In love with writing.....

Usually on the new year's eve we are all so excited, isn't it? This is because we want to start afresh with new hopes and aspirations or it can also be that we are bored with writing the same year in the date repeatedly or may be, we are fed up with seeing the face of the same calendar for twelve months and for various other reasons. However, unless we become a different person or incorporate something new into our lives, the new year wouldn't be indifferent from the old one. That's the reason most of us make a list of resolutions to be implemented in the new year.  With this thought I sat down to write my new year resolutions for the first time. It was then I realized that, without contemplating the past, it is unwise to think about making changes in future. With this, the list of  my new resolutions has transformed into the list of the lessons that I learnt.  In the rest of the post I would like to talk about what my experiences have taught me so far. Though m...

                                  © Manaswini Pasumarthi India is a land blessed with many beautiful places of which some can be compared with the Heaven itself. One such heavenly place is Kerala located on the south-west coast, on the shores of Arabian sea. The first picture that strikes our mind at the very thought of Kerala is the lush green-blue landscape, formed by the thick cover of coconut trees, fresh green plantations and lovely backwaters with the mystic house boats. Kerala also reminds us of a large folk of active and energetic men.           This is just not enough to think about but there is something more to be explored. The best way to  experience Kerala is by travelling through the backwaters. The backwaters are a chain of  brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian sea. Kerala is the home for many backwat...

Misunderstandings Dear heart,  Why do you crave for someone else's understanding , when you know very well that every other heart is also busy in making itself  understandable to the world. When you know what you are and how worthy you are, then what difference does it make if others call you mad or bad. You always took a firm stand on what you felt is right and lived as per the values you inherited from your parents and teachers. You were termed selfish, just because you did not want to share your assignments and answer sheets with friends. You were boycotted and snubbed just because you didn't want to involve in unhealthy talks and as you want to correct the wrong. When you speak about equality and ask for your rights,  you are called as a feminist, sometimes an egoist.  Sometimes complicated and few other times as "abnormal". Then what should we call "those" who are defending themselves or fighting for their own cause or for their own v...

Having recently celebrated the 72nd day of Indian independence, I began to ponder over all that has been achieved in these 71 years. It makes me feel really proud about my country and with a great sense of gratitude I owe all that I enjoy today to those who sacrificed their lives to make this land free from colonialism and also to those who helped in rebuilding the nation to make it what it is today. As I was relishing the good aspects of freedom and the numerous developments that my country has made, my cousin who was doubtful about taking part in an inter college competition came to me for an advice on the same. She was asking me about the need of participating in such events and what use are they to anyone. It was then I realized something very important and I felt the immediate need to share it on the occasion of 72nd year of Indian independence. Participation is something which most of us are not comfortable with. I know many of my friends at school and college who were reluctant...

Of all the problems faced by us today, social ego is one that is seemingly intolerable. By the words "social ego" I mean to say the ego of the society. For instance, I would like to share some of the dialogues that we keep listening or situations we come across very often.I am talking in the Indian context, don't know how things are in the rest of the world. " Mrs.X : My daughter joined in the engineering course, what about yours?    Mrs.Y:  My daughter wants to do a course in humanities and sciences.    Mrs.X : What!!!!(with a sarcastic smile). Such courses don't have any value today." After this conversation, Y wouldn't want her daughter to take any other course except engineering because she feels everything else other than that is useless and a waste of time. If the daughter opposes, then she would tell that this is the current day's trend , so we have to go with it. Who created this trend? Why do we need a hell lot of engineers who study ...

Guide & Ride I have always fancied a journey on the road, that too in a vehicle that is private to our family, because since childhood I am used to road trips. In retrospect, I remember my father and grandfather always choosing roadways to the other means of transportation, even though distances to be travelled were long. There were various reasons behind this, may be because we can have a complete control over the journey, we can stop at desired locations in the middle of the journey which wouldn't be possible otherwise and so on. Though we didn't own a vehicle, we used to hire one that suited the length of our family. A fast forward to the recent times, my husband and I were travelling to Dubai from Gayathi, a town in the emirate of Abu Dhabi by our car. Though we knew that it takes three and a half hours to reach our destination, we were apprehensive about reaching on time because we were new to the route and roads here. My husband being new to driving was under addi...