Maturity -thoughts

Maturity is

1.      When you realize *maturity is deliberate of your attitude and not your age.*

2.      When you lose an argument to win a relationship.

3.      When you realize that books are the best gifts you can ever give or get.

4.      When you just stop looking for the "likes" on Facebook.

5.      When you realize that your school teachers are irreplaceable.

6.      When you come to understand the difference between love and crush.

7.      When you start prioritizing your works.

8.      When you realize that the technology now is 4 to 5 decades ahead of your concepts in Engineering.

9.      When you realize that too much of perfection is never worth to live in this world.

10. When you realize how much the social networking sites project you fake.

11. When you stop exaggerating at someone who gives opinions on sex in general.

12. When you realize that life is short to look at things very serious.

13. When you realize that just a sheet of paper filled with marks can't decide your future.

14. When you realize that doctors are not God. They just comfort you in your tough times if you have money.

15. When you stop failing the student to intentionally reduce his internals just to revenge him.(If you are a professor in engineering college especially)

16. When you start realizing that the world doesn't run only because of love. Yes. Selfishness overrules.

17. When you stop pronouncing *Bandage* for Band-aid :P

18. When you realize that trusting someone who betrayed you is the most foolish thing you can ever do.

19. When you realize that technology is also a suppressor, not to the world. But to the individual.

20. When you stop expecting your professors to care for you and motivate in all aspects because 89% fails to do.

21. When you start realizing that people are more important than money.

22. When you start smiling just to ignore people who have hurt you, instead of taking revenge on them.

23. When you realize that marriage is a socially admitted license to have sex. (* yes! sex. Hope you are matured enough not to exaggerate it*)

24. When you realize that I’ m matured enough because I did n’t write sex in bold letters. :p :p

25. But maturity is when you realize that all these will be known to you only when you come across. :p ( After all, maturity starts when the drama ends and hence is life)

With smiles…

Swathi Mohan

(Investing myself completely in the art of living)

PS: By the way, this is my answer on Quora which got "nK" views and Many messages!

Stay grounded

9 slapped 8.

8 asked, "Why did you slap me"?

9 replied, "You are inferior to me, so I slapped you."

Upon hearing this, 8 went to 7 and slapped 7 harder.

When asked by 7 why 8 gave the same reply that 9 said.

"You are inferior to me".

Likewise,

7 slapped 6.
6 slapped 5.
5 slapped 4.
4 slapped 3.
3 slapped 2.
2 slapped 1.

Now 1 has 0 as its inferior.

But, instead of slapping—

1 welcomed 0 with love. Allowed 0 to stand next to it.

The duo became 10.

Tables turned and it is now number 9's turn to get slapped.

Moral:

·         Choose your relations wisely.

·         A good friend is as worthy as 1000 good books.

·         A bad friend is as harmful as 1000 enemies.

·         Even a mighty snake dies if a group of ants attack. Never be proud of your position. Stay grounded.

Ever and anon

One of the greatest lessons that adults can learn from children is the enviable ability to find happiness with simplicity. My cousin's son, have an unconditional love for me and I have fallen for him a few times. Whenever we all get together occasionally he loves to spend time with me solitarily and I have always wondered when all children like him play running here and there, he takes a firm stand to spend his time with me alone. He hugs me often and always wanted to hear the, "when you were me" stories from me.

The same stories told him for a dozen times continue to blossom as fresh flowers.

Once during a rainy day, when the drops bore down mercilessly upon the heart of the city pounding on rooftops  and turning the cobbled streets of the downtown district into a warren of slick stones and muddy waters, the sparrow that is twittering on the edge of the balcony  called up to me this moment, a world of memories that reach over half my lifetime, and a world of hope that stretches farther than any flight of sparrows.

Yes! His hug made me fly.

Whenever he hugs me on the spur of the moment without any particular reason, it meant he wanna hear the same "when you were me" stories. 

He hugged me and asked, "dhidhi! the first day of your school was the longest day for you, isn't?" (which I have said him once)

 I said, " yes, my laddu".

 He again continued just to provoke me," How can a day be longer than 12 hours day, and other 12 hours night. It makes up the same 24 hrs dhidhi" 

"Why not my baby, when you sit with your maths homework or watch Doraemon, don't you feel you have been working out a multiplication for an hour even it is minutes, and had been reading the enchanted episodes of Doraemon for just a few minutes even though you been lost in it for an hour?", I asked.

He didn't reply, excited & continued, "Dhidhi, did you love to do maths homework, or watch Doraemon"

"Oh, dear! I always slept over my maths book whenever I opened it, and your uncle would always pull me up by my long hair and glare at me. One day I told my mom that she should cut my hair very short that it would be easier for her to comb it.But she got me some new oil which helped hair grow thicker and faster! She of course never knew why I wanted my hair short, to prevent my dad pulling me up by my hair!"

 He jumped up and rolled in laughter. And, he would want to hear the story all again. He would again insist me after some time,"Dhidhi,  tell  me why I wanted to have short hair."

He again said excited, " Oh dhidhi once uncle offered you special dinner???"

"Yes! I was very weak to swot up multiplication tables, and once he locked me up in my study until I learned a few tables correctly. The incident at that time was between hot tears and somehow I learned to recite it to my dad's satisfaction and finally he awarded me a special dinner that night, took a time to travel."

He saw me with awe. 

I could literally feel he was little confused to feel comfortable with his weaknesses or work hard even behind locked doors to vanquish them. The beauty of the story is that he accepted both possibilities. It makes him closer to me while sharing my weakness, and made them look up to me while struggling with his weaknesses. Neither the weakness nor the strength was a barrier between us; they became a way to bond us. He did not look me up as a formidable elder who intruded in his life, but someone who was pushing him beyond his reach, as a friend who walks with him.

In fact, I learnt how to be simply happy and rediscover the eternal child within me. 

 ‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’ 

With smiles...

Swathi Mohan

(Investing myself completely in the art of living)

PS: This blogpost has won the WOW badge. Click here to see all other winners!

A breakthrough!!!

For over two decades, a beggar was sitting on a box placed outside a temple, pleading for alms from every shadow that passed by him. One day a master, who was coming out of the temple, walked up to the beggar and enquired, “What is inside this box?” 

Knowing that he had never received any change from the master, the beggar was not too interested in paying attention to the master. So he disinterestedly mumbled, "what do I know?" never cared to look. I found this box when I turned up here for the first time and ever since I have been sitting on it". 

The master said,"Just open it and see!"

With years of practised lassitude, the beggar was too reluctant to even get rid of the box and look into it. He did not pay much heed to the master's words. Repeating, "Some change, please..." he eyed the next object that passed by him.

The master, the beggar opened the box, 'Lo and behold'! 

The box was filled with treasure.

The same applies to all of us, but the master can be the almighty or our inbuilt confidence or strength. When we are born, we were given this whole world as our birthday gift. Consumed by the preoccupation of the begging, most people leave this planet without even ripping open the gift wrapper of this providential gift called life.

The responsibility of every master is to remove from us that which we never have had but always believed we have and also give that which you always have but believe that we did not have. A Master does not add any riches to us but reveals the riches that we already have. A breakthrough is never growth added but is growth revealed.

So, just open your box and see!

With smiles... 

Swathi Mohan 

(Investing completely in the art of living)

desire and goal

Some few years back I got a marriage invitation through a post from my friend with whom I spent few years of my schooling. So, I pinged her immediately out of shock to ask her what made her get married so earlier. I could call up those days when I  was seriously competing for the 1st rank with her. But truly she was an over much competitor that hardly twice I overcame her! Another thing which intended me is that I know how difficult it is to grab a seat in topmost medical college in TN, especially through government quota. And nothing more, I was disquieted with the reply she gave me. She told me that she has got a princely alliance with gilded family so that her mother doesn't want to miss the boat. 

I had nothing to tell rather than to congratulate her for her wedding.

 A few days back, she found me on Facebook and pinged me. 

When I queried about her marriage life, she was unhappy. She told me like she is compelled to quit her studies and emigrate along with her spouse who is working abroad. But she desires to continue her studies. I was in the sorry state of affairs and again I had nothing except my regrets for her. 

I told her, "whenever you feel indecisive, just relax and then rethink & if you just can't get rid of it, share with me, so that it might be halved. 

Everyone has their desires and goals which need to be fed and cultivated frequently.But, the choice is ours and every choice has an end result. Like a debate where we can choose which side of the team we would like to be on and argue for or against, we do have a choice to the next step that we take. But the choice we make has to be in congruence with what we want to achieve in life.

We wish to get motivated for the day by listening to achievers and reading success stories, but we end up spending a lot of time reading sensational crime news which is very often depressing in nature.

We long to feel loved and all it takes is to relate to people in our immediate environment. Instead, we end up relating to the characters from some godforsaken imaginary story on the screen where everyone cheats on the other and imbibe those exaggeratedly negative emotions.

We aim to move up the professional ladder but suck at taking on the responsibilities and pass the buck to another.

 We yearn to drive the swankiest of cars, dine in the classiest of restaurants and long to go for that dream holiday, but it tears us apart to see the temporary dent it causes to our pockets.

We dream of excelling in a sport or an art form but are not willing to subject ourselves to any rigorous discipline.

We want to focus on what we think is of utmost importance to us, but end up saying yes to a dozen other issues that distract us away from our progress.

We hope to be clubbed up with the intellectual lot, but spend all our spare time watching insipid mundane movies where logic is conveniently forgotten.

We seek the centeredness of a Buddha under any circumstance but keep postponing that small period of time for sitting in silence.

We aspire to become a legend but, hesitate to go beyond the finishing line in everything we do.

Are we even aware of that, our desires and goals perpetually fight in our head? Do we have the maturity to choose what is essential for our growth at any point in time, rather than what we desire? Do we have the willpower to feed the one that will take us higher and starve the one that will pull us down?

Is our process in congruence with what we want?

With smiles...

Swathi Mohan

(Investing myself completely in the art of living)