A dark day – Peshawar School Massacre

There are simply no words to explain what the world has just witnessed. It’s one of the darkest days we will live through and still move on with our lives. What else are common people like us are capable of? With anger and pain in our hearts, we can simply curse the utterly barbaric attack which God or the supreme power mercilessly, has allowed to materialize.

What is unimaginable is the endless, unspeakable pain of the families of the 132 children whose lives were cut short on a casual day to school. Who would have thought that a day to school would result in a mass tragedy for a huge number of families whose dreams must have been tied to their children? Some vicious venom made its way into the lives of these children and snatched away the happiness of these families, resulting in pain that will last till eternity.

Of course, the blame game has begun. But the truth is that, we all are responsible for this, as human beings. It definitely tells us that, we as humans, are far away from being called progressed human beings. It’s not the progress in technology or science or medicine or career that matters to the world. All these fields are just there to facilitate our lives. At the end of the day, what remains in our hearts is what truly matters.

Things are done. Deaths have occurred. For now, I would simply want God to give immeasurable strength for the mothers who have lost the apple of their eyes to a gun shot. This day will be marked forever in their hearts as the killing of dreams.

The ingredients for writing a book

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Have you ever wanted a book that told you everything about writing. well, here it is. I have penned down a book which talks everything about writing. But remember, any book can only show you the way. It cannot make you write but only you can do that. A book can only show you how it's done. There are plenty of books out there which describe about writing. There were some things which I never found in any books. So, I decided to write down one that can probably help someone who wants to know the business of writing.

Writing a book isn't an easy job. It requires a lot of effort from a single person to have a serious thought on a particular subject and put it down into words to produce a book. The labor of writing isn’t limited to writing alone for it involves knowledge in various other areas such as plotting, researching, editing, submitting and marketing. A writer has to possess strong command over language, has to be interested in reading all kinds of books and should have the motivation to keep himself going even when he wants to stop. A writer has to possess certain qualities to grow from being a beginner to being a well-read writer.

The book “The Ingredients for writing a book” throws light for the newbie writers who know that they want to become a writer but have no idea how to do so. A lot of people abandon their dreams when they have nobody to guide them. This book will teach writers on how to start writing a book and stay with it until it’s completed. This book is for people who have difficulty in realizing their true purpose for writing. It is aimed to help writers develop their writing style by learning the art of English grammar and implementing them in the correct technique.

This book will boost writers to generate more writing by having faith that the stories they write will definitely make a difference in the literary world.

Perspective, way of looking at life

Source: Paulo Coelho's blog

The Argentinean golfer Robert de Vincenzo went to the parking lot to get his car after having won an important tournament.
At that moment, a woman approached him. After congratulating him for his victory, she told him her son was at the edge of death and that she had no money to pay the hospital bills.

De Vincenzo immediately gave her part of the money he had won that afternoon.

A week later, at a lunch at the Professional Golf Association, he told this story to a couple of friends. One of them asked him if the woman was blond with a small scar under her left eye.

De Vincenzo agreed. “You were cheated,” his friend said.

“This woman is a swindler and is always telling the same story to all foreign golfers that show up here.”

“So there is no child at the edge of death?”
“No.”
“Well, this was the best news I got this week!” said the golf player.

Most people believe that their life happens to them

Source: Paulo Coelho's blog

“Most people believe that their life happens to them. That everything which occurs happens because of external circumstances that are independent of their will. Some people call this fate, others call it God’s will, and others choose to call it chance. But regardless of what they call it, they are giving away the responsibility for their lives; they relinquish control over their joys and their sorrows. They become an actor in someone else’s play.

“Every single event in your life is determined solely by you, by your unlimited creative capacity. You can manifest beauty and abundance, just as you can manifest cruelty and oppression. You can manifest joy, just as you can manifest suffering. It is up to you, and no one else. You are the director of the play of your life, and you are writing the script with every breath, every thought, every emotion. It is likely, however, that you are not fully aware of the story you are writing. And thus it is easier to believe that external forces come into play.”

“It is only when we become fully aware of the story that we can choose to write a different one.”

Passwords, giving the needed push

I just happened to recently read an article on reader's digest about how passwords can change lives. The topic itself, intriguing, I was drawn towards what the writer had to say on how a password could affect lives. Passwords, now being the most mundane things of our lives, do not appear to be anything different or exciting to our lives. Of course, they hold a secretive part of us, when we hide our lover's names or secured codewords. In the current era, coming up with a password is no easy task when you have to keep replacing one every two or three months with the new password matching a new set of criteria each time.

Memorizing passwords are really hard when you have to store at least ten of them in your head. I counted once and found that I needed to remember at least 15 of them which was impossible. I simply had to write them down in a secretive place. Coming back to the article that I read, the writer showed a way of how passwords, than just being random set of letters and symbols, can actually be made into something that can uplift our minds.

Say you have been having a rough patch with someone, your husband, your friend or your relative. The tiff stays in your head not letting you think of anything else. Next time you change your password, keep it something related to your problem, like forgive@her$$ or forget@fight, anything at all. When you type this password numerous times a day to login, it will start beginning to work inside your brain actually letting you live the password. In no time, you will find yourself forgiving the person or forgetting the argument that had dodged up your head.

Say if you are looking for a new job, a soul mate or you have a dream. Having passwords related to things that hold utmost importance in your life can actually let you achieve things and improve situations.

I am not really sure how far this works but hey, it's worth giving a shot. Try giving it a chance with your next password. I am definitely giving it a try.

Frogs being boiled

Several biological studies have shown that a frog placed in a container along with water from his pond, he will remain alive while you heat the water. The toad does not react to the gradual increase of temperature (change of environment) and only dies when the water boils, swollen and happy.

On the other hand, if a toad is thrown into that same container when the water is already boiling, he will immediately jump out. He will be a little singed, but alive!

Sometimes we can be like the boiled toads. We do not notice changes.
We think everything is good, or that whatever is evil will pass, it’s just a matter of time.

We are about to die, but we are floating, stable and apathetic as the water warms up every minute.
We are dying, fat and happy, without having noticed the changes around us.

There are boiled toads who still believe that the key is obedience, not competence: might is right, and obey whoever is sensible. From all this, where is the real life? It is better to emerge from a situation, maybe a little singed from time to time, but alive and ready to act.

A memorial that will live forever

When I first visited NY in May 2014, I was impressed with the tall skyscrapers and the huge rush on the roads that reminded me of India in more than many ways. I noticed that the city had a glossy touch of style and elegance that was nowhere to be found. But what I didn’t notice was this – a layer of pain covered with memories and aching tales was also painted in the midst of the glamorous world that enveloped the city.

I eventually happened to visit the 9/11 memorial as well. I had heard about the 9/11 incident numerous times before, who hasn't, right? 9/11-The unforgettable incident that shook the world and changed the course of a country forever. But I hadn't so much heard about the memorial because it had opened up recently for the world to look at.

As I stared down at the black stoned memorial, peering to get a better view in the midst of tourist who were thronging for pictures, I noticed small waterfalls throughout the open black stoned huge space. I also noticed that they had engraved the names of those who lost their lives in the attack. That was it. I simply posed for a couple of pictures and declared that NYC was a beautiful place for its view from empire state building, statue of liberty and the Times Square. I had summed NYC in these three glossy famous places.

Little did I know that I was completely wrong. Recently, I watched a documentary ‘Ground Zero’ on Netflix that spoke about the meticulous planning that underwent into the construction of the new tower and the memorial. The one hour episode showed me the pain and the shock and the broken lives of the people who witnessed the attack, who worked afterward to build the broken lives and those who involved themselves into rising up with a new tower and a memorial.

I was simply touched by the courage and confidence the people had displayed in the aftermath of the attack. I had always thought that pain was subjective to individuals but when I saw the birth of the memorial in the documentary, I realized that a million hearts can feel the same pain and be affected by it to the same degree.

But what amazed me the most is the way the memorial is built to depict that the hollowness will remain forever in the space where the towers were once standing, the emptiness will never be replaced. Though the pain will be there forever, the memorial speaks of true courage.

I would not like to explain more in words for it will always remain an unexplainable situation. I would simply like to salute all those brave hearts who will continue to live forever through the memorial.

My take on why Netflix is a gift!

When I first came to the states, I always found ways to complain by comparing it with my motherland, India. That’s right; your country suddenly comes first when you step outside of it. But then, I learnt to look at the good things in the new land as well (I still complain though, old habits die hard :)).

One of the good stuff is Netflix. Darn, I know there are plenty other things one can think about other than watching fast, uninterrupted, extremely clear video streaming, ain’t it? But that’s the pretty thing about Netflix, where you can watch a good number of series on different genres. I usually don’t go about talking nice even about the things that are good because I am one of those people who let other people discover things by themselves.

For some reason, Netflix has been such a huge part of my life for a long time that I thought it would be fun to let someone know that there is some amazing stuff in the bunch of video streaming series. Of course, they have movies too; a lot of crappy ones- makes me wonder why they have in there in the first place. But the good part is that they have an amazing collection of series that suits all your moods.

Some of the best ones that I have watched are- Prison break (extreme thrilling experience), Arrested Development, Mellisa and Joey, The office, Ally McBeal, How I met your mother, The IT crowd (a bunch of rib tickling hilarious stuff) and The killing (all murder and blood) and many more which I am yet to discover.

The most important part is that we all are looking for something that makes us feel good at the end of the day. One of the things about watching these series, the good ones, is that it lets you a peek into how easy lives could be if we simply had a sense of humor, a mad- exaggerated sense of humor.

Nonetheless, I shall refrain from judging the place and follow – take what you get and enjoy the little fruits life has to offer.

What would you take to bed each night?

One of the things about life is that, than us being able to give out, we have to be able to take from life as well. Taking is just not about having materialistic comforts because there is a lot that you can take just by looking at another person. As humans, it's hard to feel happy when your neighbor or friend has everything going on in his life unlike you who has to wait for things to happen. Well, you could disagree telling that you most certainly are happy for your friends but you definitely would not deny the little twinge that you feel when the other appears to be lucky in everything he does. That's human nature, to feel unlucky and unhappy by looking at a successful person. You don't have to be miserable or guilty about that.

We can actually turn the tables of our life and realize why it is more important to see another person happy. For our own growth, it is essential to be around people who have everything going. As bad as it sounds, there are times when we try to keep away from people who seem to be happy all the time. I mean, it is annoying to have things not moving at all in your life while being around someone who enjoys all the fruits of life. We tend to stay away from such people just to ease the pain of our lives.

Instead of turning away, when we start to look around and hope for another person's happiness, we start believing that good things can happen to us also, someday. And each one of us needs that belief to keep us moving ahead to know that one day, what we want will happen. It is important for us to believe that when our neighbor or friend gets lucky in life, we will also touch the stars, someday.

Each night, you can chose what you want to take to bed from life so that the next coming day brings hope. And hope is a small word that can create a huge difference.

Surviving the unknown

At some time earlier in our lives, probably a few years ago, the only fear we had was facing tragedy. Of course, we worried for our family, friends and ourselves all the time.  We still do. Most of the times, the things that happen to us had answers or I would say, closure.

In someway, the meaning of facing life has changed drastically.  The idea of surviving the unknown has become the hardest of things.  As humans, we are designed to live with certainty.  Uncertainty and vagueness scares us. We like to have answers for everything and we want reasons.

Without reasons, it becomes hard to survive. The truth is that, not everything in life happens for a reason.  Or even if does, its usually not obvious to us at that time. May be in the future, when we find ourselves in a far away land with happiness lingering, the reasons may come to us. Or sometimes they may never come forever. 
We need courage to live reality but we need to be stronger to survive the unknown. Living with questions is also a way of life.

Read somewhere - you don't have the answer now because you have enough strength only to survive the questions.  Someday, you will find the answers. 

The missing closure : MH370

Real life is defintely more eventful than the movies and fiction books. Though we all say that life is monotonous and that routine life is boring, nothing is more exciting and unbelievable than reality. When I first read the news stating that a flight had been lost out there, I knew that reality was horrible and at the same time,was a bitter hard truth.

With the advent of technologies and also with the involvement of major countries, it was assumed that the flight would be eventually tracked down. Now, even after two weeks of extensive search and usage of man power and technology, we are back to the same news, that there is no evidence except for the fact that we have to now believe that the flight crashed into the ocean. Of course, this is not a proper closure but it now snatches away the hope that had filled the days of the families and friends. Accepting the loss without knowing the real truth will take days to come while the world moves on focussing on things that are less mysterious.

On the other hand, this incident probably proves the fact that no matter what humans develop or no matter what heights we reach with technology, we cannot compete with mother nature. We can only improve our lives with aid of technology but we can't hope to fight against nature.

While we pray for those who died on the plane, the reality check for us is that life, as we see it, is terribly short and unpredictable. Let's try to get through each passing day with a hint of smile and hope because there is really less room for complain.

Where is your trash can?

Trash can? Whoever talks about owning a trash can!!! Well, nobody does because trash cans are just part of our daily lives that are used to collect garbage totally not needed inside the house. It so happens that not only our houses get filled with garbage, but our hearts and minds do as well.

Garbage like worry, fear, anger, disappointments, anxiety, sadness – all these are forms of garbage that are piling up in a human heart but needs to be cleaned from time to time. Sometimes, when you talk to people, like a friend, a spouse or a parent, you feel lighter as if the garbage has been removed. But more often than not, it doesn’t work when you try to use another human as your garbage can because the same garbage is going to affect them if they don’t take it lightly.

You know what? There are other garbage cans which you can choose to empty your garbage into. Next time you have the urge to talk to someone and if nobody is around, pick up a paper and a pen, pour out your thoughts, without any editing or cropping. Crumple the paper after you are done. Throw it away. Burn it if it gives you any peace. The paper never asks you any question. Of course, it doesn’t give you a solution as well but, sometimes, we are simply forced to live the questions because we are not ready for answers. All you can do it spill it out on someone or something.

Keeping a private journal where you can write down your thoughts and worries is a great way to get rid of the daily garbage that’s building up within. Choose your garbage can with care because what’s inside you should only be what you let be. There can be no space for trash.