Padmaja's

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” – Jim Rohn I came across this line on Instagram. After nearly three months, I sat down to write this article on how this line had miraculously shifted my perceptions on how I view people and relationships.   You see, time is the most valuable gift you can offer someone. At this stage of life, i.e. the late 20s, one has to be careful on how one spends their time. During my childhood days, my father always used to say that this is a learning stage where we make foundations for our entire life. He could not have been more right. This has made me keep my travel plans and other things on hold for some time. It is not that I do not want to travel to beautiful destinations across the country. It is a temporary phase and I will resume my travelling soon. This is how my brain works. I want to focus on things such as improving my public speaking skills, writing skills and on people who really matter.

Life is a constant struggle, a never ending journey and only way is forward. Deep within us, our soul is always guided by a force, sometimes nudging us forward and sometimes dragging us back. Recently my grandpa passed away. Walking down a memory lane spanning 25 years, I can say that my life had been an incredible journey with my grandpa. When I was born, the near and dear ones started speculating whom I resemble most in the family.It’s a family thing most of us have been through a lot of times in life. A face destined to grow with age comes under comparison and peculiar matchmaking right after birth, it’s funny. Speaking of my face, my grandpa was obsessed with my red birthmark on my left cheek. He used to apply olive oil on my face so that my birthmark reduces. So, every time I visited his place, he first looked at my birthmark and continued with his normal routine of oiling my face. I loved this ritual because it was during this time that I got his whole undivided attentio

Photo courtesy: Yatrablog.com Moving to a new city is always challenging especially when you don’t know anyone in the city. In this respect, I was lucky to have a friend in the city who helped me with everything from my first day in the maximum city. Now that he is gone, I feel that my days in Mumbai could have been colourless without him. I looked forward to weekends, as weekends became my happy days. More than being happy days, those were ‘my’ days.  I reconnected with myself and enjoyed the little things and small pleasures in life. Some of the good habits that I imbibed during those months now form a part of my larger nature.   He had eyes like that of a cat and he enjoyed scaring me with those magnificent eyes. But  those very eyes was my shelter during the storm.   He made me fall in love with Marine Drive . Even though it is more than 15 kms from my residence, it became my ‘go-to’ place to calm my mind. During such stormy days, we sat together in Marine Dr

There comes a moment in life when we realize we lack something in and around us and a change becomes imminent in order to succeed. I always believed that I could give eloquent speeches. Later, it dawned upon me that giving a speech in front of an audience and extracting information from an expert over the phone are poles apart. My work demands me to make multiple phone calls and extract information for my stories. Initially, it was a humongous task for me. Moreover, a stammering speech and nervousness compounded to a whole new level while interacting with industry experts.   The revelation that I was a rookie in this world with little know-how about the subject matter was never my con, but it was my fear of failing that was not letting me sprint towards success. This fear did not let me ask the next question as I thought that person at the other end will assume me to be a fool. It was only later that I learned that one of the key important traits of being a journalist is to b

Friendship can strike in the most unexpected scenario. However, things are quite the opposite at Mumbai Toastmasters(MTM). It is a fertile breeding ground for life-long friendship. Making friends in MTM is a cakewalk. MTM has the perfect concoction to build much enriching friendly relations. It is especially easier to make friends here as most of us share atleast one common interest: the love for public speaking or the fear of it. Moreover, people here welcome you with open arms. From the time I entered as a guest, I was thrilled to see such enterprising souls making my Sunday way better than I would possibly imagine. Friendship is organic at MTM. Guest Introduction and Project 1 speech are two brilliant ways to know about someone. It gives other people a topic with the help of which they can start communicating with one other. The Icebreaker project is a real icebreaker. One key aspect of friendship is time and familiarity. Friendship takes some time to develop. In school,

If people ask me this question for a million times my answer will still be the same. To write or not to write is never the question. The real question is how. For me, writing is not just to get recognition or feel productive but it is my life. Writers write because it compels them to write. You don’t decide if you want to be a writer. It chooses you. It is like a breeze that flows past you and it’s up to you if want to hold on it or forget. In the same way when I was 14, this power of writing struck me. This breeze wanted to manifest in me as a journalism piece that leads to change. I had never really thought that I wanted to be a journalist before that breeze hit me while I was on my way to school. After a lot of chaos and pain, I realized to write or not to write was never the question. It was always within me and I choose not to ignore it. Writing is like an antibiotic or a remedy. If you take it in proper doses it has the potential to cure every form of imaginary il

Everything starts with a big push. Things that are not easy but are essential for a better tomorrow need that gigantic push. Most of us have this habit of procrastinating. The tomorrow that we keep referring to every day never comes. Our mind is often muddled with unnecessary thoughts and most of the time we are unable to break the shackles. Then the time comes when not taking a step in the right direction can be detrimental to own well-being. When one reaches rock bottom, there is only one route left: to rise up. It is only when you reach the bottom of the pool you can push yourself up. However, in the meantime , you keep trying. The same thing happened with me. One Sunday morning, something inside me kicked me out of the bed. I wanted to survive and at that   point , nothing else mattered. The idea of changing two autos and trains were not strong enough to deter me from my goal. It   was post   demonetization and I just had 300 rupees worth of legal tender. I have been thinking