Unscrambled!

The deadly detour has finally ended, 

Am moving away from brains that are twisted. 

As I dust away the unwanted and unlearn the verses, 

Deep sense of purpose and righteousness emerges. 

I am left with humble feelings, 

The urge to understand life's true meaning. 

I feel closer to my values and heritage, 

Freed from all knots and no more in rage. 

Holding on close to who's and what's  important, 

Relieved at what puffed out of the vent. 

Life has reorganized and rebased itself,

Its easy to fit in now and get out of the shelf. 

No sense of hatred or enemity exists, 

After all my heart is only the size of my first. 

It's over filled with joy and peace, 

And I found out I am in love with cheese! 

I am in, are you?

With so many incidents of attacks made on the dignity of women across the country, there are many people writing about it and expressing anger. Blaming men and asking parents to focus on the upbringing of their sons. No matter how much we play the blame game, we ALL need to together build a system that can *prevent* such issues.
Of course it all starts at home. Please have open conversations with your kids (girls and boys). Talk to them about good and bad touches. Have an environment where kids can openly talk about problems related to this and also they should be taught how to respect the opposite sex.
Big responsibility lies on the shoulders of women. Not only can you teach these morals to kids in your family but you can do the same with the kids of your maid/helper/watchmen. I am solely banking on women for this because of the motherly instinct and easy communication with kids. If men can do it too then its great. It's necessary to understand that kids who are not taught morals or principles at a young age tend to grow up and take things for granted. Labourers and maids hardly have any time for their kids and that is the last thing on their mind. Please educate them and their kids. Spend some time once in a month to inculcate the sense of responsibility. Take them along with you to mandir/mosque/church once a year to inculcate values. Think of this as an investment you are making for the safety of your own kids. Any misbehaviour at young age should be immediately attended to. Teachers should also take the responsibility of not ignoring such things and paying special attention to kids who show signs of disrespect to the opposite sex. We all need to be aware that this is a growing problem and the responsibility lies on us. I remember when I was young, a boy on the streets would pass lewd comments on all girls passing by and we would think of him as the dirt you never want to even look at. A grandpa in my society went up to him and casually took him out for tea. Whenever possible he would spend some time with this guy and slowly turned this guy around. Do we ever do this? Have we ever tried to approach the problem in its face? Please don't tell me "why should I waste my time in explaining all these stupid people". Trust me, this is the best investment we can make. A better society exists only when people in it are aware and always working towards it. If we want to spend time outside safely, we need to make sure that the environment is safe. Either we can mark it unsafe and be at home or take the responsibility of making it safe. After all, everyone is a human being and has great capacity. We should definitely push for stringent laws but if you think that a death penalty will scare such monsters then you are wrong. Rather uproot this monster and also think of it this way, you are helping a fellow human being live a better life and that person in turn can help build a better society. I agree that some people are beyond this and nothing can change their hopeless mindset. For such people we will push for the death penalty :)
All I am saying is that, let's try to become an alert society and let's clean the dust ourselves!

Happiness is not a rare element!

Dealing with mean/hateful people has always been the greatest challenge for me. It makes you question your own ideas and life. To the extent that you start hating yourself. You start believing everything that such people have to say to you. You start thinking on the lines of "what did I do that is making these people say such things about me".

When I started talking to other people, I realised that almost everybody I knew is "blessed" with such kind of people. It could be a family member or friend or Boss or colleague. And there is one thing common in all these mean people, lack of satisfaction in their own lives. There is something so hugely lacking in their own life and instead of working towards it, these people think it is better to make sure nobody else got it. When I cannot be happy, why let others be happy! Not many people take failure or loss gracefully and end up being very negative and spread this negativity in the lives of all the people that surround them. It's really sad especially when you yourself are dealing with failures and trying to be as positive as possible rather than being the monster that such people are.

So there are two things that we need to focus on:
1) How not to get affected by such people
2) How not to become one of them

How not to get affected by such people:
*************************************
Someone very close to me once told me "Some people just cant find positive in anything no matter what". I found this very helpful to change my perspective. No matter what I do or say, these people will always find something negative. So it's not my take if they are upset over something because when I can choose to be positive and move ahead in life, it's their problem if they choose to be all sulky about it. Once I realised that it was not my fault (phew!) I decided to simply ignore. I decided not to give power to the people who can hurt me. Not to give importance to their words or opinions as they would just bring me down. It's extremely difficult to do this because generally these people are very close to you and you always thought their opinion matters. But it does not! If someone tells me that I am vicious and pretentious , then I don't think they are in their right mind because I am anything but that. Physical distance would be the best option , but considering you are stuck with such people for lifetime, learn to cut them off from your mind. Again, EXTREMELY difficult, but best solution.

How not to become one of them:
**************************************
Negative energy is very strong and can easily engulf you. It wont be long before you start sulking about things. Always keep a check on yourself " Am I becoming the person I dont want to be with". It's necessary to consciously keep yourself surrounded with people with positive mindsets and absorb their energy. Secondly, let go! My mind loves to rewind and play all the mean things that people have ever told me. Then it makes me conclude that I am indeed all those opinions. Next thing I know, I dont feel like getting off my bed. And I start looking for bad things in other people just to justify that others are more terrible than I am. Its a cycle in which you can get stuck forever. The only way to break this is to let go. Forgive and forget or you will always be revengeful and sour.



Last but not the least, have faith in God and be kind to one another! (sounds all preachy huh?)
Well, fact is fact!
Happiness is not a rare element, its found in abundance in people who choose to experience it and spread it :)

- Shveta

How private finance can tumble your world like a stack of cards !

I am no finance expert and I don't know how stock market works. I hardly know any big finance words and I rarely read business news. But I do know how taking finance from a private source almost ruined my friend's life and took the life out of many others.
First, let me explain what the term "private finance" means.
If you want to borrow some money for personal/business use, ideally you would approach the bank (considering low interest rates and security). The bank asks you to provide security in the form of a property/gold/any asset that you possess which can also be the stock/goods in case of a business. Now there can be two issues :
1) You *desire* to get a loan of say about Rs.1 Crore and the bank sanctions only say about Rs.50 lakhs after evaluating the security you provided.
2) Bank process is taking too much time and you *think* you cannot wait any more.
Any of the above two happens and then starts the panic mode. The mode which shuts down your ability to evaluate the situation with a straight mindset.
If you are lucky enough, you will find a relative/friend who is ready to loan you the required amount with minimum/no interest and without any security. (Voila! Your wildest dream comes true)
But considering the fact that we are not related to the likes of Ambani :) we are now in panic mode because we have already made huge commitments without any money at hand.
Now comes in the villain - The private financier !
He has been waiting for this opportunity when all doors will close for you and you *believe* that you are a loser.
You would never think of approaching him but he is right there and you would never realize how you ended up at his door. He walks in with his confident gait, making you believe that he knows the trade in and out and you are just another client. While secretly, he is hoping that you will fall for this and he can make his living out of you.
Private financiers have lot of money. So you would assume that its his business and just like banks finance, he finances privately. But you do not know that they are like the Dementors in Harry Potter movies. They will suck out every penny and make you so helpless that you will fear for your life.
Why I hate private financiers?
They will also take a security like a property/gold. They will transfer the property to their name and take possession of the gold. They will charge you with interest rates that are exorbitantly high (I know of cases where they charged interest rate which was 6 times that of the bank). They will make you believe that they are doing a huge favour on you. They will tell you they want the principle back in 2-3 months, hence you would feel that you have to bear the high interest rate only for a couple of months.

What you need to see through -
1) If the bank is not giving you more than Rs.50 lakh and if your relative is not Ambani, you need to understand that you need to work with Rs.50 lakh only. No matter what your plans are , no matter what you want to do with the money, you need to stick to this amount and have patience. If you want to grow your business, use this money and create your own capital. If you need it for a marriage, realize that short term glory is of no use if its going to cause long term pain.

2) The private financier is never looking for the principal amount. He wants you to never return it back. He wants you to pay interest as long as you can. And in turn he will make you feel obliged. With the kind of interest amount you are paying, he will have covered his principal amount in no time and then when you finally give up and refuse to pay interest, he will gobble up your security!

3) Private financiers do not appreciate paper work :) So basically even if you want to approach a court, all you have got is a paper which says that you have registered the property on his name and he has paid you the amount. There will be no mention that you are paying interest for that amount and that you intend to take back the property.

I have personally seen so many people fall for this. Its sad to see people who were once charged in life and wanted to make it large are now either struggling to survive or caught in the pangs of depression.

Its just mind boggling how the timing and situation can numb out your capacity to think through.But everyone of us needs to know about this and be aware!

PS : I might have missed out a lot of points and areas of concern. I cant stress on this point enough but I hope you guys are getting the gist of it.
Private Finance = NO NO NO !!

Back with a bang !

It's that time of the year, every year,
I get an urge to write and my mind is clear.
I wonder if this is just a silly coincidence,
or is February the month my blog takes precedence?

I read through the old ones and a story emerges,
my life seems dramatic full of verses.
I dont have to ponder on what to write,
It's like recording my life byte by byte.

I feel a difference this time this year,
Like I have found something which is very dear!
My head feels light and my heart feels pumpy,
Looks like I found her, the girl who was quirky !

I feel motivated, positive and get the gist,
Happiness and problems can co-exist.
The joy is surreal and very divine,
O' devil mind don't snatch away what's mine !

Out of my mind!

I can feel the pain,
yet cannot shout in vain.
Days, months and years have gone by,
I wonder why am still giving it a try!

Something is lacking, something essential,
my life is locked with a missing credential.
I know what I want, I know what I need,
Is my fortune really all out of good deed?

Pages from my old diary are staring at me,
wondering how I landed in this crazy spree.
Cannot find more words to rhyme,
Paused in my mind and running out of time !

My cup of coffee!

Sitting on a bench at Necklace Road I am trying to recharge myself. Trying to zone out and keep away disturbing thoughts. Sometimes all it takes is a cup of coffee and a decent novel combined with a breath of fresh air to get back the kick. Life is definitely a journey, a quick one. In the whole rush of things there are moments of joy and then there are the low ones. But when everything stops, when there is no work to do or any task to attend to, one cant help but entertain the thoughts which provoke you to want more out of life. The urge to understand the purpose of life. There are very few people who I know can answer that question and I have got the opportunity to meet few such people. Who just know the purpose of their lives. Who are satisfied.
While others like me are too stubborn to accept the purpose of their lives.
Ah... so much for trying to keep the disturbing thoughts away!
Anyway, I feel charged!
The thought of getting up early tomorrow and going for a jog seems interesting to me now, isn't that something?! :D
There are times when you will feel very dejected in life, that is the time to stop whatever you are doing/trying to do, and get out there and get a breath of fresh air and a fresh outlook. The problem will no more feel in-surmountable!