you are what you think

  Meditation is one of the most overused words in today's fact paced world. This is seen as a technique to alleviate stress and regain control on one's own mind. Everyone wants to face life with best possible energy. Clear and calm mind enables one to establish balance in thought process and action. This is why everyone including students, professionals, athletes, artists, homemakers, businessmen and numerous other people are embracing meditation now-a-days to enhance mental clarity.  Meditation becomes successful when one is able to connect with own inner mind. Some calls it soul, other calls it consciousness. Some sees the individual consciousness as the extension of the energy of the universe.  Meditation can be done in many different ways. Some relies on controlled breathing techniques. Some uses chanting as a means to meditate. Some people immerse themselves in the nature. Sometime back, I visited a bird sanctuary where I was allowed to use a telescope to watch bird...

  The entire year 2025 has passed by and I could not manage to publish a single post this year! I will not say I was busy. If we prioritize something, we can always manage time for it. On the last evening of 2025, I just realized that I did not prioritize my blog throughout the year. Actually I was not scheduling my priorities this year, the Universe had plans for me which I was executing as and when they were arriving.  Some major changes grabbed my time and space this year. My corporate career came to an end. I will be embarking on a new career path soon! My dream home got perished forever! I saw some long trusted pals showing true colors in critical time. My father survived a stroke by God's grace. And I lost my nucleus this year. My mother left me forever.  I am still learning to carry the weight of the grief. When one is done with loosing the most important thing in life, no defeat or deprivation feels significant thereafter. This year has changed the way I used to ...

  The festival of light is just over. We celebrated with much joy and enthusiasm. One of the happiest part of Diwali is to share gifts and sweets with people around us. This tradition stemmed from the very need of spreading positivity among people outside our immediate family. Even we observe the tradition of distributing prasad after temple visit, instead of simply keeping the prasad to oneself. Why are we supposed to prioritize the well-being of outsiders? What is the need of generosity if we keep the religious reason aside? Some people are wired to act in generous way given any situation. This kind of acts don't arise out of any calculation. Some people are not capable of being generous. This is a pure spontaneous choice. Of course, one can practice kindness consciously in everyday action to support people around and inspire us to be better version of ourselves. But generosity is a way of leading life and it can not be forced on anyone. Human beings are designed to be social an...

  Living in a big city presents us with many opportunities to learn and grow. We get to mingle with people from diverse backgrounds. We enjoy multitude of options when it comes to eat, shop, play, travel and entertain. In addition, the same daily house chores seem interesting to perform with varied tools and technical products. There exists some flip sides of city life as well. The constant hue and cry of city can interfere with one's physical and mental health.  I spent my childhood in a small town. I used to hear about students enjoying sophisticated education system and used to ask my parents to send me to some good school there. As time passed, I got the chance to live in big cities in India and abroad. After spending few decades amidst fanfare of metro cities, now I yearn to go back to some rural place. There is a saying, 'home is where the heart is'. Once we get caught up by the life style of a place, it is quite difficult to reset the habits. The idea of uprooting f...

 Aaate jaate khubsurat awara sadko pe, kabhi kabhi ittefaq se, kitne anjaan log mil jaate he; unme se kuchh log bhul jaate he, kuchh yaad rahe jaate he - these are the words from a famous hindi song sung by Kishore Kumar few decades back. These lines talk about the strangers we meet randomly in life, some are forgotten, some are still occupying our memory. I have vivid memory of the public transports I availed in different cities across the world. Auto rickshaw drivers of India grab a fair share of that memory. Many of them brought the angry avatar out of me with their unjust demand, some impressed me with their inspiring attitude. I am going to dedicate this post to those auto drivers who made me realize that simple living and high thinking is still not a myth in today's world. I started my career in Kolkata where I used to catch auto rickshaw for commute, in case I missed the office bus. Auto fare in Kolkata is fixed for a given route unlike other cities in India. It used to be ...

  Its been a while since I have been trying to resolve the dilemma - which one can bring more good to our life - a mind with no assumptions or a mind with memories? A combination of both could have been the best choice. Unfortunately, such state of mind is very difficult to achieve. Human being learns from experience. Memories of good and bad experiences make us mature to navigate the paths of life. But the tendency to take all possible precautions often interfere with our ability to stay vulnerable to welcome new experience with open heart. It requires delicate balance. In younger days, I used to hear from elders that older days were better. Elder people used to describe their positive encounters with good natured people in their younger days. After spending couple of decades on this planet, I often keep thinking of my earlier days. And I also feel the same. Our next generation will feel the same when they will turn older. Does it mean the world is getting devoid of genuine peopl...

The famous freedom fighter and poet Nazrul Islam once wrote, he wished to see the world, coming out of his zone, to observe the human race evolving along with the time. I was feeling the same post COVID era. Some of us started looking at life in different light following the pandemic. I reignited my explorer spirit end of 2021 and unleashed the traveler inside me. In this post, I am going to pen down my travel experience to five iconic cities in India between December '21 and August '22. December 2021 will remain memorable to me forever. I visited Amritsar, Agra and Bangalore in the same month. The first glimpse of Guru Harminder Saheb Ji - Golden Temple in Amritsar was an indescribable moment for me. The celestial view of the place mixed with the devotion of the visitors offer an unforgettable experience. The visit to Jwalianwala Bagh and the famous Wagha border transports one back to the pre - independence era. The local food Amritsari kulcha, Chur chur naan , Makke di roti,...

  How are you? A common question we exchange with people around us without expecting a genuine answer. Life is short and uncertain. The problem is we think we still have time. After the corona period, we started living our life with double zeal. Rate of travel across the globe increased drastically. Many of us became oblivious of the fragile nature of our daily pursuit of self importance.  My recent visit to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities of India, stirred the question of 'being' inside me.  Majority of the people in Varanasi depend on tourism for earning a living. People keep visiting the place throughout the year. I took a boat ride on Ganges river on a moonlight night. The boat crossed several ghats on the river. Devotees gather on the ghats to witness the majestic Ganga Aarti in the evening. Harishchandra Ghat is considered pious place for cremation. The famous Kashi Viswanath temple is situated within a kilometer from Dasaswamedh Ghat. The road from Ghat to c...

  What is spirituality? We tend to consider spirituality synonymous with detachment. That is both right and wrong at the same time. We categorize spiritual practice as another way of life. But many of us agree that any creature is more than just body and mind - soul is at the core of living being.    Human being is the most superior species on the earth. The resources a human enjoys throughout life and the potential he can attain are limitless. A man can feel and observe his own patterns and can identify the elements that are most suitable for his well-being. A healthy body and happy mind can contribute to the world more effectively than an unsound body and unhappy mind. It is as simple as like a filled river is capable of quenching thirst of people, not a dry river. Long lasting health stems from fulfillment of the needs of the sensory organs and deep sense of satisfaction inside. Long term satisfaction comes when we achieve something which is not temporary or we attai...

 I am thankful to the universe for the numerous blessings I received in different forms in last few decades.  These blessings made me the person I am today by nurturing my soul amidst countless challenges and struggles life offered me. The greatest among these blessings is my mother who shaped my thought process in early days of my life. Every mother is special to her child. I am more fortunate because my mother is a special person who used to stand out from the crowd, even it meant standing alone all along. I was born in a lower middle class Bengali family. My birth was not a ceremonious event as I was the second girl child of the family. I was born with poor health and unpleasant looks. My mother was not sure how to make a healthy kid out of me. She put tremendous effort in nourishing me, specially because she used to sense the dislike of the world towards me. She did not have much physical, emotional and financial support to meet her goals and she already had a two year old...

Time flies so fast. Few moments occupy such special place in our heart that we replay those moments numerous times in our head. When any element from such adorable past crosses our path, we feel those moments happened only yesterday. I always cherish the time I spent in Bangalore in my late twenties. My recent visit to the city made me feel the same way I used to feel a decade ago. Bangalore is widely regarded as 'the Silicon Valley of India' because of its role as the nation's leading information technology exporter. The city has grown beyond leaps and bounds as immigrants from different states arrived and got settled here in last two decades. The pleasant weather, lush green gardens and multi cuisines restaurants of Bangalore allure people of all ages alike. While walking down the streets of Bangalore on sunny mornings during my recent visit, I was able to sense the optimism and energy of my younger self. Here I wish to recollect few of my favourite moments from 'the ...

India celebrated 75th Independence day this 15th August. Many of us were thinking that we failed to avail one public holiday as 15th August is Sunday this year. Independence day does not evoke gratitude and respect in many of us now-a-days, since widespread corruption and painstakingly slow judicial system of India have dampened positive attitude of the citizens towards India's democratic system. Of course, some of us observe this day with vigour and high emotion. I heard people questioning the validity of our democracy in view of the fact that regional sentiments often supersede national unity leading to ugly form of racism in many places, even seven decades after independence. Freedom fighters of India dreamt of a nation connected with the feeling of brotherhood and respect to each other. Does this dream sound unrealistic today? Once American business magnet Warren Buffet had a conversation with Barack Obama on wealth tax . Buffet was of the opinion that people who have achi...

   "Where do you see yourself 10 years down the line?" . This is one of the frequently asked questions in interviews. Of course, I also ended up answering this question couple of times in my professional life. But I will never forget the reaction of the panel to my answer in one of such interviews. It was final round interview with IIM Bangalore in 2011. I prepared a lot for this interview. When the moment came, I was both amused and nervous to interact with the esteemed panel. After asking few analytical questions, they wanted to know my long-term goal. I gave an honest reply, "I wish to set up a rotary service to train unprivileged women in job-oriented skills". I tried to convince the panel how my life journey made me realize the value of financial independence in women's life and how my MBA degree from a premier institute will enable me with vision and resources to materialize my goal. One of the panelists smiled and replied that this kind of goal really do...