Life - or something like it

Off late I have been a bit stressed out and some pent up feelings of frustration have been coming out in a bad way.In my daily dose of girl talk with my dear friend shipra I poured it all out.She like a good friend sent me this chapter from one of Stephen Covey's Books which helped me think straight so I felt I should put it on my blog. It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations). What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%. How? ……….By your reaction. You cannot control a red light. but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react. L

Are marriages really made in Heaven??? If they are ,then god sure does have a wacky sense of humor.I have seen both arranged marriages and love marriages falling apart. The discussion about if love marriages are better than arranged and vice versa has been discussed enough number of times....lets move on to something else. Harriet and I were talking about a common friend (an Indian) who will only marry the girl his parents choose for him. It is quite normal for me to hear this but it was quite shocking for Harriet who is a Swede. Her question was "how can he marry someone without knowing her and if he does not love her?", "How can you marry someone you are not passionate about?". Upon hearing the word "passion" I had flashing images of Bollywood and Hollywood flicks.... Hindi Movie Scene- Unmarried Hero and heroine just manage one kiss in the entire 3 hrs and sometimes passionate scenes are shown... Married Hero and Heroine (Poor things) dont even get a ki

This movie is an epitome of what a Blockbuster Hindi movie should be. Much has been written and said about this movie so how could I not write something about it. I have seen "Sholay" countless number of times and know all the dialogues by-heart. My romance with this movie started very early in life. My father had a audio cassette of this movie with all the dialogues and songs. Even though I had never seen the movie it was fun just listening to the dialogues which were and are still so powerful even after more than 30 years after it was made. I dont remember when I saw "Sholay" for the first time. I recently saw the movie again. The beginning of the movie is so much akin to a western movie.The bandits on horse back trying to rob a 'maal gaadi'(goods train) has been shot really well. The film was a commercial diaster when it was first released in 1975. It was a Lavish film for its time and took 2.5 years to film it. Critics were harsh in their judgement. Onl

In the Lancaster University campus I've made a lot of new friends...some from countries I had never thought I would...mainly Pakistan. Since we share a turbulent past and a chaotic present .It was tough at first not to be judgmental towards them. As we got to know them better my prejudice waned... We travel together, have dinners at each others place...discuss a lot of various topics..but completely avoid controversial subjects like the Kashmir issue.. One of the topic was about Hindu Religion. The only traditions of Hindu culture which they knew, was after seeing innumerable Hindi Movies and "Saas Bahu" serials. I never knew it will become so difficult to answer the question "Who is a Hindu?" and "What is exactly Hinduism?". My husband and I both tried to explain them the concept, which I am sure was hazy at the most.Hindu Culture is so vast and old...how to encompass so many traditions in a single line... Finally I decided to research a bit and came

In my search for the perfect body lotion I came across shelf upon shelf of body lotions which maintain your perfect tan and tanning lotions which help you tan.Well again at the cost of repeating myself I will say "Summers here" in UK. The campus is converted into a beach where semi naked bodies are lying down in the sun .Its like the entire University is in a picnic mood. Well back home in "good ole India" we run for cover from the blazing sun not to get tanned. All the beauty regimes definitely include how to get rid of that ugly tan . Where as the Sun heats up, we can see our feet bearing the design of our footwear . Its kind of ironic to see the fair skinned "Firangs" wanting our skin shade "BROWN" (as Russel Peters likes to call) and us trying desperate measures to look fairer. How could I miss talking about the beauty cream "Fair and lovely" . I personally feel that the product should be banned from the market. It actually promote

That is exactly my state of mind right now...since its my blog I am allowed freedom of expression... When you are in a very bad mood that is all you can say..... Well for starters a very good friend of mine dumped me...(I know that boyfriends dump you and not friends) but most of us don't realize that they dump you when they don't want to be in touch anymore....and your attempts to revive that bond falls flat on your face... Just like in a romantic relationship you are left wondering what did you do wrong? Is it something you did or said that lead to this situation. Most of the times the so called friends just drift away because life takes us all in different directions.There is no more common ground on which you can meet or have fun together.But you still manage to hang on to a few close friends and try to be in touch with them as much as you can and not let geographical distance be an issue. But again the same thing happens and then you really start doubting yourself all over

I was recently reading my friends blog and he had written something about being an adult...that got me thinking of my teenage years...and time spent with my sisters and my younger cousin.... I have 2 elder sisters...hang on...I am not a pampered brat or something...though I am sure my sisters will disagree on this.... I had a very volatile relation with my elder sister who is just a year older (and I guess the remnants are still there)and more of a stable and "I revere her" types with my eldest who is seven years older. My younger cousin was more there for me to bully around and also be my good confidante in all the naughty things that I planned. Though I was never a kid who loved to destroy stuff and make other peoples lives miserable , in my middle sister's terms (Lets call her 'A') I was a kid who deserved some strong words every time I did something wrong.....which I actually thought was fun... I still clearly remember my first experience of stepping into teen