On Father’s Day

My Dearest Papa,

Hugs Hugs Hugs🤗🤗🤗. I am back, with yet another letter on yet another Father’s Day. So first is first. I Missed You, lots and lots. I Love You and think of you every day won’t say it doesn’t hurt anymore, it does, it still does, but see, it’s healing. I am doing good, I know you already know but let me say it and feel the words in my bones “I am doing good”. I get all the help you send me, the gifts too, and the flowers. Yeahhhh, I got those Mogra you used to get for me, they are growing in the plants of our patio and the cake you sent through my cousin on my birthday, I got that too. I got your birthday present also, along with your message to hone my creative writing. I am working on it, I know that you are expecting something great from me this year, I am trying hard to deliver.

This one reminds me of all the times when I would tell you to take me along on your tours obliviously making you helpless.

I know you have scolded me twice these days for binging on sweets, I am trying to get off them but you I have a weakness for sweets. You know, I am learning so much, trying to use significant words as you did. You remember that time when I was just four or five, that summer you took Mum and me and Uncle to Nainital, and we were strolling down the Mall Road there while I was holding your finger in my fist. Sure you do remember, how often you used to tell me that anecdote of mine when I would leave your hand and walk into any store that had glittering lights and colours and then you had to pick me up so I won’t walk away. You know I remember a li’l bit of that day too. I remember you talking to uncle, and you used a particular word that seemed like a real heavy and tough word to me, I practised it, memorised it, because I wanted to be like you, you were always my hero. That word was “of course”, haha, yeahh, such a simple word but to me, it was no less than Oxford dictionary back then. But now I can even make out what Shashi Tharoor says, haha. I so wish you could see me today, but then, you are always watching over me.

This one is so you and me Papa, I remember how you used to cover me within a blanket and tell me it’s our cave.

Mumma is better, thank you for that. She dances sometimes; it makes my heart ache with pride. She has a fighters spirit. So much she lost but not once she let her pain reach me and she learned to be on her own. It makes a weight lift off my chest when I see her laugh and dance. Now, she even goes to movies sometimes, and you won’t believe how tech savvy she has become since her new phone. She misses you, she still needs you but what’s sanguine is the fact that she believes in her heart that you are still with us, that’s her strength, it keeps her going. She isn’t even angry at God like me. Papa, sometimes, without a reason, just like you did, she kisses me and loves me, now I don’t need to prompt her to do it, she does it on her own, thank you, Papa.

I won’t say life is a bed of Roses, but it’s not a walk on embers either. There are new wounds on both of us, on our person and our hearts but we stand after each fall, we hold each other securely. Wagon R has got old, and so has your Blackberry, I think they both will have to go. I think we will be selling your office soon. No, not for the money, but just because it’s in a dilapidated condition and it hurts to see it like that. You must be wondering, what’s with the letting go thing. You know after this long time what I realised, I will have to let go off all your materialistic things, tangible things one day, just like I had to let go of your physical presence, but I won’t ever ever ever let go on you, your memories, your values and your love. Yes, I would miss calling it ‘Papa’s car’, ‘Papa’s Phone’, I would miss calling it ‘Papa’s Office’ just like I miss calling you ‘Papa’. I miss all those love names; I miss the pseudo fights, I miss those long conversations and that companionable silence. I miss your footfalls in the corridor and your positivity in my heart.

This makes me so nostalgic, I can still hear your voice when you had promised me that you are my wall and till you are with me, nothing bad or evil touches me.

There’s so much to say; I am not done yet. But then I can write volumes and tomes to you. I wish this weren’t a one-sided talk; I wish you were here and talking to me right now. I wish Mum had you by her side and I didn’t have to see that shadow of feeling odd one out between couples. I almost get so nostalgic for your voice that it’s unbearable.

You know I didn’t want to grow up. Sometimes I still feel like whining and throwing a tantrum that I want you. I still want to be the unreasonable li’l girl that wanted her father in hard times, bad times, good times, fun times; testing times come what may. The girl who called you up in Chennai and told you to come back home sooner and you humoured her with a beautiful lie by saying Yes. I want to wait for you at the door, checking the time every few minutes and run to you at the sounds of your wheels on the gravel, run like the wind in your arms and not let go. I want to forget everything except the father who didn’t just gave me life but taught me how to live it with my head held high. But, I am proud to say that the li’l girl is a bittersweet memory to me now and this woman writing to you has finally decided to grow up. She’s matured and wants to shoulder her responsibility. Just stay by my side and guide me on the way. You are still my Hero!

Happy Father’s Day Papa! 🌹
I Love You Forever And Ever❤️❤️❤️

Your loving daughter,
Gudiya

PS: You have left everything that was once yours with me but remembers, you still owe me perfume and 2.5 Lacs, and I always have been a good bookkeeper.

The More…..

The more I think about you, the more I want to know about you. The more I know about you, the more I want to talk about you. The more I talk about you, the more I want the world to listen about you. What is so special about you that any snide directed towards […]

The More…..

Let The Seed Of Beleif Yield Fruits Of Wisdom

world4womencom

Few months back I got a packet of carrot seeds and sown them in my garden. Days turned into weeks but no result. Instead unwanted weeds cropped up all around. I pacified myself thinking may be the soil isn’t of good quality or the seeds aren’t supreme. Yet kept checking. Meanwhile in a small pot I scattered few tomato seeds and surprisingly saplings did crop up in no time. What made the difference? In the first case I buried (literally) the seeds quite deep making it hard for the feeble saplings to make it to the surface. On the contrary I sowed the tomato seeds quite close to the surface and covered them with a thin layer of soil. Keeping the soil loose let the seeds breathe easy and develop well.

What struck me actually? Not the principles of Horticulture but a valuable lesson that those tiny particles have taught…

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Forgetfulness – A Blessing

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Picture credit: Pexels free Library

Originally posted on Candles Online

“Pray for Forgetfulness for if you tend to forget the good done by you to others and continue in your penance of compassion, the serpent of arrogance will never be able to poison your soul. You will be grounded with the weight of a jewel called Humility.”

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An End To The Enigma Of Life

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Picture credit: Google Images

Originally Posted On Candles Online:

I kept wandering in the pursuit of happiness that never had any definitey.

I was surrounded by the maddening chatter of desires that robbed me of my serenity.

I kept looking for flaws in others to prove my superiority.

I was an obnoxious, boisterous trumpet busy in singing laurels in self-praise, deprived of humility.

I invested myself to the extent of immersion in the worldly ties that costed me my sobriety.

I propelled higher in the skies of baseless egos and crude pride that I lost connection with the reality.

I was absorbed by the frivolous vanity of material charms that left me with insanity.

I let my greed take over my senses and I became nefarious and lost even my humanity leave aside divinity.

I was flowing with the directionless wind until I encountered – Failure, Old Age, Illness &…

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Musical Chairs – A Game We Are Still Playing

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Originally posted on Candles Online, participating in the “Allegory Week”

“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round; The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town”and the music stops and kids fight their way to get a place on the insufficient number of chairs placed in a circular configuration.

And we call it “Musical Chairs”, a fun game we all have seen and been a part of. As the number of chairs decrease the competition gets intense. Some physical dribbles, some sulking faces, few sportive acceptances, few angry stomping – all for that coveted chair of winner 😁😁.

Well that’s all fun but have a close liaison with our life, just need a deeper look, let’s have a look then.

The fight for chairs isn’t just a game in the birthday parties but…

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7 Easy Steps For Today’s Working Women To Rock The Financial Trope

Gone are the days when it was a man’s world. Women today are the veritable master of the game and know how to handle their portfolio, be it on Twitter or their money. 

Modern working women claim and deserve gender equality. Working women do not appreciate the differentiated treatment accorded to them when it comes to taking financial or any other decisions.

Aspirations and objectives of working women do not differ from those of their male counterparts. Hence, the integral precepts of the economic system do not discriminate between men and women. Future financial goals–funding the higher education and wedding of offspring, purchasing a residence and a vehicle, going for overseas vacations, and planning for retirement–are commonplace for both genders.

Maintaining a specific model of livelihood becomes requisite.

Let us now consider some key decisions which all working women must draw to assure that they enjoy financial well-being.

• Protection Cover  

First, if there are household members dependent on them, they must ensure that they have adequate coverage in terms of impairment and life insurance. It is prerequisite to safeguard the family members just in the case of an event where the earning female member becomes incapacitated or impaired because of any disease or mishap, etc. The thumb rule here is that she must have a life insurance policy and overall disability plan coverage equivalent to ten times her annual revenue.

For Example: If a woman is earning Rs 10 lakh per annum, then she must have a life and disability insurance cover of Rs 1 crore to ensure that family members feel protected in case of any unfortunate eventuality.

•   Retirement Planning

Apart from providing stability to family members, working women have to plan for their retirement needs well in advance. Please remember, it is not typical for all working women to retire at 60. Retirement will depend upon their profession. Sportswomen, Air Hostesses and Celebrities do not have a long working span. Hence, they require carrying out an individual strategy for premature retirement and ensure that they can live for the rest of their lives by accumulating a corpus and by investing in various asset classes: equity, debt, and real estate, etc.

• Gold

Women have a particular affinity for Gold. The thumb rule for investing in Gold is that it should account for over 10 percent of their entire financial portfolio, either in the form of physical gold (ornaments etc.) or paper Gold (Gold mutual funds or Gold ETFs & Sovereign Gold bonds, etc.).

• Asset Allocation

All working women must have some exposure to equity mutual funds through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) for generating long-term wealth. They too need this for attaining financial targets such as education/marriage of their children or retirement, The thumb rule of asset allocation is that 100 minus the age should be the percentage allocation to equity mutual funds; 10 percent should be in the Gold, and the balance should be in debt instruments such as PPF, EPF, Bank FD, and Bonds.

To sum up, all working women’s financial portfolios must include 3-4 mutual fund SIPs equal to 20 percent of their monthly income, regular contributions to the Public Provident Fund, and NPS account for ensuring retirement planning. Regular pension for life, besides having adequate health insurance and Life/disability insurance is also essential.

• Documenting the Financial Plan

It is also important to mention here that all working women must get a financial plan made as a document, and they must implement it and keep rebalancing their portfolio by reviewing it at the half-yearly interval.

• Making the Will

They must ensure that they make a proper ‘Will’ and it distributes their total investments in the proportion desired by them. It should be done much early in their life and must be shared with close family members for easily claiming investments in the eventuality of sad demise.

• Limiting expenditure.

Working women must ensure that they learn to limit their expenses within their income levels and not resort to debts, loans or excessive credit card spends at any point of time. Stretching your expenses beyond your limit can lead to financial stress and compromise your future comforts.

Hence, it becomes imperative for working women to be in control of their finances, to stay fiscally disciplined, and to remain well-planned.

Thanks and Regards.

Anuj Surana

Restrict Your Fancy Unaffordable Desires!

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Originally Posted On Candles Online

Source: Google pictures

• A group of college going girls involved in flesh trade to support / sport a lavish lifestyle.

• A techie commits suicide as he was unable to cope up with the pressure of credit card bills.

• Gang involved in card frauds, ATM thefts busted, revealed it was an attempt to make a quick buck.

And the matter of irony is more educated the person is more deeply he or she is getting involved in this trap of taking the wrong route. I really wonder what purpose education is really serving here.

These examples may not be some recent news but definitely something we come across quite often nowadays. A bitter and harsh reality, strong enough to make us experience Depression and question “WHY?”

Reason is simple :  Our inability to find satiation and curb our “Un”wanted desires. Our incompetence in restricting our…

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Happy Father’s Day

पापा को शब्दो में बांधना समुंद्र को अंजलि में भरने समान है मेरे पिता का जीवन, प्रेरणा और दृढ़ निश्चय का स्तोत्र महान है चश्मे के पीछे उनकी वो आंखें बड़ी भोली भाली थी और व्यक्तित्व कि गहराई, कपट से बिल्कुल खाली थी आत्मा और सोच से बोहोत उजले और तन के सांवले थे सबको खुद सा अच्छा सच्चा समझते थे, कैसे बावले थे सरल आचरण, अखंड गुण और साधारण जीवन शैली थी उनकी प्रतिभा और गरिमा की गाथा दूर-दूर तक फैली थी उनके जीवन में बोहोत दुख, बोहोत कष्ट थे आशावादी थे, और इरादों के बिल्कुल स्पष्ट थे मेरे लिए तो वही आदि, वहीं अंत, वही अनंत थे मन, कर्म, वचन, धर्म से मानो कोई साधु संत थे तीखा पसंद था, समोसे बोहोत भाते थे Diabetes थी ना, मीठा कम ही खाते थे प्रभु भक्ति और काम में बराबर विलीन थे मूझपर वात्सल्य की वर्षा करते समय असीम थे मानवता, दया और सहानभूति का उच्च उदाहरण थे उनसा नहीं कोई पुत्र, पति और पिता, वो असाधारण थे उनके बारे में मैं जितना भी लिख डालू वो कम है और आज भी उनकी स्मृतियों से मेरी आंखें नम है बड़े मीठे, सुहाने, प्यारे प्यारे नामों से पुकारते थे वो मुझे और कभी कभी तो बस बैठे बैठे यूहीं निहारते थे वो मुझे जाते जाते वो मुझे विरासत में अपना सब कुछ दे गए पर अपने साथ वो मेरे अस्तित्व का एक टुकड़ा ले गए

#fathersday #father #papa #dad #yqbaba #yqdidi #yqhindi #missing Read my thoughts on @YourQuoteApp #yourquote #quote #stories #qotd #quoteoftheday #wordporn #quotestagram #wordswag #wordsofwisdom #inspirationalquotes #writeaway #thoughts #poetry #instawriters #writersofinstagram #writersofig #writersofindia #igwriters #igwritersclub https://www.instagram.com/p/CBrBjMGlJvI/?igshid=rfd3j9zbnzyn

What Is Pure Devotion?

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A story quite fresh in my mind (but the source where I got it from is quite vague in my mind, probably I heard it during school days and most probably a parable but has a deep impactful meaning). The Story goes like this:

Once Naarada asks Naarayana (Shri Vishnu Bhagwan) “Hey Lord, who is your most devoted devotee on the Earth?”

To this Lord Vishnu showed a poor farmer on the Earth and asked Naarada Muni to look at one day of his life and get back to him.

Naarada Muni, as ordered by Lord Vishnu went to him but a little bit confused. Lord Vishnu was with his blissful appearance and with a smile greeted Naarada Muni “so what did you find? Did you get to know why he is the most devoted devotee?”

To this Naarada Muni said “Dear Lord, I watched him an entire day, not…

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WHAT DREAMS MAY COME

Candles Online

I heard the calm sea even before I tasted it. Yes, I relished the moist, dense, salted air with mouthfuls of breaths. And there was that smell, that raw, seaweed aroma that brought with it another kind of scent; a scent too familiar, too nostalgic—the fragrance of my fathers’ heady cologne.

I opened my eyes; a seven-year-old me was holding my father’s hand, the ankles of his trousers rolled up to his calves as he held my hand while I pulled him towards the sea. I laughed as the waves rolled under my feet, and the soft sand slipped, squishing between my toes, creating an illusion of the moving Earth.

Papa laughed along and picked me in his arms, taking me back to the resort, where the Flamingos strolled around the lagoon. I look at him and sulk, making a pout he adored.

“You have been gone so long…

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