Grateful By Ketaki S. Vaidya

In our otherwise pure, amazingly divine self, due to the numerous external forces, there comes many monsters within us or at least try to come within us. They are as many as one can name. Anger, lust, greed, ego and the list goes on. There is one more monster which I felt like talking about today and it is the monster of depression. Like all other monster, depression is also not a part of your amazing self. It pretends to be your own and then finds the entry in your life.  It makes you believe so many things that are not even true! Some of them are as follows-  1) It is the end of the world! - Every one has their own struggle stories. Many of them are really devastating. Depression manages to convince us in difficult times that this is the end of all hopes! We have no choice but to sleep in our beds and moan on the lost things. It is so not true!  One day I was trying to reach for an appointment to a new place. I was running a bit late and my GPS was showing a...

I am very old now. Sick and tired. Sleeping in my bed, waiting for death. I am lucky enough to have my family around. At this time, I have a lot of time to reflect upon my life and the learning it has offered me. When I think about how and what my life was, I feel the rush of mixed emotions in my mind. If I think about it like a stranger, detached, I feel I lived my life like an acrobat. Always trying to do the balancing act. Trying to find balance between fun and responsibilities, savings and expenditures, healthy dieting and gluttony,  work and recreation, duties and rights, demand and capacities. The list is endless. In fact now when I think about it, it looks like the whole world is busy in this balancing act. Trying to find balance between good and bad, fair and unfair, natural and man made, just and unjust. I feel very happy that I tried to balance things and tried finding out the best central point for all aspects of my life. No matter how much success I got, I paid g...

Mom find that time for me. I know you get tired changing my diaper and when I cry it makes you hyper  but I will be walking to the school soon and will be talking about space and moon So mom find that time for me . I know I sometimes throw tantrums a lot and I cry when I feel a little bit hot but soon home work will keep me busy  and bed time stories won't be easy  so mom find that time for me. I know my school assignments are too many and for future we need to save every penny but vacations will not last too long as in college I will be singing my own song so mom find that time for me Mom soon I will have life's challenges I will have to face them on my own we might be in the different cities then and talking only over the phone I hope I will tell my kids some stories and cherish my childhood memories so mom please find that time for me. 

Fear- the emotion we all have for something. Mostly perceived negative. Caused by many reasons like not knowing something e.g. we get scared of sudden loud noise as we do not know what it might be, it might be caused due to self doubt like thinking that the problem is bigger than my abilities, how can I handle it? Will the consequences go out of hand?, it can be caused due to a threat for our life e.g. if I fall from here, I might die. No matter whatever one says everyone has fears. I do not think there is any one literally fearless. Brave are the people who get bigger than their fears and move ahead even after the fear tries to stop them. It is only human to have fear.   Fear is perceived negatively as it gives us "not so nice" feeling. It stops us from trying new things. It can give us nightmares. It deprives us from the things that we see others doing and having fun. It does not stop here,  if it becomes more it can totally take away the happiness and peace of ou...

This story has happened in front me since I was a child. I had a friend who was also my neighbor when I was little. Her both parents and grandmother lived in a same house. We used to visit each other pretty often. That's how I know how it happened. My friend's grandmother had some expectations from her daughter in law, i.e. my friend's mother. I do not know if it was true or not but according to my friend's grandmother, her daughter in law did not fulfill many of her expectations. This cause a deep hurt for grandmother. Not forgiving her daughter in law for her "misdeeds", she never behaved nicely to her. She was always subtly mean to her. My friend's mother was a working mother and needed a lot of support from home like all working moms need. Her grandmother though, did not care about it and instead of supporting, she in fact caused distress to her. Further, we all grew up and the grandmother turned old. She was suddenly  getting weaker and weak...

I had learnt about it in the saintly literature when I was studying in my school   So I decided to find it   I tried finding it in the religious festivals I found some show off there but I also found a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of bliss and togetherness.   I tried finding it in the houses of God I found desires there but I also found a lot of hope   I tried finding it in the rituals I found some traditions there but I also found a lot of Faith   I tried finding it in the lonely prayer I found some fear there but I also found a lot of hope for salvation   I tried finding it again in the saintly literature I found it a lot there No matter what religious labels it had it was there   I tried finding it within me to my surprise I found it there it was just covered in  thick layers of religion, enthusiasm, bliss, desires, hope, rituals, faith and fear. but it was there!     ...

India recently celebrated its 70th independence day. It is always a proud moment. There are not enough words to tell how grateful I feel for being born in such a great country. India definitely has innumerable things to offer to the world. Like many people in the world already know that India has spirituality to offer to the world. But if you have been to India, you know that spirituality in India is a way of living. You do not have to visit any ashram to feel or learn the spirituality in India, just being there is enough. Here are few things you realize when you visit India- 1) Life is beautiful with your family and the whole world is your family- No matter if you are a part of nuclear or joint family, you are connected to each other. Just getting together for any occasion or even without any occasion is like a party. It's true that at times this kind of closeness can be interfering but it is still cherished. Neighbors, school friends, office friends, local train friends...