For the parents, we so dearly love!

I have a story to tell

It’s a special day, not for you both but for us as well

For all the thoughtful things both of you did for us

To tell you how much we love - words will always be less

You both held our hand

Gave us strength to stand

On our tiny feet

Thanks for always being sweet

With you both on our side

Life has always been a roller coaster ride

The best parents we could have ever asked for. You both are the reason why we believe in love, and why we respect relationships. How you guys have been our best friend and we still know how to behave ourselves – but that’s because we are perfect kids you could have asked for. How entertaining we all are - how we pull each other’s leg – touchwood* a perfect family we are. Both of you are very entertaining when you fight : ) What a perfect balance – Papa being so chilled out all the time and Mumma is chinta.com :D

Happy Anniversary to a great couple who clearly belong together. You are truly an inspiration. Congratulations on your anniversary!J Cheers to your 26 yrs of togetherness. Wish you many many more : ) 

Love 

Astha-Arush <3 

‘World Autism Awareness Day’

It’s World Autism Awareness Day today. The United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared 2nd April as World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the need to help improve the lives of children and adults who suffer from the disorder so they can lead full and meaningful lives.

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. All we need to understand is that a child with autism develops differently.

Here are a few things we ought to keep in mind about Autism: 

1. Autism is a neurological disorder, not a disease. Anyone, anywhere can be born with autism, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or nationality. It’s already hard for such a kid to cope up and we add to the problems rather than helping them out. They don’t ask for much. They just need acceptance in the society. Treat them like you treat every other kid.

2. One out of every 110 children born today has Autism. But does that stop us from loving those innocent souls? Kids are beautiful, the way they are.

3. There is no known cause of autism, hence, no cure. But I guess, some of the countries claim to have a cure. But an early detection and immediate intensive therapy will help children overcome the challenges to a large extent.

4. Autism is a lifelong condition. But no matter the age, people with autism can improve. So let’s help them!

5. “Bad parenting” doesn't cause Autism. Parents should not be demoralized if they do not receive early intervention. 

6. Contrary to popular belief, less than 2% of autistic people have extraordinary talents. This means that they would also need help in basic day-to-day living.

7. Family members should together try and imbibe techniques of working and interacting with autistic children or adults.

8. Autistic people face discrimination for no fault of theirs. Ultimately, the key to successful management of autism is the acceptance of a child the way he or she is by the parents and the community at large.

Education, Awareness and Sensitivity – That’s all we require.

My secret recipe of happiness

Yes, there’s a secret recipe to everything you want – some secret ingredients. What we miss in the recipe is empowering and sharing with others. Share it because everyone in this world absolutely deserves every joy they imagine. Your thoughts become things. Think about things you want and not about the ones you don’t. You get whatever you focus on. If you focus on something with passion, you get it even faster. You are a magnet. You can attract things so attract happiness. You are the masterpiece of your own thoughts. Never complain. Never ever say I wish I had a big house like them. Ask for what makes you happy, not what others have. Comparison would always lead to disappointment. Be happy with yourself because if you cannot love yourself, nobody else ever will. Feel the joy around you. Feel the love around you even if it’s not there. Do anything that makes you happy. My funda like I always say – One life then why think twice before pampering yourself.

It depends on you as to how effectively you use the secret. You will only understand the power that exists within you once you follow it. It’s like every time you ask for something, the Universe says – Your wish is my command : ) and next time when you say I doubt if it will ever happen or I cannot do it. The Universe again says – Your wish is my command and you never get it. Your thoughts are the reason why it didn’t happen.

There are three steps:

1. ASK what you want? Make sure it is in the present tense. Don’t complicate things. Life is pretty simple so let it be simple : ) Don’t worry about how you will achieve it. First be sure of what you want. Once you know what you want, the work is half done.
2. ANSWER by the Universe. Universe decides to give it to you. There are no such things as accidents in life. It’s all designed so leave it on Universe.
3. RECEIVE – Bring yourself in alignment with what you are asking for. The way you feel is everything. Make sure you don’t sleep over opportunities. 

Get Going : ) Universe likes speed. Don’t delay. Don’t second guess. Don’t doubt. You will see the miracle in progress. Take the first step into faith. You don’t see the whole stair-case. You just need the first step and you know you would be where you wanted to be. There are no rules with Universe. You want it now – You get it now. All we are is the result of our thoughts. Feel grateful for what you have. Appreciate people and you would see that they turn out to be even better than you expected. All you got to do is VISUALIZE and things will MATERIALIZE. Dwell upon the end result. Feel the joy and happiness, no matter how silly it seems. What this power is, I have no idea. All I know is that it lives somewhere within you. At least, I get things when I want them badly : ) Universe isn’t partial and am blessed : ) Touchwood*

Imagination is everything. Trust your thoughts and act on them. Be clear about what you want from the catalogue of Universe. Never say things like I cannot do it, I will not be able to do it, he/she will not let me do it, I cannot afford to.

Being wealthy would bring happiness. Wealth is a mind-set. It is not about just having lots of money or being financially secure. Its about having things like perfect health, incredible relationships, a career we love, stability, a life filled with love and lots of happiness. Life of our dreams is always closer than what we think but we need to have faith. Trust yourself and see the magic :) Free yourself from the clutches. You are the only one who creates your reality. If you aren’t well, never ever say I cannot get better. Say – There’s nothing in this world that can stop me to get better. I have to live for my loved ones. They need me. There’s something called self-healing. Let the power within you fight. There are two things you can do when you are sick – Feel painful and Feel hopeful. Choice is yours : ) because ultimately man becomes what he thinks about.

Tell yourself that there’s more than enough good around you, enough love and joy around you. See it. Believe it. It will show itself. Put in your best efforts.

God is the energy that exists in the Universe – cannot be created and cannot be destroyed. All we have is faith that something exists upon which everything rests. No one has ever seen God or energy. It’s the faith that keeps us going.

Whatever your past ‘was’. Let is be ‘was’ and not effect your present or future. You have had a bad childhood or survived a financial crisis or bad health or have been unemployed for years – let that rest in past. The question is what you are going to do now? You can begin from wherever you are. Everything will start getting better from this moment. Never say – I can’t : ) Delete these words from the dictionary of your life. Make your own dictionary with things like hope, love, happiness, joy. Tell yourself - When the others can, why can’t I? I am smart, talented and beautiful. Beauty is not just about looks. Had it been just about looking beautiful then only good-looking people would have been impressive but that’s not the case. We are unlimited beings. Our talent and hard work has no limits. God has not written your purpose or mission in life. Ask yourself – what is your purpose? Set you goals. Act upon them. If it ain’t fun then don’t do it. Do things that you love – don’t hold yourself back. Do what gives you joy. Life is phenomenal. It’s a magnificent trip. I see a future of unbound potential and possibilities.

Understand the secret. Monitor your thoughts. Think positive always. You are here because you wanted to be in this world. Dream your plans and then plan your dreams. Sustain your very existence.

Feel Good : )

Have a good day! Use the secret : ) Love yourself. Remember – you are a star. You got to shine.

Have a happy week ahead :) 

Love! xoxo

Happy New Year :)

New Years Eve is for a change not associated with any religion or region but the whole world celebrates it like one big family. The celebrations, of course differ J It is celebrated with lot of gaiety and pomp. The excitement levels rise as the clock nears twelve.

Resolutions – Ahan! ;) We all break them, don’t we? History repeats itself every year :D Am sure, the idea of weight loss tops the list :D Okay! This isn’t what I plan to do as I know myself pretty well but this is something I really want to do :D rather it has become the need of the hour.

Another resolution broken every year by millions - I will quit drinking/smoking :D and for students, I’ll study hard this year J and we all know what happens to these resolutions J When you couldn’t quit drinking or smoking in so many years or loose weight, how will you in just one day – SO AVOID RESOLUTIONS ;) But it will be so cool if some people actually make a resolution not to nag or some ‘men’ decide to be ‘less’ irritating (holds the same for women too, am not being gender-biased) ;) anyways that will never happen as resolutions are meant to be broken. New Year's resolutions can't technically be expected to begin on New Year's Day because it's an extension of New Year's Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. You can’t start dieting as alcohol on empty stomach is a bad idea :P 

Looking back at 2011 just makes me feel that am blessed and it has been a wonderful year J few things or people to whom I am grateful for in the year gone by:

God –For everything, specially for one reason - I topped for two consecutive semesters and it was an awesome feeling. I hope next year my blog says - I topped four semesters consecutively. Soon the results will be out for the 3^rd one. Bhagwan ji, Are you listening to me? You know what am asking for J and can’t forget to thank you for the peaceful life you have given me J

Family – for always being there J for the love and the support. Okay! Not to forget, the iPhone J Thank you, Papa J and what I would have done without the brother who supports me all the time J who’s younger to me but strict at times like an elder brother and my super-mom and super-dad for bringing the awesome child like me into this world ;) you both are lucky to have kids like us ;) beautiful kids ;) (Ma, you know what I mean).

Friends – Thank you! You guys know who you all are J Urdhvi, Swati and Amrita J You guys made 2011 a memorable one.

The MTC Gang – I didn’t know we (me and Amrita) have such lovely juniors with whom we would bond so well in that one week of Military Rule where we were made to spend summers without fans, forget about coolers or ACs, bed-tea at 5, bathing ‘n’ no. of times in those dirty bathrooms and how can I forget the dirty toilets and how much people loved us cos of the fact that we were from Delhi/Noida J Thanks Sushmita, Suvana (Don’t speak girl), Shubhi and Viji. You guys are fun to be with. Let’s plan a trip to Bombay/Goa soon : ) and the ones who are dying to go to Chandigarh J we can always go there, its just a 5 hour run :D

Those who for good walked out – Thank you so much! J But just one question – Don’t you guys get tired manipulating things? ;) or it comes naturally. Anyways all is well that ends well.

Happy New Year everyone! May you all remember to say ‘I Love You’ at least once in a day to your parents, spouse or girlfriend, kids (if you have any), your siblings but not to your Secretary, Nurse or your gym instructor :P

I wish I had a magic wand :) What would you do if you had one? :)

Happy New Year once again to all of you and your loved ones! :) 

Lots of love! xoxo

Party hard! J

A weekend well spent : )

What a weekend it was – having absolutely nothing to do or may be, I chose not to do :D Worked on my dissertation. Slept peacefully. Cooked good food. Read books sipping coffee. Winters have stepped in : ) getting up early in the morning for classes would be a problem but I don’t have much of an option. It’s Monday tomorrow and am sure, most of would be not very willing to face it. Why can't we have a 5 day weekend? No point asking God for it ! I better ask some better things that I might just get : ) you never know when is God listening to you! 

I finished reading 5 books on the weekend and out of all 5, only one was worth reading – THE (IN)ELIGIBLE BACHELORS by Ruchita Mishra : ) A very simple and a light book that you would enjoy reading. It somewhere says – Arranged Marriages are complicated things. So are mothers. And so are relationships. It’s a story of an MBA graduate who is geeky and has a job in hand but is single at the age of twenty-four : ) and her mother is obsessed with getting her married asap. Mum shortlisting weird IIT and IIM guys for her but she finds the man of her dreams in her office – her boss : ) a Greek God incarnate. It’s a journey to find her Mr. Right.

Another book I read – Life is What You Make it. This book is based on real life experiences. It’s a story of courage, determination and growing up. It’s a tale of a girl called Ankita who was young, smart and good-looking and had tonnes of friends and boys swooing over her. She managed to get into the very prestigious institutes for her graduation as well as post-graduation. But before she could finish her B-School, she landed herself in a mental hospital. How it would be for someone who had been so popular and now, made two suicide attempts, planned to drop out of the B-school after being a topper for one semester. It’s a story of how the time spent in the Mental Hospital helped her discover herself and bounce back to life even harder when there she absolutely had no hope to ever be normal. Life cruelly and coldly snatched things that meant a lot to her but she gave it all a good fight. All this was possible only because she decided to do it. Mental health issues are still a great taboo especially in India. This girl suffered from Bipolar Disorder which is a serious brain disorder that causes dramatic shifts in moods, energy levels, attitudes and ability to carry out everyday tasks. It is usually hard to diagnose. The change in personality alters between ‘high episode’ and ‘low episode’. In high episode, there’s huge increase in your goal directed activities and the person is usually restless and needs very little sleep but does all tasks in a perfect manner whereas in the low episode, there’s an increasing feeling of worthlessness or emptiness leading to suicide attempts. For more information, you can log on to the website of National Institute of Mental Health – http://www.nimh.nih.gov

When we have a tooth-ache, we visit a dentist then why are people with mental disorders called ‘crazy’ or lunatics. This can happen to anyone you know. Would you add to their misery by called them a lunatic?

What would you do if destiny twisted the road you took? What if it throws you at a place you never wanted to go? Would you fight, would you run or would you accept? Ankita fought and got her life back!

And in the middle of all this, I have started listening to ‘Desi Girl’. I never liked this song. Okay! I guess, the thought of Monday morning is already making me go crazy. Time for me to grab a cup of chai : )

Have a happy monday : )
Love! xx

Bubblegums and Candies ! :)

Just finished reading ’34 Bubblegums and Candies’ by Preeti Shenoy: )

Honestly, not worth wasting your precious 1 hour on the book. It’s a collection of 34 real life incidents. It seems to be a bad effort to copy my favourite ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’. The book doesn’t deliver what it promises. It says – It is one book that will tempt you, making you want to taste it, chew it, relish it. 

The only think I like is the title ‘Bubblegums and Candies’. That’s how each day is – like a bubblegum which is tasteless when chewed for long and the bubble explodes leaving you with a sticky mess or like a candy : )

Now, I'll start with some other book : )

Pamper Yourself !

I went out for coffee and desserts with Amrita, as usual after classes got over for today. We had our favourite Chocolate Mousse at Top Breads which was enough to make our day : ) There’s no thing on earth which can replace my love for chocolates or may be there is something, I haven’t discovered yet.

The most interesting part of the day was our shopping : ) we bought some books for ourselves with interesting titles : ) though we knew that we had to work on our dissertation but what makes you happy is worth doing : ) You should never think twice when it comes to pampering yourself.

The (in)eligible bachelors

Life is what you make it

I’m not Twenty Four… I’ve been nineteen for five years

She broke up, I didn’t…

 True Lies and Hump

The one incident that needs a mention here is a stranger who made my day. I was walking back home – half dead ! A special child smiled and waived at me. Some how I still remember the incident after a month and I doubt, I will ever forget that face. That smile was the cutest and the most genuine one I ever saw : ) Little things make us happy.

Pamper Yourself and Do anything to make yourself happy ! : )