Positive self-esteem is very much needed to lead a contented life. So appreciate your little efforts and celebrate your small triumphs. Love your own self. Try to improve but don’t nag yourself for petty mistakes 😊
https://www.instagram.com/soniavashishtaoberoi/
For more such positive vibes follow @serenediva
Oh, so desperately I want to see the real you.
Oh no, not the facade, the real you.
No,not the fake you.
The unpretentious, unpolished you.
The YOU, with whom I can talk without being conscious
The YOU, to whom I can bare my vulnerable heart
The YOU, with whom I can take a leap of faith
The YOU, to whom I can talk about my hidden fears
Please be that YOU
Please . . .
The gentle pearl-grey wind entangled my hair a little more
The sparkling moonlit raindrops drenched me and my soul to the core
That ecstatic moment on a sandy shore
I love, I cherish and really adore.
I loved the aroma and loved the touch
The sand melted under my feet as such
But I felt peaceful inside and outside
That beautiful night I really adore
When I walked with him in rain on that sandy shore.
A Mother Never Dies
She only leaves the mortal body
to go to the heavenly abode
She only shifts from here to there
But it is true that a mother never dies …
You have seen the pyre
You have felt the numb coldness
You have done the rituals
You have heard the puraan
But it is true that a mother never dies …
Because the next day you wake up
You go to her room as all the other days
You see the empty bed, then you look at her photo on the wall
Her smile in the photo makes you smile
As it is true that a mother never dies …
Because after a few days while cleaning a shelf
You find a letter she wrote much ago to ask “Are you fine?”
You mumbles gently, “Ya, I am doing fine”
You heave a deep sigh, clutches the letter tight and smile
As it is true that a mother never dies …
Because after a few months while rummaging an old drawer
You find the red bangles she gave you on your first Karvachauth
You sit there for a while caressing those memories in your hand
You wear those bangles once again and smile
As it is true that a mother never dies …
Because after a few years while resetting an old cupboard
You find your first silk saree that she bought for you
You admire that saree once again and wrap it around you
You get lost in the memory lane and smile
As it is true that a mother never dies …
Because after a few decades while visiting your daughter’s house
Your daughter looks at you lovingly
Hugs you tightly and whispers in your ears
“Mamma, you resemble grandmaa so much!”
Her words make you smile
As it is true a mother never dies …
Moreover …
Many times when life becomes tough
And treats you rough
You can’t take it anymore and cry
Sad and shattered, you look at the night sky
A star shines on you, and twinkles a lil more
In those moments you are sure
That it is true …
A mother never dies …
P.S. – For all who lost their mother.
******************************************************************************
via Daily Prompt: Trill
The trill of their voices still on my mind
Though I had left them a fortnight behind.
Neatly combed and properly tied-up laces,
Taught to be quiet, those dressed up faces.
But those eyes …
Those eyes I can’t forget.
Emptiness and longing in there
I think is beyond repair.
Today in the cold morning holding each other’s hands
Tied by many unseen strands.
Once Abandoned and deserted on garbage loads
Born behind closed doors then left to die on roads.
Curiosity flickered in their eyes for a while
Two or three in fact happened to smile
A few tried to break the monotony of standing in a line
When I extended the gifts in a pile.
They are the ones who know how to survive
Even in utter dejection and incessant strife
Some of them, I BELIEVE, will eventually shine,
Will rise above the stigma, their lives almost fine
This sums up my visit to an orphanage
But …
What remains …
The echo of trilling and tweeting in the haze?
Life changes the moment the news is confirmed that you are going to enter the next stage of life i.e. Parenthood. Your mind becomes a battlefield of opposite thoughts. If you are the gonna-be-mother, then even your body becomes strange to you. You feel happy as well as quirky. The thought that somebody is inside your body and that is not going to stop there as it will soon start moving and kicking inside you scares you. When you are hungry, you can’t eat; when you eat you want to puke. If you are the gonna-be-father you feel even worse. The first thought comes to your mind is: Will you be able to pick up the baby in your arms without hurting it; and uncomfortable, sleepless nights is the other thought that troubles you. As the times passes, you wonder, though you don’t want to, whether your spouse/girlfriend would ever be in the same perfect ten shape again.
Finally the bundle of joy arrives after lots of screaming, bloodshed and anxiety. If I dare to speak the truth: the truth is that for first few days you really don’t know what you should do with this bundle of joy. It’s not that you don’t love your baby but because you feel that your baby is totally unpredictable ( in fact it means that your baby is quite normal). Somehow days become weeks and weeks become months. You don’t even change the page of the calendar on the side table. Sometimes you can’t even see it as its hidden somewhere under the heap of the nappies and diapers. Already as a couple you have had a few serious fights and sweet patch-ups as you know that the new mother is experiencing the postpartam depression (though it is not grave) and the new father, though he is trying to play the Knight in the shining Armour, is entirely clueless what to do.
One evening when the baby is around three months old, the still-new-father hears a loud shriek while he is enjoying his evening snack trying to understand the dialogues spoken by the hero of his favourite action movie (No. He has not become deaf after the child-birth. In fact, the volume of the T V is very low as the baby is sleeping in the other room). He runs to the bedroom thinking that something has happened to the baby; but sees that baby is sleeping and the still-new-mother is standing in front of the mirror staring at her reflection and crying. The still-new-father holds the still-new-mother in his arms tightly and try to console her and tells her that she would get her figure, hair and swollen eyes back to normal again. The wife smiles after a few minutes and they remember the time when they met each other for the first time. They realize that life will not be the same again as it is going to be a more beautiful and thrilling roller-coaster ride with the baby held tightly in their arms right there where the heart beats. They have heard their hearts beating together and now as parents they can hear their hearts singing in unison, wishing ‘the wonder they created together’ a happy life. Suddenly, they come out of their sweet moment as they feel that their is a foul smell lurking in the air and they know that it is time to change the diaper. First they look at each other and then at the baby and laugh loudly (their first laugh together in last one year) and they wonder again at the capabilities of the little Game Changer.
“Child Is the Father of Man”: wrote Wordsworth centuries ago, but it holds true even today as some truths never change.His implications were philosophical. However, even in today’s scenario a baby changes the game of life altogether as it gives new meanings to the life of the parents and teaches the mankind the true meaning of pain, patience and happiness.
The Eternal Dilemma
Today we have so many choices and options available in all the fields of life that it becomes very difficult to make the right choice. We seldom come across saying: ye hi hai right choice, baby. Moreover, the moment we finalize on something be it a new relationship or a new object; the next moment we become doubtful regarding our decision or, in other words, regarding the worth of our possession. And even worse is that nobody is there to support you and tell you that you have made a right decision as your friend/relative/spouse, whosoever has helped you to take the decision, is confused now about the suggestion s/he has given to you. The availability of too many alternatives makes us anxious and nervous. We are incessantly dissatisfied. We feel miserable. Thus joy of novelty and joy of ownership is marred by the confusion caused by ‘the other possibilities’. And we are never able to experience the moment of true happiness. Now when I am talking about true happiness, I don’t want to divert your attention towards something spiritual (or utterly carnal) as that is not the point of discussion here. Besides, I fully support consumerism but I wish it would be a little less complicated. We all know that the world is too much with us as expressed by William Wordsworth, and we all have become entirely materialistic. In fact, we have accepted materialism as an eternal truth of today’s life but the availability of so many options is posing a fresh threat to us. See, how it shakes our decision-making ability and, in the long run, our self-esteem and confidence. Moreover, we are becoming insatiably greedy. And our common sense tells us that if being an epicurean is bad, being a glutton is even worse.
Anyhow, pertaining to the sadness and dissatisfaction caused by our recent possession we have an easy solution and again consumerism only comes to our rescue by providing us some consolation that there is an easy and lucrative way of getting rid of our newly-owned-but-already-hated possession in the form of ‘Click, Post and Sell’ the things we are fed up with. A few decades back people used to think that the problem was with ‘the use and throw culture’ but now I think ‘the use and sell culture’ is posing an even greater threat to society. The on-going trend is even more dangerous as it makes you expect good money in return of your used things. Just visit any App or website dedicated to selling and purchasing of old items, you will find people selling all kind of stuff – from used cars to used furniture to used toys. (TOYS…. GIVE ME A BREAK. Better you donate them to an orphanage) Anyway, It’s your personal choice that you want to sell your kid’s first soft toy, first birthday dress, first story book, etc. or you want to keep and cherish these things as sweet memories and important milestones of your kiddo’s life.
To cut it short, the point I want to bring home here is that save yourself from this eternal dilemma and try to appreciate the newness before junking it aside, first mentally and then literally, for the next in-thing in the market. Be a little philosophical and think about the famous phrase Carpe Diem that means seize the day. Happiness is right there in your present gadget, present smart-phone, present car, present couch; and going a little above-board, in your present spouse.
Thinkotopia 