Life is a mirage...
A happy illusion to those afar
A bend on the road for those close
Seems to be just a grasp away
Try to hold and it flies further away
Life is a mirage....
Don't you see? You have your goal,
But you never behold
You lock your gaze
But feel it you cannot
Life is a mirage...
For when you behold and in happiness enshroud
Forgetting your presence in the present
Wishing for the happy illusion the mirage holds
Whilst neglecting your near and dear
Remember life does not last forever
Life is only a mirage of what you want to see...
So, being a mom, the most challenging job one can hold, you always don't have enough time for anything. And now I strongly believe that once you do find time, then your little one would have grown up! He is already 1 year + now!!! Right now smiling during his nap... ^__^
Time management is the biggest lesson i'm learning with a kid on board. Life is full of surprises and being a mom, you are never sure of ANYTHING you do with regards to your child. In short, we are always worried!! And they grow and learn new things everyday, so flexibility is the other key element. And well, regardless of what they or we do or don't do, they still grow. And how they grow depends a lot on the environment we provide for them.
Being a stay at home mom (by choice, of course), sometimes I do miss all the brain crunching at work and sometimes, I do feel I want to get back on job, but then, the more time I spend with my lil guy, the more involved I want to be with him and a part of his growth and learning process. Mother's are a child's first teacher and her lap is their nursery. No one understands a child better than their mom. It is an exhaustive job, no breaks, no vacation, no promotion. The only incentive being child's happiness, love and laughter....priceless. Oh yes, there will be crying, temper, etc. , well all a part of the package. All that said, they grow so fast, that one day they are the little bundle cuddled in your arms and a few days on, they run all around. Time sure flies....
With all due honesty when I created this blog, I thought I would at least have 1 article in a month...but alas!! No posts for 2012!!! Well..it ws a busy year and now there is a 'lil' someone in my life who keeps me busier than a bee!!!
Since I'm snow queen here, let's call him 'Ice Prince'...nope..he is totally opposite to this name...he is cute, cuddly, warm little baby and enjoys getting attention!!!
I hope to get more active here....hopefully with some interesting thoughts!!!
It's almost the end of another year...2011. Like every year, it has brought about a lot of changes, life with it's usual ups and downs, quite a lot of deaths and calamities, new inventions and so on and on....
So, what's my point in blogging about this? Nothing specific. Just some random thoughts that I'd been thinking about for quite sometime.
Regardless of how short or long your life span is, there are some people who come across your life whom you will cherish, whom you will look up to, whom you will trust, whom you will care, whom you will respect. There might only be a few people who will fall into all these categories, but there definitely will be quite a lot of people who will fall into one of these.....
We've heard of a couple of deaths of famous people this year. People who have made an impact in our life, change our mindsets, true geniuses. But they were never successful in their first attempt and if they were still alive, there would have been people still criticizing them. But now since they are dead, they only have good words. That's the sadistic nature of human beings.
I've heard about some untimely deaths this year. Some of whom I knew when I was small. Even though they weren't quite close to me, just the news of untimely death is quite shocking. I just hope and pray that their family has the courage to deal with it and move on.
Moving on is not easy. There are things and people you come across your daily life. When some of them means the quite a lot to you and there is a conflict of interest, what do you do? Just let it be? Ignore them? Talk to them about it? Well, decision is dependent on the situation. But, I only hope that God gives us enough wisdom to choose the wise action and move on, hoping and praying for the best.
Most of the major decisions in our lives are not in our hands. Fate is at the hands of God, we have the choice of action. What course do we take? What guides us through? It is all a matter of the heart. When you do anything whole-heartedly, there is always a sense of satisfaction and happiness about you. If the action was wrong, we learn from it. If it was right, our happiness will know no bounds....there will never be room for regrets. But when forced to do something, there will always be a feeling of guilt. A dark stain that becomes darker and doesn't give us a peace of mind, and before long, we begin to doubt our own self. Who are we? What is our purpose in life?
And that purpose is something we have to discover for ourselves. Attain peace of mind and never, ever forget God, the Almighty, who created us as the best of creations. To whom we will return after our transit life here on the earth. We are mere travelers, and earth is our temporary station. We still have a long journey after our death, for which we have to prepare. Are your bags ready and packed for the trip? Oh, well, none of us anticipate it. We just think that tomorrow will be another day, when we can see the sunrise. What if it is not? Are we ready for it? This is a question we must answer ourselves. I'm not going to preach, 'coz I'm still unprepared and I have to find the answers myself. Otherwise there is no meaning to it.....
The more time we have, the lazier we are... More deadlines we have, we can cram up the infinite things we have to do, in the limited time... It is always good to keep ourselves on check by maintaining deadlines And reminding ourselves that the time once lost is lost forever.
Well, this is a reminder for me and all the other lazy people around the world, who have so much valuable time in our hands and we don't understand what to do with it. What is our priority? What is the purpose of our life? Is it any good to waste time? It is more precious than money, and it slips from between fingers so fast that if we were to account what we did each second, we could have truly made it worthwhile. Anyways, this is all talk. I haven't practiced it for the past 7 months. I really have to get myself back in shape! Allah..help me and forgive me!
Having a smile on your face everyday, They think you might be a trivial person For whom life may be a joke And nothing to worry about! Oh come on! Keeping up the smile on your face Is not a trivial matter. The journey of life, What it brings forth, the unpredictable ups and downs, Nothing within your reach and in problems you will drown. The fading smile, a result of an evil eye? Tried hard to bring forth the smile, But the sadness of losing your love Overshadows the curve on your lips. The tears withheld, to keep up the strong facade, But in the end, tears fell, like an overpouring rain And swollen eyes and no more smile Just because of the love once lost....
She was at the dentist for her annual dental check up. Ever since 3 years of age she has been to the dentist, had her teeth worked on, filled, pulled, what not and now, as everyone was suggesting, the dentist also recommended, 'When she is about 15 years, she has to put braces on her teeth'. She rolled her eyes and knew that putting braces means pulling out 2-4 more teeth and lesser chocolates.
The dentist stopped for a few minutes, checked her teeth once again and was about to leave when he noticed something. 'Hey! One of your teeth is missing. The canine, on the top right side.' The doctor ushered her dad, and said, 'You see, those two are the incisors and then the pre-molars and molars, only 6 teeth on this side. The canines are missing. If it didn't grow out, it must be hidden within the gums. An X-ray should help us find out. Please take an X-ray and return after 3 days.'
'Oh God! Now what?' she thought. She knew that her teeth has always been giving her trouble, now a missing one? Is this an Enid Blyton book, 'The Mystery of the Missing Tooth'? Sounded good, now she had a story to tell and a mystery for the doctor to solve.
Three days later, they were back at the dentist after taking the X-ray. The doctor examined it and said, 'This is surprising. There is no teeth hidden in the gums. Things are safe. But I really do wonder what happened. Either you pulled your teeth out twice or the new tooth never developed. Which is a rarity. Anyways, I just wanted to ensure that things were safe for you. Good day!'
She heaved a sigh of relief. No more dental work for this year. But had the thoughts of her missing teeth stashed in her head. When she was 15, she put the braces and she only had to pull 3 of her teeth due to the existing gap on her top right side, the tooth there was exempted. The canines never grew out, nor did it cause her any trouble and the mystery remains a mystery.....
Quite often, I've opened up my blog, to begin blogging and write the thoughts that crossed my mind, a few hours ago, or a few days ago, but couldn't get the flow or the contents of what I wanted to write, except the title. So, I have quite a lot of saved posts, with just the title and to this day, some of them are haunted and some of them, which I did complete are sub-standard compared to the ideas that I had initially.
Surprisingly, most of the thoughts or ideas, come to me when I'm in the shower *rolling eyes*. Well, yes, sometimes, I would think, how much better it will be if we had a water proof laptop! Well, no, I don't like reading from the bathroom. I prefer my living room couch or bed for that. If you have followed my blog for sometime now, you must have guessed I'm quite a romantic (I don't mean romantic as in relationship, but in a dreamy sense), an occasional poet and artist. Sometimes, I just get the flow of words for the poem and I just have to sit there without thinking much and it just types out. Same goes with drawing, I just take a book and pencil and the idea for sketches come on its own. But I'm quite a novice at both, I have talent, but not quite developed. So, I can also say that the mood swings are also great. I can easily be highly elated and easily be depressed. And I've even had my biggest critic tell me that, 'most artists and poets are depressed and suicidal'! As if I wanted that!!!
Despite all this, I'm an optimist to the core and that is when I remembered a video at Ted.com by Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity. She beautifully captures the fact that creativity is something on loan for you. It comes and goes, and if you have done a masterpiece, your genie did a great job. If not it didn't show up!
You cannot blame yourself for the success and failure of your work. Just live your life by doing what you want and enjoy each moment regardless of the outcome. Talent is a gift and it is not something others can judge you for. Having a talent, developing it, trying and failing, is all a stepping stone to the next endeavor, which may or may not be a success. But if that has satisfied you, then there is nothing to worry about. Satisfaction is the hardest to obtain. People's criticism will always be there. There will be at least one person in this world whose point of view will be opposite of yours. So forget people and their criticism. Take pride in what you do. That is my advise.
Anyways, here's the link to Elizabeth Gilbert's video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:
First of All a BIG HELLO to everyone out there...or out here!!!
I've been thinking about revamping my blog for quite sometime. I reaaalllly wonder, when it transformed from an inspiring and motivational one to a depressing one. Well, maybe the Snow Queen's heart was frozen for a while and now since it is summer, it has molten a lil bit?? Who knows?? And, seriously, who cares?? Do you??
Well, yes, I think it is vital for a writer to bring forth all the emotions out in the articles. But to write only when going through tough times and neglecting the skill during good times will not help enhance the talent. So, be it the sun or the rain, I've decided, I'm going to get back to blogging. There are quite a lot of drafts from long time back, so I'll begin with them first and since I have all the time in the world with me, I'm going to add one more thing to my hobby list, 'Blogging', that is.
Well....this post has been due since long. Sorry for the untimely delay, better late than never....
On February 10, 2011 I had the privilege of attending a program hosted by Hope Qatar where Nick Vujicic was the ambassador of the Message of Hope. Some of you might have heard of Nick and some might not. Who is Nick and what is so special about his message?
Nick is a motivational speaker....Oh, well, you might say, we have quite a lot of motivational speakers around, so what is so different about Nick? Well, Nick is a Motivational speaker, who will M.O.T.I.V.A.T.E you even without his speaking! That is what is special about Nick. Nick was born without his limbs. No hands and legs, only one foot beneath his abdomen. When you see him, you will wonder, how the hell does this man do anything???? Well, he does most of the things we do and even more. He types, he writes, he swims, he fishes, he does everything we normally do and even more, he motivates people.
He tells us to be thankful, to look at the bright side of life. Come on...isn't it going to be easy for us, who are blessed with all the limbs and good physique. We are not born with worries. Everyone has ups and downs in life, but it is not so bad, it will go and you will feel relief. So, a man born without limbs, loved and cared for by his family, ridiculed by many people, who even thought of committing suicide, but the thought of his parents and an encouraging word or two from a couple of people changed his mind. Decided to look at the brighter side of life and live each day without regrets. Live each day with a laugh and when you do have anything bothersome in your mind, just flip it and make it light....laugh at it...laugh with it....
There were some sentimental parts during his session, which made me feel how blessed we are to have our hands. We can hold the hands of our loved ones and hug them.....
Always thank God for giving us this life and for all the blessings. We are very fortunate compared to a multitude people.....cherish each blessing...move forward, live each day without regret.
Well, we don't usually have an idealistic life, do we? We have our ups and downs, the chaos, the order, etc. and on one such day, I came across this picture. (or rather I was searching for Lightning and Tornado images on google). Oh well, my mind was on turmoil, so wanted a display pic that would reflect my thoughts and a caption for that. This is how the pic n caption combo ended up and the question remains unanswered!
The little signs that ceased to exist
Creates a turmoil in my mind
Nurtures the Tornado
Wonder when the lightning will strike
And burn me from within
End up being ashes
Void of any colour or texture
In the end, am I to be blamed
Or was it just you?
Rewind 3 years and I had created my own blog space and when I had to pick a name, I was adamant to name it "The Snow Queen". Fast forward, back to the present, a few weeks back, I was wondering why I had made that decision. The Snow Queen??? Why, how and when did it take a place in my heart and an integral part of my mind, that I always prefer to use Snow or Snow Q whenever I want to remain anonymous on the net?
It all began with my Korean and Japanese drama, anime and manga addiction. During the time, I was quite obsessed with them and it was also a stress reliever during exams at university and gave me a reason to stay up at night as well, of course the excuse is studying, but what happens is 5 minutes of studying and half an hour drama or anime or manga. Frankly speaking, I'm still obsessed with manga and anime, but I've lost my interest in dramas, they are too long and I don't have the patience to go on and on.
Well, when I think about it, Snow Queen wasn't an instant attraction. It came down in steps and the strong resemblance to my personality or what I thought was and is my personality. So, here goes for those who are curious.
My first anime crush was Yuki from Fruits Basket and in Japanese, Yuki means Snow. Oh well, you might wonder why no crushes on people but anime characters, well, isn't it obvious? People are never perfect, but the characters always are and people are too much trouble to be involved. Fair enough? So there Yuki lay buried in my heart. Then came Hana Kimi manga and well, the character Sano Izumi was perfect- athletic, cool, and believe me manga characters are picture perfect even though in black and white ! Another character buried deep in my heart. Then for the final call, came The Snow Queen itself, a Korean drama which revolved around two characters, a girl, who knew she wouldn't live for long and had closed her heart for anything and everything around her and could only be bitter about it and a guy, a mathematics genius, who had lost his one and only friend due to his competency and laid all the blame on himself and again closed his heart for anything and everything around him. They meet and melt each others hearts, but destiny had something else in store for them, but with molten hearts, she lived a short life and he lived with her memories. The prologue of the story had the fairytale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, where the Snow Queen takes Kei to her Ice palace in Lapland and his heart also freezes and is pursued by his friend Gerda to melt his heart.
The resemblance I thought was cold heart which could be molten with the right choice of people or circumstance around.
With frozen hearts, they thought they would just fade away
Until they met and their hearts began to melt
Alas! It was too late for one, 'coz her time had been ticking all the while
But the moments they spent together in his memory engraved!
Quite often, there might be somethings that we could get obsessed with. No matter how much you want to let it go, you can't, you just keep returning to it. There could be something intriguing about it, which is difficult to explain and something magical that draws you towards it. For some this obsession can be temporary while for others, they tend to be obsessed with the same thing their whole life.
Temporary obsession, though prominent among a lot of people, is hardly noticeable, as people get off their obsession quite fast. Can this be called a fascination? I'm not sure...... Temporary obsession for songs, artifacts, hobbies, etc....I seem to be quite obsessed with a lot of things lately that I find it hard to keep a track of myself. But then, you've only got one life to live, so why not diversify your obsession ;) ?
Once upon a time there was a rich King who had four wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to the finest of delicacies. He gave her nothing but the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighboring kingdoms. However, he feared that one day she would leave him for another. He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidant, and was always kind, considerate and patient with him. Whenever the King faced a problem, he could confide in her, and she would help him get through the difficult times.
The King’s 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the first wife. Although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her! One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short. He thought of his luxurious life and wondered, “I ! now have four wives with me, but when I die, I’ll be all alone.”Thus, he asked the 4th wife, “I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”
“No way!”, replied the 4th wife, and she walked away without another word. Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart.
The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, “I have loved you all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?” “No!”, replied the 3rd wife. “Life is too good! When you die, I’m going to remarry!” His heart sank and turned cold.
He then asked the 2nd wife, “I have always turned to you for help and you’ve always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?” “I’m sorry, I can’t help you out this time!”, replied the 2nd wife. “At the very most, I can only send you to your grave.” Her answer came like a bolt of lightning, and the King was devastated.
Then a voice called out: “I’ll leave with you and follow you no matter where you go.” The King looked up, and there was his first wife. She was so skinny as she suffered from malnutrition and neglect. Greatly grieved, the King said, “I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!”
In truth, we all have 4 wives in our lives: Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it will leave us when we die.
Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, it will all go to others.
Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.
And our 1st wife is our Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world. However, our Soul is the only thing that will follow us wherever we go.
"An illusion in this virtual realm!!!" This is how I like to express myself in any social networking site or here out on my blog!
Thatz what I am, right? What I write here, what I do here could just be a plain lie and can be deleted in an instant.
But then, what are we in reality? In this tech savvy world, when we rarely mingle with "real" people, we find solace in the virtual realm. But, do they really see what they are supposed to see? Could this virtual world be a substitute for our reality? The direct conversation, when the eyes see your thoughts even before you express them, can the virtual realm substitute them?
In the end, I am just an illusion out here. I don't write what I want to say, I don't say what I feel and you don't read my thoughts either.......
If I did disappear from the virtual realm, no one would realize it and well, I bet not many can find another way of contacting me....."Blink once I could disappear"
Today its a story for us......>>>>May be a reality for SOME ONE ELSE. A message from a forward email....
I was walking around in a Big Bazar store making shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.
The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Uncle, are you sure I don't have enough money?''
I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.
Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . I wanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY.
I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while sa ying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister..''
My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.' Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly..
I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''
'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.
The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'
Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.'
I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local
news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever..
The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.
Please DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.
The value of a man or woman resides in what he or she gives, not in what they are capable of receiving
The onset of winter and winter is almost gone....the beginning of a new year and a month is almost over.....a beginning of a new phase in life and it keeps rolling...with all the ups and downs.....with a wish that it will not end.....the onset of the new season in my life......
It is quite surprizing to see where life takes us. To places we've never dreamt of, with people we've never thought about, at times that are the most unexpected!!! And if you are a person who likes changes.....it is always welcome!
