Dreams

I often complain about no being able to remember my dreams. Many a times i complain about not being able to figure out if it happened in a dream or in reality. For once, a while ago, I decided to stop complaining about them and adore them. The very concept of dreaming takes me by awe. A dream is more than something that happened while you weren’t aware. When your sleeping self is capable of so much thought, you should know how much the well aware you can accomplish.

As for aspirations, desires and dreams, they’re what keep us going. Mental food. Virtual fuel.

Till Next Time,
Keep Dreaming, Keep Smiling.

Shivali

Kyon Nahi?

This Sunday morning, I woke up grumbling and complaining about having to get up early, which I obviously wasn’t doing. I got out of bed and decided to be happy. Now I feel pretty content besides not doing anything very useful. I am going to blame this lethargy on Sunday. It is Sunny outside and there is a whip in the air. Looks like cold breezes are going to set in. I do not like low temperatures. What I do like about them is when the sun peers through with that magnificent ray of warmth and happiness.

Weather to come, Surprise me, please?

Thank you.

The Doorknob

My fetish for pretty inanimate things makes me wander through stores, virtual and otherwise, without keeping any track of time and space. This morning, the internet introduced me to this pretty picture of a gorgeous doorknob. I want one of them now. A door isn’t one unless it has a doorknob that allows you open the door and go past it, inside, or outside. Why not have a pretty one as well?

He She

It isn’t a very happy post. It is very pretty though. Couldn’t resist from sharing it.
🙂

Thought Twinkle

This little thought has been running in my head for over a week now. From the 15th of August, 2013, to be precise. Independence Day of India, when the patriot inside our guts takes a high jump and lands on our Facebook status. Oh well! It wasn’t quite the same this time. We had a Mega Sand Painting Event at College, which of course was amazing. Besides that, a certain thought struck me, Deep!

Our dear Country is running in the 67th year of ‘freedom’ (If you missed it out, do note the single quotes). I don’t quite feel very independents though. Set apart the external forces, it is more from the inside. Isn’t independence a state of mind? Yes, I do feel very liberated mentally, at least most of the time. But that isn’t the same case with every other Indian, or for that matter, every other person around. Wish yourself Independence first.

 

I came across this picture some days back. I have discussed on this matter with quite a few people on many occasions and they had similar opinions. Is it me who is too naive to not agree with it? I do not know. 

 

I hate being confused like this. 

I guess I need a bowl of Gulab Jamun.

 

Till Next Time,

Keep Your Mind Open.

Shivali

Words

I am certainly not the smartest person you will come across and I am definitely not the quickest person I know. Realization always decides to take the longest route and mini vacations on the way before it strikes me. However, if there is one particular self realization that my mind grabbed pretty early, it is my love for words. There a few words, irrespective of the language,  that I love immensely. This morning, in Power Plant Engineering class, from nowhere a hypothetical wave of realization left me with five words from the vast English vocabulary that I like for no apparent reason.

1.Imagine

This word would have surfaced into my world of limited ‘big’ English words back in primary. 3^rd grade if I am not wrong. This word appeared in one of the little lessons from my English text book. The word seemed to have wings and on learning the meaning of it, I was so delighted. It was the word I had been looking for from so long. Something I had been doing from such a long while and was unable to express. It felt so good to learn this word and of course, do the same. I suppose I used the word very often, my mother made it a part of her vocabulary whenever she had to pull my leg. Imagine, just imagine.

 2. Delicious

This was in the 3^rd standard too. I wasn’t much of an eater then. But I sure was very fond of tasty food. I had always had my favorites and expressing how much I liked them was left to my face expressions. Some of the things I ate were simply ‘very very very tasty’ and that sounded bland. Then came along this amazing word. Delicious. It sounded so perfect to describe good food. I practiced the spelling repeatedly on the very day it was thought to us in English class.

 3. Beautiful

I will have to rewind back to the second grade for this word. I had always used this word when I had compliment females. I was strictly instructed by my elder sister whose instructions I had always followed blindly that ‘Women are beautiful. Men and handsome.’. Whenever anyone would call a man beautiful, it was a massive joke for us. Little did we know that they were referring to the person rather than his appearance. Dictation was an important part of English since upper KG. My spellings weren’t as horrible as my hand writing, but I was no wonder kid, I did make mistakes. We were asked to draw the ‘Correction line’ and the bottom of the page where we had to write the words we spelled wrong thrice. The word beautiful landed in that part of my little not book twice, on the very same day. I was very disappointed. That evening, my father checked my note book (He would check our note books once a while I would be scared as hell besides having all of it completed. He wouldn’t even yell, but I never missed on being scared. Silly me.). So yes, I was instructed to practice the word ten times in my little blue diary while sitting at the wonderfully lit dining hall (I can remember every bit of it. My brain works in a funny way, selectively). As I wrote the word over and over again, I fell in love with it. It was so beautiful by itself. So mind me, If I call you beautiful, you have to believe me.

4. Comfortable

This was must have been in the fourth grade. A word that described to me how I felt to explore new words. Before this word happened to me, I felt ‘nice’ in an AC room on a sunny afternoon watching TV and sipping some soft drink that would be allowed to cool after being kept out of the fridge for an hour at least. Oh childhood! 😀
So yes, comfortable. We all know how that feels and have our own definition of the same. My definition of the word keeps varying with time too.

5. Self Esteem

This phrase had been along with me since my fifth grade perhaps. I do not remember where exactly I learnt the phrase, but I do precisely remember when it became one of my absolute favourites. I knew what it meant and that it was important for every individual. This was in the ninth grade. I had joined Little Rock and in no time the Sports Day had set in. This would have been a couple of weeks before sports day. I was in the Rose team and in the previous day during PT class, we had our selections for the march last and here I was in the lunch break. The teacher instructed boys and girls to form separate lines in height order and I head right back. There were two of us who were almost equally tall and were trying to decide who the taller one is. Yes, there were taller girls in our batch, but none were present at the march past practise, just for  your information. So yeah, we saw each other and learnt that I was taller. I stood behind. We spoke to each other and I learnt that she was in the 10^th grade. She looked and me and said,’ You’re younger than me and taller. I always thought I was the tallest. (I am sure she was exaggerating) . My self esteem!’, she sighed. It did sound very filmy. Bringing in self esteem with regard something as uncontrolled by ones height. I laughed unenthusiastically. But somehow, it felt right. The phrase there, at that moment. Self esteem matters, you know.

Writing about these beautiful words made me so comfortable and my self esteem in allowing me imagine about delicious food I wish to be served later in the evening. Lame, I know. 😉

 

Till Next Time,

Keep Smiling.

Shivali

“I’ve learned that…”

“I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

—Maya Angelou

So maybe, we could all learn from this and not wait till we have to learn it on our own.

Have A Nice Day.

🙂

 

Secure With Insecurities

On Wednesday evening, at a little past 5, my friends whom I stay with called me up and said me that they were at 7 Bees asking me what they should order for me. This particular joint is at about a 12 minutes long walk from where I stay and while walking with the girls, the distance always seems to double, thanks to their Ferrari phased chatter and slower than a bullock cart phased walk. I do not complain though, I always enjoy every bit of it. I said them I would order once I get there. I was a little caught up at college with something that I am sure wasn’t important, because i simply can’t remember whatever it was. 

Anyway, I got there in ten minutes, we ate, we chatted and then set out on our way back. Our long walk constituted of us making a list of what we had to pick up our way back, someone had to recharge their phone, while someone else had to withdraw money from the ATM. We proceeded and it began drizzling by the time we were nearing Oven Fresh, this little bakery is about 5 minutes from my place. Oven Fresh was closed, it closes early during Ramadan for very obvious reasons. We began opening our umbrellas and the lazy ones rushed into others umbrellas. My dearest friend walked into mine and we complained about the muck and the cold wind. Meanwhile, we noticed a little boy walking across Oven Fresh. He didn’t care one bit about the rain or the mud for all that we could see. He was enjoying every bit of his little walk. The sight of him made us happy and within no time the women in us took over.

“Aren’t his parents scared to send him out alone, this place isn’t all that small.”, I wondered out loud. He was indeed a little guy and Nitte isn’t all that small a village. It would make a decent sized town, thanks to the college and the developments around as a result of the same.
“Arrey its okay. He is just going about na.”, My friend said calmly.

“You never know. Someone might kidnap him for money or whatever.”, of course I am not that paranoid a person, I was just exaggerating and stating the possibilities. 
“Yeah, that’s true. You never know what people do to kids who are kidnapped.”
“That’s there. Weird things happen every day.” 

“People don’t even hesitate from raping little kids.” My friend said. A small pause followed and we shared a look that either of us didn’t like; insecurity.

All this while, we stood at about the same spot from where we had begin watching the kid and waited till he entered his house compound. We moved further towards our abode. It continued to rain. Outside, and inside our minds.

 

This isn’t about how we took one little scene from where it was to all another level. We definitely weren’t anticipating it or had gone all paranoid. We just let out minds wander and that’s where it landed. Thanks to our insecurities. For these insecurities, we have an endless list to thank. None the less, that doesn’t define who we are. Getting over them and surviving besides them is what counts.

Don’t let your insecurities knock yourself down. Cheer up. Look over them, but be aware of them. Live.

 

 

Till Next Time,

Live A Little More.

Shivali

A Little More About Me

Every year, the Placement and Training Dept. of our college organizes a Freshers’ Orientation Program for the first year students right as the enter our college. The intention being to familiarize them briefly with the functioning of the college, allow them get to know each other a little better, to make it easy for them to approach their seniors; In short, for their well being as freshers in the campus.  When I was in the first year, I came along with most of the students but was put into the ‘H’ section and we with section ‘I’ were asked to wait for another two sections for our orientation to happen and sadly, it never did. Somehow, I never volunteered for FOP until this year. This year I did. the intake was higher than ever and the crowd was obviously very huge. Thanks to the training provided by our Counselor, we could carry out all activities neatly. It was an amazing experience. i so wish I would have done this earlier too. The juniors did remind me of myself, a little less than three years back; a little naive, a little nervous, very excited and very very curious. And hey, our these this year was comic characters, so double yaay! 😀

In addition to the planned activities, I had to address the juniors on an issue which some would consider to be a little sensitive. Here is my 2 minute long speech. I am very keen on knowing your opinions about the same.

 

It went like this:

 

Hello everybody. I am Shivali from final year Mechanical engineering. I will be sharing a few words on the topic ‘Boy Girl Relations In College’.

You’re now a part of a profession college. Things aren’t all play anymore. This is where you learn, enjoy, experience a bit of everything and above all, makes friends for life, from your own gender and the opposite.

While your guy friends will keep you updated about the happenings in an around college, the girls will be your saviours during exams with important questions. When a guy friend shows you the fun part of any activity,  female friends will warn to about the possible risks involved. When a girl is about to give up on something because it is too hard to accomplish, a guy will come up with a solution as smart and simple as it could be.

Friendship sees no gender.

And then there are relationships. ‘A little more than friendship’, some would say. ‘A little different from pure friendship’, is how i would term it.

We are all independent individuals who are entitled to our own opinions, choices and decisions. You should be mature enough to know what is good for you and what isn’t. Attraction and infatuation are often mistaken to be love and you let that take over your senses. You are here to make a career. If something is distracting you from that, it might  not be worth it.

However, in due course of time, if you do find someone who you think is appropriate for you, you have yet another reason to be grateful to Nitte for.  Just ensure  that your enthusiasm about the same doesn’t violate the decorum of the institute. Maintain a healthy relationship with clear boundaries.

Remember, eve teasing of any form is an offence and may result in suspension from college. Public display of affection is taboo in this set up.

From this very day, till you graduate from NMAMIT, you will meet people who are going to influence you in many many ways.  Treasure them, gender unbiased.

 

Thank you.’

 

😀

 

Till Next Time,

 

Keep Smiling.

 

Shivali

Time Of Your Life

It is raining heavily outside my window and for a change I do not want to listen to it slap my windows. So I plug in my ear phones into my laptop and jump into My Music, haven’t been here since a while. Spontaneously, I get here. Time Of Your Life by Green Day. Such a lovely song. Definitely one of my favorites. So meaningful, so melodious. Haven’t heard to it in a while since I do not have it on my phone any more and it just made me realise why I like it so much. Listening to it on loop now, I just can’t get enough of it.

Have a nice time. 🙂

Shivali