Random Quotes...

These are quotes/messages i really like and want to share them with you:

"I love to walk in the rain, as no one can see me crying..." -Charlie Chaplin
Sometimes the smallest of gestures go right to the heart.. A smile from a stranger when you are lost in a crowd, an old friend calling from a distant land, just to say "hi." The touch of your mother's hand on your brow when you are unable to sleep. A message from a friend asking what's wrong when you thought no one noticed, and a hand on your shoulder when it feels like the world's against you, an unexpected hug... Its the tiniest of things that bring happiness in hard times!!!

i love the following quote.. its very catchy:

"Everything comes your way, only when you are in the wrong lane on a highway..." -Jim Carey

Problems can make you or break you. The hammer that breaks glass can shape steel. Its up to us to be glass or steel.

No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sunshine without rain... But he did promis strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way.

Happiness is like a radio station, broadcasting all the time. You just have to learn how to tune in and receive it properly.

Another one i simply can't forget
What will you do if one day the whole world be on one side and you on the opposite?
Simple... just turn back and you'll be the leader of the world... That's attitude!!!

"Bury my body and don't build any monument. Keep my hands projected outside, so that the world knows, I who won the world, had nothing in hand when dying."
-Alexander in his death bed

Live with no excuses and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have a 1000 reasons to smile.

My most favorite line:
In time of difficulties, don't say "God, I have a big problem," but instead say, "Hey problem, I have a big God!"

Whatever happens today, just relax and manage to make a smile. Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed. Make everyday your best day.

You live in your dreams, but dreams may die. Don't get shattered, never ever cry. The world is big and has lots to give. Pick a new dream... that's the way to live.

Don't walk as if you rule the world... but walk as if you don't care who the hell rules the world.. that's called Attitude!

No man in this world is rich enough to buy his past. So enjoy each and every moment!!!

Another one that i can't forget ever:
Smile- It brings a difference
Dance-Who knows when you won't be able to..
Cry- Holding those emotions in is bad for you.
Kiss- It's the most wonderful thing in the world.
Laugh- What's the point in hiding the happiness?
Frown- Why not let them know you're unhappy?
Apologize- It doesn't lower you in anyone's eyes...
Hug- There's no better feeling being wrapped up close to someone you love
Live- Because life is everything you have.

Never take life seriously, 'cause no one comes up alive anyways

The greatest pleasure in life is to do what people say you cannot do.

Between You and God anyway!

This is one of my most favorite forward messages... it talks about a way of life, which is difficult to follow; but if one would follow it, he or she would be much happier.

People are often unreasonable and self-centred; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motvies; be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you; be honest anyways.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tommorow; do good anyway.
Give the world the best you've got and it may never be enough; give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it's between you and God; It never was between you and them anyways!

First of all, my concept of God.. its not religion.. it's spiritual. Its like my friend Anadi puts it, "You and your relationship with God is a very personal and private thing"
I don't believe in religion... so here.. God means something different to me.. something inexplicable, so we may have a God's image in our mind and relate this poem in different ways from each other...

Anyways.
Now, the forward.. its a very beautifully put up piece of writing... and according to me very true. Though people say everything you do should have a purpose, and even better, it should be profitable; sometimes you should do things that are selfless... just for doing it, to spread kindness, to be happy. "To do something just because you want to do it, for your own happiness, " according to my friend raga (read her latest blog post; you'll find her blog on the list of blogs at the corner")
Not meaning to preach here... But i live my life for the main goal of happiness; directly and indirectly everyone is doing exactly that...

One of the funny sides of my life...

Most people who know me, know that i've lived in Bangkok, Thailand for quite a large part of my life, though it has been almost four years now, since i've come back. For some of my friends, its a regular joke, and mind you.. they can be very funny about it. Living there has made me acquire a lot of things that are different from many people around me, obviously (my friends sometimes find that quite funny). An accent certainly would be one of them (though its much more Indian now than it was there), and so would be some mannerisms, some ideas, ways of living, things i know, etc.
For me, many things are different, and sometimes a lil' "awkward". An example would be the recent and the ongoing "heated debate" over some documentaries that were screened a few days back (i wasn't present for it) and then the lecture which has triggered alot of differences in ideologies and retaliation, etc. But to be honest... i'm slightly lost, cuz i haven't really read on all this before (the babri masjid issue for example... i just know that an issue like that exists, but i really don't know the details)...
Another really big blow to me was a movie i recently watched.. a movie called 'Parzania.' Its based on the Gujarat Riots that occured in 2002... I know it had happened and all that. But when i saw the movie... i just couldn't take it.. the reason behind the riots is a different story altogether, but the riots itself were so painful. The way they just kill someone, screaming into paranoia, raping, murdering and god only knows what else.... it was just simply scary!!!
I msgd my roommate (who'd watched the movie earlier) and she told me that this was very close to reality.. i couldn't sleep that night.
Then there are the regular takes on history that i'm mostly clueless about... and when i ask any of my friends.. they say... "oh akki.. tum to Thailand se aayi ho.."(trying to imitate my accent) and laugh!! But what to do.. that's something i just can't help.
Then there are the funny parts.
When me and my sister used to come to India... my sister (who hardly lived in India before that) would just point to the cows/pigs/camels on the road and scream with delight and surprise (mom, look.. a pig on the road) and my cousins would just laugh at her and then tease her...
Then there was this fascination of mine for the bhel puri, chaats, wada pao's etc sold on the pavements or on the trains... cuz mom and moreover my uncle just wouldn't let us buy those things.. he would prefer to take us to a more "hygienic" place.
This and a lot of other stuff... too many to mention even, occur in my day to day life, now making me the center of many jokes (which i mostly enjoy.. so not to worry)

I don't know why i wrote this blog post... maybe cuz i don't know what to do and i just felt like writing something...
I know for a fact that all my friends are gonna make fun of me cuz of this post.. and i'm gonna get alot of comments.. but its ok (i hope).

P.S. This post is not meant for showing off or for hurting anyone or any other purpose.. it is a product of sheer boredom and nothing else at all..

Doesn't matter if you're Black or White???

Many of us have heard this song by Michael Jackson... there's a line in it which says : doesn't matter if you're black or white.... I wish most people would follow this..
My blog post is about a very painful topic... Discrimination.
There are several types of discrimination: gender, age, status, caste, and several more. I don't claim to know about all of this. But i do know of one kind of discrimination; racial discrimination, or what i used to know as, color discrimination... Picture this:
A girl in her fourth grade.. not too big to know too much of a difference between race, cultures, etc. Someone who's best friend would be the one who shared her lunch with her, or maybe the one who came with her cuz she had to go talk to a very scary teacher, or walked with her through a corridor to go to the library; anything. She has several classmates, male and female, who were of different nationalities (thai, chinese, japanese, american, indian) and different status, but more or less of the "same" color, or a "better" color than them; barring the few "unlucky ones" who had a darker shade of skin.
Have you ever played those "inch pinch" or "touch thou not" games, where if someone touches something he/she gets "dirty" until he/she touches another person.... and the chain goes on until a certain kind of a chant is said and everybody gets "clean."
When they (the girl's classmates) used to play these games, the "dirty" object would generally be the teacher's desk, or maybe the trash can; but one day, one of them found a very amusing "dirty object".... the girl. The girl, her desk, her shelf at the back of the classroom, her belongings... whoever touched any of her things or her, they were dirty or contaminated (and almost the whole class used to play the game). And they simply wouldn't stop playing it throughout the day. It just kept going on and on.. the whole day.. people sitting next to her moved their desks away from, and bags were separated out... Her friends, though they found this amusing at first, stopped after awhile, but the rest of the class just kept going
You'd say, so what.. they're just bullying a random girl, it can happen to anyone. The girl thought the same thing too (though in a different manner or context as she was too young for it). And so she went away home.... didn't say anything to her mom and spent the evening like she spent any other.
But, this mentality of her classmates continued (though things didn't happen everyday, they happened pretty often).... there were people who would pretend to faint when she passed them cause apparently she smelled of a different color... in their words.. she smelled "black"... and so this kept going. The girl kept taking it.. without a word to anybody.. quietly. She wouldn't say anything to her mom.... and she just learned to accept it and thought "it just happens to everyone, I'm not the only one. There's no reason for me to be upset."
So it went on like that and she finished her fourth grade and moved to 5th grade. Here was when it all became worse. The comments were more open.. the actions more repulsive. And the worst part was that the teacher knew. And did nothing about it, though she was of the "same color" as the girl.
For them it was amusement. For the girl it was trauma... Everyday she became more withdrawn to herself, she started becoming scared of talking to people in her class. Her confidence just crashed down to the lowest levels and her self-esteem could be counted as negative... She started losing grades, she was terrified of public speaking... and she thought that everybody around her didn't like her, cuz she was stupid or dumb. She thought she didn't have any talent and was not capable of anything.. This is what it did to her... This is what a few people's idea of fun did to a girl...
Then came 6th grade... and the Idol of her life... the person she looks up to till date changed everything. He was a nice, retired, fat, American military man. He put a stop to all the rubbish that was done to her. He showed those people how disgusting they were being to her. And people learned. Those horrible things stopped happening.
Her English was good.. especially her spelling and vocabulary... so he enhanced the quality in her.. he would sit and talk to her for hours during breaks... so that he could understand her.. He literally saved her from drowning even more than she had already drowned.
After that.. her grades started looking up. She started making lots of friends. During later stages, some of her closest friends understood her shortcomings and tried to help her overcome it (one of her friends simply sent her alone onto the stage to say a prayer in front of around 200-300 people, to help her overcome the fear. At that time the girl was furious.. she now understands what her friend was trying to do)
She was happier.. much happier than before.
But those two years left a great impact on her... It took her many years after that to overcome the insecurity about being "good-for-nothing," about people not liking her.. about she not being of any significance, a burden to everyone around her...
Her wounds still run deep, though she has overcome all the insecurities she had... Such things are never forgotten.
She knows for a fact that.. if that one teacher didn't put a stop to all that... and didn't show her that she was good at something and that people cared for her... Goodness knows what would have happened to her...

This hasn't only happened with her. Though things came visibly to an end after her 6th grade, many people around the girl still held the same mentality... And its not a new thing to happen to people.. It happens all the time...
Only the people who are discriminating (in anyway) should realize the impact and the trauma that it can inflict.
This girl reacted in this way.. But there are a million other ways people react to all this... This is how lots of hatred comes up...