Goodbye, childhood

The last couple of months has been pretty uneventful so far, but this week changed it all. Guess what? A trip to my cousins' place! All of my cousins whom I'm close to don't live in the same city I do, so it's not often that I get to meet them. I met two of my closest sisters in Bangalore last month - they're 10 and 6 years old, respectively.

I'm 21 now and I felt like I was being at that border zone where you're unsure where you belong - here, or there? The elders got confused at times whether to treat me as an adult, since I'm technically one, or as one of the kids - since I technically belong to the next generation. I played with the kids, as kids - not as adults - and talked to the adults like I was one of them. Even the kids were sometimes confused which side of the line I belonged to - though they seemed to prefer the kid-side without much hesitation. I must admit, it was rather fun playing this dual role - I got to enjoy the best of both worlds. But there was also a truth which could not be ignored, and which probably made this week all the more a treasured memory - this was probably be the last time I got to do this.

I don't know the next time I'm going to meet them, but I'm sure it's not going to be anytime really soon. By then, I will have turned into a complete "elder", a man on the other side of the line. I won't be able to play with kids like how kids play with kids - if I do, the kids would just take me for a weird adult. No matter what I do, I shall not be able to resist being swept away by the tide of time, away and away from the familiar shore I used to call "childhood".

I'm going to miss it.

The secret to being fantastico

The most wonderful thing to happen to you is to stop giving a damn. It came to me as a blessing, undisguised. I just don't care any longer. If I don't deserve it or if I've done nothing to earn it; I'm going to be happy. Being upset gets you nowhere, it does nobody any good. Not even your guilty conscience. What's important though is ample amount of patience; no amount of lectures on the importance of positive thinking is going to help you. All you've got to do is wait till you reach the point where you've had enough and you don't want anymore, so much so that you'll throw the puzzle you've been trying to solve all along aside, and put your foot down. You'll decide to stop questioning things and decide the end result first, sculpting the pathway to it later.

It's a point of no return, so for everyone that can relate in their own unique way to what I'm saying, just hang in there. Your rescue boat is on its way. Good news, huh? :D

You'll feel a sense of clarity, the emptiness will be taken away and replaced with positive feelings that you no longer feel the urge to recognize and name.

Your record won't matter anymore, and it won't matter if someone wouldn't characterise you as 'good'. It won't even matter if they characterise you as 'bad', or even if you do yourself. How can you be a worthy judge of yourself, when you don't give yourself the freedom to judge anyone else?

The truth is, nothing is definite. Maybe not even science. So many things depend on the time and place, and as cliché as it sounds, your luck.

Be like Phoebe (if you watch Friends, you'll know what I'm talking about). Don't assume that you know any more than you're authorized to speak about, and don't try to figure it out. There's no point of fearing the unknown, because no amount of analyzing facts to determine something too high above you will help you get there. You can't always plan everything; you've got to accept that some things are just out of your hand.

It's nice to stop trying. It's nice to just live, and let live. It's totally worth living this way; to blatantly turn a blind eye to those things that bother me since they don't get me anywhere by fixing them.

An especially helpful tip would be to make your motto to get more of what stays, and let go of what goes when you let it go.

It feels good to be able to accept your flaws and realise how tiny and insignificant they are, because all elements of yourself put together, what you are, is indeed fantastico. :D

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The impact of smartphones

In my twenty one years of life, there has been many an invention, constantly changing our way of life. Loose, high rise bell bottoms turned into pencil cut jeans. Internet that could only function as an alternative to using the phone turned into one that could be used on multiple phones at the same time, without even a cable. Orkut came up, and Facebook took over. TVs turned from huge bulky boxes to sleek LCDs. Bulky desktop computers turned into heavy portable laptops, and then into handy tablets. But I think that the one invention that has had a significant visible impact on us is the smartphone. The smartphone is a TV, a computer, a novel, a dictionary, an encyclopaedia, a mall, a camera, a camcorder, a newspaper, and of course,  telephone, all in one.

There's nearly nothing I can't do with it. I find it much more comfortable to watch movies on my phone than on my TV, because it's so much more personal and easy to control. Also it's very portable - it's something you needn't remember to pack separately when you go on a trip!

My smart phone serves as a much better computer than my actual desktop, for most purposes, because it's so much handier. I don't need to walk all the way to it, or spend an entire minute waiting for the computer to start up for a ten second job, like checking my mail. In my smartphone, I'm always logged in! It'll let me know when there's mail.

It's also a better, less space occupying version of a book. And like I've already said, there's no question of forgetting my book at home if it's on my smartphone; it's always with me! It's a better dictionary than the conventional paper ones, too, since I don't literally "look it up" as much as the phone does it for me.

I'm not much of a newspaper reader, but ever since I've gotten a smart phone, all I've had to do is download an app, and voilà! The app sends me notifications whenever something important happens, and I'm always up to date with the world. And it happens so unconsciously and effortlessly.

Curiosity is much better rewarded with a smartphone, since all the answers are literally in your hand; all you need to do is ask! Google has the answers to everything. Gone are the days where kids have to ask their parents all their queries about the world, and the days when parents have to admit that they sometimes don't know.

One of my personal favourite pastimes with my smart phone is online shopping, and it amazes me how easily I can compare prices from different sellers on different websites and not have to pay even a single extra penny.

I'm sure everyone would agree with me when I say that the entry of smartphones into the world has really impacted our lives!

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

How do you start being peppy?

How do you stop being sad?

No one likes to be sad. It feels a million times better to be peppy and fun, than to be sad. Everyone likes a lively person more than one who sucks the joy out of the room.

The truth is, no one cares about you as much as you do for yourself, and definitely not forever. So it's up to you to find your way out of your problems.

There are a million solutions to being sad. Speak about your feelings. Share with your friends; in fact, share with anyone, even a rock! Go to a counsellor. Listen to some music. Stop thinking so much. Read a book. Remind yourself that the past doesn't matter. Exercise. I'm sure you'd have heard all of these before.

But there's something much simpler than any of these things to rescue you from the abyss you feel yourself falling through. You may think you're only sinking deeper with time, getting harder to recover back to the surface with anything, but believe it or not, there's a solution that doesn't require much effort from your side. Just smile. :)

Smile. Smiling helps so much, even if it's just fake. At first it's fake, confined to only your mouth, but slowly it spreads to your eyes, too. And just like that, a fake smile turns into a real one! Smiling sends signals to your brain that causes the release of chemicals that make you feel happy for real. This is the way to trick your body into giving you what you want; after all, it's you who's in control of your body, not the other way around! You could also add breathing exercises to this. You could practice smile meditation, something that I've personally found useful.

A smile can achieve anything. Once, I was really tensed about an Anatomy viva, wherein professors pick a bone of the human body and ask students to explain the parts of it and other things. When it was my turn, I wished the teacher a good morning with a wide, genuine smile, and to my surprise, she replied with a, "Well since you're smiling so nicely, pick whichever bone you want." I picked one of the easiest, and my viva well considerably well. Voilà! The smile magic had worked to my benefit.

Other than just forcing a smile every time you feel sad, it's quite helpful to remember to keep that smile on your face at all times. This will keep the positive thoughts going, in your head, and keep your mood peppy and upbeat throughout the day! Also, this will help to do the one thing that'll reinforce your happiness; it'll spread to others! We know that smiles are contagious, and what's an easier way to happiness than making others happy?

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The beauty of music

Being someone who always disagreed with anyone who said "Music is life" or "I can't live without music", it's surprising what an effect music has on me.

A favourite childhood cartoon of mine, Tom and Jerry, brought to my notice the importance of music. There is less than half the fun in watching the show on mute, because music is what adds charm to the silent chase. So many of us cry during sad or touching scenes in movies, and most of that generated emotion can be attributed to the background music.

A beautiful song can instantly bring tears to your eyes, while a peppy song can shake the sullen expression off your face and make you want to get up and dance. It can even make a great dancer out of someone who is usually rather shy and awkward! Giving yourself up to the music will really bring out someone new in you - maybe even someone you don't recognize, yourself!

Music moves the heart. It makes you feel like you're in a different dimension; one with spirituality and serenity. It can give u the illusion of having peace of mind, something that most of us don't have on our own. It opens up other dimensions in you that were previously undiscovered. It relaxes you, and can give you a much deserved break. It can take you to beautiful sceneries and calm, comfortable places, with the advantage of not actually having to go there; it doesn't burn a hole in your pocket!

Thereby music improves your productivity and keeps you happy while efficiently doing your work. It liberates you from your wounds and fills your heart with love, improving your relationships. It fills you with joy, making you a less irritable and more tolerable person to everyone around you.

Making music is a great exercise for your body as well as to your mind, since it is abstract and not definite. Even in the olden days, in highly cultured kingdoms, musicians had a high place in the society. They were respected people.

It's a great pastime, and it takes you from one world to another. Music is imaginative; it speaks to you in languages that no one else can understand. It gives you ideas that no one else understands from listening to the same music. It expands your thought process, and helps you think outside of your comfort zone.

Every person has a different taste in music- whatever kind they can relate to the most. In this way, your taste in music defines your character on some level.

There's a song for every feeling, which you can usually relate to. It can take you to the past or into the future. It involuntarily puts you in the shoes of the people around you, whose feelings you might not have otherwise thought about. This aspect of it may even improve your relationships!

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Impact of Travel

"To travel is to live" – Hans Christian Andersen

It was around 6 PM. The pilot had just announced that we will be commencing our descent to Hyderabad.

I didn’t really like it.

It was the end of a 26-day long tour to New Delhi and around. In the course of this, I had seen a lot of new places and met a lot of new people. It went so fast – I felt like it was a week. It was tiring, without a doubt. And yet I yearned for more. I had got so accustomed to this deviation that I was totally unwilling to get back into the normal routine again.

What is it about travel that enchants so many people? What is the secret of wanderlust?

I remembered the stranger girl who calmly asked me directions in an overwhelmingly crowded place where she was totally lost. I remembered the American guy in the hotel who said “Shukriya” as we kept the elevator door open for a second more until he entered. I remembered being witness to the majestic Taj Mahal and its perfection on such a massive scale. And the wily salesman who sold us a fake marble showpiece (as we discovered later) right in front of it. The secret tunnels of the Agra Fort. The city of Agra, which is virtually a diamond and a ruby shining amidst an enormous stockpile of shambles. Would Shah Jahan ever have imagined that his city, the capital city of the mighty Mughal empire would one day be reduced to these ruins 400 years later, compared to other cities in the vicinity?

Travel is more than just looking at new places. It introduces you to so many varied kinds of people and their customs, their traditions and their ways of life. Sometimes, it even takes you to a different era. It gives you a real idea of how diverse and huge the world is beyond your regular lifestyle. It gives you the urge to break out of your comfort zone and try new things in a figurative sense as well – which is something one definitely needs to do if they have to achieve something great.

I think one of the best decisions I made during this tour was not to switch on the internet in my phone at all. It feels great to stay disconnected. You feel like you can’t live without a constant update on what’s happening in the world but trust me; sometimes it’s actually the other way round.

Travelling makes you introspect. It makes you know yourself better. It makes you grow.

And this was just the impact of travelling to another city within my country. Who knows what more I’ll come across when I travel the whole world?

(and hopefully Mars too :P)

This pic was taken by me during the tour

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.