Happy Father's Day to You, Mom!

It's a very special day today ! Firstly, 21st of June marks the year's summer solstice. Also, it's World Music Day. And it's Father's Day too !  Be it Twitter, or FB timeline,all social networking sites  are actually flooding with Father's Day posts .It's quite funny but it seems like there's a sudden deluge of love in everyone's hearts for their father. You might be find it a little surprising, but I've never really had a close bonding with my dad. Mostly because I've been used to growing up in his absence.

Anybody who's father has been serving as a marine engineer will connect. For me, dad has been that cool person who visited once or twice a year with colorful goodies and chocolates. So family for me has always meant my mother and my sister. 

Last night, I just had a  sudden realization. My mother had actually filled up my dad's absence in the best possible way she could! Be it attending parent teacher meetings,  taking me to the doctor's clinic or telling the best possible fables so that I would quickly finish my dinner (feeding me was a real pain, and none other than a gifted raconteur like my mom could really grab my attention in order to make me gulp my food!)

She's definitely not one of those people who will try to make it to your good books, mostly because she's too candid! But there have been certain instances when she has let her softer nature play a peek-a-boo with her harsh exterior. Moments when she happily bore the weight of my head on her shoulder while we were driving home after a long tiresome day. I often find myself checking on her at night, watching her stomach rise and fall with every breath. I'm so so scared of losing her, ever! The one reason behind my soul existence.So I think it'll be just for me to say "Happy Father's Day to you Mom! Because you've sort of played both the roles successfully most of the time ! "

I turned Seventeen !

"I am sixteen going on seventeen
I know that I'm naive
Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet
And willingly I believe

" -sixteen going on seventeen 

                                                                    (The Sound of Music)

I just turned seventeen last Sunday! The worst part about turning seventeen is well, firstly, I have to change my blog's description which means I have to think of a new one !Whew! If you're wondering why, well the description currently says" a sixteen year old girl who fell in love with words"...And now put seventeen in place of sixteen! Check! How unpoetic ! I am someone who swoons over Bukowski and feels blissful reading Silvia Plath on a rainy day. So I need a new description. Secondly, the worst part about being seventeen is, you don't get to be sixteen anymore(why am I blabbering shit!). One year of your life has passed you, and you haven't achieved any of the glories that a sixteen year old's supposed to! I remember feeling miserable on the night of my birthday. Not that I had a bad day. My friend came over. She had baked a chocolate egg-less brownie cake( I'm a vegetarian) specially for the occasion because she's a real sweetheart ! And we also got the chance to get wet in a mid-afternoon shower. We watched some classic movies like" The Runaway Bride"and "Sweet Home Alabama".. Later I went for a movie with mum (Jurassic World) and we ordered Chinese at a take-away restaurant. So, not a bad day at all , but there you go- I was filled with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction about everything. In brief, I was thinking about the popular kids at my school and the big fat parties that are held on their birthdays! That's when I looked up birthday goals on Google. And I found this site where the author writes about his dissatisfaction over the year that's gone by and as a consequence he sets a few goals to accomplish over the next year. Its certainly a cool idea.I think I'll follow it. So I guess my next blog will be on birthday goals. Stay tuned! Oh I also got To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in The Rye as presents. (Yay!)

Be Selfish

There's a really happy lie that we all like to believe in,  "We are going to be remembered." And thus we take measured steps and restrain ourselves to dream of achieving goals which only the "world glorifies". We count on our loved ones to spend a substantial amount of time mourning over our death. But the fact is, life goes on. With time, people learn to move on. A time comes when they will no longer care. My point is, is it

worth it to sacrifice our dreams in order to appease our loved ones?  

Nothing's worse than the regret you feel in your deathbed. "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life other people expected of me." as Shannon L.Alder beautifully puts it. We've got this one life, a beautiful opportunity, a blessing to create something magnificent in order to leave our footprints in the sands of time. Your dreams matter. Big or small. So go for it, be selfish enough to make yourself happy. At the end of the day, that is what matters. 

"You are alive. That means you have infinite potential .You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. ~Neil Gaiman

6 Reasons Why We All Need a Best Friend

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh 

A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved ,just as a happiness shared is a happiness doubled. And since we can't share all our problems or our triumphs with everybody, God has blessed each and every one of us with at least one close chum we can fall back on at the end of each day. The most beautiful part of friendship is, it transcends all barriers- age, sex, caste, creed ,religion or race. For me, the best part of each day is the time of the evening I share with my mother, and we pour  our hearts out to each other in a tete-a-tete over a cup of tea. So, I shortlisted six reasons why we all need a close friend, in order to make everyone aware of the blessing they have called a true friend .

• A good friend is a good listener- No matter what we've gone through the entire day, we can actually share all that with our close buddy. And that close buddy won't mind listening to our crap and endless rantings until our heart is satisfied. What are close chums for, after all?
• Comfort- As I mentioned earlier, we are not comfortable sharing our problems with everyone. So we need that one person wont judge us by our actions but will instead understand our problems and try to fix them.
• Connectedness- There are certain things you share in common with your close friend. It might be a common interest in sports,  a fetish for books, or a penchant for cooking, or it can just the way you both look at things, i.e. the basic philosophies of life. This is what makes two persons the closest of friends and helps to create an everlasting bonding.
• Fun - One of the various connotations for the word friendship is fun. And that's the kind of fun that takes place when two close friends are together- whether its going ROFL over a joke only you both understand, quarreling over whose crush is better looking, or rubbing cake cream all over each others faces!
•  A true friend gives honest opinions- It is important to have that one person who is candid enough to tell us what we're doing is right or wrong. Whether it comes down to a dress we're wearing,  our behavior in public, or an unscrupulous act of having cheated on someone. True friends back us, but at the same time help us see things in a better light.
• A good friend is essentially a 3am friend-  Yes, one of the biggest reasons why we all need a best friend. If you're feeling depressed in the middle of the night and you're on the verge of tears, all you want is the company of a close bud. And sometimes, it might not be possible for your close pal to be physically present, but all it takes is to dial his/her number on your phone. Sometimes you don't even need to speak, but the feeling of having your friend on the other side of the phone provides a whole lot of comfort.

That's the kind of friendship we all look forward to in our lives. And if you look hard, I'm sure you'll find that one person in life who deserves to be called a best friend. The person who has been silently helping you in many ways, but their endeavors to make you happy went unnoticed ! And all though it is not friendship day, I decided to write this post because we don't need to celebrate a beautiful bond such as friendship on a special day of the year! Good luck to whoever is on a quest of finding a true friend !

My Blog Gets A New Name

Finally ,my blog has a new name.  Yay! This is a very important event of my journey as a blogger. Not Fundaytimez anymore, but The Diary of A Wallflower. You must have noticed the stark resemblance between the new title and Stephen Chbosky's novel "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", which of course happens to be one of my favourite books. Initially, my sister had helped me create this blog just for fun. But since it has turned into my vocation now, I thought of keeping a new name. Not that I write about serious stuffs now. But the fact is, we all love novelty, don't we ? So, I hope I get to write some better posts in future which will do justice to the new title. Cheers!

Being Happy

 It's funny how being happy can sometimes be the hardest and the easiest task at the same time. All it takes is a change in perspective. I somehow believe happiness is a choice. I've been going through a really tough time lately, with a skin disorder that has been taking a toll on me. And today, I broke down. I couldn't take it any more. I cried. And I don't think I was being stupid. I'm a sixteen year old girl who is supposed to hang out with friends and enjoy life at its very best rather than rubbing a hundred ointments on her skin daily and sitting in the sun to cure her skin problems! Plus, I had a really bad day. And I realized that I was simply focusing on the negative side of things. Which was of course the easier thing to do at the moment. But once I unloaded my  heart, I realized that life can't be perfect. But that doesn't mean one can't be happy. You can be happy if you choose to be happy. As the saying goes, "The optimist and the pessimist both die in the end. But both would have lived lives in a completely different way." I conclude with one of my favourite quotes by Parker J. Palmer ~ " Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. ". So today I choose to be happy.

April Fool's Day- It's Origin

Life without macaroons- acceptable.

Life without chocolate muffins-acceptable.

But O Lord ! What would we do without fools?

Quoting Shakespeare "the dulness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits" .

So it is not irrelevant celebrating April Fool's Day every year after all, is it?

As you may be surprised to know that this day has an interesting history behind it. 

In ancient cultures, particularly those of the Romans and the Hindus, New Year Day was celebrated around April 1. It is shortly after the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st).In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.

However, in 1582, the old Julian calender was replaced by Pope Gregory VIII . The new calender came to be known as the Gregorian calender and it called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1.That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe. So, that's how April Fool's Day came into origin. Or might I say I've been fooling you? Well, I'm actually not.

Being Confident

To be candid, there are some people in the world are really lucky to have been blessed with a good physique and charming looks,  and well there are some like us who are not. Through all these years, I've learnt that a nine letter word can hold a very important position in our lives. It's  not just people who are good-looking , the ones with blue eyes and really nice hair who are confident. You can be short, you can be swarthy, you can have scanty hair or no hair at all, and you can still be confident. Confident of the

person you are on the inside, embracing your flaws and imperfections.Confidence is an attitude.  Most people when asked what is it they think that attracts a person most about another person at first sight will probably say its their looks. However, its a very wrong notion that most people have. I've seen girls with a blessed physique and appealing looks who are skittish and insecure, which brings their overall personality down. Its all about how you carry yourself. I have no intentions of sounding preachy, but once you start taking pride in yourself  no matter how you look,how old you are, or what you do, your confidence level automatically boosts up, which makes you at least ten times more attractive than you were. And that additional smile on your face will win you brownie points. So why be unhappy and jittery when you can be ruling the world with that confident self of yours?

An Amazing Fellow Blogger

We all look up to someone for inspiration. As a blogger, I have a fellow blogger whom I really admire. And trust me, once you visit her blog, you'll get addicted to it. She is also one of the boldest women I know, with a unique voice of her own. Her name is Anjee Bhatia ( aka "Pigeonheadophobia"as she likes to call herself) . Coincidentally, she happens to be one of my friends' sister. She has discussed issues like harassment on streets, gender equality like no one else can ! Well not only thought provoking issues, but also a gallore of other fun articles and cool recipes. Check out her blog ( Pigeonheadophobia) in order to see for yourself! Happy Reading !

Schooldays and Nostalgia

         You know how quickly time flies by when:

 

• You empty your bookshelves and stack away the previous session's books and replace them with the new ones you recently bought.

•  You look back on the days of the previous academic year, softly smiling to yourself as you remember a funny incident that had made you laugh many a times hence.
• You suddenly discover an old photo album having pictures of your childhood days. You gently stroke the picture of a one year old you, splashing water in a bath tub. 
• The first time you notice the wrinkles on your mom's cheek, her grey hairs peeking out.
• You find a hand-made birthday card from a friend among junk inside a drawer. It has a typical junior school drawing of a sun with spokes ,and two friends underneath it grabbing each others hands.
• You sit back and realize, you have spent thirteen years of your life in a place which we all so lovingly term as school. It's the very last year of wearing your school uniform, the very last summer break you'll ever have, the very last year you will be called a schoolgirl or a schoolboy. The very last year you'll be spending eight hours a day with those people alike your age who've made your childhood so beautiful, your friends.

It feels like all these years passed by in a jiffy! It's the bitter sweet memories that make life so beautiful- the proud moment when you had beaten your childhood bully in a race from school back home, the first time you earned a star for your drawing,the first time you learnt what it felt to be punished along with your friends for chuckling in class. So here I am, reminiscing, as I prepare myself for my last year at school. Mostly a hopeful me, with a tinge of grief somewhere deep down, as I write my name in block letters on my text- books.

Splitting Up of British Bands

Wow! Yet another band splits up ! What's up with these British bands? Last December brought enough bad news for rock music lovers (precisely Alternative Rock music lovers) after British rock band Colplay's lead singer , Chris Martin announced  "It’s our seventh thing, and the way we look at it, it’s like the last Harry Potter book or something like that,” about their final album, which is tentatively titled A Head Full of Dreams. “I have to think of it as the final thing we’re doing. Otherwise, we wouldn’t put everything into it,”he added. Yeah we all got a little dewy eyed at the possibility of the band breaking up. 

And now,  it's One Direction. Zayn Malik quits One Direction after five years of being together since 2010 after Simon Cowell who discovered the boyband on talent show X Factor. Not that I'm a hardcore Directioner, but I liked the music they created. I remember two years back, songs like "More than this", "What makes you Beautiful" used to play on repeat on my music player. 

I somehow hate the ideas of people leaving bands or bands splitting up. I guess its a spike of nostalgia that makes me awfully sad deep down. Every song has a special memory related with it. And we learn to associate every band as a whole entity creating some wonderful music. One person leaving makes it so incomplete. I remember how I got mushy when one of my all-time favorite bands, Westlife split up in 2011 after fourteen years of delivering fourteen No.1 singles, 44 million album sales, 10 sellout tours and winning the  love and support of fans worldwide! How can one forget songs like Seasons in the sun , I had a dream, Flying without Wings...  

I guess it is really a sad time for music lovers. So where's the silver lining? I bet I'm not wrong if I say we are all eager about Colplay's upcoming album, A Head Full of Dreams. And as for 1D, they will be continuing as a four-member band, and will hopefully give us some happy hits in the following days! 

Small Deeds of Gratitude

"All we have is all we need. All we need is the awareness of how blessed we really are."~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

No matter where we are, or how we're doing in life, each and every one of us have something to be grateful for.

Since my childhood,  I've seen my mother throwing crumbs of bread on the window sill every morning . It's the first thing she does after waking up.Seconds later, a flock of crows  gather to feed on the crumbs. I never understood the underlying reason behind such an act ,until recently. A few days back,I accompanied my mother to the terrace where she would feed the crows (she has started feeding the crows in the terrace of late after a few people in our apartment complained that they apparently had a problem with my mother throwing crumbs on the window sill ). I realized that the crows waited in anticipation every morning. They began cawing with fervor as soon as she stepped into the terrace. 

I then asked her why she's been doing this everyday. "My mother used to tell me, man has a duty to fulfill towards all other beings on this planet. You must begin each day with an act of gratitude by helping your fellow beings . I'm doing my bit." , she smiled.

I was filled with a new respect for the person my mother is. I also decided at that very moment that I would carry on this tradition after my mother. Yes, we all have something to be grateful for. Each day is a blessing. It's just that some days, we have to look harder!

Depression-How to face it?

Depression

We've all been through a phase of life where one essentially feels low or depressed over a considerable period of time. Globally, more than 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression annually. Also, one out of every four people will suffer from some kind of mental health problem during a year. So you see, you are not the only one. Trust me on this, the key to better mental health is to keep yourself  active. Engage in any activity that interests you, whether its a fitness class,  a dance class, or learning a new language. An idle mind is a devil's workshop, which means an idle mind is more likely to develop negative thoughts. I know, in certain cases depression does take a toll on you, but you have to help yourself come out of it.

I've recently been through such a phase. I mostly experienced a feeling of emptiness or
worthlessness accompanied by a lack of concentration in work.I had stopped interacting with people around me and did not feel happy doing things that previously made me happy . My grades at school began to fall considerably. I began to search for solutions on Google, but they did not seem to help. 

Things started getting better after my aunt suggested that I visit a  psychotherapist. He advised me to involve in some sort of physical activity that will help keep me mentally and physically active. From the next week, I began going to a fitness class in my locality. And over the past two months, my mood has improved drastically .He also prescribed a herbal supplement Himalaya Ashvagandha(Winter Cherry/Withania somnifer) which is available in any Himalaya store, or any online drug store. It helps fight the symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety, etc. The best part about it is, it shows no contradictions whatsoever.

I hope all those of you who are suffering from depression, anxiety, or stress recover real soon. Stay positive, eat healthy. Time is the best healer, give the time some time. 

I would love to know your thoughts about this article. Feel free to share your opinion in the comment section below.

New Year, New Beginnings

Dear Beautiful Readers,

I know it's a bit too late to make a new year resolution, but as they say, better late than never. So 2015, a brand new year and time for new beginnings. Till now,  writing blogs had been one of my hobbies. And if you go through some of my previous articles, you may find them vague and childish. And I'm completely okay with that .I'm proud of all those articles I wrote as a 12 or 13 year old kid, English not being my mother tongue. Now I've decided to take up writing more seriously and will try to be regular on my blog. My biggest thanks goes to my wonderful sister who acquainted me with blogging, and to my beautiful readers who've supported me all the way, and helped me grow, not only as a writer, but as an individual.

Cheers!
Winnie

Happy Reading!

Ellen DeGeneres Book Cover

Look what I found while I was browsing the web today! Being a bibliophile myself, this really made me happy. It reinforced my faith in the goodness of the world. This wonderful lady does miracles. Long live, Ellen DeGeneres!

Live life the real way

Nowadays you find people everywhere busy looking down at their phones. In a generation of selfies and free messengers like Whatsapp, Hyke,etc., we often forget to enjoy the moment as we're busy clicking a picture in order to show the world how much better off we are than them! At the end of the day, whose validation are we seeking ? You don't need to get a thousand likes on your profile picture in order to reassure yourself how beautiful you are. That's not living life the real way. Nothing is as powerful as an eye contact. Interact with the people around you. Look a person in the eye when you say how much you love them or when you apologize. Life is too short to waste its precious moments preoccupied in a virtual world. Love passionately, laugh wholeheartedly, live fully!
One of my friends shared a beautiful video which seemed to say it all ! It put a smile on my face. So I'm glad to share it with my beautiful readers here! Have a great day !

You Are Being Duped

Hello beautiful people! Guess what, there's a new pill in the market called C-108 that completely revitalizes your skin ,fixing all blemishes,age marks, and makes you look up to five to seven years younger. Its better than botox or any chemical treatments, and moreover, its a completely scientific product synthesized in a science lab!And it's coming with a free trial pack. I'm sure you'll be checking it out on Google right now.

But wait, hold on ! What if I tell you I've been deceiving you by a cheap gimmick! That's all what it took to convince you that there really is such a pill. And that's how millions of cosmetic brands have been deceiving the ignorant public over the years. There's a thousand of brands selling fairness creams, fat burning pills, weight gaining pills, most of which are created to dupe the public. Believe it or not, more than 85-90% of the people in the world are unsatisfied with their looks and physique, which makes it such an easy job for these moneymaking bast***s to fool us!

I believe, if each one of us start take pride in whoever we are and whatever physique we've been blessed with, in no time these fraud businesses will come to a standstill. You may be different from others, but, it your differences solely that make us unique and beautiful ! Imagine a world where everybody resembled Calvin Klein models!!

The Story of The Pencil~Paulo Coelho

Hello my beautiful readers ! I have not been regular on my blog of late. Probably because I had been too lazy to write about anything. Meanwhile I had been reading a lot, contemporaries and classics.
I'm currently reading " Like the Flowing River" by Paulo Coelho. I never knew I had a latent penchant for philosophy. The book is mostly about the author's thoughts and reflections on life. I must admit that his profound knowledge in philosophy and spirituality has left me astounded. I don't think I could relate to a book any better.
Here's a small chapter I would like to share.It's called "The Story of the Pencil ". I still remember the day when our English teacher had read out the chapter to us at school and I had goosebumps because it had touched me so deeply.Here it goes.
The Story of The Pencil~Paulo Coelho
A child was watching how grandmother writing a letter. At some point, he asked her:
-Are you writing a story about us? Is it a story about me?
His grandmother stopped writing, smiled and said to her grandson:
-I am writing a story about you. However, what is more important than the word i am using, is the pencil i am writing it with. Someday, when you grow up, i really hope you become like it.
The intrigued boy looked at the pencil but saw nothing special about it.
-It is just like any other pencil i have ever seen, said to his grandmother.
-Well, it all depends on how you see things. The pencil has five qualities, which if you manage to obtain, will make you a person always at peace with the world.
First quality: you are capable of achieving great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand «God», and He always guides you according to His will.
Second quality: every now and then, i have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, it s much sharper. So you too, must learn to bear some pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes we make. You should realize that correcting something you did wrong is not necessarily a bad thing. It s important for keeping you on the road to justice.
Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite on the inside. So you should always pay attention to what is happening inside you.
Finally, the pencil s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In the same way, you should know that everything you do in your life, will leave a mark. So try to be conscious of that in your every action.
 

I guess we all need these simple reminders every now and then in order to be able to jive to the rhythm of life. And Paulo Coelho does it very well indeed!