KYA HAI YE,MATLAB HAI KYA YE LADKI

Okay!!So today I will write about a special person!Someone whose entry in my life has been quite happening,who has made her own unique contribution towards making me a better person.She is actually one of those people who enter your life for a purpose!!Her purpose??Well,I couldn't tell just one purpose.She entertains,she listens,she understands,she connects,she shares(though time will make it even better)and she is just uniquely and awesomely her!!Alright,enough of the flattery,or else I will find her head in the clouds somewhere from tomorrow!!(:P)
 Okay,so where do we start from?I think we can start from the time I came here,wasted the first month feeling lonely and then started to come out of my stupid,self-imposed 'no entry' zone.I don't remember the scenario exactly but it was one of the morning classes and I was listening deeply to the teacher.I just happened to sit near her and at one instance,I saw her and she reciprocated by giving me a smile(of which I am so accustomed now!). That was for some reason quite refreshing for me!I mean till then, most of the girls looked at me blandly or slightly twitched their lower lip as if it were a difficult yogic exercise to smile and be polite!I reciprocated her smile and in the break between the classes,she came up to me to introduce herself,'Hi,I am Astha!'with the Colgate smile still bling-a-ling.I introduced myself rather coyly and we started talking.We started in the regular way,discussing our respective cities,academic backgrounds etc. and the rest,as they so beautifully say,is history.It has been approximately three months from that day and today I can without a shade of doubt claim that she is one of my close friends here!!She has brought many new friends into my life but she remains somewhat special to me.And when her tall,not-so-imposing,vivacious frame comes near you,the 'Colgate Smile' virus infects you and trust me,you don't want to get treated!She is entertaining,she makes crazy faces,she is unpredictable at times,she is lazy,she endorses Boost at times,she makes your happy times happier and lends that precious ear to you when you most need it!She seems confused and self-confessedly weird but behind all that is a deep and determined girl,who will surely make her mark someday,she writes with her heart and not the pen and yes,she hates my singing and when I dance around randomly on the street which I love!!
So my dear Deedee,what I mean to say through all the flattery that I have so generously heaped on you is that you ROCK!!!Just always be the way you are coz being you suits you and yeah,please continue to tell me to shut up when I try to sing and when I dance randomly.Please bear me when I am at my pathetic best and in the end,"OH PALEEZ,PALEEZ DO NOT PUSH THE BUTTON!!!!"

                                        I DREAM OF PARA...PARA...PARADISE!!!!
Sorry Coldplay,sincere apologies for not hearing this song some time back,I missed out on it for quite sometime.But better late than never!Anyways,the reason I mentioned this song and I am writing today is I feel just like this song,in Paradise!!No precise reasons,maybe I am just loving being ME finally!!I feel liberated,confident,optimistic and determined!This place(SIMC)surely has something magical about it!It can take you out of a bad day like really fast,it makes you serious,like not boring serious but logical and practical serious.There are 'learning takeaways'(quoting my friend Dean here!)almost everyday.
Needless to say,I am surely not the person I was sometime back!There has been change,and a substantial one at that.And there's still a lot more to be done!But coming back,what is it about today that makes me feel so happy?Is it just the workload of everyday assignments dropping down and almost stopping,is it Ganapati Bappa who blesses my room with his super awesome presence,is it the jokes and fun that I share with a certain hometown friend,is it my great bonding with my friends in the hostel at night or is it that I take a stand for people and support them everytime,irrespective of whether they appreciate it or need it or not??Actually,its all of these!All of these small and simple reasons have contibuted to me feeling so elated today!!Today also marks the end of my first semester,now we would be specialsing in our respective fields and so the batch will separate academically.Some people feel this might separate the batch emotionally too,which is understandable but I think it shouldn't make much of a difference.Afterall,we are still on the same campus,in the same academic building and in the same hostels.They say distance makes the heart grow fonder,so maybe this slight 'distance' between us will only make us grow fonder!This is our family afterall,family away from home!There IS something distinct about hostel life I guess.The people you meet here,the friends you make here,the understanding that develops between you and them,the way they show you the mirror and make you realise your strenghts and weaknesses is something you will remember for life!(I think I surely will!)Case in point,I have always loved writing but never resorted to a blog to do that but thanks to a certain friend now I have taken to it like a fish to water and realized that I am more at ease with the keyboard than to the conventional pen and paper.I can write with more honesty,sincerity and speed.So there.......
There is so much more I could tell you about,but I guess it would just go on & on!But still,in an attempt to summarise all those things,I would say that I feel like I am back to school and this time I am living the school life I always wanted to!The right amount of discipline,friends,crushes,bonding,competition,its all happening here!I am just reliving my school life here!!And needless to say,I am loving it!!!!

P.S-This post would be incomplete without the song that is the reason for it creation.So people,here it is!  

                            IS THE GRASS REALLY GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE?

Heard about this saying a lot of times and surprisingly,I never gave it a thought.About whether it is true,whether we really percieve things to be like that.But better late than never,the thought of it suddenly struck me tonight while sitting with a couple of friends.I cant quote verbatim what prompted it but I just went into a train of thoughts.Looking at one of my friend,I thought,would I be happier had I been in his place?Not a lot of analysis was needed to get the answer,and the answer was NO!Somehow I preferred to be where I am because thats what defines ME!Its a different thing to be aspire to be like someone and to desire to be like someone.Desire shows desperation.Aspiration is retaining your identity but still being something more than what you were.

Rewinding a couple of years back,I wondered if I thought or could ever think so then.No,I couldn't do that.Mostly,we do crave for things someone else has and degrade what we have with us.The desire to achieve something that you don't have and the others have evokes a irresistible desire to get it,right?Its so intense,impulsive and deep!And many a times after you get what you want,its importance also decreases with time.Once,just once think of what you have got.Look at your achievements,what you rightfully earned,how you were praised for it and how much pride and satisfaction you felt.I bet you,all your cravings will disappear.You realise how important it is to earn things in life.The sense of self respect and confidence that it evokes can be compared with nothing.Realizing it tonight,I promise myself to never compare my life with anyone else's.If I have to compare,I will compare what I was sometime back and what I am now.There has to be that innate feeling of growth in you.I know for sure that I am imbibing this funda right now!!You should try it too and trust me,you will see that the grass is not greener on the other side!Enjoy your lows,learn form them,make your highs and go for it!!

KABOOL HAI?

So lets talk about acceptance for a start!! Hey, what are you yawning for? It isn't boring, it isn't philosophical but it's so connected to our everyday life, every minute of our life I could say. If you have acceptance within you, life would be at it's simplest best! As simple as it sound, it is so not simple to master acceptance! You know whats lacking, you know whats the truth but yet when someone says it out or shows it to you, you are in the most determinate 'I beg to differ' mode! Instead beg to differ! Really it helps. If you can point out your flaws, your weaknesses and your cravings, trust me no son of a b***h can give you a complex!!

Yeah, if I am blabbering about acceptance so much something must have had happened to me which ultimately led me to it, right? So lets not beat around the bush and come to it. Had one of those rather rare bad days yesterday. Don't know why but I was just not in my regular mood, I could blame the weather slightly but that was not the reason really. A reason I could call a relevant one was my parents coming down to Mumbai specially for my brother's birthday to surprise him and I had no idea about it. Had I known about it earlier I could have joined them in the celebrations and had some good time. Mysteriously it was kept a mystery from me! After my Visual Design class Mom called up to reveal the surprise but I couldn't reciprocate her excitement and happiness, I posed the obvious question, why was I kept in the oblivion about this? Mom had no definite answer, probably it didn't strike her. I felt quite ignored for a moment(quite stupid I know but I felt it!).As it is, the pinch of the absence of one special person in my life(not necesarrily a girlfriend!) was there and then this. Okay I am not a loner or introvert who is ignored by all at large but sometimes people behave in a rather strange manner with me! One day I am the apple of their eye and the next day I am the forbidden fruit! And I am like WHAT?????(reminded of a dear friend here!she has this typical style of saying this word!)It used to surprise me before but then wonder of wonders, ACCEPTANCE came to my rescue!I just told myself that this IS how it is whether you like it or not. If you want it to change, you have to be that change. Instead of sympathizing on yourself for your 'sorry' condition wake your ass up and be the change you wanna see! And conditions change you know, they do get better with time. You have two options before you-one, that you crib about how the day has started in a shitty manner and spend the rest of the day in the shitty mode or you crib about how the day has started in a shitty way but then proceed to learn something from that and learn to be happy or atleast accepting about the way things are. And I chose the latter.

Also I cannot exclude the dear friend I mentioned earlier who gave me vital emotional support and assurance when I was in crib mode. She made complete sense in all she said and helped me in strengthening my acceptance, I owe her for sure! Her bright 'Colgate' smile surely lit me up a bit! Now there is more acceptance and consequently less cribbing. Today was awesome thanks to her! So just remember, accept yourself!When you feel like a loser, when you feel lonely or you feel the blues, go by the aforementioned adage or even easier,have a friend like my li'l Miss Sunshine!!:)