Happy Rakhi


Gearing up for Raksha Bandhan,all sisters busy making DIY  Rakhis or buying them. Writing a heart felt note for brother and sending across cities and states. The gesture is the bond of love that keeps sisters and brothers connected. Earlier I believe that was one of the reasons when women visited their parents or brothers place. 

My daughter also selected some Rakhi for her cousins, along with one for her. 
I tried making her understand the tradition of how it works, also bribed her saying that she would be getting gifts, but somehow she is still not convinced. 

She is almost on the way to break the stereotype. She doesn't need anyone to protect her is what she says, she is strong and super kid as narrated in the blog


She feels she is strong enough and do not differentiate in genders yet. Basically her understanding about gender is limited to her teachers in her school who ask to make two different lines for boys and girls.

I think with changing time we should also attempt to relook at certain traditions we follow if they need change in current times. I have seen girls tie Rakhi to elder sisters or someone they look up to for protection. It is not essentially a man. 


Came across  advertisement for men's grooming brand. The man company has realised a video that urges people to celebrate the festival with different prospective. 
The video begins with a sister getting up with an surprising note from her brother which narrates how she protected him  several times in childhood till date. From fathers anger to bullies in school.
Being a younger brother who feels protected she being around, questions elder sister as to who should be tieing the Rakhi for protection. 

The idea of the campaign  is to acknowledge  the role of elder sister to younger brothers. I think the advertisement emphasis on gender neutrality. I found  it different  and heartwarming, hope it brings smile on your face.


Happy Rakshabandhan


One more recent addition




Life between BC & AC

We are the live creatures whose life suffered between Before Corona and After Corona. Now as it seems like we are on the road to exit the orbit of the corona effect we can conclude we have survived the pandemic.


We all have seen and heard what lockdown has led us to. It is been a memorable journey till date. Memorable in all ways, it made us feel fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. We have counted day with increasing pressures and trying to keep calm.

One day will come when we will be free to move around and life will seem like coming back on tracks, but the picture would be different than it was B.C.-before corona. The most vulnerable thing is the loss during this period, the lives that we have lost.

We have heard stories that happened on roads, in hospitals, behind the closed doors, and many more. All powers failed during this period. It was something we never thought of in the wildest dreams. Life seemed to be so unfortunate, but the only fortunate thing is we are still alive. The strongest countries could not stand in front of the pandemic. The USSA, Russia, China all countries were on their knees.

The most unfortunate thing is people have lost jobs and are wondering how to get back to normal, how to get the new opportunity ASAP. How to earn? Not only this, but there are also many things around that will haunt us. 

I can feel many thoughts surround my head like the chirping birds in a cartoon going round and round after banging.

A thirty-year-old son refusing the hospital's members to do his infected father’s funeral. The hospital officials carrying the packed bodies in plastic bags for the last rites. The bodies getting exchanges, misplaced. The extreme treatment given to patients, along with dead bodies lying next to their bed. People migrating to their home towns walking all the way across the state borders. Religious fights humiliating doctors and nurses at quarantine centers. The baby crying beside the dead mother's body. The child who covered all the way walking across borders dies at hardly one hour distance. A dead man who died of natural death was not touched by anyone for almost a day till the ambulance and the people in the PPE kit arrived. This unfortunate act was not limited to humans, even the pets were abandoned on the roads by the owners. The pregnant elephant killed in Kerala. Celebrities succumbed to depression committing suicide. Schools, colleges, institutes, offices all closed down. Everybody struggling to earn, trying their best to do jobs from home.  Around Six lakh people Succumbed to corona. Some brave hearts fought to it and came back to normal. Now the stage is even we who alive are immune to the extent that we may not even require the vaccine.

The worst part was people who were asked to resign in difficult times. Is it not the moral responsibility of these organizations to support individuals, their employees during this hard phase, which was not limited to them only but extended to the whole world? Human has gone to the extent of black marketing of the medicines which act as a savior for the people infected.

We have survived this pandemic to narrate the history like we have heard of plague some decades back. But what do we learn out of this? Does this pandemic change our thoughts? Does it bring all of us, everybody alive to the same level of humankind?

We have suffered more than the actual sufferers of the corona, watching it helplessly and understanding the value of life. The lives that we lost have opened our eyes to the very fact of life, basic needs, relations, work, family, care, concern. It made us collectively look like a country without caste, race, colour, gender.

Difficult time, the hard times in life help us recognize the people around us. Though it hurts and pains it is the most learning phase of life. The tough time does not last but tough people do. We have learned a lot during these four months. Hope we hold on to these memories life long to make us realize where we stand.

May be next year onwards we will narrate this as a story. We will be back to our jobs, traveling freely, visiting malls, gardens, birthday celebrations, marriages, and having fun. I hope the sneeze or cough may not bother to us A.C still it would hold your breath of a second to remind you these days.

We are the part of this historic pandemic and hope we pass on the learning to the next generations.


The silver lining of black cloud



It seems like a dream, everything completely closed across borders. We are not able to move out of the house, all streets went silent. Mumbai’s lifeline was also resting. It felt like Waqt tham gaya ho. No one had an idea of how things were going to be - how worst and how good? A small virus turned a crowded and noisy world into silence.

No power was working against it. People were helpless sitting at home. It seemed like the virus was engulfing humankind to end. The most brilliant animal was unable to find a solution and cause to it. Apart from the loss of life and disturbance in day to day life, Corona exposed us many facts of life  which we already knew but had no time for.

Virus taught us that size doesn’t matter to make an impact. Keep working towards your dreams and you will definitely get what you deserve. A microorganism which could not be seen with naked eyes, turned the world upside down irrespective of the power, caste, religion, skin colour. It made us equal on all criteria which we as a human being had invented.

The virus made us realize our worth, we keep running behind earning, for living an extravagant lifestyle. Whereas when everything closed down and we were left with few things at home and to our surprise we could manage easily living with them. Our basic needs are fulfilled to a realization –what were we running for? Tomorrow? And what if it never came for us? The virus made us realize what we actually need to live a happy life and stay content.

We were introduced to the real meaning of life and happiness which lies in our state of mind, happiness is to be with loved ones. It is not about external achievements, leisure, and luxuries.

We are always taught to save for the rainy days, and I guess this difficult time was that rainy day we had been saving for. Our saving saved us in hard times and made us realize how our ancestors had the vision towards life's hardships. So make an effort every day, to save a bit for difficult times.

The best part was we got an opportunity to peep in our own homely life. We always approached malls and other places in search of happiness and for celebrations, whereas it is very much within our four walls- Home sweet home.

It has given us an opportunity to stop and think, make a change in our lifestyle for betterment.

Women could manage without maids but provided they had those shoulders and hands to care for them, help them when needed. No women would have ever thought of working all alone for months like we did. But the virus actually made us understand our limits of working harder.

Children during all this phase were very adaptive than elders. They adjusted with playing within the house, making changes in way of studying at their age, wherein we found working from home difficult.

Homely food and flavors was the biggest asset of this period, we realized that we can actually survive without fast food. First time in history I believe there was continuous cooking for more than a hundred days or so.

Some of us got time after ages to hear the birds chirping, and spend time with nature. It made us realize what we have done to mother nature, and how it is healing itself now. Some must have seen a rainbow after years; some must have cooked for their parent’s wife or kids for the first time.

“What is this life full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”

Some newly blessed parents must have got all the best time they could ever spend with their kids due to pandemic.

The virus has brought to our knowledge that just worrying beyond a point is useless and we should find solace in the simple joys of life. We are taught that nothing stands important before family and the most important is to SLOW DOWN

Thou we are at home since moths, we are still productive and positive as well. People are very creative and more engaged than ever. Everyone is left with some lessons for a lifetime.


It has taught us the importance of relations, made us realize what is our need and how much we spend on it. It made us more independent and realistic. It taught us the values of life and moments. It taught us the importance of health, exercise, hygiene.

Corona thou was a virus, he taught us so much like a messenger at right time. It brought us together to enjoy life along with working. It bonded us back realizing and respecting each other when we worked from home. It gave us an opportunity to understand how our parents, wife, or husband works in the office or at home.

I hope now no husband when would return from work will ask his wife What did you do the whole day? women also wouldn't reply saying "It's very easy to pick the bag and leave for office".

Thou We do not welcome these hardships and difficult times, let me tell you whatever we have learned is always out of hardships and tough times only.



Love the person you have found

I was going thru some of my writeups collections, came across one which sounds very interesting and needs of this hour. The topic sounded so relevant so thought of reading. Here is the summary-
During a seminar, a woman asked how do I know I am with the right person?
The person conducting the seminar saw that there was a big man sitting next to her, he asked “Is that Your Partner? She answered ‘Yes’ how do you know?

The person smiled and said, let me answer your question. Every relationship has a cycle - in the beginning, you fall in love with your partner. The feeling of butterflies in the stomach. You long for their calls, their touch. You need not do anything the action itself says you just FALL. It is a natural and spontaneous reaction. 
Imagine you are standing doing nothing and something happens to you, people say I was swept off my feet. Try and picture the emotion. Well by now, you enjoy their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. After a few months or years of togetherness, the euphoria of love fades. This happens with every relation, it is a natural cycle.
Slowly but surely the phone calls become disturbances, of course, if they come at all. Touch is not welcome always, and your spouse idiosyncrasies instead of feeling cute feel like driving you nuts. Well, the symptoms may vary but there is a drastic and dramatic difference between the initial stage and now when you are the duller or angry stage. 
At such point, you or your partner may ponder if you are with an aright person? As you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once felt, you may begin to desire for the same, but maybe with someone else. Here is the first crack in the relationship. 
You must have heard the success of a relationship doesn't lie in finding the right person, it more about learning to love the person you have found. Partners blame each other for the failure of their relationship and their unhappiness and thus look outside for fulfillment of their desires. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is very common in such relationships. 



Sometimes people do turn to their work, hobbies friendship or just excessive addiction to particular things may be drugs, television, mobile apps.
But the fact that the answer to this dilemma is not outside the relationship it lies within the relationship is not discovered. 
The current situation is idle, you can go outside go inside. 
Falling in love is natural, and falling again becomes more spontaneous and obvious. You will feel good - temporarily. But after a few years, you will be back in square one, the same situation.
So learn to Love the person you found. Sustaining love may be difficult as you will have to work on it every day. It will take time, energy, and individual efforts and most importantly it demands wisdom. You need to know what to do to make it work. And mind it, it is a lifetime activity you will be involved in. The moment you leave it or step back you are again in the same dilemma.


Love is not a mystery. As there are physical laws of the universe, there are also laws of relationship.
You need to know to apply these laws, then the results are predictable. And So Love is a decision.
We have increased cases of abuse and violence behind the closed doors. We may not feel it, see it but everybody around who is caught in the lockdown and its effects, with no regular office, our routines are getting frustrated. Women are somewhere below the heaps of the online studies, broken screens and laptops, and husband food and other carvings. Being in family court for some years I have seen sweet homes break like the cards houses, in fraction of the seconds, just due to silly issues.
Men are frustrated sitting at home with no work and no income. They are trying to help in house chores but are feeling uneasy day by day to do it as a regular job.
This all frustration is leading to internals voices screaming, yelling out at each other. This blog is especially for couples who always wanted to be with each other but are done by the end of these four months. Please hold on, what we can assure each other is just breathe in breathe out “this time will also go”  

Aankhon ki gustakhiyan...


Being into the Human Resource field we were taught about "eyes" in body language sessions. It was quite interesting than we thought. 55 % of communication is non-verbal and facial expressions are the most common and nonverbal channels of communication, which is now lost. Eyes -They speak, they laugh, they smile, they are even scared and surprised. How so they smile - If you look carefully you can see the lines at the corner of eyes when one smiles.

Remember the films in 70’s like 'The Great Gambler' where the heroes flaunted their glasses while playing poker, well there is a reason behind those glasses- to hide your next move. Eyes reveal so much about you, that it is believed that ’Eyes are the window to the soul’. Lets see what an eye contact indicates

Ø Keeping eye contact with the person you are talking to indicates that you are listening actively.

Ø One can easily make out your mood if they look into your eyes.

Ø Direct eye contact is so powerful that it increases empathy and links together the emotional state of a person.

Ø Eyes do not lie and one can easily know what you are thinking or what you are up to.

Ø Police can easily make out that the person has something to hide if he/she avoids eye contact.

Ø Maintaining eye contact shows the person's confidence and dominance.

Ø And of course love at first sight, eyes are one who falls in love first then the heart….what say?

Why are we talking so much about eyes…..yes because that is the only facial expression we can see these days. This is going to be our new normal, wearing a mask is going to be daily activity as natural as we carry hanker chief or as wear watch.

Unable to understand the expressions - Thanks to Coronavirus, as of now in the world almost more than 50 countries, have made such masks mandatory to cover their face except for eyes.

People throughout the world are already going through a lot of stress and uncertainty due to the pandemic. As we are introduced to social distancing and now the Mask which is going to cover the entire face, except the eyes it's going to be a bit tougher.

I see people covering their chin with the mask trying to give clarity to their words which sound snuffed behind masks and also take a while to breathe in.

This is going to be most challenging for the deaf community and those with hearing problems, as they lose completely over facial expressions like lip reading, while that is the only lead for them to communicate. So we have solution, transparent masks are in market. On the other hand, it is going to be super easy for women in Saudi countries and Jain monks who actually cover their faces except for eyes no matter what.

Eyes are a reflection of a person’s thoughts, so when you smile wearing masks the person is going to see the smile in your eyes and of course reciprocate in same way. Eyes are going to be more active as most of the jobs will be done by them and more frequently than before.

One important fact about eyes is they don’t lie, come what may. You can easily see the reflection of persons feeling in his eyes. In some cases, you may really observe a friend who seems to be black-eyed but has turned brown. Time to discover your friend’s eyes colors this year. Its time for us to see in the eyes and through the eyes. 

It is going to bit challenging and restless at times but it is also time to get those calm Monalisa eyes that are staring at us for centuries.

 Do not forget to pick those designer masks.