Sunday, 1 September 2013

Frogs (Haiku)


chained to self
lost in itself
frog in a well
-------------------------------------------------

with a green umbrella
in torrential rain
a toad sings

7 Things My Kids Taught Me

First day of a new chapter in my blogging journey, a 7 day festival dedicated to writing. During these 7 days I will be sharing my learnings from 7 different roles that I play/have played in my life.
What better way to start than with my children? Being a parent has been a wonderful and blissful journey. It is one of the most difficult yet most easy roles I have ever played. I am learning each day as a parent. There are some things that circumstances have taught me, some things other parents have taught me but my biggest teachers have been my two little cuddle puddle, my kids.

1) Be a kid: One of the biggest lessons my children have taught me is to be a kid. Have fun, enjoy, live each moment, fight and makeup..Be a kid

2) Unconditional love: No amount of punishment, no threats, no mean looks could deter away the lovely kisses and hugs of my kids. It doesn’t matter if I am upset or they are upset. It doesn’t matter whether I did [read bought] what he asked for, at the end of the day, the day is never over without a big sloppy kiss and a big bear family hug.

3) Patience: Being a parent takes a lot from you. Specially traits like personal space and patience. I do lose patience quite a lot but I am also surprised how much I can ignore stained walls, toppled milk glasses, dirty clothes and illogical antics. I never thought I was made for this but here I am smiling and cleaning away to glory.

4) Be kind: My elder one is one of the kindest souls I have ever met. He has taught me this virtue. He doesn’t differentiate; he is kind towards me and towards the household help also. He loves hugging. He hugs everyone he meets, even our building’s sweeper [Not kidding]. Since sweeper knows this, he cleans himself and waits for my son when he goes to school. That one hug brightens his face like a big huge diwali lantern.

5) Smile more: Absence of smile in our house is always taken as a frown. It doesn’t matter if you were absently looking at the wall and thinking but if you don’t smile, it is assumed that you are upset. So we all smile...a lot. And it does brings in a lot of positive energy in our house. We are a loud loud house with lots of giggles and laughs.

6) Let go: I have learnt to forgive, forget and let go. This is a very simple virtue but something very common in all the children. It has simplified my life. I have learnt letting go is one of hardest things to do but once you learn to do it; it gives you wings.

7) Cooking: Last but not the least I have taken up cooking big time now because my elder son is a big foodie and I do not want him to eat out a lot. Hence I am learning almost everything under the sun for him and enjoying it also.

These were a few things that my kids have taught me. I will be glad if you can share with me the things your children have taught you [If you are a parent] and if you are not a parent, then things that you think you have learnt from kids around you.






Friday, 30 August 2013

Rachna Says

Who is an entrepreneur?

Someone who can dream, who has the courage to start fresh, to take risks and capability to grow & succeed.

All these words resonate with the person I am going to introduce now. 


Rachna Parmar [“Sometimes, silence connects in a way words never can!”]

“A professional content writer and an entrepreneur & co-owner of Tranquil Software Solutions. She is also a founder of RachnaSays a personal blog where she shares some part of her life.”

Rachna did Bsc in chemistry, followed by MBA from NMIMS. After which she worked in brand management for few years before taking a sabbatical to be with her kids.

She is a doting mother of 2 boys age 6 and 11. It was during her sabbatical that her blogging journey began.


What is entrepreneurship?

Turning a dream into a clear idea and converting the idea into a successful business.

What was the dream?

The dream was very hazy. It was born on an afternoon dipped in kids’ antics and a need to be free. The dream started as Rachna’s personal blog Rachna Says. A chronicle of her journey, bits and pieces scattered yet saved. Reserved and preserved by her pen. It was a start to a long beautiful journey.

What was the idea?

Pen is mightier than tongue. Words are sharper than knives. Rachna’s pen gave way to her foray in content writing. She was and she is a very successful content writer with many national and international clients. But she did not stop at that. Her penmanship and her marketing experience coupled with her husband’s amazing conviction, confidence and ability gave birth to a unique idea. An idea to break the barriers and to make technology accessible to everyone.

What is the business?


Behind every successful man is a strong woman. Lets us relook at this proverb. Success goes hand in hand with strength, especially when chased with your other half.

Around 3 years back in March 2010 “Tranquil” was born as “Smart Solutions” a sole proprietary.  It was later converted into a company. It was formed with a vision to provide affordable internet solutions that would make many lives easier. Rachna is the Director of the company. She handles content writing, Marketing and accounts including all liaisons for the company.

In recognition of Tranquil's long term goals and in its ability to achieve them, it was accepted as a Microsoft BizSpark Member.

It is an organization dedicated in the endeavour of helping technology reach a common person and to help him/her enhance the quality of his/her life. The company mostly works with employees on contract basis. They employ people and give them flexible options to work from home. They encourage stay at home mothers and other professionals who prefer flexibility and work from home option.

It takes a lot of conviction and courage to convert one simple afternoon dream into something this big.

Rachna stands as an inspiration for all of us struggling OR may be not struggling in our mundane lives, content or not content with our mundane lives, BUT with a dream in our hearts. Her story inspires, her words encourage us to follow our dreams, to shed inhibitions and to push our boundaries.

She is one of the reasons I am blogging right now. I continue to dream because of her and I know there are many more, especially women who look up to her.

She may not be the face of any obvious social change but she is one of the women who are leading subtle revolution in women empowerment.

She has many facets and many achievements I would love to talk about all of it. She is one of my inspirations. I have read almost everything she has written and if I could, I would write endless chapters on her. But I can’t hence I delved in some of her facets; some of the things that I think would describe her.


[Written for the Indiblogeshwaris Ladies Independence Special Contest in association with http://womenentrepreneursinindia.com/]




Lanterns

float in orange hues
under the blue and grey sky
eternal rainbow 

Boat Ride Lanterns





Image credit here

Thursday, 29 August 2013

I will wait

I sit at the corner
See you walk by
I see life pass by me
I have been here for eternity
Waiting on you
Waiting for you

You draw closer and closer
And look through me
Your eyes wondering on and around
I wait for them to stop
Stop by me
Halt on me
I want you to look at me
But you move on
One look never enough
One me not enough

The day I saw you,
My eyes were seized
My heart was lost
I was lost in your world
You became my world
My world alone and lonely
With you but without you
You are here
But I am waiting for you

One day you will look at me
Your eyes will see me
Your heart will feel me
My soul will touch yours
I will not bleed or cry
I will not plead or die
Till then
I will wait
On you
I will wait
For you

(C) Juztamom 2013

Shared with dverse poets 

As per the prompt this is an old poem. Have edited, re phrased, revamped it quite a lot.