Life is Good

Life is Good! How often do we say that to ourselves or to others? More than often don't we complain about the small things that are really not so important? And we don't see how good life is. Indeed, life is phenomenal! There are so many things to be thankful for. The beautiful sun rise, the twitter of the birds welcoming each new day with their melodious language, the newly blossomed flowers and trees heavy with their fruits.We may come across small and large stones in our path of life and we complain and moan about them. Little do we realize that if we polish those stones, we'll get beautiful diamonds.

We did it !!

At last we did it.We found our way.Our Indian Team won the Cricket World Cup 2011. A dream come true after a long 28 years.It was a Saturday and I was all set to watch the final.My spirits were a bit dampened when SriLanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and decided to bat first.But I tried to tell myself that we would still be going to make it.SriLanka started out well,however India soon managed to take a wicket.At regular intervals Dhoni and his men were able to break into them, and they also got the prized wicket of Sangakkara when he was at 48. Sri Lanka could find solace though in Mahela Jayawardene's rollicking 103. Their scoreboard kept ticking and by the end of 50 overs, Sri Lanka had acquired a commendable score of 274 for six.This was a sure winning score and any team batting second would find it tough to beat it. Sachin and Sehwag commenced the Indian batting. Sehwag did his job as always and blasted away.Thanks to him India got a quick start and we all looked happy.Sadly, that was going to be short lived when Sehwags' wicket fell.It seemed that Sachin would have to stay the entire innings and also everyone was hoping to watch Sachin get his 100th international hundred on this occasion.Sachin displayed some brilliant shots but it was not to be as his wicket was captured by the wily haired Malinga.Sachin looked very disappointed when he left the ground, almost knowing that his dream might not come true again.Virat Kohli playing with Gautham Gambhir also got out soon.We all expected for Yuvi to come next and save our grace, but instead, the captain himself, MS Dhoni ventured out.Together, he and Gambhir, kept their nerves and played a slow but encouraging game.Gautham Gambhir managed to hold on till 97. Next came Yuvi, and he knew what to do.Dhoni physically drained out also held on.They both chipped in with ones and twos and more and more boundaries as the last overs neared.The entire nation must have sat glued to their seats to watch the outcome of this epic match.Finally, it was Dhoni who hit the winning runs with a fantastic six and Yuvi ran towards him for an embrace.What followed were moments of immense joy, tears of laughter and happiness and surely of disbelief for every member of the team.Sachin was lifted on the shoulders of his team mates, as he carried the tricolour.A very proud moment for every Indian !!! I feel very lucky to be able to have witnessed this, especially since Sachin - our greatest player - was also deserving it more than anything else.
He's already broken so many records and this is surely the cherry on his cake.

Well Done Boyz !!

I was watching the Cricket World Cup semifinal and it was one of those rare occasions when an entire nation (or shall I say two?) was watching and praying for the outcome. It started out excellently. MSD (Dhoni) won the toss and decided to bat first.But the great start of Viru was shortlived and I was wondering if the magical score of 300 could be reached. Sachin was there, but he didn't seem to be his true self. Lady luck shone on him though because he survived four appeals of getting out. Then when I was thinking Sachin may get his 100th on this fateful day, I was wrong again. He got out on 85. Yuvi came soon and here I was saying "He'll do the needful like he did in the last matches." I was wrong again. He got out on the very first ball. In the last 3 matches or so whenever India was in a tight spot I would say "Oh boy, that's it. We're not gonna make it again." But saying this outwardly, inside me there was a small flame that kept flickering and saying "Don't worry. We'll make it this time." And I have seen this flame in every game that our boyz have played so far. Guys like Yuvi, Zaheer and Suresh Raina have shown a jest to win every match they play even if Sachin and Viru are not having a good day. Yuvi has shown his excellence with the bat and ball.This time too, they were able to end the batting with a "Just OK" total. Suresh Raina did a great job, staying till the end and hitting his shots to end up with 260. When Pakistan batted, it seemed they were continuing where Viru had left off, hitting boundaries one after the other.
Once the first couple of wickets was taken, the scene started to shift in our favour.
Knowing that Pakistan's strength lied in its bowling more than its batting, it was a comfort to see these wickets go. Yuvi was able to take two wickets like he did in the earlier games.This game was really showing the all-round effort of the entire team in that this time all the main bowlers had taken two wickets each. Misbah-ul-Haq, the last man standing, tried in the last overs to convert the looming loss to a near impossible victory. But a catch by Sachin sealed the final nail in Pakistan's coffin. Shahid Afridi must have felt really disappointed on his team's performance but I believe it was India's time to win and reach the final and yes, even the WorldCup ... Just like little Ryan loves to dance to "De Ghumma Ke" ... Well Done Boyz and we believe you will come home as Winners !!

A Happy Woman's Day

A glance in today's newspaper and you can read a lot about us .. I mean Women. It's the one day in every year dedicated to the weaker sex, or should I say the stronger sex ?! We no longer seem weak, to the newspapers at least. I am pausing and thinking for a moment. Have we really come out of our cocoons and turned into the beautiful butterfly? I don't think so. Maybe yes, there are more butterflies than earlier but still so many don't come out of their cocoons. I believe luck and fate still play a major role in a Woman's life. Mainly two things matter a lot in a girl's destiny :
1. The girl must have a strong will to make a difference to be more than the common girl.
2. She must be born and/or brought up under favorable circumstances.

If the girl doesn't have the wish to be different but chooses to marry, bear children, cook and wash and do all home chores without having a mind of her own who is there to stop her ?
How does she get the dream to become a successful pilot or singer or actress or badminton player or environmentalist ? She must have either got it from her family or outside influences such as Tv, books , friends etc ...
Hmmm .. It's just like a seedling .... depending on where it's fallen - on fertile soil or barren land - it's destiny lies.

Even education need not play a major role. There are girls who've done an applaudable PostGraduation course but end up as wives and mothers who have no say in the affairs of the home. That's really sad. Women should be confident to have a mind of their own , a dream of their own, without being negligent of the people who need her.

I hope that every girl gets the chance to become a beautiful butterfly in her life - loved and cherished by everyone.

Silence so Golden

Sometimes silence is so golden .... when too much has been said and done .. when nothing's been achieved or so much of no use. But to be silent is rarely possible, when one is with one's family or in the workplace. But at times it is still possible, in my case, when I have a small or big tiff with my better half. In those times we don't talk much. I know we should talk it out ... but it really helps to be silent for some time and get close again in the end ... Today got the chance to do a glass painting again ..after a very long time. They say when you do things that require silence you are able to relax ... and I was thinking about it when I drew the outline of my new glass painting. I wasn't relaxed though, because it is a tedious task to get a neat outline, and the slightest relaxation could make it look clumsy. But again , it felt nice to have this silence, though interrupted now and then by my little boy. :) It felt as if a nice breeze was flowing through my head, my thoughts ...

Mama's the Word

I had almost given up the hope to hear lil Ryan say "Mamma". That is because he simply doesn't say "Ma" or "Na". He says "Tata" and sometimes also "Pappa" but so far I have never heard him say "Mamma" except for once about a month ago, which was a very random incident and I still don't know whether I dreamed it or not. But today the unbelievable happened. I was ironing some clothes and Ryan was playing. When he got tired eventually, he came to me, and was saying "Mammamma" and I repeated it to him without realizing what he had said. And then it struck me !! I was overjoyed and I said the words again and Ryan was laughing on hearing them ... What a small moment .. but how happy it made me !

The Little Things You Do ...

These words are from the recent Vodafone ad song:
The little things you do ... for me ... and nobody else make me feel good...
The little things you do ... for me ... making me smile and no one else could...
That's why I like to sit next to you and hear your mad stories...
I know they are not true and I like that we share a secret or two together...
The little things you do for me ... and nobody else

Such simple words but so very true .. for every relationship close to the heart.
You feel so special when someone you care about does little things for you .. and not for anyone else ... Be it just spending 5 minutes with you , ignoring any phone calls that come during that time .... or hugging you .... or just doing something "small" ...
Likewise, it hurts when this someone does so many little things for others but cannot do anything for you ...