Purpose of my life

(Ask a guy to choose a blog topic and he will invariably choose something complicated like “Purpose of my life”. Ask a girl to choose a topic and she may choose something uncomplicated like “Top 10 favorite shopping places in the world”. Just kiddingJ. Anyway, the background to this topic is that I and my 3 friends took on the 10 day you challenge and it was fun to complete it together. So we took it a step forward and persuaded 2 more friends to join us. Now the 6 of us will write on a common topic once every month. One of us will choose the blog topic and declare it by the 15^th of every month. We have to publish the post on the month end. Go to the end of this post to view the blog URL’s of my friend’s blogs.)

The first topic, chosen by Pradeep of RTOAC is “Purpose of my life”. Pradeep chose this topic as a tribute to legends such as Steve Jobs and Jagjit Singh who passed away last month. I guess they found the purpose of their life and followed their passion.)

I could have said “I don’t know” and gotten away with it. But Pradeep’s choice for the blog topic really made me think hard. There’s a certain restlessness, uncertainty, and anxiety in me because I am still searching for the purpose of my life. Why was I born? Is there any meaning to my life? These questions haunt me over and over again. A few years back, I met a man in Vivekanand Ashram, Kanyakumari. He had done his B.Tech from IIT, but had left his corporate career to travel throughout India teaching young minds. At that time, I had gotten hyper and wondered why he had wasted an engineering seat. However, as I grow older and hopefully more mature, I understand that maybe he did find the purpose of his life and was happy pursuing it. It was what gave him “nirmal anand”.

I won’t say I am 100% sure about the purpose of my life. But I do know what makes me really happy. It’s not the big, fat pay check (LOL) at the end of every month. A few years back, I went through this phase with my kid brother. He was going through that age where he was more close to his friends and engrossed in his own world. We would often go for entire weeks without talking to each other. No matter how many times I tried to talk to him, he found it boring. I was devastated and depressed with his attitude. I kept feeling that I am the only one who loves him and he does not love me back. When I was really down, I told my concerns to my dad. I said “He doesn’t love me back. He doesn’t do special things for me”. That’s when my dad said “Maybe it’s you in this relation who has to do the job of loving him. You are the giver and he’s the receiver”. Something in dad’s words clicked. I understood what he wanted to say. Now, where is all this leading us? And what does it have to do with the purpose of my life?

The purpose of my life as I have understood it or the things that make me happy are: spreading love and happiness, making my friends and loved ones feel special, and educating and inspiring people. If I am able to make even one person feel special, then I have achieved the purpose of my life. If I am able to help even a single person, then I have achieved the purpose of my life. This may sound very cliché, but it truly makes me happy. I do like to help people and also tend to give unsolicited advice at times.

Sometime back, I helped a friend by simply passing on the contact number of a reputed gynecologist. She was having some trouble and was advised to go for surgery. Luckily, with the treatment of that gynecologist she delivered a healthy baby boy. I was amongst the first people to receive a call from the hospital with the good news. I can’t even begin to describe how happy that made me.

I really love the movie “Lakshya” which depicts a great story of a young boy and how he strives to find the purpose of his life and achieves success in the end. I do believe that whatever you do, you should do it with all your heart. I really like this dialogue from this movie “Tum jo bhi karo, accha karo. Agar tum ghaas katnewale ho, to tum acchese ghaas katon”J

Moral of the story: do whatever makes you happy. And then no matter where you are, or what you do, you will always be happy!    

My blogging gang includes:

• Deepa from Life through the lens of a kaliedoscope
• Sonali from Straight from the heart
• Pradeep from RTOAC
• Bhagyashri from Predictably Random
• Swati from Finding myself (invite only)

While you were sleeping…

(I like to write blog post titles which sync with movie names. I am writing this post to describe my kid’s mischief when we were taking a nap. This is an attempt to write a blog post through her perspective. The title also happens to be a favorite movie starring Sandra Bullock.)

Dear Readers,

My parents are still a bit angry over the stunt I pulled this Sunday afternoon while they were sleeping. But give me a chance to explain.

Now, don’t blame my parents for falling asleep without putting me to sleep. After all, they tried their best to put me to sleep for over 45 minutes. However, I now have very strong opinions about when I should sleep. And 3pm was not suitable enough. Mom and Dad dozed off in two separate rooms, each assuming that I was peacefully napping with the other.

What they did not know was that I got my little hands on a small jar of Vaseline. I am a very keen observer. I have seen how Mom opens the jar, dips her finger in the jar, and applies it over my lips when they get too dry. However, I thought my whole body was a bit dry and thought it would be good to apply Vaseline all over it. So, off go all my clothes. I dipped my finger in the jar and started meticulously applying Vaseline all over my body.

Imagine dad’s surprise when he woke up and saw me without any clothes, covered entirely in Vaseline. I was determined to finish the entire jar when he yanked me from the floor and carried me unceremoniously to the bathroom. All the while, he kept muttering to himself. Thankfully, Mom was still sleeping. Splash, splash a hot bath. Dad used a lot of soap in a vain attempt to get the Vaseline off me. Dad was giving me a piece of his mind all through my bath. Mom woke up because of the commotion. Now, dad really can’t shout at me. After all, I am daddy’s girl. He tries to look serious and raise his voice. But I am really not too scared of him. Mom is an entirely different story. One look at me was all she needed to know what had happened. She started the big fundewala lecture, rolling eyes, all the works. I thought it best to look scared and then quickly dozed off to put an end to her shouting.

Why you may ask did I pull this stunt? Now, I have tried to teach my parents N number of lessons, so that they would keep everything in its right place, far away from my reach. Alas, my parents just don’t get it. Once, mom woke up to a good smell. But there was too much of it. When she turned her head, she saw a cloud of white powder. I was splashing it over myself and over the bed sheets. Well, I got a bit carried away. But why couldn’t she keep it off my reach? Then there was that other time when they forgot to keep the iron on the top shelf. Mom was having her bath and I thought I would iron my clothes. So I plugged in the iron. I did get a bit scared when it turned hot. Imagine my mom’s horror when she came out and discovered that the iron was plugged in and I was sitting right next to it. Do I even need to tell you how she shouted at dad who had forgotten to keep the iron?

Anyway, I really hope that my parents keep all things at a safe place. And I also hope that once in a while they forget, and I get to play with them:)

10 day challenge: one picture and a recap

Finally the day is here. I and my comrades have successfully completed the 10-day challenge. Special thanks to Deepu for initiating this challenge. Big round of applause for Sonali who always posted on time. The rest of us started with much gusto, but we missed a few deadlines and then missing became a habit. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed writing each and every post.

This happens to be my favorite snap. This was taken on my husband's birthday in 2007 in our Louisville apartment. We had invited some 35 close friends for a small celebration. He clicked this snap while we were waiting for our guests.


I love my slight smile, the hair that for once stayed intact, and my general aura in this snap. I always use it when I need a decent close-up.


I would like to recap the lasts nine posts in this post. There were things that I either forgot or didn't divulge. Have fun reading:

1. Ten secrets: I suffer from mint kleptomania. Just kidding. I like to joke that I do. But I can't resist stealing atleast 4-5 mints from restaurants. I steal only one type. The white ones with the red design. Once, a waitress charged us 6$ for an item she didn't tell us about. We assumed it was complimentary by her casual mention. We didn't want to reverse the bill. I picked up 20 mints on my way out just to feel better about the whole thing. I intend to stop doing this. I hope no restaurant owners are reading this.
2. Nine loves: Sleeping. I love sleeping for long hours. There was a time when I used to sleep for 12 hours. Half the day gone. I even slept for long hours during my board exams.
3. Eight fears: In the haste of finishing the post on time, I totally forgot my biggest fear. Visiting dentists. I am so fearful that I wait till the pain gets impossible. I have sacrified 2 teeth, which could have been saved had I gone earlier. I just hate everything about dentists. The smelly clinic, the odd smelling gloves, the drilling noise, the excruiating pain. Yucks! I would prefer having a permanent denture than go through the pain of visiting a dentist.
4. Seven wants: To ride a motorbike wearing all leather gear. I have this vision of myself roaring on a bike wearing black leather pants, black leather jacket, black helmet, and black sunglasses. I have never been able to figure out why I need the sunglasses inside the helmet:)
5. Six places: Surat. Love visiting my aunt who stays there. Visiting her gives me an oppurtunity to sample all Gujrati foods. She always makes undhiyo, which is a treat in itself. Earlier, I would visit her in vacations and just laze around on her sofa:)
6. Five foods: Dadpe pohe! Always has and always will be my favorite breakfast or snack. I can easily gobble up 4-5 plates. Check out the recipe on my food blog.
7. Four books: Tough times never last, but tough people do! This book and the poem have always been a source of inspiration.
8. Three films: Legally Blonde. Totally love Reese Witherspoon in this one.
9. Two songs: Gagan sadan tejomaya. Of course, my husband always covers his ears when I try to match the high notes.

Thanks to all those who took the time to read my posts. Adios!