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!