The Perfect Recipe!

Image credit: Angéle Kamp @ Unsplash

What does this picture inspire you to write : Sadje’s challenge #57

Sharing a simple and fool proof recipe for life’s perfect cake!

Life, they say is no piece of cake. I believe, it is, if you get the ingredients right!

Sieve into a bowl of values,

A cup of gratitude,

Half a cup of faith and a dollop of love.

Whisk in a pinch of gratitude

Gently blend in a dose of promise

Fold in a spoonful of commitment

Whip in an ounce of resilience

 Bake in the oven of hard work

 Swirl it with flavor of memories and a sprinkle of laughter

 Light the candle of passion.

Voila,

Enjoy the delicious and sweet bite of success!

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Power of words!

ic:google.com

A bullet once fired from the gun, passage of time and the spoken words, never come back.

There are 3 elements in the above quote, (i) bullet; (ii) Time and (iii) Words. No intelligence is needed that a bullet has the power to kill and it is common sense that there is a time span for everything and everyone. Words are the strongest weapon a person can have. It can not only kill, terrify, petrify but can praise, inspire and persuade.

What do you think is the power of Words; will you believe me if I say words have the power to kill? Maybe not. Let me narrate a small story to prove the same. In the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, some villagers practice a unique form of cutting a tree. If a tree is too large to be felled with an axe, the natives cut it down by yelling at it.  The woodcutters creep up on a tree just at dawn and suddenly scream at it at the top of their lungs. They continue this for thirty days. The tree dies and falls over. According to the villagers shouting and abusing kills the spirit of the tree. This method has never failed them. When words can kill, it’s impossible to deny the fact that they are just merely signs and letters.

I am sure you will agree with me that words have energy and power to help, heal, hinder, hurt, harm, humiliate, humble and persuade .In a small village there was a little conflict between people as to whether god existed or not … To solve this the village headman decided to conduct a debate between a theist and an atheist and whoever won this debate was right. All the villagers agreed and the debate started early morning. A marathon session followed and finally ended the next day! By then the theist became an atheist and the atheist became a theist … Whether the villagers got their answer or not, we don’t know. But for sure we can conclude by saying that words have immense power! And with thoughts and words synchronised we can do wonders!

Words are what we use to express our self, our thoughts and our feelings. We use words in every walk of our lives and hence the power of words is immense. The impact of words on different people varies because it depends on their understanding and the tone with which the speaker has spoken.

“Words, so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.” Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Words are most powerful messenger of your thoughts. Do you agree with me?

 

 

 

Unending Desires!

ic:buddismguide.org

Sometime back I came across a quote by Piyush Mishra* in Hindi which read:

zindagi halki phulki hai,

bhoj tho kwaishon ka hai

which when translated means,

Life is simple

but desires burden it!

Isn’t this absolutely true? Why is man always wanting more? Unending desires has become a constant in man’s life and sadly it is a universal phenomenon. Man has succumbed to the trap of wanting more. Being content is a lost virtue today. The list of desires seem to explode from every corner into his life, burdening it with all things negative. He ascends on the steps of desires not knowing which floor is his destination. He keeps climbing up thinking the next level will have something better in store.  But when the final destination of life knocks at his doorstep, he realizes its futility.

Lost in a maze of desires

chases illusionary happiness

obliterates tiny delights

short-lived triumphs

defines false impressions

but

when emptiness besieges

laments valuable time lost

the burden of desires

overwhelms life!

 

* Piyush Mishra is an Indian film and theatre actor, music director, lyricist, singer and scriptwriter.

We live in a world of opposites….

ic:google.com

Material wealth defines success

lack of it brands you a failure.

Nature gifts us with bounties

we cruelly plunder her bare.

People cling to us when the going is good

but abandon us in our bad times.

We love holding on to the past

and worry about our future.

Passing on the blame is easy

failing to take up the  responsibility, is a challenge.

Education gives us knowledge

but ignorance of values still remains.

We get so busy trying to copy our idol

that we forget to be an original.

Gadgets virtually connect us across the globe,

yet there is total disconnect in person.

Enamored by the fake facade people put on,

we fail to recognize the real inner beauty.

Chasing shallow illusionary goals

the deep meaning of life eludes us.

 

Rules! Who Cares??

ic:google.com

Last week saw us at yet another music concert in the city. While the musical melodies were a treat to the ear and soul, today I am not writing anything about that. It is the human attitude towards not following certain rules/instructions that I would like to question.

Unlike many recitals, this one started dot on time. At the beginning of the program, the host introduced the singers and also mentioned a few instructions for the audiences to follow. One among them, was to” Refrain from any video or audio recording of the concert”.

Well, the melodies rendered by the singers left the gathering enthralled. While I was totally immersed in the rendition, my eyes fell on a light a few rows ahead of me. Someone was recording the song. Turning to around, I found a few more people recording on their phones.

Now my question is, when something has been told beforehand, why do people not adhere to it? Do people follow rules only if there is a legal consequence attached to it? There were many children in the audiences. Children are very sharp observers. So what kind of a message were they sending to the young minds? Not only here, but at many places I have observed people blatantly disregard the rules.  Be it at any gathering, public places or on the roads. Why do people find it so difficult to follow rules in general, specially in India?

Have you ever been a witness to a similar situation? Why do you think compliance to a rule  is a huge challenge with people? Do share your views on this!

Project BMG-The Spirit of Giving Back

Originally posted on https://robertapimental.com

At the onset, I would like to congratulate Roberta Pimental for initiating the Project BMG, which I think is a great platform for “infant bloggers” like me to reach out to a wider audience. I am grateful to her for letting me be a part of it. Thanks a ton Roberta!! 🙂

A down to earth person, simplicity defines me. My mind is a gypsy vagabond which loves to travel and reflect on many things. I pen down thoughts close to my heart.  If my writing connects with you, please do step into my world https://radhikasreflection.wordpress.com ! Would love to hear your thoughts!

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 “If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you will end up not doing nothing for nobody! “ Malcom Bane.

Life is a gift and we are all blessed to be enjoying that gift! Most of us live a happy life, amid loved ones, in the comfort of our homes, without having to worry about our next meal. We are lucky to benefit from the rapid progress, in terms of knowledge, technology and material comforts. But unfortunately, not all in this world are as blessed as we. There are people across the globe who are poverty stricken, living in dismal conditions.

Though, not all of us can be a Mother Teresa or a Florence Nightingale, isn’t it our duty to help the lesser fortunate fellow beings? We all can be that drop which collectively goes on to make a mighty ocean. “If not a star in heaven be a lamp at home “. Many give back to the society by way of monetary help. But giving your time for a cause in which you believe in, is a commendable effort. Volunteering with an organisation or NGO, championing an environmental or conservation issue, feeding the hungry, taking responsibility for the cleanliness drive, all help in realising the dream of better world.

I have been blessed to be born to parents who inculcated in me the value of reaching out and lending a helping hand to the deserving. Am lucky, that I continue to get an absolute support from my husband in this endeavor after marriage too.

I volunteer at a government school where I teach spoken English to the 5^th graders. These children come from the underprivileged background. Some of them are eager learners, while others require a lot of effort to be put in. It is a joy to be with them, to help them and converse with them. Their innocent chatter, unending questions, enthusiasm to learn something new, is so encouraging. The exuberant smile I see on their faces, on entering their classroom is priceless!!

As parents, we have tried to instill the same values in our children. My son is an active participant in many lake cleaning initiatives in our city. My daughter donated all the profit earned by her in a school carnival by buying goodies for the children, from the nearby slum. There is a perennial flow of such small random acts of kindness and being a part of social causes, at home. I believe, it should be  a continuous ongoing process.

Along with educating our children, we also need to sensitize them to be grateful for all they have and follow the spirit of giving back to the society. I salute the many among us, who selflessly devote their time and energy for social causes. I guess, these humanitarians help the world to balance itself, in spite of all the negative elements prevalent. We need more of such benevolent crusaders to spread the spirit of giving.

“No act of kindness however small is ever wasted “(Aesop)

Reach out to lend a helping hand,

beyond self, beyond boundaries,

Be the reason for a smile

on faces you may never meet,

touching lives infinitely,

discovering the key to happiness!

 

 

Image courtesy : Google search

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number Game Club

Recently I read in the papers that the Salman Khan starrer movie “Sultan” grossed  100 crores within 3 days of its release and so far its box office collection has crossed a staggering 230 crores!!

Why are people so obsessed with the number game???

Welcome to the “Number game club”

Rules of the game:

No. of players : No limit

Age : Age no bar

Winner : The player who scores/earns the highest *

Replace * with any of the choices given below as required.

*marks, box office collections, salary, targets, likes on FB, followers on your blog, votes

The list is endless……

Why is success always measured in terms of numbers? Chasing numbers many times forces us to compromise on quality and values. Running the race like a horse with blinkers, we solely focus on surging ahead. Reaching that magical number brands us successful.  We are least perturbed when we turn a blind eye to a sea of small little things on the way.

Is only the marks on a paper indicative of your intelligence?

Is only a mind boggling collection at the box office the criteria to declare a movie a hit?

Does a high number of likes on your FB post make you the most popular person?

Does only meeting  targets at work brand you a star employee?

I believe “Numbers alone should not define your success”. 

Now the question arises,

a) If not by numbers, how does one measure success?

or

b) Should we get out of the habit of measuring success?

What do you think???

Image courtesy : allindiaroundup.com,seclerk.com,cakart.com,123rf.com

Why should we always win?

Last week my 12 year old daughter and I sat down to play a game of scrabble. As the game progressed, she got a few very high scoring letters, with which she made a word. In spite of that she did not get high points for that word, as she didn’t use it on a “double word/ triple word/letter”.  Using it in such a place would have increased her points three fold. I told her she could make some other word for now and try to make this word in her next turn.

She did not like my suggestion and was fine with her choice. Her question that followed surprised me!! She asked me “Amma, why is it always so important to win all the time? Can’t we just play the game to enjoy and learn a few new words in the process? I want to enjoy my game. I don’t want to play to win “.

I really didn’t know how to react. But her question left me thinking…….