You don't have to stay broken

"We don't have to agree on anything to be kind to one another."

It is still the hardest job to continue to stay who you are while people keep pulling you down or atleast don't give up on trying to change you
Oh humans... people feel the way they feel for a reason and they think the way they think for a reason
Empaths will get affected by everything you say to them because words hurt.

If only someone could take away the pain and burden of knowing how strongly someone close in your life disagrees with your decision
Life is ... about being happy apparently
But at the cost of?
So, based on your assumptions that you'd be happy in the future, you jump into the unknown?

It's all about choices.

Why is it that human contact is in fact so necessary, that without it, there's lack of validation and a sense of incompleteness, with regard to the purpose of existence?

Trust.
What is it?
You trust your partner to love you as much as you love him/her with all your heart and never hurt you or break you knowing he/she has the power to.

When you keep your phone away for a day,
Digital detox is really important when we're living in a world dominated by technology!

Money.
It's important to you when you don't have enough of it. It's not as important to you when you have enough of it (exceptions are the self-made people). And I guess that's pretty much applicable to anything in life.

"Psychology says, people who hide their feelings usually care the most."

A human's emotions coming out on another person. Once in a while is one thing, every time is another. Marriage surely isn't for everybody. In the words of a wise woman, an excellent dessert maker, "marriage is compromise." And that's the thing, what if one can't keep doing that?

Why is it that the society doesn't allow/permit a girl to live with her parents for life, but a son can and in fact is expected to, even if/when he doesn't want/wish to?

The one thing I handle in the worst way: uncertainty ahead
But that's the thing
You just need to plunge into the unknown to find out for yourself what is out there
Even if it means taking the big decisions in life
You won't know the answer to your 'what if' if you don't

People will take you for granted, they will check your patience level
No matter what on earth you do for them or anyone who means the world to them
They will take advantage of your adjusting and giving nature till the point that you don't speak up about being hurt/affected by their words/actions
These are the opposite of humble.

One of the worst feelings in life is not knowing why you've come so far
It's a sad, sad state when you don't have an answer to your 'why' with regard to the path you've been on for so long or rather fought for
...and you begin to doubt yourself. Don't ever let yourself do that!

Sarson ka saag made by my mother is probably one of the finest creations that I've had the privilege of tasting almost every year during winters...

How is a person expected to take a plunge in life and be at one's best at the same time?

That satisfying feeling when you give bones to the stray dogs outside your house on a late dinner night, especially when you didn't eat yourself :)

Why don't people question their sons as much as they question their daughters?

There is no space left for certain emotions in some people's lives
They've had that much to deal with, that they don't know what it's like to show that extra concern towards themselves or even for a person they love dearly
It's true.

Indians giving bouquets to each other on an occasion: waste of money and the flowers!
(keeping the exceptions aside)
The next day, you'll see the flowers in the dustbin. Very few actually make the effort to take the flowers out of the plastic, and probably put them in a vase with water even for a day.

And the Indian festivals that lead to people buying flowers worth hundreds of rupees, I mean, come on, you can make someone's life better with that much money. Because even if you do use those flowers to decorate your homes for a day, the next day, those flowers are going to be in the bin only. But no, no, why should we think that much, when what's more important is decorating and clicking pictures of those flowers on the ground, and getting that validated by people you don't really care about. The people selling flowers in temples fall under a different category all together. That's their bread and butter. The ones who show up only and specifically during festivals have other jobs and means of earning.

When you don't need another person (not even your best friend) to tell you to look at the bright side or think of how blessed you are
Because it's not that you've forgotten even for a second (all the more because you're one to remind others around you to stay thankful), but you just wanted to be heard without any reason for a moment
I guess that's the difference between a human and a diary/dog, there is no response from the other end especially in terms of rationalisation in the case of the latter

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children."

Who'd want to be taunted for crying?
Yes, in some parts of this strange world... even crying is a taboo!

Work. You have to work hard. For yourself. For the point you're trying to prove to the most important people in your life that you can survive, all by yourself.

People living in a parallel universe...

You choose who you are.
Whether you choose to be at a certain place at a certain time, or with people who expected their presence to matter to you...matter to you more than your presence elsewhere.

There's something called 'personal touch' when it comes to taking care of your elders
The same action can be performed by a helper, but you doing it adds care to it in a way that no one else can fill that missing gap of care/affection

Life, especially the serious days of it, the ones we add seriousness to with all the problems in our head... Laugh it out. This is something I've finally started to implement. Something I learnt from an important person in my life.

You choose who you could be.

Different people get a high from different things ~
Saving lives as a doctor
Working for an ngo and changing lives
Proving others wrong around you
Yelling at domestic helpers/employees
Scolding someone younger to you
Making others feel bad for you
Alcohol
Inflicting pain on another person
Skydiving
Making a stranger happy
It's a matter of being in control with your own state of mind!

When it so happens that due to some of your own actions, your friends withdrew, without you realising what you said/did, and by the time you become aware of it, it's been a while, you must use all that time and energy you would've used on building a relationship further, towards building your career/educating yourself and becoming more aware of how you can progress in an area that will eventually help you in the future.

"You can meet someone tomorrow who has better intentions for you than someone you've known for years, time means nothing, character does."

Human beings hurt each other the most!

The difference between making a video and a scrapbook...for your mother
She wouldn't need battery in her phone to see it, or space to see/find it!
She can touch the book and go through it whenever she feels like without straining her eyes with the brightness of the screen in the middle of the night..

~ Music ~

Closer - The Chainsmokers [Boyce Avenue Cover]
Right Place Right Time - Olly Murs
Chocolate - The 1975
Faded - Alan Walker
Say You Won't Let Go - James Arthur
This Town - Niall Horan
All We Know - The Chainsmokers

Aashiq Tera - Sohail Sen
(from the movie Happy Bhag Jayegi)
The Breakup song - Jonita Gandhi
Nachde Ne Saare - Jasleen Royal
#OnRepeat #Bollywood

Closer - Kabira - The Chainsmokers
Blank Space - Mental Manadhil
#VidyaVoxMashupCovers

Boyce Avenue covers are a kind of their own :)

If the luxuries are basic necessities for you (from the perspective of a layman), then you will never be content in life, because the variety is endless, and so your thirst to own/possess more will never die...

"Your complete inability to ever hide a single thing you felt" - That's me!
Me Before You ~ What a wonderful movie :')
Sometimes in life, the most beautiful things happen to people who think life won't be nice to them.
Life ~ it asks you to live it to the fullest. It expects you to consider it your duty to live it to the best of your abilities, for we all get one chance.
But then again, movies are movies for a reason.

It must be the first time that I've stopped believing that even parts of a movie can happen to one in reality
It's a lie, a big lie
No one will ever care for you like that, even the person who loves you the most.

The Best of Me ~ another movie that made me smile and made me question universe's ways of working and how destiny does say hello to you even if you try and run away from it. Loved it.

Some people's lives are only about hairstyles, makeup, dresses and parties ~ it's all about appearance

An important learning for myself,
If a person is of a very different nature than yours, and you just cannot understand or cannot relate with... Don't zone out or show it on your face
You don't know why that person is that way (upbringing, circumstances, apathetic by nature)

"People enter our lives for many reasons
Sometimes we are destined to help them on their journey
Sometimes they are there to help us grow
Sometimes they come to lead us to someone else
Sometimes they are there to show us what we do not want
Sometimes they come to remind us how beautiful we are
Sometimes they are there to teach us a lesson
Sometimes they come to show us how to love again
People don't always stay and sometimes it hurts
Just remember, everything happens for a reason...
Whether they stay or go...
...we will take a piece of them with us forever."

The thing is, when you don't wish to learn about some people's lives, you really shouldn't be made to. It only makes you hate it all.

What makes people think that money gives them power over others who don't have as much as them?
It's beyond me.
Insensitivity amongst the rich and educated is prevalent.
Thank goodness for people like J.K. Rowling and Melinda Gates.

I miss Bombay.
The feel that city gives you when you're there.

We've all read this somewhere or the other, but I'm going to repeat it here, because I really don't think it's said enough:
Money can not buy/teach you or your child: how to speak to someone, manners, behavioural ethics, basic etiquettes, and kindness!
The list can certainly be longer but I'll stop at that. Inherited wealth is the worst. It makes you look down upon people and you'll never even admit that, that has become a part of who you are. You're far from empathy. A wise friend once said to me, 'Garima, self made men aren't rich, they weren't born with it, they earned every penny themselves and so they're rich not in terms of money but in terms of their experiences, it's the next generation who's rich.'

Another thing is,
Common sense is not common in common people!
Goodness, we've all been blessed with a brain (okay, there are four different kinds apparently) and the same thinking capacity, but, humans just don't seem to want to use their heads enough. They call it overthinking when a person attempts to rationalise.

Your opinions start to matter less the day you have gone against one's decision and put your foot down.

Indian railway station - 9 pm - foggy - people stare because they believe it's their right and because it's the right thing to do - you want to go buy a packet of chips for yourself and for the driver who has come to drop you and a couple of more people - the first thought that crosses your mind as a female is - whether or not you should even walk by yourself to a counter that's at quite a distance - why - because that's how your country has always made you feel when you're out alone anywhere even for a minute!

The problem with most rich Indians is, they will look down upon anyone who A. earns less in general B. earns lesser than them C. cannot do anything for them D. whose colour doesn't appeal to their eyes E. whose job doesn't appeal to them
Ofcourse, there'd be exceptions to the above, but frankly, I can't stand the fact that people actually get to behave like that and get to convey as if they have some sort of power over another person, just because they think they do.

When a lady (your mother's age), talks confidently about how she didn't let her son pursue the course he wanted to, and made him stick to the realistic options/career path in life..
shows exactly what's wrong in the thought process of parents even today, when they don't see how not allowing their child to pursue a career of his/her own choice (a part of his/her passion) lead their children to only believe that they wouldn't have been able to pull it off/make a living with the same...

Before the Flood - so important for everyone to watch!!

And,
In the words of Jim Carrey,

"My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. When I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job, and our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
How will you serve the world?
What do they need that your talent can provide?
That's all you have to figure out.
As someone who's done what you're about to go and do, I can tell you from experience,
the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is.
Because everything you gain in life will rot and fall apart.
And all that will be left of you, is what was in your heart."