#442 Certificates of Encouragement from Reflections

 

#441 My association with Sai

 

My Association with Sai

 

OM SHREE SAINATHAYA NAMAH

I am a small devotee of Saibaba who has instilled faith in him since 2011. I had seen my mother worshipping him for ages. Being a kid, I used to accompany my mother in the evening Aarti every Thursday, but I developed little devotion then. For me, as a kid, prayer meant duty and discipline which one had to perform daily without fail. This article is dedicated to the incidences and miracles of Saibaba which have strengthened my devotion and faith in him and made me believe in his existence in this materialistic world. 

 

Experience 1: Felt the presence of Saibaba in my hostel room

It was back in the year 2018 when I joined IITK as a research scholar. One night during winter, I was feeling lonely in my room. I was in search of someone with whom I could chit-chat and feel relaxed. My wing was completely vacant then and I tried to contact one of my best friends in the same hostel, but she had slept as it was around midnight. I switched on my laptop and browsed meditation music on YouTube. To my surprise, I found Saibaba’s picture in one of the videos in the thumbnail. Without wasting a second, I clicked on that and started doing meditation by closing my eyes. That chanting of Saibaba’s name had a soothing effect on my brain that I forgot everything for a moment. I went into a state of thoughtlessness. After a few minutes, I discovered that some white light passed in front of me, though my eyes were closed. I got a chill and opened my eyes, then I noticed a matchbox that was kept in front of Saibaba’s idol fell suddenly without being touched or disturbed by anyone. How could it be even possible? There was no one in the room except me. The room was closed, and so were the windows. No movement of wind was there as the room’s ceiling fan was switched off. I got terrified and slept. Did Saibaba visit me to free me from the loneliness that night? He could only answer this question. I was amazed at the Leela of Saibaba. 

 

Experience 2: Saibaba in my dream

It was October 2022; I had an argument with my husband then. It was in the evening and Pooja was going on in my in-law’s house. He left the room out of anger. I kept crying and went to my room. I had intrusive thoughts then. I felt numb and extremely pressurized. I browsed YouTube for the meditation music of Saibaba and told him about my pain and anger through meditation. I got instant relief. I had my dinner and then slept. On Thursday afternoon, while taking a nap I had a dream. In that dream, I saw my grandfather, whom I had lost twenty years back, was present and was wearing white coloured clothes just like Saibaba. He started asking me about my well-being and my in-law’s family to which I answered positively. In the end, he asked, “Are you okay? Aren’t you hiding anything from me?” Then he started weeping. I was consoling him in my dream. After that, I came back to the real world when my husband knocked on the door. Is Saibaba omnipresent? How could he know my state of mind, at that time?  

 

Experience 3: Saibaba in my mobile as a pic 

It was 24 Dec 2022 at midnight, I was in my lowest state mentally, lost and broken completely. I was going through a series of failures in my career. There was not a single person who could understand my pain and console me. Members of my husband’s family were very dominating and demanding, in all most everything, which made the matter very worst. I took refuge in Saibaba. I was crying like I was in hell and unable to come out of the situation. I meditated on one of the music videos of Saibaba. In my prayer, I expressed my agony to him. Like a father, he would protect me, this was my expectation. My meditation lasted for half an hour. I prayed to Saibaba to show his darshan(presence) to me. I repeated this many times. “Show me your presence, Saibaba”. To my surprise, the electricity went off for a few minutes at around 12:30 AM, and just then I could feel someone’s hand over my back, caressing me. I knew that he would never be my husbg75dand because he usually sleeps around 10 PM. I mustered my courage to look back to find that he was sleeping peacefully without knowing anything. I was so terrified that I used my blanket to cover my face and slept silently by chanting his name. 

 

The next day, in the morning, while browning the gallery I found a few photos clicked from my phone. When I checked the detail, it was clicked at 1:01 AM. I could also figure out baba’s blurry image clicked on white background. How could this be even possible? At 1 AM, I slept. If it gets clicked by mistake from my phone, then how was the flash section of my mobile on? I have a habit of sleeping by keeping my mobile near my pillow. It never happened before that photos would be clicked from my phone automatically. It clearly showed that Saibaba heard my prayer and showed his presence in form of an image clicked from my phone. It was incredible. I got emotional and bowed my head on his lotus feet and prayed to him to solve my problems. 

 

Then I decided to visit Shirdi as I felt that it was baba’s wish to attract the devotees to his holy land. He can only decide the date and with whom one can visit the place. I started my journey with my paternal uncle on 10^th Jan 2023. Again note the date, it’s 10.1.2023. This date contains 10.1 which is exactly the same number on which the photo was clicked from my mobile. I still think it as a dream comes true.

 

Bow to Shri Sai — Peace be to all

 

Sweta Sarangi

21-01-2023

 

 

 

#440 Memories

 Memories

Can't label you

Good, bad or neutral

You make me travel

Through the nostalgic sequence of events 

Of a known person

Who is now a stranger to me

Those letters, those giggles

Those promises and endless calls

Are all Incoherent

Which once made my days 

Was it love , lust or fantasy

Still figuring out but in vain.

Why do you always remind me

Memories that I want to forget

Like the scent of flowers 

diffuses with passage of time

Helpless me, who already moved on 

Found out to be tangled

In the cobwebs of thoughts.

Confused me, a silly creature 

Made up of blood and flesh

Of course, brought to earth

By the superpower, who is 

Omnipresent and omnipotent

Bow my head daily to feed 

My mind with the answers

To never ending questions

Ifs, buts , when, how and why.

Why it happened 

When it was not meant

 to happen forever 

Forever is perhaps , 

hypothetical in this world

People come and go but some

leave deep scars on heart

In the end, you find the new you

Lost, broken yet shinning brighter

Because you understand peace 

with the past is vital. 

10-1-2023

Sweta Sarangi 

#439 Early Morning and Sudoku

 Early Morning and Sudoku

Hi Readers,

Hope you’re well! Sending you all a lot of good wishes for this brand-new year.

May all your dreams come true, and you achieve everything that you desire.

From the heading of this post, you might be wondering about the association of early morning with Sudoku. Yes, these two were so associated with each other during my childhood days. Today when I found Sudoku unexpectedly in the newspaper, I couldn’t control myself but to solve it. This revived a lot of fond memories of mine, from my childhood days. Let me take you back to the year 2005, May-June to be precise. It’s so difficult to believe that 18 long years have passed after that. I can still, vividly recall some incidents from that time because I thoroughly enjoyed my school days.

Let’s come back to the incident now. 2005’s summer vacation was (Summer vacation would last for 1.5 months from mid of May to July) the break for class VII, to be precise. It was in class VII, We(me and my sister) got to know about the rules of Sudoku from the cousin of one of my friends. From her, I also got to know that the Sudoku could be found in the daily Newspapers. My restless mind wanted to try the rules that I had learned then. The next morning, I got up early, so early to pick the newspaper up from the outside of my door that the newspaper vendor would drop off around 6:30am. I sat with the newspaper to apply the rules of Sudoku. As the level was easy, I could solve it easily and that boosted my spirit. Till then it was always my father who picked up the newspaper from the door and read it religiously every day. After he was done with reading, I would pick the newspaper only to browse through the page which contained the channel-wise program list of that day.

That day, on seeing me indulged in the newspaper, my father enquired what I was doing with the newspaper. I showed him Sudoku and explained the rules. Little did, I know then, that, my act of revealing the rules to my father would reduce my chance of solving it. The next day, when I got hold of the newspaper, the blank blocks of the Sudoku had already been filled. Later, my sister got added to this race of grabbing the newspaper and solving Sudoku before both of us. Surprisingly, the fire of solving Sudoku was so intense that it motivated us to wake up early even during summer vacation when my other friends would get relaxation in the time of their wake-up.

We no longer remained the competitors of the father as school reopened after the vacation but would often compete during weekends, mostly on Sundays. Slowly and steadily my father gained expertise in solving Sudoku and started solving higher levels on the ladder of difficulty. I remember, the newspaper that we were subscribing to, was The Times Of India. My father surprised us by solving Sudoku of any difficulty level within a stipulated time frame and we were really excited by his eagerness to keep learning new things at any stage of life.

Those were the days when we were not enslaved by technology. Technology had a limited impact on our lives. We thoroughly enjoyed everything in our lives, amidst lack, imperfection, and reflection. Sudoku remained an integral part of our lives. We, referring to me, my sister, and my father, embraced Sudoku from Newspapers in physical form to websites in the online form, then apps on our smartphones. The joy that we got from solving Sudoku with a pen on the newspaper was simply unparalleled and irreplaceable. I don’t think, those memories ever flashed back, to when I solved Sudoku in one of the mobile apps on my smartphone. Today, after finding Sudoku in one of the old newspapers lying on my dining table, even though I live abroad, I am instantly transported to the container, of one of my zillion beautiful memories; Quarter No-277 where I spent glorious years of my childhood, learning, dreaming, and aspiring for a bright future.

Solved it :) It was an easy one

All Rights Reserved

Swati Sarangi

09.01.2023 

 

#438 Book Review : Do Epic Shit

 Do Epic Shit

Source : Google Picture

Author: Ankur Warikoo

Genre: Non-Fiction

Format: E-Book

Number of pages: 146

Star: 4.2/5 (Self)

Published by: Juggernaut

My Review:

A non-fiction book worth reading, this was the 24th book I picked up to read before this year ends and I am glad I did it. The author has compiled his tweets into different chapters as the contents of this book. This reminds me of the book "The almanack of Naval Ravikant" by Eric Jorgenson who has done a similar job. Coincidentally, I got the recommendation of "The almanack of Naval Ravikant" by Ankur Warikoo himself and finished reading it long before "Do epic sh*t".

This book is a complete manifestation of the power of compounding - thoughts into tweets, tweets into threads, threads into chapters, and chapters into the book. Tweets expressing similar ideas are grouped together into a chapter and there are 6 chapters in this book.

Amidst much criticism, the author himself has confessed at the beginning of the Acknowledgments section that the thoughts expressed in the book are burrowed ones and he doesn't take the responsibility of owning them. What impresses me is the way those common thoughts are expressed in simple language which everyone can connect to. These thoughts are raw, honest, and unmanipulated. Ankur doesn't shy away from exposing the stark reality of life. He aims to help people to take decisions from the point of view of awareness and not ignorance, just like the way this book has been written with a lot of honesty and life experiences.

A few of my favorites are written below –

1) "Nothing matters more in life than showing up every day. To work, assume responsibilities, to nurture relationships."

2)"We bring people down because we are feeling low."

3)"The scars that you wear on your body. Don't regret them. Don't hate them. Don't reject them."

4)"Asking is the best thing to do, before making assumptions. It either validates your assumption or you get to understand people better. Either way, you get to be a better communicator."

5)"We know others through their actions. We know ourselves through our thoughts."

6)"We're not average of the five people we spend the most time with. We are average of the five thoughts we spend the most time with. And those thoughts needn't come from people in our life".

7)"How we treat others is a reflection of how we treat ourselves. It is rare, almost impossible, for a man, conniving, hurtful, racist, bigoted person to truly love themselves."

8)"An excuse is a distance between who you are and who you wish to be."

9)"If you don't ask, the answer is always no."

10)"It is better to be busy in the chase of finding yourself instead of being busy in the rat race and never know yourself."

11)"Safe is better than sorry. Nope. Risk is better than regret."

12)"People will help you only when you have helped them understand how they can."

As written by Ankur on page 83, "We may show to the world that we seek something different from what we truly seek. Yet hand on heart, we always know what we truly seek. And the universe has a beautiful system of landing what you ask for, on your plate." I too have sought this book as a gift from the universe before this year ends, lo and behold! I won this book in a giveaway contest before 2022. My belief in the Law of Attraction strengthens.

My favourite chapters of this book are Relationships and Epilogue. I loved the idea of writing letters to the children and to oneself. Something, as personal as a letter, can only be written with a heart full of gratitude and willingness to appreciate the beauty that one can perceive. The book couldn't have been completed in a better way than the way the epilogue has been written. It made me awestruck and emotional when I read those concluding lines that remind the readers of their hidden superpowers and urge to invoke them.

In the end, thank you Ankur Warikoo for writing a wonderful book like this, of course, the title makes it stand out.

All Rights Reserved

Swati Sarangi

22.12.2022

 

#437 I will

I will 

It's a motivational poem. Sometimes, things don't work out the way we want. Plans fail which we thought would work out in future. But, do we have a control over it?

Through this poem, I just want to convey the message to the all the readers that let's not brood over the past, rather envision the bright future. At the end, you matter the most. I am sending the positive vibes to those who are in need.

I will rise, no matter whenever I fall

I will smile no matter how much I cry

I will stand no matter how much I tremble

I will hold myself , no matter how much I shake

Not the world, as simple as you think

Demanding a bolder version of you every week

Day seems night and night as day

The clock ticks daily all the way

Reminding to forget the past, look ahead

For the glorious future instead

Hey folk, why to halt and worry

When you are yourself to carry

No one gonna do it for you

Unload the traumas and guilt bothering you

Let them point, let them judge 

And let them question you 

Had they ever walked the same route as that of you?

Never mind, who says when and what

But truth always wins at last

Do the best and trust the process

So that you would never regret

Karma is a real bitch, let it work

What goes around, comes back

No effort ever goes in vain

Never stop to try again.

Do you think, it's gonna be easy

Not at all, but it's worth it.

7-11-2022

Sweta Sarangi

#436 Is love really blind?

 Is Love Really Blind?

 

Image Source: Google Images

There have been a lot of changes in my life since my last post on the blog. It’s not that I have given up writing in this blog, I am constantly writing, if not for this blog, then for different platforms. There have been several unfinished articles that are lying as drafts which I will complete soon, I hope so and keep posts coming in this blog.

 

This post is based on a reality show which I came across recently. When I searched for popular shows of 2022, got the suggestion about a show named “Love is Blind -Japan”. On researching more about it, I found that this show has two more versions – Love is Blind: Brazil, and Love is Blind: USA. This show turned out to be a reality show where unmarried men and women have come to try their luck at finding a suitable partner for themselves. This idea of the show was contrary to what I had anticipated from the poster and title of the show. I was thinking it to be fictional series. I thought of trying to watch something different from my usual choices and it was the first dating show for me to watch.

 

The show starts by presenting some women and men in different arenas of a hotel where the hosts welcome them and describe the rules of the show. This dating show is an unconventional one as compared to many other dating shows in the sense that the contestants have to talk to each other through their pods without having a look at each other. That's where the word ‘blind’ in the title comes from. After the hosts explain the rules, there are introductions of the individuals when they speak about their age, the place they’ve come from, their professions, and expectations from the show, in form of a small chit-chat with their fellow contestants. The language used is Japanese. My lack of knowledge of the language made me completely rely on the English subtitles. One of the contestants of the show is Priyanka Yoshikawa, who became the source of motivation for me to continue to watch this show with subtitles. Priyanka’s fluent Japanese made me research her, and I got to know that her ethnicity is Indian-Japanese as her father is from West Bengal, India, and her mother is from Japan. Surprisingly, she is also a title holder of a beauty pageant – Miss World Japan,2016. From her Ted Talk, I got to learn that she is the second one with mixed ethnicity to win this pageant in Japan. In this show, everything about her stays under the veil.

 

There are pods in a row that are completely closed from all sides, in front of this series of pods, there lies another series of pods -closed and isolated. Each series of pods is for men and women. Suppose a female contestant enters the pod, the pod in front of it would be occupied by a male contestant. They would be allowed to communicate without seeing each other. They would just exchange information about themselves verbally. One can see them carrying a notebook where they note down the important takeaways from their conversations with different contestants. You can imagine how difficult it is to even imagine the person they are talking to, simply through their voices. According to the rules of the show, if their vibes match with the other, the man can propose in the pod, and they would get engaged outside of the pod. That will be the first time, they would be able to see each other in person. After the engagement, the betrothed couples will be allowed to spend time like being in a staycation to check their compatibility before taking the decision to marry. However, it’s also possible for the couples to break up if there arises any issue of incompatibility.

Images of pods. Image Source: Google Images

I won’t be spilling beans about the show in this post as this post is not at all a spoiler for LIB-Japan. The reason for writing this post will be clear soon. While watching contestants talk with one another [It was a one-to-one conversation]in the pod, I could easily relate this phase with that of an Indian arranged marriage system when the first phase usually begins with the conversation with the prospects. These days, mobile has both facilitated as well as misled some communications. Just like the contestants, the girl and boy start talking to each other from their respective pods. Here, pods are their homes, hostel, office, etc. The contestants find it extremely difficult to process information (without seeing the other person) and connect emotionally to arrive at the biggest decisions of life i.e marriage. Having gone through a similar phase myself, I could relate to several emotions like confusion, disbelief, despair, hopefulness, etc. of the contestants. Life in the pods is very different from real life. This is evident from that part of the show when the newly betrothed couples are allowed to go on a staycation where they realize the differences and incompatibilities between them and the fake promises made in the pods. That’s the reason why only a few betrothed couples took the decision to be married in the end. This is something very unlike to happen in an Indian Arranged Marriage as the couples are made to live with each other after the marriage and whatever loopholes come into the picture, are compromised.

What I like about the experiment of this show is that it allows knowing someone in a true sense through a both-sided conversation without getting deceived by physical appearance which reminds me of the famous proverb to not judge the book by its cover. I feel that physical appearance sometimes biases our judgment of the person and distracts us from the depth of the conversation.

The reason for the success of arranged marriage could be a lack of expectations from both sides and a willingness to accept the outcomes. What and how can you expect from your partner when you’ve hardly seen them or spent time with them? There are innumerable sacrifices and compromises to make it work. Bringing up points in favor of arranged marriage, in no way, implies that I am against love marriage. Many successful people of today’s era have chosen their partners themselves and it somehow shows the clarity they’ve acquired in their lives including taking responsibility for their personal lives. It makes me so confused when I hear stories of incompatibility in love marriages where couples, after spending considerable time (several years) knowing each other, fail to make their marriage work whereas it’s the absolute opposite in the case of arranged marriages. In some arranged marriages where the selection process begins with Kundli matching, this Kundli matching process is least cared for, in love marriages. Why such hell and heaven difference in the processes of these two marriages and shockingly opposite results!  

Love is a beautiful feeling beyond any condition. Blind love is unconditional when it considers no color, creed, caste, religion, or even gender. One manifestation of such unconditional love is the one that our parents/siblings have for us. They easily forgive all our mistakes and are ready to accept us anytime in any condition. The door of parents is always open for us and there’s no condition against our entry into it. Another such love is a spiritual connection with the divine which needs no condition. That love doesn’t discriminate against anyone and is supreme bliss. The love, that is felt within, from a sense of gratitude, without requiring someone to love externally, is the love that can love others blindly.

Image Source: Google Images

©All Rights Reserved

Swati Sarangi

06.11.2022

 

#435 A Diary Entry

A Diary Entry

What my heart says

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”—Mignon McLaughlin

Disclaimer: This letter is definitely going to be a long one. Please read it carefully and patiently till the end. You may find answers to many questions you might be searching for.

 

Dear Diary,

I congratulate us for sailing the boat of five months of togetherness over the ocean of life successfully. Whether it was a smooth ride or not I can't say that right now. My hubby has sometimes asked me to pen down an article about him. So, the wait is over now as this piece is completely dedicated to him and our life after marriage. It is just an amalgamation of all the emotions and phrases that I have gone through in this short span of time. This note may not be able to address all of the concerns or worries but will definitely help someone to reach a step closer to my feelings and thoughts that I always want to share. I believe that it will definitely make him to think and ponder about different aspects of our married life and come out with solutions if any glitch arises in future. I believe that there is not a single problem in this world for which no solution exists, it's only up to us how we perceive it and whether we are committed to resolve it together with an open mind.

 

A little bit about myself and my purpose in life

Here are few points about my personality and perception about different aspects of life

I am someone who is as equally ambitious as creative. I don’t get angry easily and don’t like to hold grudges. I try to find positivity in every situation. Music is something that I have been inclined to since my childhood days. Music is like a therapy for me. I express myself better when I sing irrespective of my mood. I always used to dream of entering an institution of national importance and come out of it with a degree in hand, making my parents proud where I would also get an opportunity to perform on stage as a singer in front of thousand people. By god's grace, I was able to get a lot of opportunities at IITK. God always has a different plan which is difficult to comprehend sometimes.  Apart from music, I love to absorb new things quickly. This is the reason which has always motivated me to learn sketching, writing poetry or short stories, blogging, playing instruments like harmonium and synthesizer, learning Karate, learning new language like Germany, playing table tennis, chess, carom and winning prizes at different levels. I always admire simplicity because of the fact that I was brought up in an environment where I have seen people with a lots of awards and accolades in their name yet they are so simple and humble in their demeanor.

 

My take on marriage

Marriage is an institution where two souls are tied together to spend their life by being with one another in their thick and thin. It may not be as simple as it may seem from outside because it needs the regular and sincere efforts from both the partners involved in the process. For me, marriage is more of love, compassion, care, loyalty and innumerous sacrifices rather than gifts and material possessions. Below, I have mentioned few points which are necessary to build a strong bonding.

 

-View points

There will be differences in viewpoints, there is no doubt about it. These differences are due to the fact that ours upbringing, values and beliefs are different. What do we need to do here? We need to understand that as we have not spend these many years together, we need to take a look closer at how the other person feels when we say or do a particular thing under a particular circumstance.

 

- Expectation

It is not at all logical to expect that we both will behave in a particular manner in a particular situation. The reason is that we are still knowing each other and studying each other like a book each day. And this book can't be finished in a single day, it has to be read and understood by each chapter one by one over the time. It's not at all justified for one partner to expect that he/she does everything perfectly within the stipulated time in an environment where he/she has neither brought up nor accustomed to. We need to shade all the unnecessary perceptions and try to stick to the reality. Most of the time, fake and one sided expectations become the root cause of misery.

 

- Acceptance

The main ingredient of marriage is acceptance. We don't simply marry the other partner because he/ she is just good or perfect or match our perception. We marry the other partner in its entirety. Here, entirety means the whole personality. And the whole personality comprises of both good and bad qualities. We can't simply get rid of the bad qualities of our partner so easily which he/she has acquired over the years. It's simply impossible. We just need to understand the other side with equal importance and accept as it is to build a healthy relationship.

 

- Compromise

It is the most important and key aspect in any relationship to continue longer. As per our values, marriage is considered as sacred bond created for eternity not for a minute, hour, day or year. Without compromise and sacrifices, nothing has ever worked out in a smooth manner. We both need to come out of our comfort zones to accommodate the other one. Till now, I have tried to compromise over my sleep and food habits. Rest of the things will be taken care of accordingly over the time.

 

-Patience

Generally, it is observed that we have a habit of getting angry quickly without knowing the fact and show our disapproval without fully aware of the fact or analysing it properly. Lack of patience in such a situation could land a relation to a very critical position which we never prior visualise.  Sometimes we also behave awkwardly without listening to the entire story which irritates others. There should be some hours in a day when one can relax with his/her partner together and listen to each deeply before reaching any conclusion. It gets developed over the time as Rome is never built in a day.

 

-Communication

A healthy and deep communication can resolve any kind of conflicts in a relationship whether that is love, professional or conjugal, this is what I always feel. If we don't communicate with each other freely or express what we feel in a particular situation, how would we get to know what's going on in other’s mind as we are not professional mind readers. To know each other's like, dislike or mind set, we will have to communicate on a regular basis, not thinking the process to be obvious or shameful. Communication often clears out the preconceived notion we have for others as well. It lets the other partner know you deeply and understand your emotions. The most important channel of communication is to have one to one discussion without the involvement of any other interest group as interference.

 

-Respect

Respect is a positive feeling which is shown towards someone/ something considered important or held in high esteem. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It also shows that a partner is caring and concerned about the needs and feelings of other. We need to respect each other by valuing each other’s opinions and needs.   

Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder. There are few qualities I would like to mention here, that I admire in him. Despite the differences we have between us, he doesn't hold any grudges for long. I have seen his dedication towards his professional career. Being a person of today's generation, he doesn't possess any bad qualities such as drinking or smoking. At this age, being conscious about health is not that obvious. He is aware of healthy lifestyle and you try to incorporate healthy food habits in your life style too which is commendable.

My purpose of marriage was to get a life partner with whom I can express myself better, enjoy everything around, explore new places, learn new cultures and most importantly advance in my career. We have already spent half of our lives with doubts, fear and insecurities. The rest half of the life is so crucial because it will be full of responsibilities, challenges and uncertainties, which will also demand the great level of emotional support from a partner. Why not to forget and forgive whatever has happened in the past and start afresh from now on, to witness a brighter horizon. Life is very beautiful when there is an understanding partner who can walk besides you in every phase of life.

 

I want to end this letter with a quotation of Dave Meurer who is the famous author of several non-fictions books, “A great marriage is not when the ‘perfect couple’ comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences”.

 

Yours truly,

Sweta

25-10-2022

 

P.S: I will be more than happy if this diary entry is evident enough for the readers to understand the key points that are crucial for a marriage to sustain longer and help them to know some one deeply with whom they are in a relationship. I have started writing this article at 1 AM at late night and this is the time when I get many ideas and contemplate on life usually. Last one and half year was very difficult for me to survive due to lots of unexpected hurdles in my life along with COVID restrictions. I am happy that he is one of the reasons for which I have started writing again and back to my blogging arena after a gap of almost two years. 

If we focus on good things, we can only see the good memories when we look back to our life after 20 years.

  

#434 Poem A Day Challenge -May 2022 by Story Mirror

 

Story Mirror Profile

I successfully completed this challenge of composing Poem A Day for the month of May. I received the participation certification along with a book of Poetry in Hindi by Story Mirror. Thanks a lot, Story Mirror for that. 

#433 Bloganniversary : Celebrating 9 years of its existence

Bloganniversary ; celebrating 9 years of its existence

The day has come to celebrate this special day; that special day is the anniversary of this blog. I’m so glad to share that my blog turns 9 years today and I can’t be happier. When I started publishing my articles in my personal blog 9 years ago, I had never imagined that it would be instrumental in inculcating a life-long habit of writing in me. This blog proved to be a faithful friend of mine whose friendship developed during the sophomore year of my college life. It feels unbelievable for me to realize that this blog still continues to reflect my innermost thoughts and ideologies while I travel through different frames of time and space.

Source : Google Images

 

This blog documents the journey of my life by witnessing various stages of my evolution. In 9 years of its existence, it has been successful enough to garner 6-digit-views of people across the world. It has stuck to me during adverse situations and provided me immense support. It’s strange to believe that this inanimate thing has occupied the most important part of my life. It has witnessed me completing my graduation, post-graduation, working in the corporate world, exploring different places and then countries, entering into married life, and striking off many things from my bucket list. When people came and went in my life, it stayed constant. During college days, when many relationships formed and broke off, I feel proud to have invested my time and energy in this relationship which still continues to be with me.

 

Source: Google Images

This month is important for me not just for the anniversary of my blog but also celebrates the second anniversary of my marriage. Unlike this blog, I entered into the relatively early stage relationship for a life-long partnership which evolved through the days of struggle of lockdown and following the passion of life amidst all uncertainties. It was then I learned that every decision taken during the phase of uncertainty provides its own rewards but only those who get the privilege to enjoy these rewards have the courage to face these uncertainties. We can never enjoy a movie when we know its climax beforehand and the same concept applies to life as well.

 

During the last 9 years, I had never pledged to write only in my blog. I grabbed the opportunity to write on different platforms and experimented with different forms of writing such as long and short forms. Not posting in my blog ever implied that I was not writing, in fact, I was always writing, sometimes in my diary, other times as comments for my fellow writers. Whenever I got any idea, I would right away draft it on my mobile. Recently, I have been documenting my journey as a software developer in my technical blog – coding concoction in Hashnode. I never shy away from complementing fellow writers there from whom I learned a lot.

 

Source: Google Images

I neither have any agenda nor any plan to write in this blog, I will keep writing whenever or wherever I can or when I am completely overtaken by the urge of writing. Writing, for me, is the ultimate form of expression and I will continue to do it as long as I am alive.

 

I will write whenever I can

Even under the scorching heat

Holding a pen with my hand tanned

Or trying to write my emotions

With my frozen hands

I will write about the beauty around

During spring in a foreign land

Like leaves of autumn, I will wait

 For thoughts or ideas to be reborn

 

I will write whenever I am happy

Singing and dancing merrily

To appreciate the life

I will also write when I am sad

Not willing to share my grief

With the world around

 

I will write whenever or

Wherever I can

To help my words to reach

Those unvisited clans.

 

All Rights Reserved

Swati Sarangi

27.03.2022