Live the life, not the lifestyle....

I read a simple little sentence recently : Live the life, not the lifestyle. Outwardly, this is a very simple sentence that sounds very intelligent and all, but really, it seems to have so much of meaning hidden that I just couldn't stop myself from jotting down my thoughts on its manifold deep ramifications.

How many times have we heard our elders say "such was not the case in our times..." Why, even we tell our kids so many times, "you are lucky, you know; things were much different when we were young..." What does this tell us? Times change....so do circumstances. What is there today may not be tomorrow, and what was yesterday, might have disappeared somewhere down the line...without us even noticing what happened...

Now, if you are moving to better times from trying ones, then your journey is always a happpy one; but unfortunately, if you are moving from good times to bad (this has nothing to do with the king of good times, mind you) then things can get tricky for you. Take the story of Cinderella, for example. A true blue, rags to riches story. The girl must have been only too happy to jump into the palace life with Prince Charming. But look at Snow White, how much of cooking and cleaning she had to do staying with the dwarfs! Why go abroad, look at our own Sita, from the Ramayana, or Draupadi from the Mahabharata.....Or take the case of Ram and Laxmana, the princes of Ayodhya, or the Pandavas of Hastinapur....Kings and Queens and princes and princesses....all of them used to all the riches of the world. But circumstances threw them a curve ball that would've been difficult for anyone to manage. But they did, and how!

This is what intrigues me, the ability to sustain, no matter what. Stand like a rock, solid, be it high tide or low tide. There is a saying, 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going' and this is what is a sign of perseverance. Not all can do this. Most fail. But what is it that does not make those others fail? What was special about these people who could stand tall despite the circumstances surrounding them..? They were all good at heart, courageous....but most of all, they lived their lives...as wives...mothers.....husbands, kings......good people.....and not their lifestyles as princesses and queens and kings......

They lived the life, not their lifestyle!

How many people we see in real life today who are not able to take their down fall; while so many others, who stand up each and every time they are knocked down? It is not possible for us to ask that life never knock us down; but what we can ask for is that we have enough strength to stand up again...and again....and again! So pray ask for life.....lifestyles will change with time...what matters is your life, as you know it.

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आईचा ब्रेक

मिस्टर सानेंनी हळू डोळे उघडले. खिडकीतून उन्हं येत होती. खाडकन जागे झाले. दुपार झाली कि काय! घड्याळ बघितल, हुश्श, आठच वाजतायेत! पण पुढच्याच क्षणी लक्षात आलं, आठ वाजले तरी किचन मधून काही आवाज येत नाहीयेत. आज तर गुरुवार, वर्किंग डे, एव्हाना किचन मधून आवाजच नव्हे तर तर-तर्हेचे वासही यायला हवेत. डबा तयार झाला असला पाहिजे, चहा तयार झाला आला पाहिजे. पण आज कसलीच हालचाल दिसत नाही! शेजारी पहिल तर मिसेस सानेही शेजारी नाहीत. काय भानगड आहे बुआ आज? चष्मा चढवून मिस्टर साने बेडरूम मधून बाहेर आले. मिसेस सानेंचा घरात कुठेच पत्ता नव्हता! गेली कुठे ही? मिस्टर सानेंनी सुनबाईंना विचारायच ठरवलं. पण श्वेता त्यांना कुठे दिसेना. इतक्यात, "गुडमॉर्निंग बाबा!" म्हणत श्वेता जांभई देत बाहेर आली आणि त्यांच्या उत्तराची वाट न पाहता, तडक "गुडमॉर्निंग आई" म्हणत किचन मध्ये गेली. मिस्टर साने तिला काही सांगणार इतक्यात, "अहो बाबा, आई कुठेयत?" म्हणत पुन्हा बाहेर आली. एव्हाना तिची झोप पूर्णपणे उडाली होती. "माहित नाही बुआ, मला वाटलं तुला काही बोलली असेल..." त्यांन...

A Break In The Pattern

The train stops. She looks around. It is a big station, large and open, nothing like the big city railway stations that she has seen. This station is surrounded by lush greenery as far as the eye can see. There is a chill in the air. And a sense of belonging. She breathes it in, deeply. She walks towards the end of the platform to the foot-overbridge that will take her out of the station. A few taxis and auto rickshaws are lined up near the exit, and she hires one at random. The driver helps her stow her one bag near her feet, while she sits to one side of the wide seat, as if she is sharing space with someone. Because she is used to taking up only so much space – always in a corner, trying not to make her presence felt. Now as she thinks this, she moves a little towards the centre of the seat, as if to affirm to herself that she is now travelling all by herself, for the first time in her life. You wouldn’t really know it now, to look at her, but she is scared out of h...

Love them or hate them....

"Behind every great kid is a mom who is pretty sure she is getting it all wrong", they say. True, parenting is a game of 'wait and watch.' There is no right or wrong here; or nothing that is a sure fire success mantra. Everyone has a different take on on how they wish to raise their young ones. And it is the choices that parents make that impact their children majorly.

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