and sat opposite to her. 

With a smile he signed for menu from the waiter. 

She has been waiting there for hours, but he never acknowledged that. Even with a look.

How she wish to spend some quality time with him rather than these snippets once in a while.

Who cares?

She looked very pretty today in bright red saree, stone jewelries and her long hair decorated with fresh jasmine. It was her wedding day. But the brightness her attire had, was not seen on her face. She looked sleep deprived and tired. She looked at the man who was going to be her husband in a few minutes, for the first time. According to their tradition, girls don’t have voice to opinion about their marriage nor the privilege to see the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. 

She couldn't feel any sort of emotions nor mere companionship towards him. Thou not yet ready for marriage, she expected a man who was near to her age, but seeing the person next to her, made her stop breathing for a moment. He was old enough to be her father!

How could she marry him? How could she spend rest of the days and nights with this old man?

She wanted to run off from there. Wanted to flee away from that crowd who showed no mercy on her. 

But even before she regained her breathe back, a mangalsutra was hanging down her neck. With her permission? With her smile? 

Who cares…? 

Relations! A child play?

Every child, be it a girl or boy, dream about been married to their soul mate. Right before they learn to be independent they start looking for that special person all around. But then, why the divorce rate of the present generation is rocketing so much?

Is this because, no one is ready to compromise? Or let go of their freedom, to be loyal and to be humble to their better half?

You fall in love with someone and at the end of the day you back out cos your parents won’t agree. The reason maybe different religion caste, family background, financial status, age or whatever it is (Indian Scenario). Actually, don’t you know your parents more than anyone, and you know what they expect for their child. So before getting committed to someone, can’t all the reasons be considered and then go for it. Love is blind. But after a point does the blindness go away and you regain eye sight?

Break-up is always a choice for the good of both individuals. If you find that you can’t get along with this person cos of your huge lot of in-differences, that’s a reason. Get out of each other’s life. But these days it’s always, “We are breaking up, cos our families won’t agree for this, and we don’t want to hurt our parents”. So when you were like Romeo and Juliet for past 2 or 3 years, mostly in college years, you didn't have parents? Seriously, this is one thing I never seems to understand. You can’t always find your soul mate from the same status or religion or whatever criteria the family puts forward, but if you are ready to love that person ignoring all this, be ready to spend your life with them too.

As read somewhere, “Divorce/break up is just a fancy word masking what is truly a broken attachment between two people. Divorce is more than separating assets and belongings.  It’s the severing of a very strong bond founded on deep feelings of dependency and need. Believe it or not, you developed an attachment to your partner over the course of dating and marriage that connected you on an emotional and physiological level beyond what you realized.”

Marriage or commitment is always a choice. If you are willing to spend the rest of the days with him/her under every circumstance, plunge into that sacred constitution or else just back out before you get committed.

In very relation, be it in friendship, love, marriage, siblings, there are fights, word wars, anger, jealously, misunderstandings and imperfections. No one is perfect. Learn to love the imperfections. Give your best in all relations. Never hesitate to say I love you or I miss you. Have faith enough to say, “I trust you more than I love you”. Hug each other. Hold hands. Never miss to give a Smile at each other. Mean your words. Be proud of one another. Never break your promises, if you don’t mind to keep them, then don't give out promises.

Try to hold the thread till the end, and if it’s meant to stay strong you won’t lose it, or else leave. If you have ever loved that person, you are gonna miss that individual when you back out. Why we have to miss someone when we could be with them throughout? So, never give up someone until you tried your best. 

As the Christian Marriage Vows says….

I _____, take you ______, to be my wedded wife/husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.

Give yourself to someone, “till death do us part”, and not only till you feel satisfied.

P.S. A self-reminder to a future me if ever I feel like giving up a relation. :)

Light of his life.

When she first saw her mom's wedding ring with her father’s name engraved on it... she wanted that. She was too stubborn that making something similar was the only option. Her father made a ring suitable for her little finger with a "Love Dad" engraving. That was her first jewelry. She proudly wore it everyday and everywhere and beamed whenever she looked at it. 

Niya was her Dad’s girl. And he was her Super Hero. It was a common knowledge even to her mother that he was her favorite parent.

And today was her wedding. He suddenly felt lonely. They lost her mother five years ago. And from then, it was just the father and daughter. They filled each others life. And now with her gone to her new home he felt completely lost. Breaking the thread of his thoughts he heard his phone vibrating.

38 missed calls in 10 minutes! He wondered what was going on. And why he didn't hear it before.

On the next ring he took the call...

"Dad! Where were you? I have been calling you for long."

"Niya?!! What happened? Are you alright? Do you want me to come over?"

"Relax Dad. I'm perfectly alright. I just wanted to tell.... I love you Dad. You are best thing that ever happened in my life. Thank you for been a sweetheart even when I was a Brat. I miss you so dearly.... Please do take care of yourself."

Hearing her words he felt moisture gathering in his eyes and how he wished she'd never grown up.

It's a WOW post! :) Now check out the of the rest WOWs!!!! :) :) :)

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda. We give out creative writing prompts each weekend for Indian Bloggers. This time your entry must contain. '38 missed calls in 10 mins! He/She wondered what was going on.'

Brother, You are 14!

Happy birthday to you…

Happy birthday…

Happy birthday…

Happy birthday to Achu.....

  Clap. Clap. Clap.

Blow the candles, close your eyes and make a wish... ... ...

May all your wishes and dreams and hopes come true. May you get everything you want.  May you have all the happiness, smiles, joys, health, wealth, love, girlfriends, your Nike, Ray Ban, IPhone, Lamborghini, Ferrari or whatever brands you desire.

Happy Fourteenth Sweetheart.

I feel as a if you were born just yesterday and within few hours you have grown up to be 14. My life would have been so different if it wasn't for you. I would have felt lost without having you by my side. Wherever I go, you always used to follow. Whether its a girls day out or friends get together, you were a inseparable part of mine. But now you have grown up and so ready to fly away from home. How time flies...

As I always tell, follow your heart. Do what you love in life. Never give up your dreams and passion for anyone or anything. Make mistakes but learn from them. Be kind, humble and lovable. Always have a smile for others. You are just awesome the way you are. But yeah, all those pamperings from everyone have made you a bit irresponsible. But you are moving your way up to that "perfect gentleman".

Always remember, whatever you do, wherever you are, how old you become, I'll be always there for you. Like today, in your tomorrows also, you'll be having all the right to stamp through my door at any time. But knocking now and then is appreciable.

Despite all this, I am still gonna act immature to you, irritate you, fight with you or use my nails to draw on your skin, but will be there as always. You can surely count me in if ever you feel lost. I won’t promise that I’ll lead you through the right way, even thou I’ll try, but won’t let you be lost on your own.

Happy Birthday to my sweetest, handsome Brother! You are the most lovable person, not always but almost every time.

I love you. I love you. I love you infinitely. :* 

P.S. I absolutely love the way you feel jealous when I ignore you to message/talk to my friends when with you. It just makes me special. :P

God Blez you always.

Tring Tring...

Tring tring... the phone rang...

It might be him. "Gosh! I can't stop the scooty in the middle of the road to attend the call."... She thought.

She was supposed to meet him before one hour, but at the last moment some guests came and jeopardised her plans and she got stuck. And when she informed him that she'll be late by one hour he was not that happy. He never liked changes in plans.

And now she's on her way to him.

He might have reached and would be fuming impatiently coz of her delay. She grinned to herself imagining his face.

She stopped to the side of the road and checked the missed calls. Yea, it was him! She dialed his number and waited.

"Hello"...  A strange voice.
"Huh.....hello... who's this? "
"I am the police officer from the local station. The owner of this mobile met with a car accident and is taken to the medical hospital".....

She felt as if life just flew out of her body. Numbness crept through her. When she regained her composure she hurried towards the hospital, praying that nothing wrong should happen and all her wild thoughts should remain as thoughts itself............



(This post is part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda)

And this post got picked by BlogAdda.com as one of  the "WOW" post of the Week.

And Bhavya.... Thank you ;) 

T for ... ...

"Transition in Relations".

" It's sad when people u know become people u knew. When you walk right past someone like they were never a big part of your life. How you used to able to talk for hours and how now you can barely even look at them."

PAST

She talked to them for hours and the topic starts from their thoughts and wander around the universe. But still they never got tired of each other. 24*7 they were together in person, conference calls or video chats. They were like some inseparable siblings. And they were soo damn proud of their relations, infact everyone around them was.

PRESENT

Separated by distance and in hearts too. Don’t know wants happening in each others’ life. Priorities changed, relations changed. Misunderstandings and egos overtook intimacy. Once soulmates became acquaintances. 

Q for ... ...

Again I am late. I know, I know...

So, this is my Q post...!!!!

Quality Time!

When you think life is going exactly the way you want, it just takes a sudden turn and everything topples down. That’s how amazing life is. Life is never easy nor boring. It's a roller coaster ride with God being the driver, and we alone the passengers with some co-passengers who get down at some point or other. Ultimately we begin and end alone.

I have a brother, who’s in his high school, and whose biggest worry is getting up early in the morning and at times exams too. There was a point when I too had the same fears in my system. When I just wanted to get out of school and face the real world. After school there was another bridge before getting to life. College. There, the profession had to be choosed according to the job priorities and not coz of passion. After done with in-numerous internals, semesters, lectures, fests, hang outs, studies, scolding’s, seminars, projects, when was really out in the real so called world, nothing seemed real. Everything was so monotonous that you could almost predict your days. No one really bothers about anyone or even themselves. The ultimate goal is earn as much as possible before the last breath. For that sacrificing doesn't seem to be so hard.

Friends and relations became distant and end up in an occasional visit or call. Distance, busy schedules, work pressures … all these came up as excuses. Even I do the same thing. Being a person who hated monotony in any form, survival in this scenario seems far more difficult than I dreamt.

Does people really live, or is this is the ‘beautiful’ life? Where we get so few hours with family and dear ones? If you have to meet a friend who’s in the same country, have to plan, check the schedules and then finally get to meet. If he/she is in a different country, then the planning and rescheduling have to be done before months with prays that no unexpected work creeps up in the last moment. 

Work is always important, and money is too. Because, if I didn't get my pocket money from dad or earns myself, there’s no means to satisfy my leisure needs, which is an obvious factor for me. But apart from all these worldly love, don’t souls need the warmth and touch of other souls?

You born, you crawl, you walk, you start gaining knowledge from school and then college. You work as hard as you can but you smile too. Then to professional life, where you work much harder than you can away from parents, spouses, children, friends, home and everything dear to you. You earn money get back home to find that your child has already grown up and you missed his growing years. That your friends had drifted away from you, as you never had any time for them. That now you have so less time with your better half, as your days are few. So actually did you earn something or lost everything?

                                                                                                                                                             

“Stop and make sure that everything you are doing right now is really what makes you happy. You can’t just live for some goal in future and have that be everything… have that be it. Because that is what some people do. They get on this road and there are all these signs saying, ‘This way. That way.’ But what if you get there, you get exactly what you wanted, like some people do, except all the things were wrong, are still wrong. Then what?” – Party of Five.

P.S. Musings from a beginner in Life.

God Blez.

Random.

Last week in our church here, a guy died of meningitis. He was rather young, recently married and his wife is also working here. Even thou he was a member of our church, he never kept in touch with anyone or came to church. So when he died actually no one came to know, unless someone from Kerala called our parish priest and said the news. And it was with much difficulty they identified the person and their residence and did all the legal formalities to get his body back to Kerala.

As always I say and believe life is unpredictable. Birth, death, accidents... anything can happen to a person. So why make it difficult to the rest of the people. When the guy died, literally the wife was to shaken to do anything. And in a foreign place she was all alone, with a dead husband, no relatives, maybe some colleagues and some huge lot of legal formalities. And when people from our church rushed to her, she was relieved. Atleast she could rely upon someone.

In life it’s always important to have family and friends and a good social circle. Especially if you are in a foreign place away from family and your close relations, get to know someone at that place and keep in touch with the community. There should be someone who knows everything about us. There should be at least a soul, apart from family or better half, who knows us to the core. Human relation are always more important than money, profession, time and whatever follows.

If you have a person or two who could read your mind from your voice or face, I believe you are richest.

 

P.S. Keep Smiling.

God Blez.

Random.

We tend to love certain people like none other. They may not be our blood, partner, family or anyone. Just a random person we met along journey of life. But during that journey they become one of the important soul to us. They may be with us till the end, or they just go through another way. But what ever it is, they will always be there in our life visibly or invisibly.

So why do we love and give soo much importance to certain people?

Maybe out of familiarity.

Maybe out of understanding.

Maybe out of care.

Maybe out of friendship.

Maybe out of feelings.

Maybe out of passion.

Maybe coz the person makes you feel complete.

Maybe coz of the happiness you give each other.

Maybe coz they make you feel good.

Maybe coz of the smiles you give each other.

Maybe coz of what they are to you.

Maybe coz of what you become for them.

Maybe just coz you love that person.

 

A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself – to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart.

 – Anonymous

P.S. Keep Smiling. :)


God Blez.