What do I want

I should know what I want to life, in order to achieve it. I myself do not know as of today, what is it that is most important to me and what is it that I want to achieve. I work, I have hubby, I have kids to take care of, I have parents to take care of, I have in-laws to take care of. Yes everyone has these things. But right from my younger days, I have been a very ambitious girl. I have dreamt many things and I would like to live my dreams. But now that I am engulfed in so many things, will it be possible to chase my dreams. Though I have the git and mental strength, I am physically very weak and I feel that the things happening around me in recent times, has kept me thinking and worried on what the future holds for me.

I should know my priorities, whether being in a job is enough, or being in the right job is required, or earning a high salary is important, or commanding a good position is critical or finally mental peace and happiness in the family is what all is about. Once I am able to come to a conclusion and strike a balance, things will settle. But that will not happen, unless I give up something. After all one cannot have the cake and eat it too!!!!!!!!!!!

Money- What do children think

I was discussing with my kid about education and how much it is important in ones life. She was quick to answer that without education, no one would get a job and without job no one would get a salary. She asked me, if she studies very well, will she get a job more money. I replied affirmatively and told her the more educated she is, the more respect she will get in society, the more money she will earn and then she can help others who do not have money and then she can do lot of good things to the society.

My kid asked me, does this mean that the people who do not study when young, will enjoy now( childhood) and later(old age) they will get money help from the kids who study all the time. I was taken aback. Do kids think so much. I reasoned out, that kids who do not study when they have all the facilities are considered bad. Kids who are really poor and cannot afford to study, will later get help from kids who study and have money.

Again she questioned me, in that case , if I give them money, will my money not become less. Why should I give money to them, when only I have struggled so hard and earned all the money. I explained to her that the more the money, you give, the more god will give you. Only those who share and do good things can lead a happy life. Though she nodded as though she understood, I still think there is a long way to go to make her understand all this stuff and that it is too early for her....

Skinny Child

My younger daughter is very skinny. She used bubbly and chubby from the time she was born. But now at 3, she has become so skinny. She has stopped taking food. The only thing that she likes is thayir sadam and Idli. She doesnt eat vegetables, fruits or other jung food like cakes, chips, chocolates. I am so scared on how I am going to cultivate the eating habits.She is also adamant and if she doesnt like something, thats it.She doesnt even like to try out. I will keep a separate track on how I have corrected her and brought a good eating habit for her. I will keep you all posted about that as and when it happens. Hope it happens soon..:)

Dance Program @ School

My Kid is participating in her annual day Dance Program. She is doing her pre-kg. But my god, the stress is as though like she is doing some international dramatics show. The teachers are so specific about the dresses, that I got fed up. Myself being a working mother, found it very difficult to cope up with the requirements the school demands. At times it make me think, am I the only one. But to my surprise even the house wives have been struggling. There is one mom, who had gone to places to search for the dress pattern and had spent the whole day shopping and finding nothing as per the teachers specs. This is a very bitter lesson that I learnt and I will be henceforth consious before putting my kids in any such programs.

Power of Mommy

Being a Mom, is like being a leader. You have a kid who looks upto you for everything. This little kid thinks, you will take care of EVERYTHING for it. So you need to live upto its expectation. Not many realize the power of being a Mom. But being a Mom, gives us enough reasons and enough experience to become a great Leader. There are times when you may need to leave your ego and cajole the kid to make it have its food. There are times, when you may need to really put down you feet to stop the tantrums thrown by the kid. There are times when you need to be friendly with the kid and participate in its games. There are times when you will have to be a mom and carry it, kiss it, put it in your lap and make it sleep.

I have seen that many men do not have the patience as well as the time to live through the life of a kid. But Moms learn this art quickly. So when a Mom is able to do all this just like that in her house, do you think it will be difficult for her to manage at work. Not at all..Women are better leaders !!!!

Why Moon was cursed?

Published in Magic Pot

There was a grand feast that was being held in Indraloka. All the gods were invited for the party and everyone gathered there one night to celebrate and enjoy. Lord Ganesh also went to the feast. Ganesha saw the mouth watering dishes and happily started eating. He couldn’t resist his temptation for eating more and quickly gulped down all he could see. He ate so much that his tummy became very full and he was unable to move. When the party was over all the gods went home in their respective Vahanas. Poor Lord Ganesha’s Vahana was rat and he also had eaten so much that he couldn’t move. Still he sat on his Vahana and was moving slowly.

Suddenly, his tummy had become so huge that it burst open. Ganesha quickly took a snake which was going that side and used it to put all the pieces of his tummy together and tied it with the snake. He looked all sides to make sure no one saw the funny incident. But suddenly he heard laughter. Surprised Ganesha looked around but could not see anyone.

The moon called him and told” Ganesh cannot you eat a bit less. See how much you are struggling now?”

 

Now Ganesha became ashamed but became very angry. He immediately cursed the moon and told” You will disappear and will not be visible to any one from today”.

The moon realized her mistake and asked pardon from Ganesha and told he will never laugh at anyone else.

 

So Ganesha pardoned the Moon and told that once every fifteen days she would disappear.

But now you know why Ganesha’s tummy is tied with a snake and why there is no moon day.

Generosity

One day when Lord Krishna was resting in his palace, Duryodhana came to meet him. He was upset that he was not given credit for his deeds and was shadowed by Yudhishtira. Yudhistira was the eldest among the Pandavas. Pandavas were the five brothers - Yudhishtira, Beema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. They were good people who were good and were always honest and true at heart. Duryodhana was the eldest among the Kauravas. Kauravas were the hundred brothers who included Duryodhana and Dushashana. They were bad and always in the evil side and were dishonest and bad at heart.

Duryodhana complained to Lord Krishna and told to him “I am also very generous. I have helped the needy and poor and I am very kind at heart. I have gifted lot of wealth to poor and needy. But always Yudhishtira gets the name. In fact I have done more charity than him. But unfortunately I am not given due credit for my deeds.”

Krishna promised to find a solution to this problem. After two days he invited both Duryodhana and Yudhishtira to his house. He told both of them that he wanted to give a small test to them to find out how generous they were. He told them “Both of you are great Kings and have done lot of charity and helped the poor and needy. Now I want to test the level of your generosity. So I will give you one mountain of gold. And I want you to distribute the gold to people. One who finishes the entire mountain by end of day will be considered the most generous person among the two of you”. Both of them agreed and went to their respective mountains of gold which were built in the opposite directions.

Duryodhana started to put his entire hard work right away. He immediately sprung into action. He took out his axe and started to cut huge pieces of gold and distributed to people. He did not rest for lunch or tea. He distributed the whole day and did not notice the time also. Evening came and lord Krishna came to Duryodhana to study his status. He had a half a mountain of gold left with him.

From there both Krishna and Duryodhana went to look out for Yudhishtira’s status. But to their surprise found that the whole mountain was present as is. Not even a piece of it was given away. Yudhistira became very proud and told Krishna” I told you right. I am more generous. I have given away half the mountain within a day. But see Yudhishtira has the entire mountain as is. Unfortunately I was not getting the due credit”

Krishna smiled and called Yudhishtira and asked “Why is your mountain remaining the same. Didn’t you get the mind to give it to any one? Duryodhana has already given half of it”

Humble Yudhishtira told Krishna, ”Lord, I have finished the task you assigned me, within a few minutes after the assignment itself and I was resting the entire day in this tree’s shadow. I gave the entire mountain of gold to the first person who walked past this way.”

Duryodhana was dumb struck. Duryodhana understood how miserly he had been in cutting the mountain and giving it.

Krishna told to both of them “Generosity comes by birth. The more you have the mind to give the more you will give. You should not compete with anyone on charity. It should be done for the good will of the people and not to boast of personal success. If you are generous continue your good deeds and do not advertise the charity that you have done and claim credit for it.”

Duryodhana realized his mistake and put his head down in shame.

Invitation

One day when Lord Krishna was resting in his palace, both Yudhishtira and Duryodhana came there to invite him for the dinner. Yudhistira was the eldest among the Pandavas. Pandavas were the five brothers - Yudhishtira, Beema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. They were good people who were good and were always honest and true at heart. Duryodhana was the eldest among the Kauravas. Kauravas were the hundred brothers who included Duryodhana and Dushashana. They were bad and always in the evil side and were dishonest and bad at heart. Knowing that the Pandavas were going to invite Krishna for dinner and in order to spoil that plan, Duryodhana also came to Krishna’s house to invite him for dinner on the same day. His intention was not to really honor Krishna and to invite him for dinner by heart.

Krishna being the god could not favor either of them. So he wanted to go to both of their houses for dinner and hence asked the date and time of the dinner feast. To Krishna’s surprise both of them had scheduled for the dinner feast on the same day and at the same time.

Krishna being the lord knew Duryodhana’s bad plan. So the clever Krishna as usual came up with a brilliant idea. He told both of them “I will eat only in the person’s house who gives me a gift that will fill the entire house. If both of you give me such a gift I will eat in both your houses. Since Duryodhana came here first, I will first go to his house. See what gift he has. Eat if his gift fills the whole house, else I will come to Yudishtira’s house to see his gift. If both of you are unable to give such a gift, I will not eat in both of your houses. Now go to your homes and arrange for the gifts. I will come to each of your houses on the scheduled day.” By this Krishna also wanted to test the wisdom of Pandavas and Kauravas.

So both of them went home. Duryodhana called his brothers, uncle Shakuni, Karna and others to discuss about the gift. They all pondered over the idea and were clueless to find such a huge gift, which would occupy the entire house. Many came up with absurd suggestions.

On the other hand Yudhishtira came back home and told his brothers to arrange for the dinner on the specified day and told them that Krishna had agreed to come to their house for dinner. So in the Pandavas house preparations for the feast began.

But the Kauravas were left perplexed with the choice of gift itself. Then finally they all agreed to gift Krishna with “Hay”. They would fill the entire house with “Hay”. Not even a portion would be left out. They all agreed and Duryodhana felt happy and relieved with the choice of gift.

The Dinner day came and as agreed by Lord Krishna, he came to Duryodhana’s house first. He smiled and asked Duryodhana whether he was ready. Duryodhana took him to his house and opened the door. “Hay” started falling out from inside. Duryodhana had dumped all the hay in the world into his house. He told proudly to Krishna “See you wanted to test my wisdom and I have proved that I am intelligent. I have found a gift that will fill the entire house. Not even a peck of place if missed. I have dumped hay fully to cover all the nook and corners of the house. Now you should eat in my house. But since house is full with hay, we will go to guest house for dinner”

Krishna smiled back and replied to Duryodhana” You are right Duryodhana. I wanted to test your wisdom and wanted to eat in the wise man’s house. But now where will I sit and eat. You have made a mess of your house. I promised that I will eat only in your house. I cannot go else where and eat. So I am sorry. Now I am going to Yudhishtira’s House. If you want to check his gift, you can come with me.”

Duryodhana was disappointed. But in his eagerness to know about the Pandavas gift, he went along with Krishna. Both of them were received by the warm Pandavas. They took him into the house. Duryodhana smiled sarcastically and thought the Pandavas had failed to organize for the gift which fills the entire house. But he was fooled, when Youdhistira lighted the lamp and its bright light filled the entire house and made the evening warm and beautiful. They all had the delicious and yummy dinner offered by the Pandavas.

Now Krishna on his way back home told Duryodhana” Wisdom grows in a person, based on the thoughts he has. If you are good and want to do good, and be honest your thoughts are positive and you get bright innovative ideas. But if you are arrogant and think you are great, think evil and do bad things to everyone, you will be deprived of wisdom. Duryodhana, again the Pandavas have proved that they are wiser, more knowledgeable, more intelligent than you. It is because they have positive thoughts and always want to do good for others. They did not call me for dinner to please others or to spoil somebody else’s plan, they really wanted to honor me and serve food to me. That’s why their wish became true and yours didn’t.”

Duryodhana realized his mistake and put his head down in shame.

Habit

There lived two ladies Vani and Rani who were neighbours. Vani made her living by selling fish. Rani made her living by selling flowers. Both of them were very close friends. They would exchange eateries prepared in each others house. They never quarreled with each other. The whole neighborhood envied their friendship.

One day Vani set out of her home to the town to sell fish. Rani stayed back at home and sold flowers from her house verandah itself. Vani returned home earlier, as she had sold all her fishes. When she came home she found that she had forgotten to take her keys and her husband also had not yet returned from work. Hence she had to wait till her husband came back. So she went to Rani’s house. As Vani was very tired due to the long distance she had to cover in the hot sun, to sell fishes, she wanted to lie down and rest.

Rani took her to a room, which was stacked with flowers in one side. Vani kept her empty fish basket in the Verandah and went to sleep in the flower room. After a few minutes both Vani and Rani bumped on each other as they rushed in the opposite directions as both of them felt dizzy. The reason, Vani who is accustomed to fish smell, now had to sleep in the flower room. The fragrance of flowers though it appeals everyone, made Vani dizzy. On the other hand Rani selling flowers in the Verandah, though had huge bunches of flowers to sell, was only drawn by the smell of the empty fish basket and hence felt dizzy.

So children, what we do is only determined by what we practice and get accustomed to. That is why it is very important that we cultivate very good habits in the young age itself. The habit we develop will stay with us for ever and it becomes very difficult to change the habit. So cultivate good habits like brushing your teeth before you go to bed, getting up early, arranging your books in the bag as per time table in the previous night itself, drinking enough water etc regularly, so that you don’t become dizzy later in your life.