My experiences with life,recently, had been taking such a beating that I had started losing hope on a better future, till one day when my father came down to meet me and gave me his piece of advice, that took me out of my depression.
Without any bias and being impartial to the situation I was in, he told me just one thing that fate can never be challenged. What is destined will happen, immaterial of we being right or wrong. Being the 21st century girl, I argued. I argued because I thought it is ridiculous to blame it on fate. To put his point through he gave me numerous examples from his life, but all were in vain, coz I was really not ready to reconcile with the mess in my life. It was only when we both started unfolding the incidents that eventually put me in the uncomfortable situation I was in, that I started understanding what he meant by fate and destiny.
After our small talk,my father, a firm believer in god and his existence,bought me the Ramayana. Now, Ramayana is something we have been reading and listening to since childhood. Be it the serial or the course books in school, we have read and seen Ramayana in all possible ways. Yet, reading Ramayana at this juncture of my life meant a lot. It is painful to see how Rama was unjustly asked to leave for his vanavas, but at the same time, it was heartening to read how Rama meets only good people and people who wish him success in life and pray for his welfare all through the time he spends in the forest. Even when Sita is kidnapped, he is helped by unknown people to rescue her from the clutches of Ravana. It is heartening to read how Sita, when surrounded by demons, lives on a single hope that she will be rescued... somehow but surely will be rescued.
I have been always taught that Ramayana is a story of the victory of Good over Evil, true and I agree. But today, at the juncture where I stand in life, I believe in this great epic for more than just that. It has taught me that destiny can never be overturned, but immaterial of what turn fate takes, taking the situation in your stride is the best way to deal with a situation. I am sure Rama would have started his journey with the fear of living his life in a dense forest like Dandaka, but he would have never thought of all the noble people he met during his Vanavas? If he had not taken to the vanavas, he would have never met his oldest and purest bhakt... Hanuman..! If not for him Ahalya and Shabri would have never got Moksha, if not for him Sugreev would have never found justice.
Connecting to god is spirituality, and connecting to Ramayana all over again has given me fresh meaning to spirituality, A Hope that all the uncomfortable situations I am faced with will bring me closer to many good things that is in store for me.. At least,like my father, I am sure that I will imbibe these thoughts of Ramayana in my children when they grow up, probably these are a few things that I can do as a good parent.
Thank you Appa...
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Future Perfect
This blog is an aftereffect of a dance reality show on Sony TV.
I was once a reality show freak and have enjoyed many of them, even voted for a few. But that was only when the concept was very fresh. Today we have reality shows on TV based on anything and everything one can run their imaginations on. How can we ever justify shows which deals with marriages .....!! So, I had literally stopped watching them.
But this dance show is very refreshing. It has its share of drama and irritating moments, but what brings me closer to this show is the fact that many of the dancers in the group are wanting to make dancing as their profession!! Now that is very refreshing to me.
We Indians are always expected to do well in academics and our life revolves around it. our parents and our forefathers would have always wanted to have their children do well in academics... any other non academic field could never be pursued as a profession and that would rather be called as a hobby. Dance (limited to traditional dances like bharatnatyam and Oddissi)and song were strictly taken up with lakshman rekha drawn by the parents!
This dance show actually brings in people from all strata of life to show their talent in group or solo and encourage them to pursue their interests. There was this particular parent, who was very vocal about her mindset, when she said that she would like her son to do well in studies as well as dance, but dance is not what she expects him to take up as profession. I truly felt bad for that person who's mother made such a comment. The fact that that guy danced very beautifully was overshadowed by this comment. I guess parents need to be more encouraging with what their children want,give them the courage to take up a challenging life. This was surely not that.
This blog comes from my heart, because I too wanted to pursue a career which was non academic, but could not. I feel no profession is devoid of any knowledge. All professions teach you good things in its own ways and make you a better human being. Every profession has its own depth and the more we get into it the more we will be able to appreciate it. And that, for me, is knowledge, not topping your school/college or university exams just for the sake of doing it!
I just hope our generation and our future generations appreciate this and let our children bloom in the field they are interested in and not force them into professions which they do not want to take up.
I was once a reality show freak and have enjoyed many of them, even voted for a few. But that was only when the concept was very fresh. Today we have reality shows on TV based on anything and everything one can run their imaginations on. How can we ever justify shows which deals with marriages .....!! So, I had literally stopped watching them.
But this dance show is very refreshing. It has its share of drama and irritating moments, but what brings me closer to this show is the fact that many of the dancers in the group are wanting to make dancing as their profession!! Now that is very refreshing to me.
We Indians are always expected to do well in academics and our life revolves around it. our parents and our forefathers would have always wanted to have their children do well in academics... any other non academic field could never be pursued as a profession and that would rather be called as a hobby. Dance (limited to traditional dances like bharatnatyam and Oddissi)and song were strictly taken up with lakshman rekha drawn by the parents!
This dance show actually brings in people from all strata of life to show their talent in group or solo and encourage them to pursue their interests. There was this particular parent, who was very vocal about her mindset, when she said that she would like her son to do well in studies as well as dance, but dance is not what she expects him to take up as profession. I truly felt bad for that person who's mother made such a comment. The fact that that guy danced very beautifully was overshadowed by this comment. I guess parents need to be more encouraging with what their children want,give them the courage to take up a challenging life. This was surely not that.
This blog comes from my heart, because I too wanted to pursue a career which was non academic, but could not. I feel no profession is devoid of any knowledge. All professions teach you good things in its own ways and make you a better human being. Every profession has its own depth and the more we get into it the more we will be able to appreciate it. And that, for me, is knowledge, not topping your school/college or university exams just for the sake of doing it!
I just hope our generation and our future generations appreciate this and let our children bloom in the field they are interested in and not force them into professions which they do not want to take up.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Cakes, bakes and the innocence of a child....
The greatest critic of my baking is my husband .. according to him I can never be consistent.... not even with baking a cake!! With due respects to my college professors... this is true! I can never bake the same cake! I really dont know the reason....even if I put the same ingredients and match each step.... I still dont repeat the same cake...!!
However... the person who encourages me the most with my baking is my 3 year old daughter. She is in a phase in life where bdays are incomplete without a cake .... so she ensures that I bake a cake for all the near (and not so near) ones) and dear ones. Recently... my nephew who stays in Pune celebrated his 14th bday.... so as the order was... a chocolate cake was promptly made at home in Chennai. My daughter couldnt even wait for the cake to cool... she ordered for a knife from poor old nani and cut the cake with her.. singing Happy Bday Anshul Bhaiya!! Till then things were very sweet... after eating her bit of cake and giving it to the rest of the people at home.. she came out with a wonderful line... "Oh ho Anshul Bhaiya kku kudukave illiye!!" (Oh ho we havent given it to Anshul Bhaiya!!). Thankfully poor old nani diverted her attention to something else and saved me from baking another cake (may be this time to either parcel it to Pune or parcel anshul Bhaiya to Chennai). Just a week before was my friends' bday. Promptly I was ordered by my daughter a day in advance to bake a cake for Yamuna Aunty. This time the order came with a small request too... "amma can I also bake it with you!!" I dint know how to react ... but I was probably the happiest person on earth when she said that..! Least did I think about the mess that was going to be created when she would help me to bake! Anyways... the sifting happened... with most of the flour mix falling out of the table and very less for baking...and so with great difficulty we managed to put the ingredients together and finally bake the cake. The moment she saw the cake.. she was thrilled... and overjoyed with the fact that she made a cake for Yamuna aunty. Her reaction overshadowed the mess that she created while baking the cake.
Anyways... while I may not like to bake cakes as often as my daughter wants (considering the fact that we Tamilians celebrate our Bdays twice in a year... one each as per the Gregorian Calendar and the Tamil Calender).... I have started enjoying baking more and more... not just because it has got my creative senses working all the time...more because it brings me to appreciate the innocence that children have in them. How I wish ... that as we grow up... we keep that little bit of childhood in ourselves and always stay positive in our thoughts....understand that things that bring us happiness will bring the same happiness to everyone.
However... the person who encourages me the most with my baking is my 3 year old daughter. She is in a phase in life where bdays are incomplete without a cake .... so she ensures that I bake a cake for all the near (and not so near) ones) and dear ones. Recently... my nephew who stays in Pune celebrated his 14th bday.... so as the order was... a chocolate cake was promptly made at home in Chennai. My daughter couldnt even wait for the cake to cool... she ordered for a knife from poor old nani and cut the cake with her.. singing Happy Bday Anshul Bhaiya!! Till then things were very sweet... after eating her bit of cake and giving it to the rest of the people at home.. she came out with a wonderful line... "Oh ho Anshul Bhaiya kku kudukave illiye!!" (Oh ho we havent given it to Anshul Bhaiya!!). Thankfully poor old nani diverted her attention to something else and saved me from baking another cake (may be this time to either parcel it to Pune or parcel anshul Bhaiya to Chennai). Just a week before was my friends' bday. Promptly I was ordered by my daughter a day in advance to bake a cake for Yamuna Aunty. This time the order came with a small request too... "amma can I also bake it with you!!" I dint know how to react ... but I was probably the happiest person on earth when she said that..! Least did I think about the mess that was going to be created when she would help me to bake! Anyways... the sifting happened... with most of the flour mix falling out of the table and very less for baking...and so with great difficulty we managed to put the ingredients together and finally bake the cake. The moment she saw the cake.. she was thrilled... and overjoyed with the fact that she made a cake for Yamuna aunty. Her reaction overshadowed the mess that she created while baking the cake.
Anyways... while I may not like to bake cakes as often as my daughter wants (considering the fact that we Tamilians celebrate our Bdays twice in a year... one each as per the Gregorian Calendar and the Tamil Calender).... I have started enjoying baking more and more... not just because it has got my creative senses working all the time...more because it brings me to appreciate the innocence that children have in them. How I wish ... that as we grow up... we keep that little bit of childhood in ourselves and always stay positive in our thoughts....understand that things that bring us happiness will bring the same happiness to everyone.
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