Padmaja's

There is no single definition or viewpoint of any particular topic. It is neither white nor black. Keeping an opinion that may be different than 90% of the people does not equate to being negative. The sooner you realise it, the better. If you don’t agree with what I just said then I hate to say but darling you are manipulated and your vision is blurred by spider webs that have formed across your eyes. Of course, one cannot be 100% free of manipulation. So, there is one thing that most employees do not understand. People are shocked or call me negative when I say that we are just better-dressed servants or slaves. Isn't the origin of word service which is servitium mean slavery? I think the problem is that we like to think ourselves as greater than what we really are. Hence, our thought of greatness alters our vision and distorts the reality.    I want to clarify that I understand that being an employee is nothing to be ashamed of but what I fail to un...

Her eyes gleamed when she asked me how does it feel to be on an aeroplane. She had a child-like expression when she questioned me whether one needs to study and get degrees to work in a bank. Isn't it strange how we overlook all our blessings and worry about the things that we do not have? We want things that we do not require to show to people who do not matter to us. Running after that new model of luxury car, that new iPhone and what not. Have we ever paused to give thanks for all the things that we already have received and earned? Some six months ago, I started practising the 'art of being grateful'. So, every day I give thanks to the universe for three things that I already have. Even though I practice gratitude on a regular basis, I experienced another dimension of it in those wee hours of a Friday morning as I waited for five hours to get myself enrolled for Aadhaar. It was around 5 am and the sun was yet to rise. So in order to pass the tim...

Disclaimer: It is not a usual love story. Read at your own risk. Isn’t it strange how the universe always has a better plan for us? While we hate to see our decisions fail but there is something better formulating for us. I am not attracted to making resolutions but this year I planned an exception. I made a resolution of not dating anyone (new) in 2018 but alas, I ended up dating a guy in the very first week of 2018. I met him in one of the workshops and we met three times in the very next week. When we say everything happens for a reason, every person walks into our lives for a reason, a purpose. I think the universe maintains a complex log of connecting two people at the right moment, at the right situation, at the right place and in a memorable  environment. Now when I look back I think that three days were enough. I felt as if it was nature’s way of making me the ‘cheerful Padmaja’ again. Maybe the universe was bored with my monotonous life. Maybe the universe wa...

“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 pu...

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 to...

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 ...