Self Contemplation

We are now living through unexpected times in our lives... 

Life may seem out of normal, and we wish to go back to normal...
I came across this quote... "In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of “Normal” are worth rushing back to..."

Let's slow down and use this adversity as an opportunity and do some self contemplation....

It is now the time for us to slow down a bit, give the much needed space and time for nature to heal itself and others, realize that Health is the real wealth and prevention is better than cure...

It is now the time to realize that "Life" as we call it is defined by your "Present" moment, and that's what is to be cherished and valued... 

It is now the time to slow down, and spend time with family..

Take time to connect with friends and family, far and near, show them your gratitude, encouraging them to stay safe..

It is time to pause, watch the skies that seems to be getting clearer as we have paused the generations of pollution... 

Thanks to Spring, I can relax in the cozy space of my backyard, enjoy watching the graceful birds playing on birdbath and bushes, their faint chirping that now sound like an audible melodious birdsong...

The green leaves and rustling branches that have a deep aesthetic appeal...

All these pleasant diversions that I am enjoying, away from the stark lines and harsh noises of the manmade environment, which I had once started believing to be "Normal"...

They're a revitalizing reminder that all of us, the confirmed urban dwellers, are still part of our natural beautiful world.

It is now time for us to show gratitude for everyone and everything around us.

Snug Retreat

Spring is here again; its 8th year in a row...right next to the same old chime hanging on my porch at the top right corner. The mother bird has been busy building her nest for the last couple of days.Its amazing to see how hard she has been working. She has been patiently making multiple trips, carrying only a speck of each item in her tiny beak every time. In an attempt to build her nest, mud, Sticks, twigs, pine needles, dirt, tan barks, grass and dry leaves have been gathering at the corner. In the beginning when she starts building her nest, there is more stuff lying on the ground. In the end, she figures it and slowly yet steadily she would have her nest ready to welcome the li'l tweeters into her family.
Soon, One day the eggs would hatch, and the mother bird will be busy finding food and feeding her babies. At last she would decide they are big enough to learn to fly. She would fly around the nest and show her babies how it is done. Soon all the little birds fly away and in a few days, the empty nest will magically disappear! And the story repeats itself the next spring..This is what we have been seeing for the past few years!

I am awestruck by her patience as she is forced to build her own nest, twig by twig. Makes me wonder about our own lives.. Reaching our own goals in life does not happen overnight. As long as we keep going , twig by twig, just like the mother bird, it is assured that we are making progress towards our goal, and of course teach our li'l ones to be independent! Nature is indeed, the best teacher ever!!!

seasons... or is it the voice of nature?

These are some pictures I captured while walking through the same path during each season...Nature is one of God’s astounding masterpieces, showcasing brilliant colors in every creation, as small as an ant to our great universe, that only HE could create. Is every form of nature trying to voice their emotion through changing colors and seasons?
  There are various theories associated with colors. Through various colors in their artwork, artists convey a range of emotions to people. Nature is a wonderful artist that manifests itself in various forms, in multitude of colors, kindling a variety of emotions and feelings in us – relaxing and soothing blue, passionate red, cheerful yellow, refreshing green, warm and welcoming orange, royal purple, tender and feminine pink, studious and ambiguous grey, soothing and comforting brown, and so on…. Nature is an incredible, colorful masterpiece by the divine. Isn't the voice of nature that completely transforms our mood and emotions?

Web of Life

As I continued with my morning walk, something caught my attention – a wonder of art, nature’s master piece - a giant spider web! The patterns on the spider web seemed to be an engineering marvel. I am amazed by the perfect symmetrical patterns composed of numerous triangles and rectangles!

Spiders don’t appeal to me at all, and I do find them creepy. But, looking at the spider web, it does reflect upon the persistence and dedication of spiders. A spider instinctively knows the best location to find it's prey, and it gets started with the web. Spiders don’t wait for a best location nor for the best weather or a best day! Once it starts spinning the strands, there is no looking back. It spins the web continuously, may be for hours or even days? The web itself is so delicate and yet the spider has complete confidence in the strength of its web. In spite of all the hard work, the web might be blown away by wind, or washed away by rain, or cleaned up by humans. The web that takes hours or even days to be woven, takes only a fraction of a minute or second to get destroyed. But, these forces are not going to stop a spider from spinning the web. It might start spinning another one, may be a better one that can withstand the forces of nature?

Though it’s a tiny creature, I am amazed by the strength and size of the web! This shows the power of its dreams, and the perseverance in making its dream come true!

Spiders do teach us some valuable life lessons. Whatever you want to achieve in life, get started now. There is no perfect time to get started than now. We too can dream big, and make it come true, sooner or later! We too should work diligently until our dreams become reality. Often in life we face a lot of challenges and setbacks, but those should not hold us back. If there is a need to start all over again, we should. Life is a process of continuous improvement.

As always, there are so many valuable lessons to learn and understand from nature. Our senses have far more potential than we actually use. When we spend some time outside with nature, close our eyes and listen as far as we can hear, it’s incredible how much more we notice when we take the time to slow down. Even with all the challenges facing our planet, nature never gives up. By making a commitment to grow and follow our dreams, we too can overcome any challenge. It is true that when we start investigating life with an attitude of curiosity, we're led down a trail to amazing discoveries! The web of our life continues to grow to a masterpiece!

Challenges of "Working from Home", or "Telecommuting"

Whenever I tell people that I work from home I get the usual “that’s cool!” or “you’re so lucky.” But it’s not always as “cool” or easy as one would think. These are people who see you during your best hours and don’t see the 13+ hour days you’re putting in slaving in your office..Although working from home gives you freedom from long commute, and rush hour traffic, it also calls for strict self-discipline.

There are a lot of difficulties and challenges of working from home. In a regular office environment when your computer crashes, you just call tech support or just walk to the support desk, and they fix it for you and you’re good to go.  If there is a network/database issue at work, you don't need to worry, because it is not just your problem - everyone else is impacted. In such situations at least you could ask your colleague and confirm if he/she has the same issue... But, when you are working from home, even if there is a genuine network/database issue, you are still paranoid as to whether it is just something wrong with your network...While at work, if your computer crashes two hours away from your deadline, no problem, you could access most of your files from a shared online location, and you can access your files from a co-worker’s computer. When you work from home you are usually on your own. You are the maintenance man, the technical support guy and your very own Mr. All-in-All. When the internet or phone connection breaks down at home, it's very frustrating until you get it resolved.. It just adds up to the tention. If you are at work, even  when you step out for a long lunch break, or a tea break, or out for a walk, it might not matter so much - people know that you are in at work, so you don't need to prove yourself. But, when you work from home, there is a constant stress that you need to be very quick in responding to emails or IMs or phone-calls from work. There is always a pressure to prove that you are keeping up with your work.

Working from home has it's own advantages for a working mom, as it gives her the flexibility to manage her family as well as work. For instance, I have the advantage of picking up my kids from school, without having to send them to a daycare or an after-school care. I don't have to worry about looking for alternative arrangements for my kids, when they have day(s) off at school.  At the same time, it calls for a great deal of self-discipline. I adhere to my self-discipline, and be very organized, and try to keep confined to the office space during working hours to keep myself in “work mode” throughout my work schedule. I need to manage time wisely, so that I don't compromise on the quality of work that I deliver, and at the same time, I need to manage pickup/drop-off for my kids from/to school and other classes. It is a challenge to keep oneself away from the distractions at home, especially when the kids are around. But, kids too learn to be organized, and learn to manage time, and understand the seriosness and importance of the job that we handle. They understand that their mom is juggling with time, trying to keep up her good work with her job, as well as provide a great deal of support for the family.

So, for people who don't understand, working from home isn’t all gravy! Nothing in life is! They should understand that no one gets paid for not doing the job! For a dedicated mom, telecommute is a blessing if it really works well.


After overcoming the pitfalls of working from home, I have learned to handle it pretty well. I have also learned to be thick-skinned towards the mocking remarks of some people. The true beauty of working from home comes from the independence, freedom, and self-reliance you gain in “going it on your own". I understand that not everyone gets the option of telecommuting; and even if it does, it should work out well amidst all the challenges...

Dealing with Insult...

Buddha explained how to handle insult and maintain compassion.


One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. "You have no right teaching others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake."

Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?"

The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, "It would belong to me, because I bought the gift."


The Buddha smiled and said, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself."


"If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy."


The young man listened closely to these wise words of the Buddha. "You are right, o Enlightened One, "he said. "Please teach me the path of love. I wish to become your follower."


The Buddha answered kindly, "Of course. I teach anyone who truly wants to learn. Come with me."

Navaratri - Spiritual Significance

Navaratri - It is celebrated all over India with extreme zeal and enthusiasm. It is a nine days celebration and devotees during these nine days observe fasts, go to temples, and worship Goddess Durga. The entire surrounding is full of pious echo of Maa Durga bhajans. People do Jagraate, Golu (the festival of dolls), organize community feasts and celebrations. The celebrations are at its climax on the eighth and the ninth day of the Navratri. In Hindus this festival is given immense importance and treated as a festival of eternal enlightenment. Quotes of some popular Hindu scholars will explain you the eternal significance of the Pooja. Read the Navaratri quotations given below to understand more.


Spiritual Significance of Navarathri
During Navaratri, for the first 3 nights, Goddess Durga is invoked first to remove impurities from the mind. Then, for the next 3 nights Goddess Lakshmi is invoked to cultivate the noble values and qualities. Finally, for the last 3 nights Saraswati is invoked for gaining the highest knowledge of the Self. This is the significance of the three sets of three nights when all these three are gained subjectively, and then there will be Vijayadasami (Dussera), the day of true victory. Dussera can also be interpreted as “Dasa-Hara”, which means the cutting of the ten heads of Ravana. So,it's a resolve to cut the ten heads–passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and crookedness–of the demon, Ego, and thus justify the celebration of Dussera. 


Navaratri is celebrated in various parts of India in different styles. But the one basic aim of this celebration is to propitiate Shakti, the Goddess in Her aspect as Power, to bestow upon man all wealth, auspiciousness, prosperity, knowledge (both sacred and secular), and all other potent powers. Whatever be the particular or special request that everyone may put before the Goddess, whatever boon may be asked of Her, the one thing behind all these is propitiation, worship and linking oneself with Her. There is no other aim. This is being effected consciously or unconsciously. Everyone is blessed with Her loving mercy and is protected by Her.

History of Navarathri

Navratri is a very important Hindu festival celebrated in India, which is devoted to Goddess Durga. The festival is celebrated with great reverence and faith across the country. It stretches over a period of nine days, with each of the nine days being dedicated to one of the nine forms of the Goddess. Talking about the history of Navratri festival, it can be explained through the stories mentioned in the Hindu scriptures. In case you want to know more about them, explore the information given below



History and  Origin Of Navratri


In different parts of India, different legends describe the history of Navratri:

North India
The legend in North India goes that Mahishasura, the mighty demon, worshipped Lord Shiva and obtained the power of eternity. Soon, he started killing and harassing innocent people and set out to win all the three lokas. The gods in swargaloka appealed to Lord Shiva, to find a way to get rid of the demon. To protect the world from the atrocities of Mahishasura, the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva united their powers and created a divine female warrior, known as Goddess Durga. Mahishasura, when he saw the divine beauty of Goddess Durga, got mesmerized.

So fascinated was Mahishasura by Goddess Durga's beauty that he approached her with the intention of marriage. The goddess agreed to marry him, but put forth a condition - Mahishasura would have to win over her in a battle. Mahishasura, proud as he was, agreed immediately! The battle continued for 9 nights and at the end of the ninth night, Goddess Durga beheaded Mahishasura. The nine nights came to be known as Navratri, while the tenth day was called Vijayadashmi, the tenth day that brought the triumph of good over evil.


Eastern Belief
As per the legend prevalent in East India, Daksha, the king of the Himalayas, had a beautiful and virtuous daughter called Uma. She wished to marry Lord Shiva, since her childhood. In order to win over the Lord, she worshipped him and managed to please him as well. When Shiva finally came to marry her, the tiger-skin clad groom displeased Daksha and he broke off all the relationships with his daughter and son-in-law. One fine day, Daksha organized a yagna, but did not invite Lord Shiva for the same.

Uma got so angry at her father's rude behavior, towards her husband, that she decided to end her life by jumping into the agnikund of the yagna, where she was united with eternity (since then, she came to be known as Sati). However, she took re-birth and again won Shiva as her groom and peace was restored. It is believed that since then, Uma comes every year with Ganesh, Kartik, Saraswati and Laxmi and two of her best friends or 'sakhis', called Jaya and Bijaya, to visit her parent's home during Navratri.


Another Legend - Ram and Ravana
Yet another legend of Navratri relates to the Hindu epic Ramayana. It goes that Lord Rama worshipped Goddess Durga in nine aspects, for nine days, in order to gather the strength and power to kill Ravana. He wanted to release Sita from the clutches of powerful demon king Ravana, who had abducted her. Those nine nights became to be known as Navratri and the tenth day, on which Lord Rama killed Ravana, came to be called Vijayadashmi or Dusshera, signifying Rama's (good) triumph over Ravana (evil).

Inspirational quotes?

Why read through inspirational quotations?


In this day and times, where as a woman you wear several hats at once, there's much chaos and disorder surrounding your life. So you're wanting to regain some peace, clarity and inspiration.


Sometimes, it's simply not possible to hear of inspiring quotes from the people living in your environment. Instead, negativity prevails in the air. People complain and people moan constantly about their lives. And you desperately need to hear of some positive and inspirational messages.


Reading inspirational thoughts and words soothe your soul. Be inspired by the wisdom of the great personalities and may you gain the needed motivation to pursue whatever you dream of achieving in your life.


Time passes real quickly and may you find the courage within you to go after your heart's desires. And when the time comes for you to look back at your life, may you be deeply grateful that you've led a life that has purpose and meaning to you.


The great inspirational quotes speak to your heart and bring a spark to your day!