An addition to the resolutions list...

     New year is around the corner...As usual most of us will be planning our list of resolutions to accomplish in the coming year. Great..that should be done too.. but wait... If we go back to the same day last year, little did we know what was in store for us or to the world? We were happily creating out own lists and celebrating with friends and families..

           Some of us had plans for our fitness goals, some wanted to go on an international holiday, some wanted to to achieve new heights in their career and some wanted to get married and have a beautiful family. All our plans went topsy turvy..little did we know that we would be only hoping to be safe and healthy and see all our family and friends safe.

         Don't you think this pandemic has taught us some lessons? It has made us realise how much we need to appreciate what we have. We need to value our relationships, our health and all that what we already had but somewhere forgotten to be thankful for.

        Have your ever thought that 100 years down the line, none of us would be existing on this earth, be it the people older than you or the younger ones. All of us will be on the other side of life. If your hard or good feelings won't even last for so long, then what's the use of it. Instead let us appreciate that we have people around us with whom we can atleast share our emotions.. This will create a better human being in us and also this place a better one which we will some day have to vacate...

         So..plan your next resolution in such a way that makes you a joyful and positive person and the people around you be happy to have you around them..

Learn local language...

  As June 1st is fast approaching, I see so many parents anxious about their kids schools. Some parents want online classes because they say kids are already spending more time on mobile and computer why can't they spend the same time on classes. Other parents who have successfully managed to keep the kids away from gadgets, don't want any classes online. I agree to this. 

         Government is also ensuring not to burden children, parents or schools in this regard. They keep sending notices and sharing messages on social media. Especially in Karnataka, I really appreciate the Government efforts in managing the education system well. They have been trying their best to avoid unnecessary tensions. They have been doing this efficiently since mid March when one case made the entire state to close preprimary and primary schools.

           The most pitiest part that I see during all these days and which made me to pen down my views is that parents don't understand the notice given by Government as it's in Kannada. These many days it was very easy to manage everything in Karnataka without Kannada as we didn't have any direct relations with Govt news or there notices. Now I see everyone requesting others to translate it to English. Some go to the extent of blaming the Govt that they are not printing the notice in English.

            Have we tried ourself to learn the local language by any means. We had ample time during this lockdown period. Many are already staying in Karnataka for more than 5 years atleast.

              If not for speaking atleast learn the language to an extent that you can understand it. It will only make you more prepared during these untoward situations. Take help from your kids. They can teach you better. There are many apps available too.

              Utilise your time positively and don't worry about your kids education. Kids learn easily and can adapt to these changes easily. I am saying this with my experience as a teacher.

A tiny step towards a Big Change

       This is a season of religious gatherings and village festivals fondly known as Karaga, Sidi, Jaatre etc etc.. People gather in large numbers to celebrate the festival of the local deities. We too have Karaga happening in our area and I see so many shops being put up infront of my house with various products on sale. 

      The kids get attracted to some fancy and colourful toys which even the parents are eager to buy them as they don't cost much like the regular toys shops. That's because these toys that are sold are 'Made in China'. These products are imported to our country in bulk quantities and sold by these roadside vendors. They don't even cost much so people buy them easily.

       If we go a step further and analyse what we are buying for our kids is a very dangerous product. The toys are made of cheap plastic, the paints used on them come off easily just with sweat (if the kid holds in their hand for some time) and are very toxic. The batteries used in these are mostly of very cheap quality and is easily ingestable by the kids and above all these toys break easily so we dispose them off very quickly.  A large amount of plastic gets generated for which the recycling cost is more than product cost.

  Wait!! Before you start blaming the Government as to why it's not banning the Chinese products, all the countries under WTO have signed a treaty for open trade. So that cant be done.

        Everything said and done there is a simple solution to this problem, STOP BUYING THEM.. If you find a lady with a small child trying to sell these and you start feeling pity for her status, then give her some money or a pack of biscuits for her kid, but dont buy anything in return. 

    This is a simple logic of Demand and Supply.If there is no demand, then there won't be any supply. Rather buy your kids some nice glass bangles or a piggy bank made of mud. They are purely Made in India and keep our traditions alive.. Think about it..

    

Motherhood....

      Motherhood... A word, a feeling or an emotion which every woman aspires to experience atleast once in her lifetime... Motherhood comes with lots of challenges along with many beautiful moments to cherish for.

    Motherhood is not an easy journey especially if you are taking care of your baby alone. You have to be a mother, a cook, a nurse, a spy, a teacher, a friend and above all an entertainer who needs to be always ready to entertain them be it any time of the day. It doesn't matter how tired you are..

         You don't get time for yourself, nor for your interests. You need to eat food which suits your kid too..because if the kid falls ill you are the one who is going to bear the consequences. Your job,  your aspirations all come to a halt or atleast like other say a pause but that doesn't mean you can achieve them again after few years..that might not happen at all.

          Some mothers who are very lucky get to enjoy all the benefits that life throws at them since they have support from their parents or in -laws.,but that too comes with a cost. The expectations from you keeps increasing day by day until you finally give up and feel it's better to take care of your kid yourself. 

           Inbetween all this hurdles, you will still be judged for the type of mother you are.. People still keep giving you advices as to what is good and what is bad to your kid. They think they know your kid better than you. Please disconnect the connection from ear to brain and listen to them. You need not take it to your heart or mind. Nobody knows your kid better than yourself bcos you were the first human being that the God had introduced to your baby. You knew her heartbeat before anyone else.

          Among all these circus of parenting, love your child above all since you are first point of contact to your kid. Kids need not utter any words to make their mother understand them. How much ever the kids may stress you out, still a small hug from their tiny little hands or a sweet kiss from them is all that you need to get energized and restart your journey again the next morning as a mother.. So, Enjoy this journey!!     

Think beyond your religion...

        In India we know religion is deep rooted in us and our culture. We depend on religion for everything - be it our education, our job or for that matter our status too. You need your caste certificate or quota to get concessions in your school fees, to apply for a job and to further get promotions. We also need this religion for elections and to also run a government.

       With all these benefits that we enjoy using our religion and caste status, we never thought how this is making our country weaker and forced to show to the world that we are a weaker nation and will continue to be one... That's because all these years we chose a Government that used and misused our country based on religion and caste. We voted them just because we thought they were secular and would do justice to all the religious groups to live harmoniously.

        Wait...have we ever thought that if our Nation progresses or if we choose a Leader who would show how strong we are to the world and would give importance to the development of the Nation rather than just promising to keep the harmony among different sects of society intact, we would be gaining more as a country and a nation rather than being a mediocre country who was a developing, is developing and will be a developing nation for ever in our children's textbooks. If the Nation progresses and become self sustainable with every citizen living a secured and settled life, then religious harmony will be maintained on its own.

         Think above your religion. Let religion be in your hearts, in your prayers and in your lives but not at the cost of Nation. 

         I hope that one day I would read that "India is a superpower and a developed Nation" in the textbooks of our children rather than the same old story of developing Nation..

School or Board? What comes first..

   When you are a young parent and dream about giving good education to your child, you always end up thinking about choosing different boards like CBSE, ICSE, or for instance Cambridge or IGCSE. But little do we think about the schools, their culture and in what environment is the child going to spend the major part of their time away from home.

   According to me, selecting a good board is important, but not to the extent that you end up selecting a school which has all the pomp and show to exhibit infront of your relatives and friends but which lacks to inculcate good behaviour, culture and values into the child.

   As a private tutor, who is teaching children of different classes, schools and boards, I don't find much difference in the lessons or the syllabus. I do find the difference in the teaching methodologies of different schools. So, it becomes our utmost concern to check the culture of the schools and their environment.

   My message through this post to all the parents is that please choose the future of your kids very carefully. At the end of the day, it is the value and culture what they carry from school that is going to get them success in all walks of life. So, choose the first step of your precious gems well and give them a beautiful journey of childhood to cherish forever.

Power Yoga in Full Swing..........

         Last time it was a simple post on yoga.. My experience on learning it for hardly a week and then practicing. Though I did it at home, was unable to do it regularly due to my work pressures and other household chores.

         Finally I realized that it’s time for me to gear up and join some classes so that I can keep myself fit at least by compulsion. I would also get a chance to make some nice friends if I end up going to a class.

Image Courtesy: http://de.toonpool.com/user/1098/files/power_yoga_1396935.jpg

         This made me to join Power Yoga. Though it’s little far from my home, still I do manage to get up early and go. It’s been a month now and I have started to feel much better inside me. I stay active whole day and in full swing…

          Indeed , I don't forget to mention here..I have made new friends and feel really happy to workout with them.. Now eagerly waiting to see more changes in myself which I am sure will be positive.

Getting Inclined towards a new hobby !!!

           My mind is never at rest when it comes to doing something creative. I keep thinking of different ideas and hobbies always. There are so many things that I have tried out in my life till date. Be it pot painting, zardosi work, candle making, glass painting, mehendi or something else, I have always learnt these things with utmost interest and craze.

           The latest addition to my hobbies list which still is in its budding phase is baking cakes. Just got a random thought in my mind one day to try out an egg less chocolate cake.It came to my mind as I was keen to trying out different dishes in my new Microwave. This chocolate cake gave me enough courage to taking this as as a hobby as it turned out to be soft with good texture. My husband liked my first attempt in baking very much which was more like a beautiful icing on my cake.

           Now I have decided to try out more cakes ( one on every weekend) and in this process trying to learn some techniques too as I am still an amateur at it. Lets see how much will I be successful at this new venture. Hope I will be able to make a beautiful cake as in the picture one day.  

The Road to happiness behind Twists and Turns !!

YOGA -- the name itself symbolizes peace, tranquility and connecting oneself to the divine world. For some it might also mean lot of hard work, struggle, getting up early in the morning (less sleep) etc etc.

The joy and power of yoga is only understood once u start doing it. I started yoga because i wanted to loose some weight also to control my sinus problem. I was totally left with no solutions to these two problems. Once when I was enjoying my holidays after my engineering, I randomly picked up a pamphlet kept in between the newspaper which I took to read sipping my morning dose of coffee. That advertisement was regarding a yoga course which was going to be conducted in my city for one week duration. I was attracted to the words given in the pamphlet like losing weight etc etc. You know, you wont get attracted to ads so easily until something interesting catches your mind or you see what you eagerly wanted to see. There was a sudden idea that flashed my mind.

I picked up my phone and dialled my best friends number. When she answered, I started asking her different questions which actually did not need any answers. Its actually because I could not directly jump to telling her that I wanted to join this course badly and I needed her to accompany me since I was little hesitant to going alone. I waited till she gave me answers to all the questions that i asked ( actually none of the answers were getting registered in my brain which however has only limited capacity). After she finished, I started telling her about this yoga course and somehow managed to convince her to join the course.

The next day we went to the introductory class. After i listened to the instructor there I was really inspired and then decided to go the next day too. As we started with the different postures (asanas) in our subsequent class, I started to realize how my body had been in the last few years due to lack of exercise. It was as if i was trying to bend a hard block of wood. I somehow managed to start doing the different postures, but one asana which as was really scary and would make me sweat was "Halasana"- called the Queen of YOGA. I really used to get goosebumps when i used to hear its name as I was not able to do it properly and it would pain terribly. Finally I decided that i would somehow conquer it one day and do it successfully.

The course ended in 8 days. I continued to do all the postures taught in my class daily. Though I didn't notice much changes in myself in the beginning, after some 2 to 3 months I started to see the improvements. I started losing weight, my head ache had completely gone and most importantly my confidence level increased. In due course of time I lost around 10 kilos which in itself was a great achievement. My friends noticed me and started asking me to teach them yoga.

Its been more than 3 years now since the day I decided to join my first yoga class, but it has brought a new ME. That's why I call yoga as the "Road to happiness behind Twists and Turns"... :)

Flying between the clouds

Imagining something is totally different from actually experiencing it. When you experience you get to know the real beauty and at the same time the immense pleasure and joy.

Travelling in an Aeroplane is something which always fascinated me. I really wanted to know how it would be like when you are actually travelling in a plane. Being a SE, I got a chance to work in a project which had got to do everything about airplanes, airports etc. After working in such a kind of project and after acquiring good domain knowledge, my urge to fly increased.

Finally a fine day arrived when I got to know that all my
team members would be going on a trip to Goa and that
the onward journey we would be traveling in flight. My joy knew no bounds. Although the journey time between Bangalore to Goa was only for 45 mins but still that would be my first time plane experience.

I made all preparations two days ahead of my journey.The day finally arrived. We were supposed to catch flight at 3.15, so we reached BIA at 2 p.m. We quickly checked in all our luggages and collected our boarding passes. By 3.00 I stepped inside the plane, the plane which was ready to give wings to my dreams and change it into a reality. The airhostess told about all the safety measures and then the plane started. It started moving and by the time it took a turn before it could take off, my heart started beating fast. I had my collegue and my good friend who had already experienced this. She explained to me everything. It was announced that the plane would take off.I could hear the sound which was increasing at the same rate as my heartbeat. Finally the plane took off and I could see that I had started going away from the land and then flying :). Fortunately I was seated next to window, so I could see the clouds which stared moving slowly beside me. There was only land seen below, with not much green patches. This had to be as we were flying on top of Bangalore. The time flew. We took some snaps inside the plane. I was eager to reach Goa, where we had planned a list of things to enjoy but at the same time hoping that this journey should go on for some more time. As we reached near to Goa i could see the green and blue patches appearing below since this was a land with beaches and thick forest. The flight landed at 4.10 p.m. My dream had been turned to reality. I was very happy.Thinking about the beautiful beaches of Goa I reached my Hotel Casa De Goa, Calangute where I would spend the next two days.

Naming my blog

I always thought of creating my blog and this thought would always be in high spirits when i generally read somebody else's blog. Then the josh would subside after few hours or rather I would feel that I am not a person who can create a blog of self. Finally I made up my mind to create it.

I started creating it. The next big hurdle which i faced was naming my blog. This is one of the most difficult situations that i have been through in various stages of my life, suggesting names for anything or anybody. I always run out of my imaginations n creativity.

Finally, I decided that I will name it "Watashino Sekai" which means "My world" in Japanese. As I know little bit of Japanese, I thougth this would be good way to show it.

So here is my world where I can express my thoughts and feelings.