In retrospect....
Its 1AM and I am as excited and energized like I would normally be on a Saturday morning. I had a nice tete-a-tete with few of my friends...recollecting old memories,..our first few days in the US..exploring the campus..skeptical about taking directions from strangers ( cos we were scared that they would make out we were new to this place and thanks to the endless stories about mugging that we heard from various sources)..
Over the last seven months I have made a home away from home..built many new friendships..strengthened old ones..made my own decisions...learned that environmental engineers are the stewards of mother nature...last but not the least realized that my happiness comes before anything else.. BUT was so out of sync with so many things happening in India..dint care to find out what the political scenario was..India's presence globally, rupee's recent gain on the dollar..$$$.. never realized it though..
Holi, shivratri and Ugadi came and went..they were like any other day for me..nothing special..I dont even remember if I took a few minutes out of my schedule to offer prayers.. I know I am learning so much here but at the cost of what i learned for the last 21 years...my shyaamala dhandakam, manthra pushpam etc etc are all confined to books now..
I recently met someone who had asked me what Vande Maataram meant..I knew what the two words 'Vande Maataram' mean but I dont know the meaning of the song..Yes its our national song and I have been singing it day in and day out during the 12 years of my schooling but.. I wonder why I dint have the urge to know its meaning...I wonder how many of us know what exactly it means...
It just shows how busy I have been in my pursuit of happiness( PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!!! too biiig a word:O...nah i dont think this is what that gives me happiness) that I have failed to perceive smaller things in life...failed miserably at marveling the beauty of the starry night and the enchantment in the spider's web after it rains!!! Oh hell I have never seen a wet spider's web and I dont know why Robin keeps talkin about it often in his book.
But yeah thats a good book to read..'The Monk who sold his Ferrari'..success from outside doesnt mean anything unless there is happiness from within..."Investing in yourself is the best investment"..."theres a difference between being well-off and well being"..liked the concepts a lot...and am so inspired by that book that i am gonna start a positive thoughts factory GIGO....good ideas in and good ideas out...dad keeps telling that often but i never really cared to follow that...but believe me it works!!!
Start everyday with a smile..greet everyone you come across and look at the cup and say that its half-full!!! Yes you have your positive thoughts factory running...
PS: I missed a small thing...."perati chettu vaidyaniki panikiraadani"....I agree with one of my friend Srikara who says that u dont need a Robin sharma or Paul Cohelo to tell you how to tranquilise yourself and to discover or regain your innerself, self assurance blah blah blah when u start living as said in our religion.
Over the last seven months I have made a home away from home..built many new friendships..strengthened old ones..made my own decisions...learned that environmental engineers are the stewards of mother nature...last but not the least realized that my happiness comes before anything else.. BUT was so out of sync with so many things happening in India..dint care to find out what the political scenario was..India's presence globally, rupee's recent gain on the dollar..$$$.. never realized it though..
Holi, shivratri and Ugadi came and went..they were like any other day for me..nothing special..I dont even remember if I took a few minutes out of my schedule to offer prayers.. I know I am learning so much here but at the cost of what i learned for the last 21 years...my shyaamala dhandakam, manthra pushpam etc etc are all confined to books now..
I recently met someone who had asked me what Vande Maataram meant..I knew what the two words 'Vande Maataram' mean but I dont know the meaning of the song..Yes its our national song and I have been singing it day in and day out during the 12 years of my schooling but.. I wonder why I dint have the urge to know its meaning...I wonder how many of us know what exactly it means...
It just shows how busy I have been in my pursuit of happiness( PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!!! too biiig a word:O...nah i dont think this is what that gives me happiness) that I have failed to perceive smaller things in life...failed miserably at marveling the beauty of the starry night and the enchantment in the spider's web after it rains!!! Oh hell I have never seen a wet spider's web and I dont know why Robin keeps talkin about it often in his book.
But yeah thats a good book to read..'The Monk who sold his Ferrari'..success from outside doesnt mean anything unless there is happiness from within..."Investing in yourself is the best investment"..."theres a difference between being well-off and well being"..liked the concepts a lot...and am so inspired by that book that i am gonna start a positive thoughts factory GIGO....good ideas in and good ideas out...dad keeps telling that often but i never really cared to follow that...but believe me it works!!!
Start everyday with a smile..greet everyone you come across and look at the cup and say that its half-full!!! Yes you have your positive thoughts factory running...
PS: I missed a small thing...."perati chettu vaidyaniki panikiraadani"....I agree with one of my friend Srikara who says that u dont need a Robin sharma or Paul Cohelo to tell you how to tranquilise yourself and to discover or regain your innerself, self assurance blah blah blah when u start living as said in our religion.
Comments
It's just as bad back home too.. am not sure how many of our friends know the Vande Mataram OR its meaning even now. It's a tragedy we are reduced to singing those once, or at the best, twice a year - I am sure there'd be people who last sung them when they left the school and never after, let alone try to understand what they signified/signify. We must look to the future, but we can't afford to forget our past.
And at the risk of souding cliched, "Pursuit of Happiness" doesn't have to be in an entirely materialistic sense. Pursuit of knowledge that gives us, as you put it, the tranquility of the inner self, is a very high ideal. Seek it out. Tejasvinaavadheetamastu :)
Probably u dont know the real me.. btw, Can I know the real you?