Reason to Smile :)

Reason to Smile: One more article on Linkedin that perhaps has been inspiring to many. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lifetime-job-after-retirement-neha-mehta?published=t I met a lady aged 72, lean body, average height, small face with a few teeth outside ready to walk the talk attitude, as strong as a rock. She entered an office me and my friend were a part of. As I stare to notice her more keenly, she unapologetic-ally pulls the chair, sits there confidently as if it was no ones business, looks at us and there is a pause. An awkward silence prevailed. Years later, one of us spoke "Hello Madam. Are you here to meet Niraj?" She gathered all her courage, leaned forward and a soft voice uttered with an extremely bright smile "Yes" We had organized a meeting with her on the partnerships on a business model proposed to her. She had come to discuss terms and commercial aspects. A perfect Gujarati that she was, questioned us on everything that can go wrong and t...

Reason to Smile: It is for the first time with this festival that all the 9 days were under my kitty to take a plunge on. Usually it is not common for people to check out the Kala Ghoda Art Festival that comes every February of the year hosted by the Hindustan Times Media (9 day event- first weekend to the second weekend of Feb) with such huge and long art / event schedules to be attended all days. It is this excitement of being able to attend any show at the right time without having worried about deep pockets and office timings to be met, that I chose to visit Irish House for all the stand up comedy acts by the event. Artists like Anirban Das Gupta on how lazy can people be in Kolkotta, Siddharth Dudeja on how capitalism is the cancer to our society, Abhishek Upamanyu on how he assumed he would be killed by his dad, Sourabh Pant on how he stands by his son for all odds, Kunal Kamra on why he would like to sleep all day, Neville Barucha on who would want to marry him, Jiya Sethi on...

Reason to Smile: One more story I wrote of an episode that changed one life completely !! From my desk: Manas and Roli (name changed) were whatsapp friends. I happen to be common friend between them. I know both of them personally very well and have known their personalities a tad bit better than their school friends or so called close / best friends. I have been with them for around more than a decade now. Thanks to the virtual world of FB and whats app, they both got connected through me. So, this story is about two distinct individuals who had never met before. However, one incident happened and their lives changed for good. They apparently landed up being best of friends after that day ! Roli is in her mid thirties but timid, born and brought up in a typical middle class family, aspires to be a writer and wants to make it big in the industry. Manas, on the other hand, is a simple, decent yet a broadminded man who had no qualms about admitting that he had a bad marriage ea...

Reason to Smile: I read some beautiful lines somewhere floating on my inbox one morning - Don’t allow the negative things in your life to discount the positive ones. Don’t let a bad day or month or year make you feel like you have a bad life. Instead of focusing on everything that’s going wrong, start holding onto all of the things that are going right. You may be struggling, but there is still so much to keep fighting for — there is still so much more to life than this pain. And if you keep picking yourself back up and pushing forward, no matter how difficult things are, you will discover it. Maybe not  tomorrow   or next week or a year from now, but someday soon, things will get better. Someday soon, you will find freedom from this darkness. And when you do, you’ll look back on these days and wonder how you could have doubted your resilience. You’ll look back and marvel at how something as small as refusing to give up could transform your life in such a substantial way. ...

Reason to Smile: Finally I vent out some part of the 'personal' me. A short story of a person who created magic in my life ;) A confessional love letter :) I talk to you. Daily. Without you but with you in my senses. You are the most amazing person I came across among my circle of close friends. Funnily though, I had come across your profile through some online dating segment of a very popular social media site ! This was somewhere in 2008 I believe when I was not really enjoying my personal space. It was the time when I did not have friends around the way I have now. I was only busy being in and out of relationships. I was in the midst of contemplating whether I should make my personal space more adventurous or more calm and settled. It so happened that I shrugged my shoulders to trying something new. I thought the least it would do is occupy my depressed mind to either something horrible or make it more interesting, subject to what I wanted to take away from the chats o...

Reason to Smile: One more Linkedin article :) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/job-less-suicide-murder-neha-mehta?trk=pulse_spock-articles What makes one feel more 'jobless' than actually being one? No. I am not writing any answers here. I am just writing my feelings. Hope you like it. It has come out of mere observations, personal experiences and totally out of being jobless - literally :P With the so called new word that's coined these days and been so boasted about 'demonetization' - one thing is clear that it has exploded a mixed feelings in all of us. Be it an industry, a local, a farmer, a businessman or a stay put housewife. We all suddenly have pressed the vocal chords in our throats and got talking. All thanks to the 'Modi' gaga, I have those eternal silent friends who spoke on the subject even they knew nothing about it - literally ! Not that all of us know it all anyways, it is just the impact that it surrounds, that get us on the move ab...

Reason to Smile: As I always say, the year has gone by with a blink of an eye. One more fulfilling year that gave some very crucial lessons to learn from, some reminiscences, a height of treks to catch up on, new places to explore on, some failed attempts to look back on, but also carving a whole new path for a new  journey to embark on. As we all get excited to probably have a party to celebrate new years night, it was Rajjo's idea that we move out of the hustle bustle of the city and go for camping at some nice, out of the league place where all we can see is ourselves romancing with the cold winters that give us a natural sight to our eyes and nothing else. No crowds, no 'social' obligations, no 'power' supply, no media, nothing. Just 'real' connections. Be it personal or nature. or be it naturally personal :) So after a lot of discussions, trails and tribulations so to speak, we zeroed in on Matheran. Afterall Garbett has always been my top fa...