What a year ... already!!!!

Exciting, Exhilarating, Encouraging!!!!!!

Slumdog Millionaire has put India on the map like none other scoring 4/4 wins at the Golden Globes and 10 Nominations at the Oscars.

Obama has taken Oath of Office, twice, for the President of the United States - First African American President EVER!!!

An Indian has been offered the position of the US Surgeon General and another is about to be offered the position of Federal CTO (I hope its the one I know ... GO VK!!!!).

Ghajini has made Indian Box office history by crossing the 2 Crore mark within 2 weeks.

Shahrukh Khan has made history by appearing on the Golden Globes.

Amitabh Bachchan has made history with his Blogging.

Oprah has finally made it to DC to see me (yeah right).

I have made history by Snowboarding for the first time in my life (OK so none of you really care about that but me) :D

I'm sure there are a dozen other things that have happened but I've only listed things that are close to my heart, Bollywood & DC.

On a more serious note, I was at the center of the Earth this week, Washington DC!!!! There are not enough words in the dictionary to allow me to explain to you what a great sense of unity, love, and hope was felt all around town. A sea of people is what you saw everywhere and a crowd of hopefuls flooded the city. Everywhere I looked I saw happiness on everyone's face. It was a time like no other, given that only the future will tell what change will occur, the fact that everyone now has hope and the desire to see change can only lead us to a place far better than what we've seen so far in this century. So keep up the hope people and make atleast one change in your life this year.

YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You God!!!!

There's so much in life we take for granted. In our busy lives, its so hard to stop and be thankful for what we have as we chase after everything in the world we want. This year personally for me has been a year of introspection. As I reflect on my life today I just wanted to thank God for all that he has blessed me with. I have parents that are unbelievably good to me, that have loved me more unconditionally than perhaps even I could ever have loved myself. I have a gem of a sister who is there for me through thick and thin, although younger her wisdom and strength are inspirational to me every day. I have in-laws that treat me more like a daughter than a daughter-in-law and care for me more than I could have ever imagined. I have friends that I can share my happiness and sadness with and count on to be there for me any time of the day, without question. Most importantly I have a husband who is truly a blessing from God. He has saved me in every way possible, taught me so much in just a few years, loved me like no other and embraced me with a wide open heart. I definitely must have done something good in my previous life to deserve being surrounded by such good people. I have health, wealth (ok so its a small one), a great job (especially in this economy), a great home (finally a place to permanently call home), and everything else I could really need in life. If I tried, I'm sure I could find things to complain about but in reality I have a happy, healthy family that is very close to me and its all that I would ask for if there is just one thing I could have in life.

Thank you God for blessing me with the most important things in life. I am truly greatful for all that life has brought my way: every person, every experience, every challenge and every comfort :)

A very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!!!

Uncertainties

I miss the uncertainties in life.  Given life is never definite but after a given time, things get determined  and most pieces of your life fall into place.  Things may change occasionally or even more than occasionally but a lot is well defined.  I miss the fear, anxiety, curiosity and change that were such a constant part of my life growing up. May just be because I'm bored today and absolutely in NO MOOD to work or perhaps because I have forgotten all the hardships that come with uncertainties.  There is a great amount of satisfaction in having all your life's pieces fall into place and a great amount of security in stability.  Love, family, money and friends .... what more do you need from life?  I do miss the drive though, I think its time to push the envelope and push myself harder.

Why do they do it?

Its hard enough to make it through all that life brings your way. Whether its work or family, friends or money, body image or relationships, there are constant stress factors that you have to cope with in life. What would life really be without these anyway? If you are ambitious and intelligent, you thrive on these challenges and work hard to make a place for yourself in every possible way. You can handle pretty much anything life throws your way. You can make smart decisions without much trouble about everything except for the one factor that seems to be the weak nerve of every girl I know, MEN! You can excel at work, be the star among your friends, exceed your family's expectations but never succeed in your relationships. Why is it always so hard for some girls? Really, should it be? All relationships are hard work but none should be so challenging that it takes a toll on every other aspect of you life and brings you down overall. Every relationship should bring something new to light and be a positive addition in your life.

I have several friends who are attractive, intelligent and highly ambitious women. Cultured, charming and the complete package, they have everything to be proud of and lots to look forward to in life. The only thing they don't seem to have, is that perfect relationship with the loving, caring guy that they can take to the parents and hopefully settle down with someday soon. The more they struggle with this, the more desperate they tend to get in their need for "making it work". They try to go out of their way in accommodating the guy's needs, becoming who they think is the person their boyfriend would want them to be. Changing their personalities, friends, goals, sometimes their whole lives, in hopes that they would become the "one" for their significant others. What happens as a result is quite shocking to these girls. The guys find them overbearing, less appealing and more annoying by the day. The smothering suffocates the men and they tend to wanna run away. This in turn makes the girls chase harder after the men. As they see them slipping through their fingers, they want to hold on tighter to any shred of the dying relationship that they can. I suppose they feel like they can make the guys love them if the guys could just see how great these girls truly are. Does that ever work? Can you really make someone like you? Can you really change yourself to become what you think a guy might want in the perfect wife?

From what I've seen, this usually starts a bad cycle of makeups and breakups. The guy breaks up because he doesn't think she's the "one", the girl cries her way back into a makeup. If the girl does happen to walk away from the relationship, she is generally pulled back into it by the guy who would still like to be "friends" and the glimmer of hope in their own minds of seeing this relationship work. The guy realizes once again shortly thereafter that this girl is not the "one" and the cycle goes on. The worst part is the judgments of the people who see this from the outside and all they can see is the poor guy who is trying to do the right thing and the pathetic girl who keeps running after the "poor" guy who was only trying to prevent her from getting hurt. But how do you explain this to someone who is completely blinded by her love for the guy, who in person gets to hear how much the guy really loves her but just needs "time", who gives into her emotional side for all the time that was invested in this one guy?

They get treated like crap, never get acknowledged in public, lose all self respect and are constantly struggling with finding their place in a relationship then why, why do girls still stay in them?

Be happy for others

I read a blog recently that talked about how people find a secret satisfaction in seeing others fail, especially if those people happen to be your competitors. Whether its your friends or co-workers or family members, if they are comparable to you in any way and they do better than you at something it causes a person to feel jealous. I suppose its hard to watch someone else do better than you.

But does feeling good about other's failures not reflect on your own status? If you are happy with your life, would you really feel the need to be unhappy about other's good fortune or feel good about other's misfortune? How does that alter your own life? What difference does it really make to you? If someone else is dumber than you, it might make you feel smarter in the moment but in the long run it would only limit your intelligence. If someone else is poorer than you, it might make you feel rich in comparison but your actual wealth would not change. If someone else is uglier than you, you might feel prettier when you are around them but what happens when you are out among others?

I know its human nature to want the best for yourself, to have that slight competitive spirit, to want to do better than others and succeed in all your endeavors. There is nothing wrong with that but if you focus more on your personal goals & satisfaction versus gauging your success by constant comparison to others, wouldn't you come out happier? When I see my friends and family succeed, I'm genuinely happy for them. I feel proud of the fact that they are in my life. I love to be happy for other's happiness. Everyone deserves a little bliss and joy multiplies with people. I hope people can put aside their own agendas from time to time and enjoy the happiness in being happy for others :)

DON'T WORRY! BE HAPPY!

Great News

One of my blog posts recently got selected for the Intentblog Weekly Intents. This blog has contributors like Deepak Chopra, Shekhar Kapur, Guru Pitka aka Mike Meyers, and even some Bollywood stars. Check it out!!!!

Life has a strange way of working itself out!

Recently I went through an experience that I wish no one EVER has to go through. It was tough, very very tough. It was incredibly life altering, literally shook me up inside out. Life brings stuff your way sometimes that is not exactly what you ever imagined for yourself, even in your wildest dreams. This was one of those incidents, where I couldn't believe I was going through it. ME, little old ME? I didn't know where to go from there. I was so lost and confused and hurt and shocked, I didn't know how to move past it. I could barely understand it, let alone accept it. Why ME? How ME? Who? ..... ME?

It took me days to absorb it. Its taking me weeks to accept it, I'm not sure I've still fully accepted it. The funny thing is, in a really strange way, it turned out to be something that made me look at myself deeper than I had ever tried before. I paused, in my super fast-paced speedy life, I HAD to pause. I had to take another look at where I was headed. I had to rethink everything that I was doing and think about what I needed to prioritize.

People say "Everything happens for a reason". We've all been told that, several times, haven't we? Such a cliche' yet somehow so true. Whether we like it in the moment or not, where life takes us from the worst possible places is truly surprising. I mean, when you're at the lowest of lows there's only one way to go from there and that is UP. I was moving so fast and doing so much in life without really thinking about whether it was right for me or not. So this little incident of mine made me focus on things that I should've been focusing on to begin with. It halted my stride in the wrong direction and put me on the right path. It was at a high cost but you know what, in the end, it lead me to the right direction for my life and I can only hope that this would be a positively life changing event.

It really was so hard for me to cope with but in a weird way I'm glad I was pulled back and forced to reassess my life and fix what needed to be fixed. So next time you hear "Everything happens for a reason" try and let some time pass, re-evaluate your life and see what positive difference a negative event in your life can make :)