Beauty Lies In The Eyes Of The Beholder

In India only fair skin is considered as beauty. Me, having dark complexion never counted as good looking. But since my childhood my family has cultivated confidence in me by giving values not to give importance to outer beauty and emphasised on how I can be a good human and independent and confident person. Many times I was rejected for being dark skinned person but I never got hurt or felt bad about it as I criticised people for not understanding the true value of qualities of the person. I always waited for right people right opportunity and it worked for me.

I always believe if one accepts self as what he or she is, its hardly matters what the rest think about him or her.

But to my surprise, in Sweden I got compliments by white people for my complexion. Other day here in Tampa, USA, I was greeted by a white woman (mentioning white not for discrimination), she complemented me saying ‘You look very beautiful’ and while she was staring at me I really felt as if I am some beautiful princess. Truly, Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder

Social Media and Me…

Needless to talk about power, impact of social media… but it just fascinates me… not for the likes I get on my photos or posts… not for the number of followers.. by the way I don’t get many :).. but for the inspiration I get from the people when they share the posts..

I have a friend, Divya Navale, who is traveler, travelling is her passion and I got inspired by the photos she posted… I felt the urge to visit those places and worked towards it, fortunate enough to get the opportunity to travel. 

My cousin Shilpa Shinde is amazing photographer, when I saw photos posted by her I thought even I should try my hands on photography. I am an amateur photographer now.

The thoughtful blogs from my friend Ajay Varshney, quotes shared by people inspire me like daily dose to live my life, to feed my cognitive process.

I share the photos from the places that I visit and like so that if people like that place can plan visiting those. One can see the place in photos if they cant travel there. I scribble my thoughts just to express and spread some thoughts I like and feel like sharing. By the way, I got introduced to blogging by Prashant Batra. Thank you Motu ;)

Hope I am also inspirational to someone somewhere the way you all are for me.

What is Freedom?

Freedom is to express what we feel, freedom is to wear what we wish, freedom is to go where we want, freedom is to live the way we want.

Freedom is always comes with responsibilities to maintain harmony in the community hence society or nation has come up with laws and regulation and everyone is abided to follow it.

So are we really free?

You gain freedom with knowledge. Power, money can never give you freedom. With knwoledge you learn to respect and accept everyone and respect their opinion, let other person live as per his/her style which makes you more free.

Sometimes I Wonder…..

Sometimes I wonder am I an abnormal girl?

In my collage days I never liked people complementing my look or clothes. I used to always feel people should appreciate my talent or nature. Every girl has dream to get married and be a mother. It was never dream of my life. I always dreamt to be charming lady with descent career. Sometimes I wonder I always did what I wanted and never followed traditions just for name sake or thinking ‘log kya kahenge’.

I am thankful to God to have supportive parents who always understood me and inculcated ability of rational thinking, questioning obvious in me.

I always wonder its not easy to understand me and get along with me easily… For me it was the biggest challenge to find suitable life partner and then one fine day I found as supportive, understanding and sensible man with whom I am happily married.

Sweet Little Doll Turns To Graceful Princess

My sweet little doll, my younger sister, ten years ago she left India for higher studies and started living independently in Canada. She completed her masters and started working. Every year she visits India for about two weeks and we spend gala time with each other, we eat together, roam together and shop together. But its always I do didigiri all the time with her.

But, this time we met at Florida, USA. She had come on vacation to meet me and visit few nearby places. No need to say we had lots of fun these days. First time I saw her driving car, graciously dealing with Americans, confidently ordering and eating local food, so well she has learnt American mannerism and life style. My sweet little doll, whom I used to pamper and take care of was taking care of me. Best part of all is being successful in life she is so down to earth. I feel proud to see my doll has grown up to graceful princess and has found his charming prince who takes care of her.

God Bless You Dear.

Choice or Destiny

We are aware of saying,  'It's choice that determines destiny', but I wonder is that always true. If we believe that our life is a product of our decisions and if we believe in destiny we believe some forces defines our life. I feel life is blend of choice and destiny.
In spite of scoring good marks, clearing of interviews and having job letters from two top companies due to recession I couldn't start my career on right time is part of destiny but I chose to look for another opportunity is my choice. I got second chance is my destiny.
Because of my health I had to return halfway on my first onsite assignment. It was the worst experience of my life that I had fear in my mind to take up any onsite project.  But I made efforts to overcome my fear and got opportunity to travel abroad for work is again good example of choice and destiny.
Getting into uncontrolled situation whether it's good or bad is destiny, the way you react to it is your choice. So your life is outcome of both.

Mesmerising Valleys Of Malshejghat

Its been a more than a year I had been to Malshejghat, Maharashtra for weekend trip but the memories are still fresh as if I visited there very recently.

Marshejghat is considered as grand Canyon of Maharashtra.  It's Hill station near by pune and Mumbai. Best time to visit is during rain.  We was planning for same but eventually it worked out to be in winter in January 2015 and the climate was pleasing cold and foggy. We went there by public transport (state government bus) from  Kalyan, Mumbai. We booked room at MTDC resort for stay. MTDC resort at Marshejghat are located on top of the mountain and is at the best location. It's surrounded by steep Valley.

The moment I got down from bus and walked towards resort it was just aaha moment. I was spellbound to see surrounding nature.  During rainy season you can see reverse waterfall from this MTDC resort location. Our room was good facing mountains. The entire day we spent at MTDC resort looking at the surrounding mountains, valleys.

Next day after breakfast we walked down to lake nearby and the view was visual treat, huge lake amid the Sahyadri ranges.

As we had planned our trip just for a day we could not go to Harishchandragad and Shivneri but we will surely plan one more trip on some weekend for that.

Wish I Can Travel More..

When I was a kid, my family always went on trips during my school vacations. We visited nearby places like Pune, Shirdi, Nashik, Aurangabad, and Ratnagiri as well as places outside my state like Karnataka, Delhi and Kashmir. I really enjoyed these trips.

I had a collage friend, Asmita, who had come from Sindhudurg to Mumbai for her studies and stayed with her grandmother in Mumbai. I was very impressed with this girl and her independent ways. After my education, I grabbed the opportunity to live independently with friends and went to Bangalore for my job, my dream career. With friends I did many things first time, right from house hunting, grocery shopping, banking, etc… but I didn't travel much. I stayed there almost for three years, but I visited only Hampi, Udupi, and Manipal. I wish I was more active to see more places nearby. Luckily enough, I got to stay in Hyderabad for two months for project work. During my stay, I got to interact with various people and got to know the south Indian culture.

Later for my work I moved to Pune. I stayed there for a year. It was fun to travel on the Mumbai-Pune expressway on every weekend by Shivneri. I went to Parvati, Sinhgad, Lonavala and hung out on FC Road, Tulsibag market, etc. It was a good experience.

Then I got opportunity to travel to Stockholm, Sweden. I tried to explore Swedish way of living as much as I can in my short duration of stay. Experienced snow, walking in subzero temperature… I wanted to explore Sweden more but the stay ended abruptly and had to return back… yet want a lot more to experience, especially northern lights. I have a wish to visit Sweden once more in my lifetime.

Stockholm is an awesome place, wherever you go you feel you are in heaven. After visiting Stockholm I wished I should visit more places in India and around the world. I made short weekend tours to Ratnagiri, Raigad, Malshejghat, Lohagad within Maharashtra. Enjoyed truly.

And now to Florida, USA on work assignment. Its more than three months here now… setting up things here… lots of things to explore..

Along with going to tourist places, I enjoy visiting local hangout places, knowing locals, their eating habits, etc. Every travel is an adventure, you learn something new. It brings more Aaha moments to life. I enjoy being a traveler than being just a tourist. If I had money and ample time, I would certainly travel more.