Boom! I am 25 !

I'm 25. So here are the things I've learned throughout the years of my existence in this life: )

* Life is as beautiful as you make it

If you think life stinks, life will stink. Those who are always looking at the ground miss the beauty of the world above them.

* We all stink at life

We all make mistakes. We are all imperfect. And that's OK. Just get back up and dust yourself off. If anyone sees you fall just know at one point they were or will be in your same shoes.

* Success is more than money

Money is paper. When the paise fails people will be after food and resources and those who can DO things. And besides who wants money without family, friends and fun? There are things in life you can't buy … loyalty, love, trust, kindness, time. Those things you have to EARN. And when you earn it you gain more than whatever money could buy. You also gain self-love, self-respect and the knowledge of who you are and what you are worth. (And you are worth more than all the money on earth!)

* Time is non existent

You only have NOW. There is no such thing as tomorrow or yesterday. Only today. When you book an appointment or make time for something what you are really saying is:" I have to do all these things and take time for all this other stuff before I can get to that right there. So can you wait until I'm done with this person, this other appointment, this time frame and THEN I will get to that". So don't tell your loved ones you "don't have time." No one has time! You MAKE TIME.

* Giving is food for the soul

Whether it's time, money, service or a cookie, it doesn't matter. Giving is seriously FOOD for your soul. We were made for these things. And when you do give it's like your whole chemistry changes and you are happier, healthier and you see the good in life. So give! And give freely without expecting anything in return. Even though you get the greatest return of all.

* Choose HAPPINESS

Did you know you can CHOOSE to be happy? You seriously can! It doesn't matter what's happening in the world, or around you, or whatever. If you WANT to be happy you will find something to be happy about. Even simple munch can bring happiness ;) So CHOOSE HAPPINESS!

*You get what you pay for

I will pay Rs.20 for toothpaste and be fine with that. While X,  gets some healthy, organic toothpaste for maybe twice the price. For me, it's just toothpaste.

* Reading is good for you

I love reading. And you know if you read daily, you will expand your mindset. New ideas, new ways of thinking, things you never thought about before … you just need to READ. And let your mind interpret and design. I read 2 States but after watching the movie, that image of their 2 States is now stuck in my head, which I'm OK with now. Because each person sees things differently. So just READ! And let your imagination work and expand your mind.

* There is good in everyone
If they choose it. And some people won't. But that's what they decide. Just know it's there. And if you are lucky enough, you might be the one person who gets to see it.

* Don't make promises you can't keep

If you say "I'm gonna wake up at 6 a.m." Then you better get up at 6 a.m. The more you stop doing what you say you're gonna do the less likely you'll keep ANY promises because you can't even trust yourself. It becomes easier to say, "nope, I'm sleeping in," and lying to yourself.

* You are never alone
You are NEVER alone. And if you ever feel that way, send me a message and let me prove you wrong. I mean, help you out.

Real richness!

Being rich is a state of mind. It is possible that you could have millions stacked in your bank account and still have that feeling of deprivation. To live a life of richness, you need to embrace live whole-heartedly. Here are ways to add richness to your life.

Spend money wisely. There's no point in blowing up money on things you don't need. While shopping, concentrate on quality rather than quantity. So pick up one single statement piece rather just spending money on four/five outfits. Remember less is more. Stay away from those people who are negative.
Spend quality time with them and indulge in fun activities with people who are close to you. That creates a sense of love, affection.
The beauty of a rich life lies in simplicity. Simplify life, get rid of things and emotions that drain you of positive feeling and happiness.
A rich life is all about having a sense of gratitude. Count your blessings every day and have a sense of gratitude. You will attract more richness when you feel a sense of gratitude for all that you have.
Think of life beyond your work. Develop interests outside the boundary of your work. It could be poetry, painting, photography, cooking or reading.

Be physically active. Lethargy brings in a sense of negativity. Spend time outdoors and indulge in walking, trekking, swimming and running.  Have a Happy and Healthy life :)

Enjoy your independence and explore your individuality !

So this post is mainly to the girls out there who are waiting to fall in love, or are in love, or are trying to get over a heart break. 

Never depend on man for your happiness. There are a lot more things out there which makes you very happy. There are a lot more chances you can find happiness within yourself, and other things and people around you than that one person alone.  Happiness is to be perfectly content with yourself just as you are. 

Travel to new places, meet new people and collect different experiences, develops your personality and your outlook towards life. It is important to meet yourself before you meet the one to whom you would want to submit yourself in love. It doesn't mean that you should not do regular things that girls usually does. Just try out different activities including your regular activities. Write it down all the things that you want to try it out. It may be very silly things or may be very serious things. It is not necessary to share it with anyone, not even to your husband ;) Start implementing those things and you will feel the real happiness though you ticked single thing on the list that you have written it.

Freedom is not to be able to do whatever you want, but to be able to be who you truly are. Living on your own for at least a little while is therefore not a bad idea. You need to get out of your comfort zone and loose those crutches that make you feel safe. Freedom pushes you to be strong, independent and brave. And from all the mistakes you make while you are completely free, it connects you with yourself. women are in no way WEAK.

No matter how bad things get, you can always face and fight turmoil and turn things around to achieve happiness. When a woman puts her mind to it, she can have whatever she wishes for, whether it is getting over the broken heart or finding confidence to dance in a nightclub in a kurti :p The choices  you make in life can turn your life around. It all depends on what you choose to make of it.

Experience can make many versions of you, versions that are closer to the real you or better than what you are right now. The world is your playground. No matter where you come from or who you are, just let go and have fun and you may be surprised with what your life turns out to be and who you turn out to be!

Give your best as much as you can !!

First is always best and if you have good energetic people with you then it will become your bestest. Here I am going to share one of my bestest experience in Tree plantation.

On Wednesday (April 2 2014) morning I got a mail from CTC group for an event of Tree plantation program. Actually I was waiting for this event for a long time. Due to some reasons I was not able to attend the previous Back to our roots events. But this time I grabbed this opportunity and registered for Back to our roots event Instantly. I got a confirmation call and mail from an organiser. As far as I know when you are selected for CTC trek/even your inbox will be overwhelmed with emails. We are suppose to start from chennai on saturday afternoon and I haven't received any mail regarding transportation till friday evening. So my over active imagination intepreted that I got rejected from this event and that would be the reason for not getting mails from an organiser. I discussed with other CTC friends who are also registered for this event and posted a query to organiser through mail. Exactly at 12.47 AM I got a mail regarding transportation :)

I got ready for this event just with 2 set of clothes, 1 litre water  bottle and 1 bedsheet. I reached shozhinganalur aloft hotel at 3.20pm on saturday (5 April 2014 ). Over there I first met Kalaiselvi and Kavitha who were also waiting for this event.  If you get permission from your parents for something that you really wanted to do then then how  that feel would be?  I hope it will you give you the pleasure and completeness. I was like Wow! when I heard that Kalaiselvi and Kavitha are great mom and daughter. I saw another energetic participant Sandiya who is already occupied front seat of Skoda while I placed my backpack in boot. We started moving once Sinthu had arrived.  The four young girls were seated behind the driver and front seat was occupied by cheerful kalaselvi. Intially we were listening to melodies and had little chat between us. On the way to Mayilam we stopped nearer to melmaruvathur and had yummy yummy kumbakonam coffee. Meanwhile Sandiya escaped and joined with the guys who were travelling in tempo van along with saplings. Now in the car there are only 4 ladies and driver got upset with that. He played a sad song from 7 aam arivu "Yemma yemma enga ponnama" :p On our next halt we had our dinner. There I shared my food(2 parrotas and 1 egg dosa) with Ponraj, Adhik and Sanjev :p  Sandiya and Sinthu exhchanged their seats and we started. But this time driver played a rock song from Aayirathil oruvan of "oh easa" with high volume based on the request of our singer Sandiya.
On the way to farm we saw one person with white light on back ground in the dark night. Since we were in the car and it was moving we couldn't able to notify whether that person has legs or not :p
With that scary feelings we all reached our farm and came to know that dare devil was our organiser Sivakumar. Once we reached house 3 people who were all came early shared their food which was brought  by us. Sinthu was over excited and explained to her friend about this event through phone. Meanwhile her food was conquered by Manoj and Aravinth. Pity sinthu was left with hungry.

After a while we all settled and started for Ayya's talk. I am not going to share the talk of Ayya here in this blog. More active person in that group was Adhik  who was listening and fired questions continoustly. You wont believe how many questions that he asked. I am still wondering where and how did he get all those questions. Skinny person with lot of questions :p Sinthu who was sitting next to Adhik got tired because of Adhik's questions and ate half dozen of bananas.
   
Yet to continue .....

Don't choose the answers. Always choose the best answer

We are group of 7. As like other groups we would pick one topic to discuss about during our lunch time. Discussions will be started with proper flow but it will landed up at something. I just got this topic from lunch time discussion. What I have shared here is my opinion. No offence ;)

Now a days most of my friends are getting married. Perhaps it must be the correct age to get married. But I am just wondering how they are choosing their life partner. On what basis ? When it comes to love marriage then there will not be any questions. But how are they identifying their better half in arrange marriage and how sure are they about their choices? Yeah, I am a girl but still I don't want to discuss it from girl side. It will be boring isn't? On a change I am going to discuss about how to choose a girl for a better half and why so. Here they come.

Choose a girl who is well-read: Yes, being well-read is very important. Being well read doesn't mean that she should read all chetan's books. It means having a rich taste of good books. It assures you that the girl has a taste, a preferences and she wont take shit. And if she agrees you which means you are something. This also means that she would prefer to say "hi" instead of "hieeeeee" ;)

Choose a girl who is not-so-gorgeous: A not-so-gorgeous girl is perfect. She would listen to you, treat you like a teddy bear rather than a pet dog. Beauty isn't about having a pretty face. It is about having a pretty mind, a pretty and most importantly a beautiful soul. You are not choosing a girl for dating. 

Choose a girl who has an ambition: Now this may sound preachy but it pays in the long run. The girl must have something other than you, gossiping and shopping to keep her busy with. It might be a desire to become a perfect in cooking, teaching business or writing blogs ;) It gives you  breathing space and keeps her happy without an extra effort on your part. Suppose you would become a total sucker, this would run your family!

Choose a girl who is cool: This is very important now a days. Yes if she is over protective and over concerned about you then tell her that you a mom for such cute things. The girl who is not cool will be getting all emotional about some random crap that some guy said about their weight or dressing style. Choose a girl who shed her tears only when she cuts onion :p

Choose a girl who likes you, rather than admires you: Liking doesn't requires a reason. Admiration does. Admiration is for your qualities, liking is for you. You cant love a girl who admires you. You would give respect not pure love. Admiration creates wall between you and her. 

Choose a girl who has some talent: Talents are interesting. Encourage her to pursue them, Make sure that she never gives them up for any reason. Appreciate her, It will make her happy and in turn, makes you happy. The one who has some talent will not accept the things blindly. So even if you do mistakes she would correct it. 

My first trekking experience!

On Feb 23rd 2014 I really had a different and good experience. I want to write everything whatever I felt on that day. I don't even want to miss single moment of happiness that I had it on Feb 23rd.
We all dream of a place where we don't have to worry about mails, phone calls, whatsapp and daily tasks. We would want to enjoy a peaceful day by looking, climbing at mountains and pools, and breathe the fresh unpolluted air.  Nagala Western trek was the best choice that I had made.

We (17 people) gathered at koyembedu near nathan'cafe. Exactly at 4 A.M we all started our journey for trekking. Most of us in van were in sleep during the travel but some questions and thoughts were running in my mind. Am I really eligible for this trek? On what basis they have selected me? Will they be friendly? We reached Nagalapuram at 6 A.M and haulted at one place for coffee. Everyone would be very quiet as we would indulge in a very warm cup of tea and look at the scenery around us trying to grasp as much of it.

With almost every trekker from different state, this 1- 2hrs initial trekking was good with chit chats and regional stories. Rich tree lines were the key scenic elements. During break we had cake, bread, rasagulla, nanari, Butter milk and lassi, these became the highlight of the breaks during the trek. After that my speed got reduced. I started losing my energy in the first half of our trek itself. But seriosuly, our organisers are too great. They really made me to climb up. They were very helpful and friendly in helping me choose trail. I was slow but somehow I managed. Some of us climbed up very fastly and they had realised that this is not the correct path. Again they  climbed down slightly to take the another route. Being a slow trekker I didn't climbed up extra distance ;)   At that altitude it was the clearest sky I have never seen in my life. A sight providing a visual treat to photographers and a sense of satisfying pleasure to every single trekker.

I couldn't remember exactly where was the one steep climb was it before or after the third pool.But definitely the most thrilling for a fresher like me. I did make it too. I could see Ela and karthik from the top helping me and asked me "Will you make it?" All I could answer was "I dont know". I was murmring "Inima varuviya"

We reached 5th pool and I was exhausted. A sense of small accomplishment was glowing on every single face. But still reaching the top was very difficult one. At that condition  I decided not to go up and better to take rest on the place where the 5th pool was there. Rest of us started their trek to reach top. Meanwhile I killed the time by taking photos. Trust me I am not the photographer but I wanted to capture the moments which made me feel strong, happy and to face the challenge. I enjoyed fish spa in that pool. Since I don't know swimming and didn't enter into the pool. And few brave souls jumped into the pool. Next time I will be one of the bravos.

Walking back was not too difficult in face my paced increased or maybe that's the way it is. I dealt a lot with lost trails

One day after this trek and it all seems it was a dream to me. This was my first trek but I am already making plans for my next trek. I got few friends from the trek. The hardest part of the trek was saying goodbye to each other. Finally I want to thank each and everyone in this trek for giving this unique experience. Without you all 15 people I wouldn't have had this unique cultural and environmental experience.
I had most memorable "Bloody Hell moment"

Everywhere Everyone wants the samething

I dont know whether I am eligible for writing about travel or not.  I had actually done travelling before. So I just want to share the feel of travel.

Everyday you are seeing the same face. Everyday you are facing the problems. Don't you feel frustrated? Don't you spend some amount for your happiness ? Everyone wants to enjoy. Present is not for future. We have to worry about our future too. But present is much more important than future isn't? when you look your past it should give happiness it shouldn't give regret feel.

Being a girl if you want to go to place where you like then you have to ask permission from your parents. Being an Indian parents they will not allow you for travel. We also can't blame our parents for not allowing us. Even if we have kids we will do the same as our parents did. They are worrying about us. Travelling is not simple as we think. It has risks too. We have to do lot of research before travelling. Most of our thoughts will not be accomplished by thinking that our parents will say "NO" for that thoughts. You need not to convince them. Just tell them that you will be safe where ever you go. They will start to realise that maybe you aren’t that crazy after all.

Once we decided to travel we will think about it too much. So many questions will raise in our mind like whether this travel is worth or not? how much we need to spend for this travel? do we really go for this trip? why would we spend money for travel when we instead save up or buy something ? do we need to take one extra day leave for taking rest ? Yes, its simple to take decisions but its really hard to implement. Seriously all these questions will raise until you start travelling.

Your limitations are not set by who you know, where you were born, what genes you have, how much money you have, how old you are right now.Travel is getting lost on purpose.

You should spend time to see the world. You get to see different ways of life, different cultures, different histories, different environments and try local cuisine. Life is all about taking and facing risks. Just take the risks for travelling. Get to know about the people. Travel will teach you the real lessons for your life. You will realise that world is both big and small. Travel plan is need not to be an expensive and luxury. Travel is packing your life into suitcase and your life will be thrilling, joyful, discovering and enlightening. You will see the places that you have never seen it before. You will get care, smiles and love from strangers.  Travelling is all about surprises and memories. We will meet so many lovely, vibrant, talkative, colourful, helpful people along the way.

Experience is the greatest teacher of all. Stop reading or watching about the world and start exploring it.