Let Us All Be Victorious!

Fear is just a precursor to victory! Darr ke aage jeet hai! Mountain Dew’s iconic statement has managed to make its ways into everyone’s hearts since a long time, with good reasons. Every single person is fighting a unique battle in this war –zone called life. And in this battlefield, we have only one choice –either to fight in the best way possible or give up! And those who fight it through are real winners. The point is excellently made in this wonderful video which is making a lot of waves on all platforms of social media right now-

 

Of course, not every battle need be grandiose! Every fear we face, every little tremor in our heart is a battle to be fought and risen above and they are all worthy of being a part of a bravery gallery. Whether it be a fear of ants, or fear of heights, or fear of loneliness or fear of darkness or fear of ghosts and so on. Overcoming one’s fear of oceans and going out to do solo watersports is as worthy of mention as a simpleton overcoming his/her fear of advanced technology and learning the latest Smartphone or Phablet!

My biggest fears have been Darkness and Vertigo. I find it absolutely horrid to live in dark surroundings even for a second! Blame it on all those creepy horror movies I have seen since childhood or just a natural instinct, when it is dark, I start running around like headless chicken! As a child, I would even scream like a banshee,but over the years I have started trying to overcome this and am proud to report that recently  I was able to sit through a whole 15 minutes of blackout in my apartment, all alone, in my room, without screaming or feeling like a heart attack was coming on! Of course I spent that time reading an e-book on my laptop but still,it is a huge step,where for those 15 minutes I did not let my mind wander towards thinking about monsters under the bed for even a second! I say it is a huge achievement :)

Vertigo is probably one of the commonest fears on this planet. The way I have tried to combat it is taking up activities like Hiking! Recently, I went to  Kodaikanal with my family on a leisure trip and I made it a point to hike around all the beautiful mountains with my family and try and stand near the edge of those hills (within enclosures of course!). This does not mean I will be trying bungee jumping anytime soon,but surely enough,taking baby steps at a time is improvement enough :)

What is important for me is that I retain control of my life and my destiny. By giving power to my fears,I will be giving them control over my life. And that is not how I wish to live my life! Darr ke jeena bhi kya jeena, Let us all overcome fear and be victorious!

Shame Shame,Whose Shame?

#ToiletForBabli –Is this the same Babli from that fun,frothy movie ‘Bunty Aur Babli’? Maybe,maybe not. She is just one of the millions of faceless girls whose lives are at stake simply for want of something that most of us take for granted-> Toilets!

Some time ago,I was surprised when I saw Vidya Balan on TV not promoting a movie but appearing in a social ad exhorting women to say 'No' to marriage if their in-laws did not have toilet in the home! ''How could an issue like building a toilet be so vital that a superstar is being roped in for such cause'', I thought! After all,we all have grown up listening to our grandparents talk about taking the ‘lota’ in the ‘fields’, haven’t we? And then that ghastly scene from ‘Slumdog Millionnaire’ where those boys in Dharavi lived surrounded by heaps of garbage,defecating in open-something we see every morning while commuting.What is the big deal?

And then I started reading newspapers even more intently. More than 597 million people defecating in the open. Girls being raped when they had to venture out of their homes in the dead of the night to answer nature’s call. That is when the point struck home! It is not only a big deal, it is a question of humanity!

Digestion is one of the normal bodily functions. We eat and we drink and we get energy from the same while the waste products have to be excreted. That is why we need and have toilets. Now I am trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who has to live without toilet. Where do I go to answer nature’s calls? In the open. Where does all this waste product go? In our rivers,lakes and seeps to the underground water reservoirs. Who drinks this water? I,my family, my friends. We also eat crops which are grown in the same soil contaminated with all kinds of garbage and bacteria from putrefying human excreta. So who is at biggest risk for diseases like Diarrhoea, Dysentry? Who else but of course me,my family, everyone around me. Add to that the fact that I am Babli, a girl. I have started menstruating and my school doesn't have a toilet. Will I be able to go to school during my monthly cycle? No! Of course, no wonder that so many government and social schemes have also not been able to get 100% girls’ education and that too because of a simple thing-non availability of toilets for girls in schools! I used to read all these like a boring piece of statistics in newspapers but now,I can seriously see the ramifications!

It is especially a dangerous and humane issue in a country like India, where women are among the most vulnerable and preyed upon social groups. Not only is a woman’s ‘dignity’ a big deal and forces her to ‘control herself’ when it comes to defecating when she wants to and ought to; with possible molesters and rapists lurking in every  corner of our poorly lit streets, it is downright dangerous for a woman to venture out at night for a simple task like-answering nature’s calls. Imagine how many innocent lives could be saved if only women had access to toilets in their own homes! No wonder I grew up listening to my mom talking about her mother and grandmother as women who used to drink nothing while travelling so as to spend the entire day without having the urge to urinate anywhere (while of course the menfolk always have it easy!)

Not only is this open defecation a serious national issue, it comes loaded with a host of sanitation, health and criminal problems. I am so thankful to Domex for having taken a wonderful initiative to do something about this. Here is a little something about Domex Toilet Academy-

Domex, HUL’s flagship sanitation brand, currently runs the Domex Toilet Academy (DTA) programme. Domex Toilet Academy was launched on 19th November 2013. It aims to become a sustainable and long-term solution to provide sanitation that benefits the local community and helps stimulate the local economy. The Toilet Academy makes toilets accessible and affordable, while promoting the benefits of clean toilets & good hygiene. Our effort has resulted in bringing the change in the villages of Maharashtra and Orissa and we aim to build 24000 toilets by 2015 in rural areas faced with the problem of open defecation.

Friends,This is an Appeal :) -> You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

I am in to do my part in eradicating this National Shame and I hope all my friends are in too!

My Dream Home..Oh Sweet Home!

You know how girls grow up dreaming about their perfect weddings (at least according to the chick flicks this is 100% true)? Well,I grew up dreaming about my perfect home! Maybe it had something to do with having spent an inordinate amount of time with my best friend Manu who was a born Interior Designer, who would enter a birthday party and immediately pick out 10 different ways to arrange the cushions and the flowers in the room (needless to say,we were kicked out of countless birthday parties)!

So anyway, since I have always been bit by this Home decoration bug-and also owing to my dad’s transferable job we never had any permanent roots, I have always been dreaming about having my own home which I would decorate with world’s best artifacts and what not! It has been a life long dream and ever since I heard about the entry of Numero Uno Porcelanosa in Asia with Kolte-Patil Developers Ltd. for their luxury brand #24KLiving - I had to check it out and and the moment I did, my mind was again filled with images of my Dream Home! Trying not to get overwhelmed with all the choices, here I list down some of my most dreamy ones that are definitely making it to my sweet home :)

I have always had a thing for Natural Wood floor tiles as I want my home to exude an earthiness, a down-to earth quality which is naturally elegant and all-encompassing! Having chosen my floor tiles,I want something sturdy for the walls and I am going to use Natural Stone tiles which will provide a solid overall look, something I value and something that doesn’t erode with time!

Now I will move on to one of the most important rooms of my house-The Kitchen! While I don’t claim to be a Masterchef, my kitchen is definitely one of the busiest hubs of activity since I believe in freely experimenting (palatability is not always a concern for me :P) and my kitchen needs the best for this. Fret not, since I have my eye on some wonderful Kitchen furniture like G500 / G575 Blanco Brillo G670 Roble Camel Vintage that comes with ample storage space and G936 Cristal Verde Oliva / G625 Roble Niebla / G575 Moka Brillo will come handy for all the versatile uses I can think of for as many ingredients as possible :D And of course, the Krion worktop is exactly what I have been waiting for since eons! Classy, elegant, stylish and most importantly, so functional! My dream kitchen is right here!

Another very important room-Bathroom-is where I am getting so stuck! I cannot pick out 1 from so many wonderful choices! I want the Next Roble Coco Vintage as well as In Luxury Blanco Mate / Oro Mate as well as Spirit Collection!  Each one of these signifies a ‘less is more’attitude and exudes an aura of unparalleled vintage style that I adore! And the Shower Set is the stuff that dreams actually are made of!And Escalera K is what I need to keep all my shower accessories in place, spic and span. I love how every piece of furniture and accessory is designed keeping in mind ease of use and functionality and not just as pretty props to be flaunted (though the flaunt quotient is simply off the charts too).

Having spent more than an hour looking through (ogling is more of an apt description) it is time for me to glide back to reality-but with this hope that someday I shall own my dream home and posting pictures of the same,all of them from this beautiful Catalogue that I hold so dear. Oh Sweet Home!

Health Is Wealth

'Aakchoo! Mummy,I don't feel good.'

It is funny how 1 simple sentence,with 5 simple words, has so much potential to terrorize one entire family to bits. All because of that one eventful month 2 years ago.

It was August 2012. The month when we celebrate India's Independence Day. The month in which St. Xavier's College organizes its Inter-Collegiate Festival 'Malhar'. The month my little sister had been waiting eagerly for 6 months now. She had just taken admission there that very academic year and was exploding with excitement at having an opportunity to showcase her talent in Dancing, Singing, Photography, Debate and what not. You know, the usual teenage excitement at going to a top notch college and having a gala time at the mega-popular youth festival.

Until, 1 fine day, we heard her going 'Aakchoo'. No big deal, just pop in some herbal tea and maybe a couple D-cold and it will be all fine. The next day, Fever joined the list, albeit mildly. No issues, it is monsoon season after all. Pop in a couple Crocin and it will be okay. Body pain made an appearance on the 3rd day. Hmm,maybe something is wrong after all. So there was that mandatory trip to the family doctor. A couple of impressive looking tablets, syrups and we came home satisfied, nothing more than one of those pesky monsoon infections.

Except that it was not. Fever kept rising, so did mom's, dad's and my blood pressure. 2 more days and finally she herself decided to go to the nearest hospital for a detailed check-up. Final diagnosis? Typhoid! Course of action-Immediate hospitalization for at least 3 days and then bed rest for at least a week!

What? How is that possible? We eat healthy, we are vegetarians, we eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, we are not supposed to get so sick!

Well, it happened,as such things tend to happen. And so the circus began.

Wake up, run to hospital, do household work, make special (read-boiled, spice-less, taste-less) food especially for 'the patient', feed her, come home, call up her friends to make sure she did not miss any important test, go meet them in case there are some important notes to be taken. And who exactly was involved in doing all this? Of course, The Entire Family!

When the child of the house gets sick,it affects the psychology of every member of the family and shakes the very roots of the home. Going to office, doing regular work, watching TV-nothing seems possible as the mind is always engaged in debating with oneself over futile questions like-how did this happen? what can we do to avoid this in future? what could we have done? how long does she have to suffer? And of course the doctors do not make it easier by ordering a 100 tests one after the other making everyone even more anxious! The whole atmosphere is tense and almost on the verge of a mental breakdown!

It is in such situations that one realizes the important role Health plays in our lives. Something we all take for granted. We all know that 'Health is Wealth' but very few of us actually realize its importance till we are hit by the presence of a gaping hole in our hearts by the absence of someone we all love so much! Missing a child's innocent smile, their incessant questions, their sense of wonder, their curiosity-it is hard to come up with anything that could hurt one so much!

That is why my family has made Dabur Chyawanprash our resident doctor. We know first hand how important it is that we take care of our immunity. Eating fruits, vegetables, drinking water, sleeping properly and such good lifestyle tips are well and good but to be Truly Healthy from within, the immune system has to be as strong as cast iron. And Chyawanprash is a time tested formula, a blessing we have gotten from our ancestors.

Of course,it does not mean we are now perfect beings. We sometimes do gorge on junk food. Sometimes we do take the risk of eating roadside chaats. Sometimes we also do 'Aakchoo' :D But we always remember the Golden Mantra-Health is Wealth!

When Diwali Comes Knocking..

..I could finish this sentence in so many ways-'..my asthma acts up' or '..I miss my nani the most' or..but the point is, you wouldn't know what I am talking about,right? So let me start from the beginning :)

It is a Sunday morning and like all Sundays,my ritual is to browse around the net lazily looking for something unique and so I ended up at this wonderfully colorful and festive site 'Pepsi Ghar Wali Diwali' and then this wonderful Video which made me reminisce about my own Diwali moments, especially during childhood!

Diwali-the most important festival in our home. Growing up, I looked forward to Diwali vacations as much as Emraan Hashmi likes kissing scenes in his script! It was the only day day in the year I voluntarily woke up early and assumed the responsibility of looking after my little sister and getting her ready while mom prepared savories and sweets. Most amazing part of every Diwali was our nana-nani coming down from Varanasi and staying with us for a month-every night of which was spent in nani's godi listening to stories of Shiva and Vishnu..My Naani is really democratic,she freely told us stories of every God possible no matter what the occasion, so yes Diwali was also spent thinking about Krishna and Brahma for us :D

                      

So, right about when I was 11, one fine Diwali, as always, I woke up at 6 AM and jumped out of bed like a mongoose, running right up to mom and dad, screaming, 'Diwali aayi, Diwali aayi!' This made my sister (who was 5 at the time) join me in creating an even bigger stampede which was doused only when nanaji intervened and enjoined us to take shower and get ready. Mom was already busy making Gujhiyas, Namkeen, Shakarpara, Malpua,Puri-Bhaaji, Naariyal Ladoo, Boondi Ladoo..all supervised by naniji ofcourse :) Dad was soon off to market to get our supply of flower pots, fuljhadis, anaars and chakris. As a rule, my mom-dad always celebrated Diwali as a Festival of 'Lights', not 'noise'-so no bombs, no rockets, nothing that could turn midway to bite any of us in our butt !

                       

Dad and Nanaji then also got off to get a tokri full of flowers which were woven into huge garlands for decorating the house and Ganpati-Laksmi ji in the evening for Pooja...Afternoons were reserved for decking up, putting aaltas on all the ladies' feet, braiding our hair, getting the new clothes out, trying them on a 1000 times until naniji yelled, 'ab bas karo', putting on lacto calamine to save our skin from all the harmful chemicals.

                         

After Lakhsmi Pooja and stuffing ourselves with sweets and savories, we would go down in the apartment complex garden and play with all the crackers. Now on this particular Diwali my nanaji had,on a whim, got some really powerful rockets and light bombs too..reason-he was a big fan of noisy crackers as a child and even though his grand-daughters did not play with them, he knew there were enough boys in the complex to get excited with them. So he had got about 2000 rupees worth of such burstling crackers and dad had played along as long as my sister and I kept at a safe distance.

But of course, who could have read the mind of a 11 year old? There was this particular bomb, not very noisy, but emitted a lot of smoke which was purple in color and I LOVED IT! I kept going back with nanaji to burst it and dad let me go because,well, I was in safe hands. But 10 minutes later and I suddenly had the nastiest Asthma Attack you can imagine! I get these very rarely and had never got one during diwali earlier! So I was rushed to this doctor we fortunately had in our compound and obviously, he diagnosed it as the inevitable result of that 'purple smoke'! Boy,was that nasty! I can still feel my lungs covered in purple soot as naniji cradled me in her godi and I slept the rest of the night,coughing and drifting in and out of sleep while the rest of our apartment children enjoyed the crackers with my dad and nanaji!

Till date, whenever I smell crackers or even a diya-whether it be mom burning the evening diya or celbrations after India wins a match, or when Ganpati comes to our apartment complex or yes, when Diwali comes knocking, all I can remember is that Asthma Attack and naniji ki godi! 

Oh, How I Love Diwali!

                           
                      

(PS-All pictures taken by my sister Prachi Shailendra during various Diwali days in our household over the years. You can admire more of her pics at CLICKOLOGY but if anyone tries to steal them without her permission,she will perform the nastiest kind of Black Magic on them, trust me!!!)

PPS-Thank you PepsiCo and Indiblogger for bringing #GharWaliDiwali Campaign in our midst and making us misty eyed with all the memories :)