Happiness

The Crowning Glory of the rising Sun makes my eyes happy. The early morning orchestra of assorted birds' chirping makes my ears happy. The king of fruits, Mango makes my tongue heavenly happy. The Jasmine-perfume makes my nose happy and touching the cool dew on fresh flowers make my finger-tips happy.  

I return home, all tired, hungry and sweating from the suffocating, crowded train-journey, everything seems dark, futile and useless. At that crushing moment, the one and only eager, expectant, welcoming face of my mother makes me Happy, Happier ... Happiest of all. 

Childhood is the most happiest of all. We are happy cause we are pampered by the parents at home and by teachers at school. We are happy because we play a lot and study a little. We are sheltered, we are cared, we are loved by our  relatives as well as by the neighbors. Everybody loves Children and children respond to that love abundantly. Love makes us all happy. So Childhood = Happiness  

Generally children are happy, but I was happy only when I was with my family or with my close friends. I loved to be either with my mother, sisters, aunt, uncle or with my favorite teacher. The funny thing was I wanted my mother to be always with me, even in school. As soon as mother dropped me at school and turned about to return home, I would cry foul. How could my mother leave me alone?. The only thing that pacified me to stay put at school was Cream crackers ( Chocolate flavor ). My mother packed my lunch-box with Bhaji-Chapati and a tiny packet of Cream-crackers. Even today, I love to munch on it. 

I grew up and joined college, where chatting, hanging out with friends made me excited. I liked my friends' company as well as reading Sidney Sheldon's novels made me immensely happy. I crave for luxury and still the simple things such as freshly made Ginger tea with potato chips make me gourmet-happy.

Mall-hopping, Window-shopping for dresses, bags, shoes and wrist-watches make me sight-happy. That means just the sight of those cute, costly luxuries make me happy and inspires me to work harder, to earn more. 

My nephew Aamen and niece Aditi make me refreshingly happy with their bright smiles, foolish pranks, silly jokes and warm hugs. 

My diary, with it's myriad content about my school, college, office and random memories make me nostalgically happy. I love to write about anything under the Sun, over the Earth and in between the lines. The brand new pages of diary make me happy with the numerous possibilities of subjects to be written in it. 

"Happiness is doing things for others, without an iota of selfishness, gaining satisfaction from others' happiness", which my mother practiced but never preached. Someday I wish to follow her path. Amen! 

 Coca-Cola India.

7Star MotoE

Moto E ... Moto E ...Moto E ...screamed the newspapers , TVs, radios and even my 13 year old nephew Aamen, plus my 39 year old Electronics-Engineer brother , when I was searching for a latest, high-tech smart phone to buy. I was doing my own R and D about Moto E with friend, philosopher, guide, the omniscient Google. Lo and behold ... the verdict was unanimous ...Moto E ... Go ... Get it. 

May I confess?. My final decision was based on the elegant, aerodynamic looks of the ritzy Moto-E. After all this hoopla , I am sure all of you are eager to have a look at my snazzy Moto-E, which I purchased on March 18, 2015 from Flipkart .As usual Flipkart's delivery was prompt and perfect.

Well, we the ladies have oodles of 6th sense and we do use it ostentatiously. 
I wanted to buy a smart phone, and my first choice was Nokia. As an Indian , I am a brand loyalist, whether it's Colgate, Godrej, Surf, Vico or Parle-G, I buy whatever my parents have bought. 

I have used 2 Nokia handsets, 1st from the year 2003 to year 2009 , and 2nd from the year 2009 to till date. They both are still in fine mint working condition. Don't believe me ? Have a look at my loyal companions ... 

But, now both my Nokia handsets have become obsolete. I can not click sharp pictures. They don't have high-tech micro-processors, modern operating systems, large storage capacity, big TFT LCD Touchscreens and WiFi en-ability etc. 

My new Moto-E ( 2nd Gen ) 3G ,possesses all the above features , plus much more. So I #ChooseToStart with the new Moto-E. The most important features of my elegant Moto-E ( 2nd Gen ) 3G are : Android v5.0 ( Lollipop ) Operating system, 5 MP Primary Camera , 0.3 MP Secondary Camera, 1.2 GHz Quad Core Processor, Dual SIM ( GSM + UMTS ), Expandable Storage capacity of 32 GB, 4.5-inch TFT LCD Touchscreen, a long-lasting battery,  and the price is so reasonable. I can not believe that I got so much more by paying so less.

My first smart phone, My Moto-E won my heart's approval with it's glitzy, white elegant looks. Next I started browsing through the manual which won my brain's approval with it's fantastic features. Moto-E's key-features are more luxurious than Five Stars ... My Moto-E dazzles with 7 Stars  : 

1st * : Moto-E has 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU and advanced graphics. It switches smoothly between different application. We can listen to music and browse the web simultaneously. It is future-ready with 1 GB - RAM.

2nd * : Moto-E has 2390 mAh battery which lasts all day , we don't need to recharge it again and again. 

3rd * : Moto-E has Android Lollipop operating system, which offers the best Android experience. 

4th * : Moto-E shoots beautiful pictures and videos with the 5 MP primary camera. The front camera is superb for selfies and video chatting. It has 4x Digital zoom. 

5th * : Moto-E has adorable curves, which are comfortable to handle. The speaker gives melodious music experience. The waterproof coating and Corning Gorilla glass protects my phone effortlessly. The anti-smudge coating keeps the fingerprints away.

6th * : Moto-E has advanced Internet connectivity with Pre-installed Browser Android, v4 Bluetooth, Navigation technology of GLONASS, BeiDou with Google maps, Wifi, Micro USB and 3G. 

7th * : Moto-E has various useful apps such as Google Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, Google Chrome, Motorola Assist, Motorola Migrate, Moto assist.

So How do you like my 7 Star-studded Moto-E ? Grand enough to go for it, order it right now from flipkart. Well, you can always drop in at home to have a look and drool over it with Aam-Panhe. It's quite a cool Deal.

http://www.startwithmotoe.com/

new Moto E!

#Together

"Oops, I have forgotten the keys , we have to return Home and collect it" - Sandhya, my cousin-friend declared with alarming hurry. We were already late due to the office-rush hour and to top that lateness, we had to return home.

Our mobiles were constantly buzzing with friends, threatening to call 100 , 101 , 102 ,... if we didn't reach the venue within a second. As if we possessed couple of time-machines. Now that's typical of school-friends. They take you for granted. They think of you as Omnipotent and Useless in the same instance. 

We pacified them with the coolest promise of Magnum Chocolate Infinity Ice-candies, if they didn't kill us on arrival. They bargained for 2 candies each, we cursed Foreign Direct Investment in retail but our taste-buds were already in raptures. 

At last, we reached the venue for the get-#together / reunion of school-friends, exactly an hour after the scheduled time. We were fashionably late but still received the warmest welcome with open arms I mean mouths. So... our Get-together started on Sweetest-coolest note of dessert first ...  

The cool candies warmed up the spirit of our group. We had so much to catch up from school-sendoff ,college to jobs that everybody was talking, listening, laughing, munching on snacks simultaneously.  

As the day progressed from morning to noon, we still had so much to share with each other, that we kept on postponing the lunch, which was planned at a fashionable restaurant. We decided to order the lunch at home, rather than going there all dressed up and missing on the fun-moments of a boisterous company. What an awesome decision!. We enjoyed the delicious food while chatting, laughing, singing ( parodying) and praising each other's healthy appetite. 

One of our friend had recently lost her child to cancer, so she was reluctant to join our get-#together. We cajoled her to join us just for a few minutes and surprisingly, she got so enchanted with the warm camaraderie that she stayed for a night-over. None of us showered her with gaudy sympathy, instead we chatted in general about her college-days and her latest promotion to the managerial post. 

We were pulling each others legs about extra-weight and extra-curricular activities such as Dream-jogging, mall-hopping and window-shopping. We exchanged tips about saving money, investing, cooking and last but not the least BEAUTY / FASHION as if we were the page-3 celebrities. To top this, we shoot a catwalk of one of our most beautiful friend and threatened to upload it on the Facebook page of our school. She bribed us with black-forest pastries, for not going ahead with our atrocious plan. I wish I could upload that catwalk video here ... but I have to remain loyal to that creamy-soft pastry which tasted heavenly at that moment of togetherness. 

Our friend who had become a pessimist, was undergoing a psychiatrist's treatment to recover from her child's death, joined in our pranks and enjoyed this school reunion to the fullest. Picnic is a tonic and being #together with friends is an elixir of life, which rejuvenates, motivates, inspires, strengthens us for ever and ever. The richness of friendship is infinite, it can not be measured in rupees. On that most memorable day of school reunion ,our friend's journey from pessimism to optimism inspired all of us to remain #together and #lookup in the time of happiness as well as in the crisis. 


 Housing.com


https://housing.com/

#StartANewLife

Every Indian student must pass, actually with flying colors through that horrible hurdle called S.S.C. results. Not only the student but also the whole family is on tenterhooks on that D-day. I am an Indian in general and Mumbaikar in particular, so that D-day was particularly more horrible than usual.

I wanted to join Arts stream and my father was adamant on Science. In a patriarchal society , mothers have no say in important matters such as the career and well being of her child. My mother wanted me to pursue my dream, but she was a silently-suffering spectator on that fateful day, when I had to adjust and take admission for the commerce stream even after gaining 82%.

The 2 years of commerce college were like a nightmare. I studied hard, but it was an aimless journey. I started taking solace in science fictions. My favorite author was Jayant Narlikar. He had written awesome stories about Super-computers and their gigantic power, which was a rare-novelty in the 80's. I remember writing to my German penfriend, that I wanted to learn computers and she was amazed.

The biggest irony was, I was sure of succeeding in computers , even though I could not learn , something as mundane as commerce and my father who did not allow me to pursue Arts was eager to pay the costly fees of computer management diploma.

I started my search for a proper computer institute , with Times Of India ( Hindustan Times and DNA entered Mumbai, very late in the year 2005 .) There were only Apple ( now Aptech ) , NIIT , Datapro , Datamatics , IGCS and few little known institutes offering computer management diploma to H.S.C. pass students. Apple and NIIT being well beyond my budget , I opted for Datapro at Bandra.

I got up at 5.30 a.m. as I was about to #StartANewLife ,I did not want to be late and miss a moment of my first day of "Computer Management Diploma". The atmosphere at the entrance of the Datapro was charged up with a 1000 splendid Suns. Learning Computers was so hot and happening, even at sky-high rates. Most of the students were graduate and had joined for post graduation , while just 3 of us were H.S.C. pass. The other 2 girls were accompanied by their parents, while I was alone. The Computer teacher patronized us, the 3 under graduate students, by constantly firing us questions about flow-charts, conversion from binary to decimal, decimal to binary, computer commands, terms and eventually calling us scholars.

I made friendship with those 2 undergraduate students , Vijee and Meenu. We  decided among ourselves to top the Computer fundamentals ( 1st module of Diploma in Computer Management.) While the other P.G. students were busy chatting and giggling , we 3 joined the library and borrowed the Computer fundamentals books. Earlier too , I was a book-worm and now I was reading only computer books. Within a month the syllabus was over and it was the time of examination. Though I had studied hard, I had a doubt about getting highest marks, so I studied some more and still more...

We received the question paper, and I could not believe my eyes. All "Fill in the blanks", "Match the following " , 2-marks-questions, even the flow-charts were so easy. I don't know , whether it was just a co-incidence , or Sir's way of patronizing us further , but all 3 of us got the same marks , 94 out of 100. And yes, We the three undergraduates stood 1st in the Computer fundamentals class full of P.G.-students.

Naturally , there was no looking back after this spectacular victory. That was my chance to #StartANewLife and I grabbed it with both keyboard and mouse. After passing "Computer Management Diploma " with distinction, I was selected for a World Bank Project.

Please check https://housing.com/in , to #StartANewLife.

B+ve Mother

A , B , C ... T ... I checked that list twice, thrice but my name was missing. There was no 'Sujata Tawde' in the passing list of Para Social work-entrance exam. 

I don't remember how I returned home and collapsed in the arms of Aai, how she comforted me and made me sleep. I did not want to get up ever and face the cruel world. I wanted to die and that's that. But life is not that easy. It demands living, death can not be ordered on Flipkart.

I had studied like a zombie for that exam. Every day I got up at 4 in the morning, so that I could study and reach office at 10 a.m. As soon as I returned home at 6.30 p.m., I would eat Varan-Bhaat and continue studying till 11.30 p.m. I had lost the sense of the world. It hardly mattered to me what's happening around, while I was preparing for the exam. 

Next morning, after that horrible results, Aai handed me the news-paper and asked me to read a SC ( Single Column news ). It was about the Mass Media course conducted by  XIC. ( Xavier Institute of Communications)

Mass Media - Journalism.? Well, I always had immense respect for the journalists. Right from the Lokmanya Tilak , Aagarkar to Madhav Gadkari, Kumar Ketkar, Narayan Athavale to Sanjay Raut, all have been my idols. I wanted to imitate their writing style. I wanted to be a part of the social empowerment, which is possible mostly through the newspaper. 

My mother knew my ambition, my dream better than me. She encouraged me to apply for the mass-media entrance test. "No, never. I will fail for sure. How would I pass Mass-media Entrance, when I could not pass Para-Social Work entrance.?"

Mother being mother, she had full faith in my abilities as well as talent. I was shattered, my confidence had gone berserk. My mother boosted my spirit by telling me tales about my childhood. How I always achieved, whatever I wanted through sheer talent and smart work. "Now is the time to prove yourself. #lookup . You can win. On your marks ... Get .. Set .. Go." I am 100% sure, all mothers have the same blood group, B+ve.  

Mother reminded me the story of 'Shyamchi Aai'. How Shyam's mother pushed the reluctant Shyam into the well, how Shyam almost drowned but then learnt to swim, how Shyam loved his mother even more after that "PUSH". 'Shyamchi Aai' is my most favorite novel. I always compared my mother with Shyam's mother. I am proud of my full-on optimistic mother and worship her like Shyam did.

To cut the long story short, I did appear and pass the entrance test for Mass Media. Next I continued to get A grades in almost all the modules and achieved 1st rank in the final exam. It was such a heady feeling. On the very 1st day of joining electronic media, I got the unique opportunity to interview the Police Commissioner of Mumbai.

The obstacle of failure in Para-Social work entrance exam seems like a blessing in disguise. Had not I failed in that exam, I would have never become the journalist, the award-winning at that too. The credit of this as well as the future awards goes to my Aai.

This post is part of the  indiblogger Happy Hours activity in association with  Housing!  https://housing.com/lookup.

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