Age rage?

Aah! So am I upset?
It is not just another conversation because I have definitely been thinking about it for some hours now even without realizing. So one of my friends met me after three months and her first spontaneous and straight-from-the-heart reaction was “Oh my God! You look old!”
Really??? I mean really???
And even if it is true, how does it matter? I remember those uncountable times till my recent past when my friends would say- “You are such a kidzee”, “When will you grow up?”, “Can’t really guess how old are you?”, “You still look like a college student” etc.
One of the best to recollect compliments (yeah now I definitely feel it was a compliment!) off course exaggerated one that it was-
“Did you begin bathing in anti-ageing creams when you were in school and is that why you stopped ageing thereafter…such that even when you are a working professional you still look like a school girl?” I would just laugh at it and move on.
So how could I take such a compliment without any second thoughts and why can’t I take a piece of critic (if you call it so!) gracefully? No. I don’t want to hear the crap that it is human nature to feel flattered and angered and bla bla. From when has it started affecting me…as I completely agree with a friend of mine who says, “Age is just a number!”
Think of all those days K3 when people treated you like a kid and you truly wanted to grow up. You secretly desired to be taken seriously and not be disregarded just because you were youngest of the lot – be it at home, in school or at work.  So why am I looking for consolations- that another friend with this friend said, “You look more mature and professional.” Of course this one has more positive connotation. But yeah I don’t mind if I look my age because ultimately age is just a number. It is all about how young you feel at heart, right? Now you might think that I’m talking like a real loser trying to be philosophical about the age and the theories associated with it.  But believe me I’m a kind of girl who never even takes a microsecond to go public about my age (well evidence could be one of my blog posts) even if I have repeatedly heard the cliché that a woman should not reveal her true age etc..
I’m glad and I hope my new-found maturity works to my advantage as I enter a tough professional world. So the purpose of this post is just to shake out even the slightest modicum of discomfort I felt about being labeled old. Because to me, age CANNOT diminish my spirit and enthusiasm to live life queen-size… today, tomorrow and always.

Choking with ideas?

I love what my Entrepreneurship professor said- “You are not supposed to work inside polythene bags and choke yourself with your ideas, but you are expected to work in an open and supportive environment.”

Words of wisdom

Sharon Kan, the CEO of Tikatok shared her “words of wisdom” with us in the Simmons SOM Entrepreneurship gathering. She is so inspiring and engaging!

1) Think bigger than the BIG

If you want to make world a better place to live, sure why not? Why settle for anything less?

2) Accept your failures (Embrace them if you can!)

As most of us might have experienced…it is NOT easy to fail.It is easy to quit once you fail. Difficult to move on. But even more difficult is to accept your failures, learn from them and make something beautiful out of your life. If you are not ready to fail, how can you be ready for success?

3) Tell your story with passion

I feel if only you believe in yourself, in your idea, can people believe you.

You may know this already, but these are some points to really think through.

She also read a poem which she said her 8-year old daughter suggested. Here is the poem:

The Voice

There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
“I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong.”
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you–just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.”

– Shel Silverstein

Am I ready to fail??? Do I listen to the voice inside?

God still loves the world

Every tiny star that twinkles in the night sky…

Every drop of morning dew…

Every spark of fire blazing in the furnace…

Every captivating view…

Every rainbow in the sky…

Every pretty butterfly…

Tells the fascinating news to those who dare to hope.

And the message is-

“God still loves the world…God still still loves the world.”

So throw your life into His hands.

Day-by-day discern His plans.

God is passionately busy loving you and me.

God is passionately busy loving you and me.

Weird hatred

People try to hate you not because they hate you, but because they hate themselves for not being able to be like you. Give it a thought. I’m sure you will find at least a few of them to be your ardent secret admirers. And well, this is not up for a discussion whether it is good or bad. It is just a weird human emotion.

Life is full of chocolates

It was supposed to be a game of “mutual gains” in my Negotiation mid-term exam and I ended up “claiming” more than I should have, thanks to my sweet counterpart. Well nobody on earth would feel guilty on “winning” but I felt terrible. Later in the day after the classes, I started working on my laptop (more about my lappi in some other post) and found that the battery was almost dead, only then I realized that I had lost my charger! I checked all the possible places- class, library, lounge, study rooms. I called up “KK”, a friend of mine who was next to me in the morning class, hoping that she had picked up my charger with her stuff. I emailed my other classmates too, but no luck. It was a Friday evening and it meant even if someone would find it, I would get it only on Monday. How was I going to work on my assignments?

God! I already had a long TODO list to worry about and this sequence of events made me a little more upset.

I called up jijz (“J”) and told him that we would have to go to “Best Buy/ Radio shack” and buy a charger for me. I left for home but interestingly I had to wait for almost half an hour in freezing weather at the T-station (That is what the train service is called in Boston-“T”).

To cut the long story short, I knew that it wasn’t going to cost me a fortune to buy a laptop charger, but please can somebody understand that it was not just the charger but something that made me feel crazy that day? Nothing seemed to work my way.

On reaching home “J” tried to enthuse some positivity  – “Why don’t you think that you will get a new charger now? Fine, in your negotiations, you should feel good about yourself that you convinced your counterpart and won the game.”

I don’t think I was convinced though, so I urged him to buy me chocolates on our way to the store. I lovvvvvvvvvvve sweets and I thought may be chocolates would make me feel better. So, we were all set to leave. Just then I received a call from “KK” and she was apologetic that she had put my laptop charger with hers without even realizing. And when I had called her in the afternoon, she had no clue why my charger would be with her. She noted down my address and said that she would see me soon.  All through the conversation, I could only feel the pleasure and the peace I would have- I would get to work on my assignments. I thanked her.

I went to see “KK” and her kind roomie had offered to drive her to my place despite her work plans. Yuhhhhhhhhhhhu I was so happy (This time it was not just the happiness of getting my charger back, but I was genuinely happy to see my friend outside the school environment) that we hugged each other and she handed over something to me. Guess what? My Sony charger and Russian chocolates!!!! She had been to Russia, her home country and got chocolates (her favorite eggless chocolates especially for me).

Wow! That moment I felt so overwhelmed with happiness. I wanted “J” to buy me a few chocolates and here I had a box full of chocolates.  I thought to myself – isn’t life full of chocolates? “He” surprises us with sweet and chocolaty memories. Lessons of life come wrapped in the form of small experiences, if only we could taste them all and enjoy the ones we like and learn from the bitter ones:-)

My Sony charger and the Russian chocolates

Birthday note

I received this wonderful note from a very dear friend of mine, T, who is so much a part of my second life, who really understands me and mentors me every time I need her. The note shows her love for me.  I received this note with a wonderful gift wrapped in love.

“

K

Happy Birthday!

It has been a gift to have such a loving person come into my life. Your caring spirit sends vibrations to all around you – I can’t wait until it is felt all over the world.

Love,

T

“

Dear T, infact you and M are my new found “gifts”. I’m so happy to have met you. It is interesting to know how friendships can grow beyond geographies. You never know, someone somewhere today, could be your friend tomorrow.

Quote unquote

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” –  Steve Jobs

Beginning of “Second life”

I wanted to resume blogging on my birthday, exactly 1 year after having left blogging last year. But believe me there was so much happening that I thought of “living” it than “documenting” it! This year has been eventful in true sense. I gifted myself a “second life” (This really deserves a full-fledged post) – a step towards my dreams- MBA course in Simmons school of management which is the only MBA program, designed especially for women, revolving around empowering women and principled leadership. Well, I had some very strong reasons for choosing this school and I’m happy I did so.

Wow! Completed my 1^st semester last week and believe me now I know what I would have missed by not taking up the course! I’m simply loving it. It is not just the course, but the whole experience with its paraphernalia that enriches the transformational process.

As of now, enjoying a much needed break. It feels great to have my normal life back:)

Someone is knocking for the 25th time!!!!

I’m enthralled to reach this magic figure- today as I turn 25, I feel special yet another time.
Though I’m not sure how, but I’m sure there are many fun-filled things planned for the day.
Waiting for this beautiful day to unfold in the most enigmatic and exciting manner…
I wish myself a verrry Happy Birthday. I’m all geared up to rock:-)