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It's Red and green all over, Malls are decked up with Christmas décor. Stores are flooded with Christmas deals. Every piece of merchandise has a Christmas touch. Gifting has become the norm of the season, so gift shops hit all-time-high sales during this season. Well-adorned trees, Christmas-themed cutlery, tiny Santa, lights, miniature reindeer, and furnishings decorate the home. Our playlist tops Christmas carols & caller tunes are replaced with carols too. Yes, everything around, us peps us the Christmas spirit from within, But is this the true meaning of Christmas? One of the key Bible verses around Christmas is “The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. How much hope this verse offers for the weary soul. Each one of us fights our own inner battles, when these trials are beyond our control, we get dejected, instead of finding ways to handle the situation, we get anxious, and eventually, anxiety leads to depression. Depression is gloomy and ominous, we lose interest in everything around us. We don’t get to see a path to take our next step. We get highly pessimistic about our whole life. You get stuck and immobile. When you reach this phase it's completely pitch dark over there. The very purpose of Christ's incarnation is to save the people who are living in the darkness. He came down to illuminate the darkest areas of our lives, give hope to the hopeless, peace to the anxious, and Joy to the frustrated. Christmas is not about snow, not about shopping, not even about the Biryani, it's more about the real Joy, hope, and peace one can derive from this season. Therefore friends let's rise above all that is weighing us down, be it our past, our situation, our grief, regrets, failures, and all the hurts Shakespeare writes in his Romeo & Juliet “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake –, so is life, it’s a combination of good and bad. If day and night are normal affairs, apparently our life should have both light and darkness. We work during the day and rest at night this is the routine we follow for generations. Hence, it's okay to rest when you go through the dark phase, but, when you are out of the darkness make sure, you are at your best. Keep moving with the strength the light offers, one step at a time, and you will get past the melancholy. Importantly when you encounter the light, pass on the spark to someone who needs it most. This Christmas season, let's pursue the true light and let this light lead you to real Joy, Peace, and Hope. Merry Christmas folks

​Love is one of the exquisite feelings involving two hearts. It is a force that binds between boundaries and travels beyond the horizon, caste, creed, and color. History has recorded so many epic love stories which are beyond imagination. Kings had abdicated their thrones for their love. Love-struck couples had created controversies and caused even wars. Ten long years of the Trojan war was because Paris and Hellen eloped to Troy. Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Romeo and Juliet, Baji Rao and Mastani, Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal Salim and Anarkali, and how many more to quote the list is endless. Though we grew up reading and listening to these impressive love stories Now the dynamics of love has changed with time. what is love in this era? Love, at first sight, is long gone? presently at the early stage of love, the person gets besotted with the other, euphoria is the state of mind fantasy is their way of life until they move to the next level of knowing each other better. Many love stories end here as the love here is superficial, nonetheless once they start accepting each other with flaws the love story continues. True love is when you understand the other person has their own identity which is different from ours yet find harmony. You are with the right person if you can be yourself, being yourself is the greatest blessing when everyone around you is trying to fake it. Love is said to be true if the other person invests time in you to make you a better person, gives you the space to facilitate your growth, the one who supports you to realize your true worth, guides you, strengthens you, be with your through thick and thin, accepts you as you are, stays unaltered with time and remoteness, you respect each other, you are emotionally connected, feelings are directly proportional, it makes you feel secure, confident... Being in love with the right person is a beautiful experience, you never get bored of each other, your thoughts revolve around them, the excitement levels never diminish, we see beauty in whatever we see, the music sounds so melodious, and you are extremely attached to the other person. You find joy in being with each other, you fight, forgive and reconcile. World is a better place when you are in love. Love is an intense emotion that you can never hide from each other. True love is not just about presenting a gift on V-day, it is about gifting your time and attention to the person you truly love. it is the ultimate feeling which is to be celebrated with passion every moment. It is worth pursuing as it brings in so much positivity between two people and from there it radiates to the people around them. Love brings unity, peace, good health, joy, and a whole world of hope. The best part is there is no upper age limit for finding the right person. So when cupid strikes you embrace it with extended hands. Happy Valentine’s Day to all, who are in love, and best wishes to those who are yet to find one.

Imagine You holding a cup of tea, and someone bumps into you, what spills out? Tea or Coffee? Tea! That means what is inside comes out. How relevant this example is for us? Imagine the cup as your heart if you fill your heart with all good thin gs, you will exhibit good virtues, but if your heart is full of negativity, you will never be able to spread anything good. As adults we all know what are good virtues ‘but as a human, it’s nearly impossible to possess only good values, however our desire to be a better person will help us to inch towards acquiring these good qualities. A Farmer puts in so much effort to get the best yield from his lands. He tills it properly, waters it consistently, meticulously manures, and at regular intervals removes the weeds which otherwise would spoil the growth of the main crop. What does this teach us? Cultivating goodness needs desire, consistency, and commitment. From time to time the negativity should be detoxed. When we are born in this world, we come with an empty cup then our parents, family, and friends fill it with lots of love, hope, kindness, and trust, as we grow to be an adult, we either have a half-filled cup or cup with the wrong content. How important is it to fill our hearts with the right set of qualities? What spills over when you face the ups and downs of life? love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. or pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Imagine you are given free access to orchards wouldn’t we pick up the best of the fruits, likewise as we travel through this beautiful world let us keep collecting the good things until our cup overflows with kindness. Life is too precious to waste our time on emoting negativity. As we start this new year let's consciously put in efforts to fill our cups with the right qualities which will be productive for us and also for the people around us. A new year has 12 chapters 365 new stories to be written afresh. Let’s start looking for miracles on our way each day. Let us make each day count by spreading love, joy peace, and kindness. In this new year, let's make a fresh start to fill our cup with goodness. What is going to be in your cup to make this year count? ….

During one of our team discussion my boss threw up an interesting thought of wearing our attitude on our sleeve. Though we keep hearing this phrase quite often, I am sure most of us wouldn’t have had imbibed the real meaning it holds. To understand this i thought we should understand about what attitude really means. Attitude is a complex characteristic, if not understood properly might get us perplexed. What is an attitude? I posed myself a question, to be very honest i couldn’t verbalize it immediately. I had to Google for the right answer. Jung a psychologist defines attitude as a "readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way" this is the simplest definition available. In a common mans perspective attitude is an emotional entity which characterizes a person how they approach a particular situation, their reaction , behavior , mindset and outlook on something. As it is the norm of the life attitude also has good and bad types. Needless to say having a good attitude makes you more successful both in personal and professional front. Our minds are conditioned by our past experiences and also through social learning process. People with pleasant past are more likely to have good attitude, sometimes people learn finesse as they evolve as a better Person. But shifting from bad to good attitude involves lot of conscious hard work and it is definitely worth it. There is a thin line between attitude and arrogance. We refer egoistic people as showing attitude, but when someone has the right attitude we appreciate them for wearing their attitude on their sleeve. Bad attitude is disastrous whereas good attitude will help us succeed in life. People with good attitude possess growth mindset, they are achievers , they take the best out of everything. To acquire good attitude one has to change the way they think, Success begins in your mind. When your thoughts are good you will respond appropriately to the given scenario, your behavior gets better, you will start displaying the better version of yourself. Right attitude is the key to success. Let us evaluate and march towards a better version of us and yes we shall wear our attitude on our sleeve.

A Tsunami that hits the land destroys everything on its path. It leaves a trail of devastation that takes many a year to restore. This can be closely associated with loss of a loved one, When a person who lived amongst you in flesh and blood passes away it leaves you completely shattered. The world around becomes distant. You tread into a whole new world of sorrow and grief; you just want to cut off from the everything around us. Suddenly you find zero motivation to do even the simplest thing. You delve deeply into the memories of your loved ones. Your mind is preoccupied and all your efforts to divert your focus would be in vain. Grief is profound, denial & anger becomes a part of your life. You get completely detached and get annoyed even when loved ones try connecting. Grief is a normal response to the loss of our loved ones. As I am trying to wriggle out of the pain of the void my dad had left behind, I clearly understood that grief is a journey. Grief is complex, the more you want to come out of it, the more intense the thoughts become. It took almost 8 months for me to pen about Appa, Like a monarch he had reigned our home and ruled our lives now he’s ruling our hearts. The person that he was and the impact he had on the immediate and the extended family was so strong. He was the most engaging person. He had strong conviction about people and relationship. His love for my children was unconditional. Weeks and months have passed reminiscing about dad yet never a day passes without his thoughts. Appa was a very strong personality, he could never stand an injustice he had opinion about everything under the sun, was a stickler for discipline, time conscious, very aggressive, empathetic, self-motivated, self-assured, strong willed, he had the fire inside which gave warmth for the ones who were close to him but it consumed those who didn’t confirm with his standards. He spared no one for deviating rules and regulations. He did things which were unbelievable for his age. He was well connected, well informed, very well organized. His commitment to the task at hand was too impressive, he was way too strong headed, I had never seen him even once giving up on anything. He was never ever afraid of anything, not even when his health condition had laid him low. He was very sincere and hardworking, he started his teaching profession very early and interestingly he became a headmaster within the year of joining. He held positions at teachers federation. He didn't stop there, he had instilled in us the importance of sincerity in work. He always encouraged us to be brave and face any challenge with confidence. He had set us very high standards to follow, I am not sure if we would be able to do justice to his expectation, nevertheless even if we do a tiny bit we will be definitely be way ahead in life. What better tribute to offer him than to be strong & brave like how he wanted us to be?
He lived life like a Lion, a roaring life. Our lion king will forever reign in our hearts and guide us through this dense jungle called life. Will miss you forever appa

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan Life is so unpredictable. It seldom fails to show us it's unpredictable extremes. Sometimes it will make us go through things we least wanted and never expected. Change is the only thing that is constant, this is an adage i have been hearing from childhood, but now when am practically experiencing change it is so overwhelming. Change sometimes flows in our lives like a slow-moving brook without much turbulence nevertheless when least expected it will suddenly spring upon us like a turbulent water fall and You will be left with no choice but to go with the flow. Relocation is a word which meant nothing to me before three months but I would have uttered it every other minute for the past two months. When opportunity comes knocking the decision happen in a jiffy but leaves a lasting impact. I wasn’t even prepared for such a huge change. The affinity to this city (My Madurai) was so strong that I had never ever thought of moving out. However, circumstance paved way for the greatest choice which I had to make. Madura is not just a city its an emotion… This city has given so much for me personally & professionally. I came into this city as a novice with not much identity. But it embraced me into its fold with open hands, cradled me, watched me as i took baby steps through the streets, gave me so much of love and identity. The city gave me confidence and power to perform and be myself. I had evolved a different & better person through the years. How many genuine hearts I had won, how much of love and affection I had got. I wonder at the sheer count of life long acquaintances I made during the eventful journey in the city. I had learnt to ride scooter, drove my car built a house and a bunch of whole other confidence boosters that gave me strength to face life. This city which has got so close to my heart, actually gave nightmares about leaving it. After many a tearful mornings and painful nights, I realised this city had given me great comfort which is making this transition so excruciating. But again how long can I be in my comfort zone? Yes its an overwhelming decision, yes its is hard-hitting, yes it is too taxing, Yes there is an anxiety with regard to adopting to the new city, new work place and all other things with regard to this transition, yet I am confident that Chennai will also accept me like how Madurai did 13 years ago. With memories to cherish, with loads of experience this city had bestowed upon me, here I am packed and ready to go for an expedition to Chennai. To conquer and succeed. So long, Untill I come back I will hold you close to my heart “My Madurai”

What is the purpose of this life? Why am I here in this world? Where am I heading? Is this life worth living? These are very common questions which linger in our heart at some point of time. As we age and evolve as a better human being, we search for answers for these questions, eventually we try finding the reason to live. Few find this reason at a very young age others take a bit longer time. Finding purpose in life is fabulously empowering experience. Nonetheless it does not happen instantaneously. It is an every day exercise. Those who find this secret, live a fulfilled life. Good news is we can find the purpose at any stage of life. Japanese live a contented happy long life because they believe in the principle of “IKIGAI” which means the reason to live. You need to dig deep to fine your own ikigai. The simple way to find your Ikigai is to understand what sparks joy in you when you wake up in the morning. Joy has different meaning to different individual. Never compare your joy with other people’s joy. Few find joy form simple things like sipping a cup of coffee, looking at the rising sun, taking a walk with their loved ones, reading books, connecting with God, listening to the bird’s chirp, gazing at the newly bloomed flower. Yes, few find their Ikigai from the quiet moments and others from a life changing experience. If you haven’t found yours, never stress yourselves to find it. Sometimes its better to take a step back and allow the purpose of your life unfold itself. If you feel struck, release yourself from everything which is holding you back from the fulfilled life. Whether a bitterness of low self-esteem, hurtful past, your failures, regrets and all other negative emotions. No matter which position of life you are on always remember there is always better tomorrow if only you find your Ikigai. Simple steps to find your meaning is to start the day with something you enjoy doing, then make a to do list but make sure the list doesn’t trigger stress, hence make a simple achievable list. Find that one thing which you are good at and master that. Stop being a slave to social media, only person you need to impress is ONLY YOU. Connect with people of similar interest. If you are having a stressful work life, find reasons to love your job. Stop chasing, start living. Live in THE NOW. Find beauty in small things around you. Appreciate simple things. Eat to live, be active. Stay positive, find beauty in the mess, wear that broad smile, have a positive intend in whatever you do.
These are the simple tips which will make your search easier. In the process of finding your ikigai, you will realize you would have transformed into a new YOU. This life is a gift from God. We are the masterpiece of God’s creation. He had sent us to this world with great purpose, it’s our onus to find our Ikigai. Let’s go in for a treasure hunt, lets break the iron bars and the bronze gates in front of us to find the purpose of our own existence here.

Not long ago, I was going through a low time personally, Though deep in my heart I knew that was just a phase which will last for a while, I found it very difficult to get in terms with the pain. I usually give time for things to settle down whenever I go through such a lean phase. It took a weeks’ time to come out of it the anxiety. But successfully I could get over it and get back to normalcy. After few months when I looked back at that particular matter, it sounded very puerile that I went through such a pain for something which was temporary. Life is made up of Mountains and valleys. We get frightened when we are up on the mountain looking at the deep valley. When we reach the valley, we look upon the hilltop and again get terrified about the path which is ahead of us to reach the top. We never realize the fact the experience of mountain or the valleys lasts only for a short time. Joy or sorrow, pain or peace, fight or harmony, love 0r hatred, everything which our lives revolve around are momentary. When we go through testing times lets remember there’s always a reward waiting for us if only, we perceive for a little more. Most of the times we are hell bent on reacting to the situation, which makes things worse. Let’s learn to be patient till the tumult gets stable. A decade ago, depression was thought to be a serious mental illness which was scarce, but now we hear the word depression from every other person we meet. It’s because most of us start dwelling at the epicenter of the storm. If we understand the concept of impermanent nature of our life, we will definitely foresee the peace beyond that storm. Simple example is, if we just observe a day and the natural activities it holds, we would understand our life better. As the day starts we wake up in the morning with a sun rise, same sun at noon comes straight over our head and in the evening, it goes to the other pole and the moon rises. If one single day can hold so many diverse activities how much our life can. So, my folks when it is morning lets enjoy the breeze, at the noon, turn your face towards the sun let the shadows fall behind and when it is evening may the sky excite us. Life is amazing… moon, sun and the stars, bright blue sky at the day and the star-studded night sky are the wonderful works of God, so are our lives. Let’s embrace the fact that "nothing lasts forever, not even our troubles"…

“He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years”, Her Majesty The Queen spoke about her consort on their golden jubilee celebrations. This statement throws so much of light into their life together. Now after 73 years of wedded life Her Majesty The Queen has lost her beloved husband, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. For the world Prince Philip’s demise is just a news, but for the Queen losing him after a life together for seven decades must be a tough and an emotional time. It will definitely take few months for her to come to terms with the separation. Death is the ultimate leveller. In whatever strata of life, you are, losing someone close to you will shake you up. When I lost my husband in 2016, the world around me toppled. I was immersed in a grief that was unspeakable. Initial few months were so despondent. Life looked so empty and hopeless. In spite of being a strong-willed person, I started falling into multiple episodes of depression. Things around me got haywire. I became a recluse. I stopped sharing my pain even with my close circle of family and friends. With my children I was very careful, never showed my grief because they were so dependent on me at that time and I knew whatever I do will definitely affect their emotional well-being. So I started fighting my inner demons with prayer and sought support from a psychiatrist. The phase of grief was horrible though people were around me to console and support. I learnt no one else can share my pain. “Grief is a walk alone” no one else can walk it for you. Life is so very unpredictable and uncertain. God fixes our time here in this world. The choice is not in our hands. So when someone close to us is called home, we are stranded, we get devastated. It is always better to take our own time so that we can heal ourselves. Real healing comes with lot of life learnings, the process of healing is hard, exhausting and emotionally draining. But for the purpose that we are here in this world, we need to heal our inner being. Your grief will never end as long as you live, but it will get softer over the years. Grief is like an ocean sometimes it is calm sometimes you will witness the tsunami. When the ocean wells up sail deep into the water, put your anchor on hope, rest for a while and come back to the shore with much better strength to bail someone else who is walking on a similar path like yours. Let's Keep walking ...

The year that's gone by has been a roller coaster ride for most of us. As Covid took control of the world, all of us went through testing times. One can never forget the anxiety we faced when the government announced the Lockdown. Our routines were distorted, we were fear stuck, we were paranoid of the crowd, some even started stocking the essentials. Job front was even worse, people were asked to leave from companies others had salary cuts and all this resulted in severe financial stress. Future looked really gloomy at the start of the pandemic.

I remember few of my friends got really worried about their finances and other commitments. Me as a person who always took a positive approach to the circumstances, was left completely shaken for the first few days and I was getting into depression, but then I willed myself away from the apprehension.
Initially I took time to collect myself and get clarity of thought. First thing that struck me was the way I should handle this scenario which will have a greater impact on my daughters in their approach to their life, hence I wanted to take control of the situation with more farsightedness, I slowly started decluttering my mind. After careful collection of my thoughts, I decided on my priority was to “survive though the pandemic”. My EMI and other concerns took a back seat. I understood Money can be earned at any point of time if only I successfully survive this. This clarity took away all my stress. We as family started indulging in more of family time. We had more time to take care of my ailing parents. We took home cooked healthy food. All of us framed a new routine for ourselves. We adopted to the new normal within few days of lockdown. Past one year was a year full of rich experience which equipped us to phase life with more composure. I would say it was a blessing in disguise for us in most ways. We could cherish is more because God was graceful enough to protect our family against the pandemic. Of course, there were challenges which were to be tackled with wisdom, few rules had to be laid for visitors as we have two elders with comorbidities for which I was judged by people. None of it affected me as the purpose was clear at my end. The Greatest learning is “ When life gives you lemons , make lemonade”

Every year as March approaches we see women being honored in different platforms for their achievement in their respective fields of interest. If you open your social media platform, we see lot of new titles floated for women archivers. Even local clubs organize lots of activities exclusive for women. Every passing year we see new initiatives coming up to bring out the deserving women to limelight. Glad to see this recognition as with new awards, new faces are showing up. But having said this I have a real thought which lingers in my mind. Should women wait for women’s Day for the society to recognize them? With so much of buzz over Women’s Day, are really missing out on the real power of women? Are we confining the women’s supremacy with one award? When you google women archivers, it throws up data of women who had done some phenomenal work since bygone years. We also read about how ancient women broke the rules and did something extraordinary to bring in the social change. Their roles in wars as queens, warriors & saviors of their tribe are remarkable. We also read about women scientists who have done prodigious work in the field of research. There are many other exceptional women who paved a way for their successors. There are many other women who are still making history in this modern era, inspiring fellow women. But… are we still missing out the deserving women, who do not have an opportunity to show themselves up to the society? Have we still omitted out few who are doing a much greater job than those people who are in the limelight? The answer is yes… we are neglecting a broader category who are silently toiling themselves for the upliftment of the family. Those who balance life and work with poise. Those women who keep their family’s mental and physical health at place, those women who don’t have time for themselves. All the women who work seamlessly in just delivering their responsibility in the best possible way. These women really need standing ovation. Celebration of womanhood is not an one-day affair. Power of women is to be lauded each and every day, the role she plays in the family, society and in the professional front is astonishing. By the sheer ability to multitask, she handles whole lot of things around her. Kudos to these unsung heroes. Happy women’s Day

When we rang in the New Year 2020, we never had an idea what this year had in store for us. Human race had witnessed an eventful year. An year when a virus strain created a world wide pandemic and brought a grinding halt to the world that we took for granted. Few of our fellow human beings lost their fight with the pandemic, few fought very hard and saved their lives and the rest of us are stuck in the anxiety of contracting the virus. By the end of 2020 if you are still breathing, it means you are strong enough to handle any difficult phase of life. Takeaways from the gone by year is enormous. Each one of us had different learning point. This year had surely equipped us for a better tomorrow. The year showed us the faith in mankind’s ability to rise as one and fight the unknown. There are lots of debates going on about the Year 2021. Starting a year is like starting a journey without knowing the destination. Your task here is to exhibit marvellous driving skills enroute to your destination. Your google maps would be of no use here only we need to find ways to finish our race. All of us cross unknown roads. Fear of the unknown is scary for most of us. We would win the race only if we could replace the fear with excitement. Shifting the fear to excitement will help us to handle the obstacles in a better way. Lets have the heart and mind of a child, a child’s world is full of wonder and excitement. one of the key to happy life is to get exhilarated about your unknown future. Lets behold this year with open heart. Let’s splash extra dose of curiosity. Lets hope for a better tomorrow. One of my favorite youth song goes like this “ we shall over come … oh deep in my heart I do believe we shall ……”. Believe in best the best things to come. Your belief becomes your thoughts, your thoughts becomes your action, your action leads you to the terminal. If you still have the doubt give the steering wheel to The Almighty, believe me He will definitely drive you through the beautiful paths, which you had never even dreamt off. I am Super excited about the new year because the unknown path which we are starting is going to be very thrilling, as I have decided to take the passenger seat along with “The Driver” of my life. When I believe in the driver, I would only be enjoying the journey as we drive through the deserts, hills, terrain and the seashore. Behold the brand-new year with inquisitiveness and believe in your heart that we have far far better things than what we are leaving behind … This is the beginning of everything you want. May we desire, happiness, love joy and good health for us and also people around us. Stay blessed and Happy 2021