Bouncing back from that gloomy phase!!

All of us get into that zone where everything around us seems very uncertain...we suddenly are surrounded by the dark grey clouds of DOUBT and we feel where are we heading??It can be in relationships, career, friendship or anything else and I am sure as life progresses we tend to have frequent visits by these not so welcome clouds of Doubt and it makes us feel really low at times.

Adding on to the misery are the times when you do not know who to share it with...simple reasons...either you have discussed it too many times with your close ones that they just shun it off like some irrational thing you keep talking about...or you genuinely fail to express it the way you feel it...the second one happens with me a lot of times..so you just end up fighting these fears on your own but you know they will reappear. We cannot actually blame others too since they are not experiencing this anxiety so its difficult for them to comprehend it as well...like the indifferent face I would make if somebody keeps talking to me about football -  in which I have absolutely no interest or knowledge about.

So we just tend to blame our choices or the choices made for us...we blame our destiny or the people around us for making us feel that way...but nothing really heels us from inside until we decide to do the heeling ourselves. I remember this beautiful dialogue from the movie "English Vinglish" that sometimes the other person does not even know how you are feeling - then how can you expect him/her to help you...that is the time when you need to help yourself - n that is the case most of the times.

As a student I remember a lot of times I felt low...bad grades....changing dynamics of friendship...and obviously what next after school....there were endless things on my mind and I had no clue how to deal with it...I could never really confide into my friends or parents about this...so for them I was just being indifferent to these things...but I wasn't...I was struggling to figure out my way to deal with it all...and this happens even now...with different people and scenarios...we all are vulnerable at times and that probably is the hardest period for us to cope up with...the people closest to us are still unaware about whats going inside us...n these are the times when we need to bounce back...and one thing that really works for me is Movies :) and obviously any past memory where you have overcome such a phase and probably given your best performance...like that saying "we tend to deliver our best under the most painful scenarios".

There will be the rainy days when the world will seem unfair and grey
You'll miss the sunshine around you, the happiness and play
But they'll make you stronger and wiser than any of the sunny days
Making you believe in the light from inside, guiding your way!

So do not let these gloomy phases take over...fight them and bounce back with a BANG!

DIWALI - Making it a Happy one for all around us!

Diwali - my favorite festival of the year...the lights, the happiness and the whole family coming together...and as a Kid I obviously loved the crackers part of it...in fact it was the best thing for me to do on Diwali :) I remember the first year when I decided not to burst any crackers , I was 13 at that time, it was like a big sacrifice I am doing to save my mother earth!! I was proud of taking that step and I clearly remember lecturing a lot of my friends and family members on the same...I think I will always remember that as the first step I took which made me realize there's more to our lives than just pleasing ourselves and it made me feel different :)


After 17 long years, yesterday, I felt I have been ignoring a huge part of the problem. I have to say thanks to my kids in TFI for helping me realize this after all this time. We all get crazy amounts of gifts on Diwali...which we happily either pass ahead or stack somewhere in our homes to be used later and it continues year after year. We spend endless amount of money decorating our houses, buying new clothes, jewelry and what not on auspicious occasions like Diwali and then when we look around there are many more people who are just looking at our houses...smiling...they have none of it but the smile on their faces is brighter than ours!

I see small kids selling diyas and decorative items for Diwali on the roads...yesterday I saw one girl doing acrobats right in the middle of traffic...during a red light just so that some people give her money...its a shockingly different scenario than what we do in our lives. I certainly do not advocate giving these kids money to just make them happy as we all are aware of this beggar rackets operating around and who knows what these kids are left with at the end of the day...but all I wonder is how can we do something meaningful to give them their share of happiness which they very much deserve...we can share our gifts, give them new clothes but that wont really solve the problem...but yes it may brighten up their day and give them the much deserved smile for a couple of days!

All I have is questions right now...and I know that I need to take one step at time to make the situation better..but these images have triggered the process in my mind and I hope to make the festival of lights a Happy one for all around us giving it more meaning and adding value to someone's life :D