Holi - Full Masti

In my childhood days, I love to play Holi. At that time, I celebrate Holi to the fullest! The joy of playing with colours and water was immense. I used to buy gulal in vibrant colours and the latest model of pichkari available in the market. I never forget to buy pakka colours for rubbing on my friends face and for mixing in water which is to be filled in pichkari and for throwing on my friends.

A week before the day of colours, my granny started preparing gujiyas, basen papris and bhujiyas. I loved to help her in preparing the gujjiayas. I filled it with sweet mawa and dry fruitsthen concealed the flattened dough with a gentle touch of water. I even prepared small papris. She deep fried them to prepare delicacies.

One day before Holi, water was collected in big vessels and containers as there was water shortage. On the every day, after eating snacks prepared by my granny, I took my small bucket, filled it with water and mixed the pakka colour in it. I went out of the house to find my friends to play Holi with them in the park. I and my friends throw water and colours on each other and have fun. We used to have full MASTI! In the last, when we all were tired. We sat in the park where there is ample of sunshine to dry ourselves. My granny gave delicious sweets and namkeens to each of us. We all enjoy the treat. At that time we used to celebrate Holi in true spirit.

Now a days I stopped playing Holi as these days Holi colours are made of chemicals which are very harmful of skin and hair. Moreover I am too busy to find time to play Holi as most of the time I am doing office work from home even on festivals and other holidays. I always wish to play Holi like I used to play in my childhood days and shout #KhulKeKheloHoli. But this time I have made a decision to bring back the fun and madness of Holi in my life back. I wish to revive all those golden childhood memories related to fun filled Holi festival.

This year, I have decided to take care of my skin and hair with Parachute Advansed and to tell my boss that I will not be able to do work on Holi as I want to celebrate this festival with my family and friends. I will be preparing gujiyas, bhujiyas and papris recalling my granny’s recipes. Although she is no more with us but her memories and recipes are still alive with me and will always with me.

I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories atBlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.

Strawberry in balcony garden

In a nursery, located near my house had a decent varieties of herbs, flowers and other plants. From there, I brought pok choy, lettuce, mint and strawberry for my balcony garden. All plants were growing well. More and more fresh leaves were coming from them, making me happy. In strawberry, white flowers came which converted into little green strawberries. And today, I was surprised to see a strawberry ready to be plucked! :)

Cute rabbit

I was admiring the pets in a pet shop near my house. There were guinea pigs, white parrots, bazarigars, love birds etc. Suddenly a cardboard box opened up and this cute rabbit looked out. I clicked the pic and it came out perfect. :)

Grow vegetables in balcony

There are more than 35 tomatoes on a single plant in my balcony garden. I am happy to see so many organic tomatoes. That was not tough, anybody can do that even you can! I am sharing some tips to grow and get good yield from vegetables in pots.

1. Select the pot of bigger size made up of mud or ceramics. You can also try growing plants in empty plastic bottles, empty tins or useless vessels. Don’t forget to make a small hole at bottom in plastic vessels for draining of excessive water.
2. Place the pot in south or west balcony where the plant can get maximum sunlight. You can also place it near the window which gets the maximum sunlight in your house.
3. Put the stones or small pebbles in the lowest layer of pot.
4. Set the thick layer of soil above it.
5. Spread the vegetables peels, washed tea leaves or crushed egg shells.
6. Put some earthworms on it.
7. Final layer of soil covering worms and their food.
8. Sow the seeds and moist the soil with water.
9. If there are earthworms then keep the soil sufficiently moist as they can’t sustain in soil which have less moisture.
10. You can select any vegetable like brinjal (eggplant), tomato, mint, fenugreek, spinach, capsicum, chili etc. You can buy seed or saplings from a nearby nursery.
11. To notice a new leave, a new flower or a new fruit on the plant is truly very refreshing.
12. Planting vegetable in the balcony will also clean the air around your house.

Thanks to #Colgate360GoldMornings

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. – Marcus Aurelius

Every morning is bliss for me! A new morning, a new beginning and a new goal to accomplish!! I feel I have one more day to change my good morning to gold morning.  The only difference between the bad morning and good morning is the attitude. Change in attitude makes a lot of difference!

Mark Twain has said, “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” In winter it is a difficult task to come out of the cosy quilt and doing hatha yoga and pranayama in the morning is as well as a tough job. Out of these two, I find the bigger frog is to come out of the warm quilt. ;)

My mornings become brighter with the new Colgate 360 Charcoal Gold toothbrush which does more than just cleaning the teeth. It cleans teeth, tongue, cheeks and gums. It frees the teeth from debris, bad breath problems and bleeding gums. Regular and daily brushing and flossing maintains the good health of my teeth. Healthy teeth make the personality pleasing. Proper brushing and flossing helps in preventive care of teeth which is must of good general health.

With every fresh morning I start my day by doing hatha yoga (physical exercise) and pranayama (control of breath). Hatha yoga helps in making me physically fit and healthy. Yoga increases flexibility, blood circulation, lubrication of joints, ligaments and tendons, excellently tone the muscles, messages all organs of body and flushes out toxins from the body. Pranayama helps in focusing the mind on a goal as well as gives mental strength to cope up with the stress and strain in the office. And above all, Colgate 360 Charcoal Gold gives the confidence to smile all the day irrespective of the hurdles, obstacles and problems which I faced during the whole day in my home and office.

I take balanced diet with more emphasis on calcium, phosphorus and fluoride as they help in maintaining good health of my teeth. I avoid foods rich in carbohydrates, starches and sugar as they produce plaque acids that attack tooth enamel. These acids can cause tooth enamel to break. Hence, tooth cavities are formed. Tooth decay should be avoided as it may lead to many other diseases.

Physical fitness, mental alertness and oral health turn my good mornings into gold mornings. Thanks to #Colgate360GoldMornings. 

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Book Review : Ramayana – The Game of Life Book 3 (Stolen Hope)

I can summarize 2015 year for me as ‘Meeting Celebrity Year’. I met, talked, had photos, got emails and books autographed by celebrities such as Karishma Kapoor, Ranveer Brar, Aditya Bal, Vicky Ratnani, Amrita Raichand, Swati Jain, Saransh Goila and Ravi Subramanian. Addition to this, in the previous year I received Ramayana – The Game of Life Book 3 (Stolen Hope) with a personal letter from Shubha Vilas, the author too. 

Shubha Vilas though holds a degree in engineering and law with a specialization in patent law is a story teller par excellence, lifestyle coach, spiritual seeker and motivational speaker. His lectures and seminars are available on YouTube. He blogs at www.thoughtsutras.blogspot.in. In author’s words, “As you flip the pages of these books (Ramayana series), one thought is sure to pass your mind; never has the Ramayana been so applicable in our own lives!”

The opening lines of the book describe about it.

Have you ever felt that there should be a book that bridges the gap between the loyal, traditional approach to the Ramayana and the twisted, modern but exciting approach to the epic?

If yes, your search ends here. Ramayana – The Game of Life is a series that attempts to present an authentic rendition of the Ramayana in an absolutely modern and riveting manner. This book promises to enlighten the loyalists and entertain the modernists.

Stolen Hope is based on Aranya Kanda when Lord Ram, his wife, Sita and his brother, Lakshman lived in the forest and met many sages till one day Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, King of Lanka.  

This book is full of beautiful sayings and quotes which are very practical and goes with every age. Some of them I have listed for you, my dear readers.

1. Life often leaves you with limited options. Often the choice is between limited happiness and limited void.
2. Time is like a mocking bird. It waits for you to laugh at others and then mocks you in the most embarrassing and irritating manner.
3. People and situations in life appear like an ocean that seem deceptively simple but may actually be endlessly complicated.
4. Just as an octopus eats itself due to stress, a human is mentally consumed due to negative stress.
5. In the absence of somebody’s presence is revealed her true value. What presence cannot accomplish, absence can!
6. In the broken confidence of your enemies lie half your victory and the other half in your own ability to handle your destiny courageously.
7. While dissatisfaction is the backbone for creative excellence, it breaks the bones of mental peace.
8. Rama also wanted to teach the world that when one prefers the cheap attractions of this world over God, He silently walks away from one’s life. Maricha represents the fraud veil of illusion over intelligence that numbs the sense of discrimination. All have their own golden deer in life.
9. Sunlight can penetrate clean ocean water to a depth of hundreds of feet, because it is transparent. Similarly, for love to have a deep impact in relationships there has to be transparency that leads to respect between two people.
10. Anxiety is the worm that eats away one’s peace of mind.
11. A hurt hurts the most when the one you love hurts you the most.

‘Jeihe vidhi rakhe Ram teihi vidhi rahiye’ (Whatever be the circumstances created by God one should be happy and satisfied with that), this theory is beautifully explained in the chapter ‘A Reckless Request’ by the author.

Long ago, Sita had heard from a great sage that the center of happiness was not the world but the heart. Whenever and wherever your heart stabilizes, that is when and that is where happiness is born. Since Sita’s heart was stabilized on Rama, Her happiness did not depend on where She was – Ayodhya or the jungle.

These are my favorite lines from the book and are so true to the present context that happiness is not outside rather inside us. And we have to discover it!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this immensely insightful book whose strength lies in its simplicity and lucid writing. This book is like a priceless gem which is to be preserved, conserved and read again and again to absorb its deep teachings in our lives.