Every day is a gift!

From any day that teaches you the value of life, becomes a day of gift from God. Blessed you are, for you see the next sunrise!

The value of life is known to a person who just missed death. Remember the gratefulness thousands of people felt as they ran safe from WTC collapse, remember the happiness of hundreds who escaped violent terror attacks in Mumbai in 26/11, remember the day when the pilot became the god to the people who got landed in a frozen river. Every day becomes a gift ever since one comes across such a day.

10 April 2004, is such a turning point in my life, where me and my child were saved by my husband from a unwanted but scary fire accident at home...ever since, to us every day is a story of success, story of god, and his gifts that emerged out of hard work, faith, sincerity and perseverance. Why so ever it happened, who so ever did it, what so ever be the motive, it all ended fine for us. We never looked back. We never forget it for the lessons are great to learn from.

Emerging from turbulence's of life needs extra energy and strong mind. Traumas, tiring days, sad events are all indispensable from life. But those who look beyond imperfections and tiring situations, look forward for better things in life. Those who learn this lesson.... are sure to learn and realise that every day is a gift of God. Live it to the lees.....

Thanks to my beloved sister Yamini celebrating her birthday today, for she was the most prominent person who gave me the courage to take things in my stride and move forward. Happy Birthday Sis...one way the new lease of life is a gift of your thoughts and positive actions....Love you!

The Name Crush!!!

Its all in the name! Yes, Name. The big names. I was wondering from the time I read Abinandhan's blog, on what are those names that I love so much...It was a very easy answer

1. Narayani
2. Ranganayaki

I know, lot many who know me so well will wonder, what the heck they are? I love the name, the meaning and the essence and for all those out there having these names...I just love you for you have got the two names that touch my heart always.

Thankfully, I have both the names in my family... I managed to give my daughter the first name and call her Narayani Aishwarya...Wow, i just love this

Second is Ranganayaki...thats my elder brother-in-law Krishnan's mother's name... though she is no more, the name is so powerful and beautiful that I just love her too... yeah, I also know a lecturer in college called Ranganayaki....means beautiful and colorful stage actress...infact its the name of concert of Srirangam Ranganatha swamy...

Ironically, both names mean the same. Manifestations of Goddess Lakshmi.

Narayani Namosthutey...there is no Hindu marriage in India, that doesnt end without these words while tying the knot.... and the golden temple for Goddess Narayani is sure to make this name much more powerful and reknowned.....

Successful, And dying young?!!*???**!!

2 deaths recently disturbed me alot. One is of a 28 year old collegue with 5 yr old daughter succumbed to low BP and cardiac arrest...had ever she would have thought about it? And the kind of cold attitude with which the news was received and broadcasted...made me think to wonder if we are living in a purely machine world and lost all human touch to our routines:-( Shame! Here its all business, profits, and we people are also nothing but just another "Resource".... time to think in which world we are heading to....

Second is the death of Ranjan Das, Head of SAP India, a fitness freak, hardworking and highly inspiring young and dynamic leader....died one morning after his workout. Hailing from upper middle class, we dream big things. We aspire behind our dreams and spend days and years in building career. Making it big going away from families, fun and simple living. Stress is not a part of our lives, but the very routine. In the few hours we get, we are busy socialising, hobbies, families, and priorities that make us forget that our machines also need some rest and maintenance. Here its our physical and mental machines I am talking about.

In the quest of success, growth and enablement, we go far away from our own people and relaxations into the world of artificial partying ( that only ends up with headaches the next day), travel and bustling routines (that doesnt let us pause for a moment of silence and self-thinking) and into priority based lives.... both personal and professional. Added to all this, is the stress our families have to live with us... rather bear with us or get away from us...that again resulting in handling undue emotions.

Rajeev Motwani, Ranjan Das, Sowmya devi are just few examples of people who dreamt big, kept achieving and died young, leaving behind grieving children and spouses. For the fast moving corporate world its real time to think big! Think big on work life balance, stress busters, simple life styles and acceptance of the Mantra- You should be alive to enjoy what you achieved. Or else, the struggle is meaningless. So take care folks....

Its a lesson to me tooooo!!!

Mid-life crisis setting in! Sooner may be!

Suddenly in midst of a busy day, I took one minute back from my laptop and was wondering what is happening to me these days...a dawn of realization that its almost 10 years that I started to work and build a career (hope so!), and in the process making so many adjustments and compromises in life. I called about these compromises as Re-Alignments in life in my book "Never Say Quit".

Just the next minute, I rang my mentor and friend in India, and asked him on how about getting an admission for me in the Law College. I am sure, I drove him crazy!! For one reason, he knows its my childhood aspiration and for second reason, my career got set in a totally different direction altogether in the last decade of work. Strong feeling that I would make my place in Law, truly makes me think to restart it all over again...Goodness, whats happening...Suddenly I find my kid of my height, grown up and having her own aspirations and goals, my man greying even better, wrinkles started to show on my face, and all old friends are busy with their different ways of lives!!!

10 years of hardwork, perserverance and the results! Overcoming personal tragedies, owning a two bed room apartment, a small family car, few short holidays,long family time in US, a book in making, hundreds of inspiring collegues and friends, four inspiring managers, professional awards and recognistions both inside and outside office, Inner wheel,Counselling and rebuilding so many families around, golf, couple of TV shows with the family, new borns in the extended family and Aishu's music, friends and hannah montana becoming part of our lives with her fantasies...then.few tragedies, losing few loved one's, fire accident, fantasies, betrayals and hurt..losing my unborn son.. Is that all? I am sure, I am doing better but could have been much better!!! Over the years, me and my husband became very close and understanding making our's a real happy family. In the last few years, I have been building up a unique bonding with my mom, that I failed to understand as a child or a teen. My sisters and their families are my internal strength and my mentor is my anchor always...Still, I feel the life is large to contain more and I have so much to do!!!

How fast and how quick! Much more work to do!!! So many things, planning my child's higher education, our retirment lives, taking onto freelance journalism, complete learning German and few more languages, getting into either law or film making, travelling across India first and then the world, help all friends to the extent possible, build an old age home (that’s Raghu's dream), and finally manage to have a pet dog at home...(Aishu wants it always!Me tooo!), create a terrace garden, build a home library, grow mushrooms (yes, you got me right, wanna provide employment opportunities to women with small endeavours around), and finally retreat into the silence of our final destination - pondicherry- to the abode of Ashram and its serenity, divinity and silence...

Huh! Real Mid life Crisis I know! I am in! But Thank God, I have a purpose to live. A purpose to Aspire, A purpose to dream for and live on! I am sure, we all go through these anxities and also know to handle them. Good Luck!

Peace Abode in Pondicherry

24th Sep this year became a very special birthday as I had an invitation from a Swamiji Friend of mine who knows me as a writer and follower of "Mother" and Sri Aurobindo Society of Pondicherry. The invitation was so tempting that I had to break from a busy work schedule and disturbing health condition and drive down with my family to Pondicherry just to be there that evening in her abode of peace.

Kamalbhaii showed an amazing attitude to make us feel so comfortable and made all arrangements to stay in Ashram guest house, have the communal meditation in the Ashram Playgroud on the thursday evening at 7.45 and later have dinner in Ashram kitchen dinning hall and end up in a deep silence at Mother's samadhi. Tears rolled with the vibrations aroused due to the immense silence I had been experiencing after long many days and the mind, body and soul surrendering to nothing but my inner self.

No one preaches anything there. It is just a place where you can identify your inner consciousness, inner peace and inner urge. Receiving a birthday card and flowers from Mother's room could be the best blessing for a person who has this ardent search of self realisation. After long many days of travel, continious work, personal and professional priorities, attending friends and social events, doing hazar things at same time, retreating to one's inner self and just being you is a totally exhausting task.

The day was overwhelming with mails, calls and messages that I had to return with gratitude and thanks for the people who made my life. I am not a celebrity, nor deserving this care, but I think over the years I had been a good friend to lot of people and that was so visible on that day. Above all, being in the place and situation where I could just unfold to my other side of total seclusion and silence was truly overwhelming and I slept like never before in a kind of peace, happiness and with no dreams, no fears, no thoughts and no mid life crisis anxieties. That was the best gift of the day.

7 am next morning I woke up with a jerk as my mobile gave its biggest call cry. It was Kamalbhaii again asking us to rush up for the day. My husband and kid got ready quickly and encouraged me to muster energy to the most exciting place Auroville. We drove into the woods of Auroville, he took us to Pranati and other communities growing in Auroville over the years.

Auroville is a place that no country or religion can claim as its own. Its belong to one and all. It belongs to Humanity at large. There are no defined ways of living and no specific discipline to lead life. But every thing seemed so organized, silent and structured. All this is happening just some 180 miles away from the bustling routine of a city life. We walked for sometime in the mud roads slowly growing in the community, met lot of people from different nations, and went to Gandhi Bhavan to have food under the shades of the trees, having lunch in midst of the woods, with lot of foreign people, cooked in the solar kitchen, it was a totally different experience and finally reaching Matri Mandir was like seeing something out of the universe.

Being in the shades of the Banyan tree which is the centritude of the geographical area of Auroville, is like giving me more hope, peace and all sorts of good feelings that a human being can experience. My kid was enjoying the greenery, the silence, the beauty of the place and taking pictures to cherish her memories. Later in the evening we drove to the Pondicherry Lighthouse and the sea shore, a real treat for the little one. Driving down on the old port dock in midst of the sea to an adventerous and wierd trek was the amazing part of the trip she enjoyed. Later as the sun dipped into the sea, we drove to Panchavathi Hanuman temple.

Panchavathi Hanuman temple is located in Dhindivanam route from Pondy and has the idol of 36 feel made of one single granite stone with five different faces of Lord Hanuman. It was an amazing site to see the power of the god transforming into the visual retreat to us who looked tiny in our selves both in the physical form and mental strength. The floating rock weighting 8 kilos taken from the bridge of Rameswaram believed to be from the path laid by Rama and his crew on their way to Lanka as per the Ramayan is a sure catch of surprise and scientific questioning of the past. Sending flowers to Mother's room and visiting Ganesha temple near to Ashram added to our happiness and with that we also watched fisher men going against the tides, the early morning sun rise and the beautiful shores shinning with the rising sun.

As we drove back to Chennai, stopped for a while at Vidhya Ganapathi mandir on the way, which has got a beautiful white marble Ganesha making our trip so complete. It was the most unplanned but beautiful trip I had which rekindled my inner consciouness once again towards my self realization. This life should have a purpose. The purpose is to find happiness in giving hope and happiness to people around.

Shashi Tharoor and Contraversy

I am taken by surprise on seeing the kind of reactions Dr Shashi Tharoor is getting for the comments he posted on twitter and his phrase of "Cattle Class". He was quick to explain what he meant and not to insult the passengers travelling by the Economy Class, but our political brothers dont seem to understand the same

Dr Shashi Tharoor is not a product of goondagiri or from any religious fascism and came to Indian political scenario. He is a highly respected world class personality who in fact made India proud when he was contesting for the UN Gen Sec elections recently. He stood 2nd place of the 7 contestants which is a great achievement to India for the kind of place we are still struggling to get in the United Nations. Talented, intellectual, writer, politician and a reformer and such incidents should not provoke him to leave Indian Politics for people like him are the need of the hour in Indian Democracy.

People who didn't know twitter or even who never followed his flow of conversations simply take this as a chance to put him down. Hmm, Good politicians are hard to survive in Indian Politics for sure. One clean politician who silently is doing his job and holding the most respectable position in External Affairs Ministry cannot be demotivated in such a way. Dr Shashi moved from P2 to being to the top most position in UN by his hard work, consistent growth, actions and deeds that reached beyond borders and bringing in solid decision making working for UN. His work spoke of a person who made it to Indian Parliament in last general elections. Let us encourage such leaders than frustrate them to quit soon!

Tirumala Tirupathi Laddu

No other day would be special to write about Tirupathi, Lord Balaji and his famous Laddu getting the Patent Rights.




Tirupathi Tirumala Temple is the world's richest temple and attracts millions of visitors every day. The abode of Lord Balaji is famous of solving every human problem of his devotees who come to visit him every time. He is said to be the Giving God of Hindu Religion and as per the hindu mythology, Lord Balaji is deemed to be a Protector.

Tirupathi reminds us the following:
1. Lord Balaji and his golden shrine
2. Beautiful mountains and forests
3. Maddening piligrim rush and rituals
4. Everlasting Tirupathi Laddu
5. Tonsured heads as a gratitude to the Lord
6. Lord Hanuman welcoming us to Tirumala
7. Flowing small falls and rocks
8. The loud utterance of his reverance called "Govinda Govinda"

Om Namo Narayana!