Kindling your Inner fire

This June, I had the opportunity to go for a Hot Air Balloon ride in Brisbane, Australia. Belive me, everyone of you must go for a hot air balloon ride at least once in your life. It’s an out of the world experience ! Even though I’m not a moring person, I managed to wake up at 5 am on the day I was supposed to go for the ride. It was a chilly winter morning in Australia. It must have been like 3 degrees outside. I was picked up at my hotel at around  5 30 am. The hot air balloon site was a 30-minute drive from the gold coast. I couldn’t help but sleep through most of the ride. As we reached our destination, I saw an endless strech of land before me and in the middle of nowhere was this huge orange hot air balloon. I had never seen a Hot air balloon ever before in my life. It was huge with a tiny basket below it, where I was supposed to stand. The best thing about the balloon was that it needed constant fire to rise up in the air. Imagine yourself  standing in an open field, on a bone chilling winter morning and then suddenly the mild warmth of the balloon is to your rescue! It felt like sitting in front of a fireplace on a snowy day! I boarded my ride shortly and soon the balloon was rising in the air, a beautiful landscape unfolding in front of my eyes. There were open fields as far as my eyes could see and long mountain ranges covered the horizon. At that moment I rememberd how I used to paint a beautiful landscape with exactly the same surroundings. The only thing missing was the sunrise! And guess what, that was the next most beautiful part of the ride.

 The surise that I witnessed from the hot air balloon

An orange hue began forming over the horizon.Slowly, as time passed by and our balloon rose up and up in the sky, the sun rays were visible on the horizon among the hills. The shadows of the trees, the glittering of the water in the lakes and the clouds made it a perfect landscape ! I literally had the window seat to the most beautiful sunrise I ever saw. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the sky was filled with a bright yellow light. This is the first time I had this kind of exposure to Vitamin-D, and I soaked in every bit of it!

You might be wondering what has all of this gotta do with the title of this post? Well, I would like to present a simple yet meaningful analogy here. Just like the hot air balloon we too have a fire within us. It has to be nourished and properly looked after for it to keep burning within us. What is this fire? This is the fire that drives you from within. To achieve your goals, complete a task and many other things. Without it, our life would have no purpose. Just like the hot air balloon needs the fire to keep rising higher in the air, we too need it to rise up in life.

I want this post to be a gentle reminder that the fire exists within each of us. Only that it needs proper care to work wonders for us. Let’s all work hard and be persistent and kindle our inner fire!

 

Bondi Beach

As you can guess from the title that this post is about Bondi beach.

I visited Austrialia in June 2017. It was a delightful experience travelling in Australia, exploring their culture and experiencing breathtaking landscapes. Let me skip to the part where I tell you about my experience when I visited Bondi beach.

After a long day of sightseeing in Sydney I was exhausted. After I got back to my hotel, I was scanning through the map of Sydney, looking for places that I could visit the next day when suddenly I realised that I had completely forgotten about Bondi Beach ! In spite of being tired, I was eager to visit Bondi. I got out, boarded the subway from King’s Cross upto Bondi. The journey took around 15 minutes.

It was a chilly and cloudy evening in Sydney. I hurried down to the beach. Took off my shoes (Yes! I forgot to carry my flip-flops :P) and stepped on the sand, barefooted. I felt like I stepped on Ice XD. Not carrying my flip-flops could have been the worst mistake ever !

Finally I decided to sacrifice my shoes 😦 But the landscape that unfolded before by eyes was absolutely stunning ! The sun was almost about to set and the sky was covered with a beautiful orange hue. There were people surfing along the coast. Amongst the surfers, I saw a guy carrying a parachute along with him. I was surprised as I had never seen a Parachute surfer before. As he surfed along the coast, the winds guiding the parachute and the surfer carefully balancing himself,I was awestruck ! The parachute surfer is visible in the main photo of this post.

Parachute surfing was a delight to watch, the way he glided on the waves, the parachute fluttering in the sky, cruising in the air. Elegant ! Is all I can say. And at that moment I added parachute surfing to my bucket list. I walked along the coast, looking at the vast spread of the sea, the sea waves crashing just beside me , flamingos hovering in the sky. I soaked in every bit of Bondi , and will cherish this amazing experience forever !

Anyone Can Be Batman!

The Batman we all know is the protector of Gotham city against goons or villains who wish to bring harm to the city by means of destruction using arms and weapons. Therefore, to beat them Batman needs to be equipped with the latest technology and gadgets such as Batmobile, Batpod, Grapple gun, Batarangs, ultrasound generator. Batman is a feeling. Batman resides within us all. Each individual person who battles everyday challenges is Batman on his own level. I would like to say that my Dad is a Batman. He is the protector of our family and assumes various roles depending on the situation. The President or the Prime Minister of any country can be Batman.

Here are some virtues which define Batman:

1. FACE YOUR FEARS AND PUT IN THE REQUIRED HARD WORK TO CONQUER THEM

The movie shows Bruce Wayne having lost his parents. The movie also shows him being afraid of Bats. The movie goes on to show that how Bruce Wayne instead of running away from the fears,  faces them and goes on to be Batman.

2. NEVER BACK DOWN WHEN YOU HAVE FAILED OR LOST. ALWAYS CHOOSE TO RISE.

There may be times in our lives when things don’t go as planned, or sometimes we have a bad experience. Most people get depressed and feel that this is the end of their lives and they won’t be able to get back up again. But BATMAN taught me that whenever you fall, you get back up again.

In the movie, we see that Batman is put into jail by his enemy. There is no way out of the jail except one opening at the top. To get out Batman must climb a huge wall which is almost an impossible task. But Batman tries his very best, practices hard and after some attempts gets himself out of the jail. This shows the “Never Back Down Attitude”.

3. HAVE MORALS AND VALUES WHICH YOU WILL FOLLOW AT ANY COST

In the movie many times Batman has to choose between things. For example, there is a scene where Batman is chasing the Joker and after some time the Joker has an accident, the Batman is driving The Batpod and he has the chance to kill Joker. The Joker provokes him to do it but Batman doesn’t kill him. This happens in many situations, many of them being really tough choices. But Batman has his set of morals which forbid him to kill anyone. He follows them to any extent.

Sometimes in Life, we may have temptations to do something wrong which will harm us as well as others. Here we have a choice, either to do the wrong thing or to stick to our values and morals. By following our values we feel proud of ourselves.

I personally have a set of values and morals and I follow them no matter what.

In the movie Batman vs Superman, Batman goes on to fight with Superman who almost has godlike powers and features.

But Batman finds an amazing solution for this problem. This goes on to say that however big your problem is there is always a solution.

So, according to me anyone can be Batman. It’s not about the technology he uses, it’s about who he is. I would like to quote from the movie “It’s not who you are, It’s what you do that defines you”.

Descisions

Whatever we do in life one thing we always face are descisions. Descisions are some kind of exercise that everyone does sub-consciously or consciously all the time.

For example, the descsion to get up early in the morning, the descsion to attend a class or not, the descsion to buy something. Many sales books say that the descsion to buy or not buy a product is taken by our subconscious mind in about 2-4 seconds. Pretty fast ! We think we have control over most of our descisions, but the truth is that most of our descisions are governed by emotions.

Let’s consider this, whenever you go out to buy a pair of shoes you always end up buying Nike, puma or some brand that has already created an emotional value for you. Many times we are told by our parents or elders to consider it twice before making a descsion. By this they mean carefully reviewing the good and bad sides of the consequences before making them. 

Career descsions are something that a person must always do it on his own ! Because you don’t wanna be 40 and regret about any descsion that you made earlier. If you wanna do something else in life but you are afraid due to the society, or what your parents will think, I say have the balls to get out of your comfort zone and take that descision that you always wanted to. You are very lucky to be born as a human who has choices in life, so get up, get yourself together and start making good descsions. Always know that you are not a product of your circumstances, but are a product of your descisions. 

I stumbled upon a very amazing quote which goes on like this “Joy is a descsion, A really brave one, About how you are going to respond to life“. I would like to conclude by saying Happiness, Success are nothing but just a state of mind. Make amazing descisions and live that amazing life that you always wanted to ! 

First Rain

It has started raining after a very long time. The weather is gloomy, and the evening sun is hiding behind the dark clouds filled with rain. Birds are travelling back to their nests after a long, sunny day. The smell of petrichor has filled my senses and is making me nostalgic about various memories that are associated with this smell. These memories seem hazy but I distinctly remember how that smell made my senses feel. I take out my earphones and scroll through my playlist. I exactly know that Sinatra will go perfectly with this weather. I put on the song “The Way You look tonight ” and start walking around campus.  Almost instantly I have the urge to drink coffee. I purchase a Cappuccino and continue. As I wander, amongst the wonderful trees that having a wonderful shower I have many thoughts racing through my mind. This weather almost always transcends me into a new world, A world where I don’t care what time it is or what the people around me are doing.

I notice the birds are no more going back to their nests but are flying as high as they can to sit on the tallest pole or the roof of a building. I think that like me they too are nostalgic about rain and don’t want to miss out on the chance of experiencing the first rain.  As I sip my coffee stray dogs hurry to take shelter and students are rushing back to their hostel. I on the other hand walk as slow as I can soaking up the feeling of the first rain.

I vaguely remember how I used to enjoy the first rain as a child. I remember looking outside the window pane of my classroom, tiny droplets covering the green leaves falling down on the window panes and slowly crawling down to the bottom. The atmosphere outside used to get really gloomy and cold. I used to sit in the class and daydream about how awesome would it be if I were outside playing football with my friends. As soon as I used to get down from the school bus I used to run in the mud, purposely hitting my foot hard on the ground just see the splash of water. My little square bag hanging around my shoulders, my black polished shoes getting splashed on by mud. I remember me and my friends used to hand over our bags to our moms and take out a page from our books and make the most perfect paper boat there ever was. Now the most fun part began. We used to place our boats in the little streams of water that began at the start of the road and made its way all the way to the bottom. As our little boat race ended we used to dance like crazy in the small puddle of water splashing water all over our uniforms.

My ways of enjoying the first rains changed as I grew up. I and my friends used to take out our bikes, put on our raincoats and ride all the way to best Wada-Pav stall. For those of you who don’t know what a Wada-Pav is, It’s a potato based tikki sandwiched between a Bun served along with a heavenly Spicy-Groundnut chutney and some green Chilli. Ginger-Tea and Wada-pav are the best Rain snack ever!

Wada-Pav 

I am reminded of all these feelings as I walk down the footpath listening to music. The sudden feeling of Nostalgia takes over me and I get lost in my memories and I realize how much I miss my home and all the magical experiences I had there. I just wish If there was a teleporting machine somewhere, through which I could ride back to the times when I was a child and experience all those feelings again. As I bounce back to reality I realize that I have finished my cappuccino. As I flick my wrist to see the time on my watch, I remember that I am late for my class.

Gratitude

 

‘Gratitude’ is defined as ‘ The Quality of being Thankful’. Sounds very simple, doesn’t it? Well, let me tell you, this is a very powerful word which we hardly use in our everyday life. Expressing your gratitude towards something or someone can do miracles in your life. And I am saying this from various experiences that I have had in the past.

I have come to know that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. One may ask, How? There can be various answers to this question as it may vary from person to person. Here is one simple exercise that I follow every day when I get up and you guys can try it too!

As soon as I get up from the bed I thank god for the wonderful day,  and that I am privileged to be born as a human. Do you guys know that the probability of being a human in this universe is One in 400 Trillion? That’s pretty Lucky!

As I go around brushing my teeth I thank god for my parents, my friends, a good life and for every little thing in my life. As the day progresses I try to show gratitude to every person I meet. Saying a simple ‘Thank You’ to your cab driver can put a smile on his face. And that feeling that you experience is priceless.

So my fellow bloggers and readers, just try expressing gratitude more frequently and you will see amazing differences in your life.

An attempt to define Love

Love , such a simple four lettered word for something that has such a complicated meaning. Everyone experiences love in their life at some point or the other. Love can have various meanings according to the context of which we speak about it. Here, I have tried to express the different meanings that the word love has which I have experienced at some point of my life.

Everyone remembers their first love. For me my first love is my Mother. And I know that she loves me more than anything else in the world. This is a love which is never ending and unconditional. I think this is the purest form of love – Mother’s Love.

Love at First Sight – Happened to me a lot of times, and I’m sure everyone has experienced it at least once. Everyday we see countless faces. Some of them are very attractive. But sometimes you are walking down a road and see a face that you don’t forget for a long time. A kind of face that makes your heart skip a beat and makes the butterflies go crazy in your stomach.  The thought of that person transcends you into a totally different world. The kind of face that makes cheesy Bollywood songs easier to understand. Sometimes my logical brain wonders how someone can have such a deep impact in such a short period of time. I guess, some  things are best understood by the heart.

Sometimes you meet a person, get to know them. You like spending time with them, and you both click together. You talk to them for hours over the phone as they make you feel special. This feeling can have two different meanings, Obsession or Love. Most of the times obsession is mistaken for love.  But it feels good to be in that place where you can share everything with someone, even your deepest secrets. Someone who likes you for the way you are. Someone who knows your true self. That person who comes to your mind when you are reading a post on social media, that person who you imagine while reading a beautiful poem. The person whom you can spend hours and hours but it seems like only few minutes. You both are in a place where you actually don’t care what other people think about you. You both are completely lost, and have found each other. It feels as if you are living in a world of your own. Thinking about each other all day. Texting, Calling, Talking over the phone all day. These things may seem stupid to listen, but just fall in love once and you will feel the beauty of it.hdhxn

New Beginnings

(Picture by Me,  Location: Jungfraujoch, Switzerland )

 

We always talk about New beginnings and fresh starts in our life  

I wanna express some thoughts going around in my mind as I have boarded a flight to my  University. I find myself in this huge dilemma. I have a  desire to just stay back and relax but I feel compelled to get out of my comfort zone and do something for myself.

In our lives we may have many new beginnings, like the first day of school, first day of college, leaving family and going to a hostel, first day of vacation and much more. I personally have a lot of mixed feelings on this particular day. It is the end of a phase and a new beginning of another one. Sometimes we find ourselves in a difficult situation on this particular day. The situation I’m referring to is making choices, Choices like breaking up with a loved one, sacrificing our comforts, leaving some part of us behind.

As I am writing this I am in the middle phase of transition of the last day. The place where the past ends and a new start is ahead of us. We make up certain goals in our minds, set certain priorities which we hope to achieve in the days to come. We visualize ourselves achieving certain checkpoints and hope to work towards them. As I am writing this I recall a beautiful poem I heard in the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara. The one where 3 friends go on a bachelor road trip across Spain.

“Dilon mein tum apni betabiyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum!
Nazar mein khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho
Toh zinda ho tum!”

(Translated into English

You are Alive! Only if you hustle every day

You are Alive! Only if you visualize to achieve Your Goals )

This verse is very similar to what I am feeling right now. As I sit in the window seat of the plane, I can see the sparkling yellow rays of the sun rising over the horizon into a new day. I can very well relate to this because I too feel like I am just over the horizon, peeking into a new phase which is about to begin.

This article is to all the people out there just waiting for the perfect moment to make a new start. According to me, every moment is perfect, and whenever you feel the intense desire to do something in your life just begin. After all, every journey starts with a single step.