The Journey So Far

I am applying to the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University for their 2016 Full Time -MBA program.

Their essay prompt was very unique and interesting and read, "You are the author for the book of Your Life Story. Please create the table of contents for the book."

This is my creative submission for this essay.

The 2-year update

Well, I am back and hopefully more consistent than usual.
So here are a few updates since I last posted (the engagement):
1. Joined Facebook and suprised half my friend list.
2. Realised what a pain long distance relationships really are - not even half as glamorous as bollywood potrays them!
3. Became voluntarily umemployed!
4. Got married!!! :D
5. Had our first fight as a married couple (Yes even before we left for US).
6. Relocated to US.
7. Made some new friends.
8. Some heavy family and personal stuff (details later).
9. Jasmin entered our lives!! (The Dog as she will be referred to hereon after).
10. Jasmin got a boyfriend - Henry (she is quick!) and we got The Coles! (Well we dont own them but we sure love them!)
11.  People showed their bitchy colours. (again details later)
12. Started my Masters in Bioinformatics (how smart do I sound!).
13. Mom n Dad visited my Home!!!
14. Back to blogging!!

Wow thats a long list and I sure have missed quite a few updates.. But hopefully its the last time!

Will post soon on some of the past news, updates and gossip!!

Heera Hai Sada Ke Liye

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So I guess the above picture should be able to convey 3 simple words - I AM ENGAGED!!!!!

Its just amazing how things turn around in 24 hrs, how a person whom you didn't know for 25 years of your life suddenly becomes the most important person in your life. How suddenly you start planning your hopes, dreams, your entire life around this person.

And well my guy (I love how that sounds :)) - Siddharth is the most special person there is. He is smart, handsome, funny, caring and the best guy there could for me. After meeting him I am convinced in destiny. Convinced that Someone somewhere is made for you.

The most common question that my friends asked me is "Aren't you scared? You knew him for barely a day!!"  And its true.. We met on a Thursday, decided on a Friday and got engaged on a Saturday. But I was never scared. I sure was worried before the engagement, but I was worried about how everything will get completed, I was never worried about the guy I was getting engaged to. I just knew... I know it sounds totally cliched and filmy and personally if I would have read this on someone else's blog I would have definitely rolled my eyes, but yeah thats how it is. When I was sitting in that CCD talking to him, I knew he was THE ONE for me.

Everything feels so different now. To put it in my Jiju's words: Now, there is Karan Johar movie music playing in the background 24*7 (yes, even when we are fighting). I get butterflies in my stomach everytime someone says Siddharth, I love smiling without reason (and crying too sometimes). I remember wondering in my earlier post - The MAGIC of all that is LOVE whether Love really is all that is hyped to be.. Now I am happy to know - yes it is.. The MAGIC of all that is LOVE has finally touched me and I couldn't be happier that Siddharth came into my life, (as soon as he could) and is gonna stay for FOREVER.

Damsel in Distress

I want to be rescued.
All heroes can apply.

I always loved fairy tales as a small girl like all other small girls. Because it gave hope and belief that when things will get tough and unbearable a Prince will come who will fight all evil and rescue the princess. So I always believed that when I will be sad or lonely or in a bad state my Prince will come and whisk me away. (Of course Bollywood films and Jane Austen novels too helped.. Mr. Darcy for a long time has been my image of the perfect hero.)
But do these fairy tales promote the correct hope?? Here I don't even want to get into the argument of whether such stories are chauvinist because the guy always rescues the gal. I believe its a mutual rescue. Because if it weren't for Elizabeth who would have taught Mr. Darcy humility?
No my question is for the basic hope it gives to young minds - when you are in trouble you will be rescued.
Is it always like that?? Are we always rescued?? Or should we be taught that sometimes help is not on the way and we should just survive the situation.. That for some Cinderellas there wont be a fairy godmother and there wont be silver slippers or even worse they might have silver slippers and they might even lose them but the Prince will not come searching, he will just go back to the ball and dance with someone else. I know its probably a depressing and negative sentiment but isn't it also practical? We need to be taught when is the time to realize that the Prince is not coming. Of course that doesn't mean he is never going to come. He will probably come the next time you are in trouble.
What we need to realize is that most of the times we are our own heroes. That we need to rescue ourselves. If our Prince doesn't come to take us out of the tower we need to let our hair out ourselves and climb down.

This reminds me of an excellent prayer that I had come across:

Dear God,

Give me the strength to accept what I cannot change

The ability to change what I cannot accept

And the prudence to distinguish between the two

And I think that's what our fairy tales should teach us, the prudence to understand when to wait for help and when to help ourselves.
The prudence of when to lose our glass slippers and when to leave before midnight.

Ask Me Why...

IM SUPERSTITIOUS!!

P.s.: yes yes i know it is inspired from a certain webcomic.
Ok more like copied.. But I really liked the abtruse goose idea!

Choices

They say we are defined by the choices we make. That our choices in life is what truly tells about the kind of person we are. So that got me to thinking what exactly do we do when we choose something? What exactly defines the thought process that results in that all important choice??

Do we choose a path because it seems right at the time? Or do we choose it because its the "correct" option? Because its the morally and socially acceptable thing to do? But then what about the people who go against the norm?? Everyone good or bad who made choices that went against the general rule of society? Which brings us to the fundamental question "What is correct?" Is something right just because majority of the human race accepts it to be (or at least the majority we know) ?? Or is something right because we want it? Because we know that our happiness lies in choosing that option?

Then what do we do when we have to choose between two right options? When both the options will make us happy eventually? When you know that no matter what you choose you are always going to regret having to let go of the other choice? When even the "correct" choice is going to seem wrong soon after it is made? When all we want is both the choices but all we can get is one of them? What do we do then?

I read a quote that said,

Choice is never between right and wrong. Its between right and convenient.

Is that what we do then? Choose the convenient option? But then wont it make it the wrong choice? Isnt there a way to make the right choice always? A formula to guarantee that we will never regret the decision we take?

I believe we should always choose the option that resonates with our conscience. This is specially true when we have to choose between two rights.. Choose the one which your conscience allows you to choose. Because at the end of the day there is only one person with whom you have to spend your entire life and that is - YOU. You can lie to the whole world but you cant lie to yourself. So you will not want to live with a choice that your conscience doesn't allow you to make.

Will it guarantee that you always choose the right option? May be not. But it will guarantee that you don't have regrets. And what if you still choose the wrong option?? Well then that's a choice you have to live with.

Love You Bangalore

Today, as I boarded the flight to Pune I felt different. Usually this is a very happy moment for me. I will be mentally making lists of the things I will ask my mom to cook for me (matki chi usal, misal, ragda pattice, kali amti etc..), the places I would go to (Vaishali, Cad B near Karishma, Durga, Ganesh Bhel and Laxmi Road always figure in this list) and trying to figure out how to accommodate visit to all friends and relatives in 3-4 days.

But this time it was different. This time I was thinking of all the things I will miss when I am away - coffee breaks at office, the movie I was gonna watch with my flatmates and the meeting with MM friends. I wanted to go to UB City and Orion this weekend and probably even squeeze in Wonderla.

Thats when I realised somewhere in the last 2 years I had got used to Bangalore and my life here and do I dare to say it - started loving it. I was so busy missing Pune during the last 2 years that I failed to notice that somewhere in that time Bangalore has crept in quietly and made a place of its own in my heart, a place even Pune wont be able to take.

Ok - I think I need to make a disclaimer here for all my shocked friends (I am expecting a few heart attacks as well considering that I am the staunchest Punekar I know) - Pune always was, still is and will forever be my first love and my favorite city. I will still rather have pani puri with ragda than potato, still rather shop at Tulshi Baug than 4th block and still rather hang out at FC Road than Brigade Road.

But what I have discovered is this - that pani puri with potato is not that bad, you get good stuff for reasonable prices even at the 4th block market and Brigade Road is a cool place to hang out at.

If I would have been a guy I would have said - Pune is my wife and Bangalore is my girlfriend. (That doesn't mean I am gonna say Pune is my husband and Bangalore is my boyfriend).

This is not the first time I am looking forward to coming back to Bangalore and my routine after a holiday at home but yes this is definitely the first time I am looking forward to coming back even before I have started holiday.

So yeah this time the holiday is different - bcoz instead of planning a break from routine I am planning my return to it.

Miss you Bangalore..