A Letter - Straight from my mom's heart..

I’ve just finished the lavish dinner prepared by my sweet mom. This takes me 3 years down the memory lane, when I was staying away from my mom because of my professional responsibilities.
The weekend had just got over and I had to return to my ‘job town’. I reached home and started unpacking my luggage. Suddenly I felt my hands rubbing through some sheets of paper, which made me wonder if I had picked up the wrong luggage. I shuffled through the bag and noticed some papers nicely folded and put over the top of my clothes. With trembling hands, I unfolded those without realizing that they could be a guide map to my entire life..

This was a 3 page long letter, written to me by my dearest mom. Not all the moms might have written this kind of letter to their children, but I’m sure all of them would have wished to convey the same thing. So sharing this on behalf of all the moms, acting as their daughter J

These are the EXACT words written in that letter: [please ignore any grammatical mistakes as this straight from HER HEART”..

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My ever dearest and never forgettable daughter Preet,

I know you are the gem of our family. But I want this gem to shine most so that I can feel proud of my loving daughter. But there are some suggestions that I want to give you, on behalf of a mother. You have both inner and outer beauties, but your inner beauty has to come out properly. I hope I’ve chosen a right way to make my voice reach to you by writing. As parents, there are many times, when we can’t say what we want to say to our children and then, only the pen’s words become our real companions that help us achieve that goal.

The Almighty has blessed you with most of the good traits like honesty, hard working, and truthfulness, social, caring more for the family but less for yourself, sincerity towards your occupation. I am highly grateful to my waheguru [God], who has blessed me with such a daughter. As each mother knows that a daughter is always a pillar for ‘two’ families, I want to give you some tips that will sublime your future as well as your present. When we can use 24 hours for ourselves, why hesitate in spending even 24 minutes to thank that God? It is our moral and essential duty to bow before him and devote some time to thank him each day.

A daughter is not only the daughter; she has to play multiple roles in her life. She has to be a mother, a wife, a friend, a professional; she has the power to play so many roles at once. The main concern for man in this era is money. If you have money, even your enemies become your friends. Don’t take me wrong here that I want you to run after money. I hope you have understood what I’m trying to say here. My message here is that you yourself are the best earner, but at the same time try to be the ‘best server’ as well. Your savings will be your best friends when none of your relatives are with you or all your other sources vanish. Habit of present saving is your best future. Money never gets saved by itself; rather you have to save it.

I hope you will not take my advice otherwise, but will think that your real friend has suggested you some tips of happy and glorious life. Please do not mind this at all and may god bless you always.

Moreover, money is a destined to be given by God, otherwise a laborer would have become the richest person by his hard work. But it’s all in the hands of almighty, he gives it to those who are just happy with that only. Just look at the people who are rich and are just happy with their lives in the way they are living it. Why don’t all the good hearted and caring people blessed with too much of richness, because God has sent them on the earth for a different purpose.

I always pray to almighty that he teaches me to listen to those who are nearest to me, my family, my friends, my co-workers. I want to listen to the voice of my conscience patiently and act accordingly so that I never go astray and can achieve my goal of a happy and prosperous family. Money can’t make anyone strong but it’s our values and strong support of the family that makes us strong. There are some people who stand for the truth always, learn fast and work while the rest of the family is asleep. They are the pillars of the family, of the relations. So I’m the lucky mother who has been blessed with gems [my kids]. My kids are my money, they are my treasure, and they are my luxuries.

Always remember that petty things do not matter much in the longer run. Never show your weaknesses to anyone rather show your boldness and your strengths.

To live the most honorable and prosperous future, always remember:

3 S’s in life:

Sympathy, Savings and Sweetness

3 T’s in life:

Tolerance, Teachings of parents, gurus and elders, Truthfulness

And 3 P’s in life:

Progress, Politeness and Piousness of life.

My dear daughter, please take the above words as my blessings because what can’t be cured by medicines, can be cured with blessings.

Dear daughter, please ignore my grammatical mistakes because I did not focus on them as the feelings were coming straight from my heart. I hope you won’t take this as a ‘lecture’ from your mom but will accept this as a little effort from my side and won’t take too much of stress because of this. Only then, I’ll consider my efforts being fruitful and will consider that the bond between you and me has become even stronger.

Love,
Your foolish mother…
[April, 2004]

Father's Day - A Gift to my Dad! Read till end..if you love your dad!

My Dad, my loving dad, whom I am missing very much today as he's out of town due to some work. When I think of him, I see him standing silently far away and just smiling.. He's been smiling throughout his life, irrespective of the struggles that he's been through.

Whenever I saw other dads spending time with their daughters, I felt my heart aching as I missed all that fun and those precious moments. I had been away from him most of the time because of his work and also because he was always busy making ways for our happiness and specially mine. Unlike other dads, I had and still have very unusual relation with him. He never shouts on me for any wrong decisions I take, he never sits with me and shares his experiences with me, which I would have loved to hear.. Yes, all this sounds very negative on his part.. But let me tell you that this is NOT the reality..

- He never spent so much of time with me: because he was ensuring to put his best efforts to make me and entire family happy, to fight when we were struggling with various lows of life.
- He never shared his experiences with me: because he was always so confident of me and wanted me to grow up as an independent child who can take good decisions on her own. His immense trust in me has made me what I am today.
- He never went out with me: because he wanted to give me my own time that I missed all throughout my childhood..
- He never asked me why I was coming late or why was I making certain unusual decisions related to my career and life: because he always saw me as a 'pillar' of the family, a 'support system' and considered me more mature.

Isn't this enough for me to be thankful to God for this blessing of such a loving Dad.. True that he was unlike other dads, but had he not been so, would I have been able to love myself the way I have been able to do now? Would I have been able to take mature and independent decisions? Would I have been so happy ever? Would I have been able to survive ever in those turbulences that came in my life without his immense trust and silent love for me?

Now let me ask, don't we all get all this from our loving parents? Most of us will answer "yes" to this question? But it's the people among us only, who kick them away out of our lives when they grow old. It's we, who consider them the burdens once we have our own 'happy' families.. Ever wondered, if that 'happy' family would have been so happy without the support and unconditional love of our parents?

Lets dedicate this day to our Fathers, loving dads and each day to our loving parents, this is where our true happiness lies..

-Preet

I wondered... and I realized...

[Simply couldn't resist from penning it down..what simply matters is how we look at its beauty :)]

I wondered..... and..

* Asked the SKY - WHY YOU ARE SO VAST??

It smiled... and said..
coz..
I wanna make you realize that you still have enough space in this world where you can breathe peacefully.
I too gave it a bleak smile..

* Asked the MOON - WHY YOU ARE SO BRIGHT??

I saw the moon smiling and it told me that there are still lot of people, who need you to make their days brighter like me.
I too smiled again..

* Asked the SUN - WHY YOU ARE SO WARM??

It smiled... and said..
coz I want you to keep spreading the warmth, that everyone gets from your presence and you are still needed on this earth.
I smiled once again..

* Asked the WATER - WHY YOU ALWAYS KEEP FLOWING??

It smiled... and said..
coz..
I love to see you enjoying the ride of life, where you can always keep your energy flowing with various highs and lows of life.
I too smiled..

* Asked the FLOWER - WHY YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL??

It smiled... and said..
coz..
I stay in your heart, which is so beautiful. There is so much of beauty in and around you that can still forget the struggles in your life and encourage yourself to see the beauty of life.
I smiled once again..

Now I wondered, why did I SMILE?? I smiled coz my heart loved it, my eyes loved it, my life loved it..
I realized that MY LIFE WANTED ME TO SMILE TOO...

So I promised to the SKY, the MOON, the SUN, the WATER, the FLOWER and to my eyes and my heart that I will always SMILE and learn to enjoy life the way it is..

So keep smiling and enjoy the ride :)

A poor man PAID for my HAPPINESS!!

It was 35 degrees and I was heading to a market.. The scorching heat forced me to take a 'rickshaw' as no other commuting mode was available because of Delhi bandh! I was elated to be able to bargain with the 'rickshaw wala' for just 5 rupees. I was sitting on the rickshaw like a queen, ignoring the plight of that poor rickshaw wala who was pulling that. I even ignored the "sweat and blood" of that rickshaw wala in my "pursuit of BARGAIN".. The rickshaw had hardly moved half a meter ahead and this guy suddenly stopped and told me to wait. He said, "Beta! Main abhi 2 min.. mein aaya [I shall be back in 2 min]". I got too scared and wondered where he had gone and was expecting him to come back with some other notorious people and all sorts of weird thoughts were running through my mind..

I was bit relieved to see him returning alone in exactly 2 min! I noticed a strange kind of satisfaction on his face and he said, "Beta! Shukriya! [Thanks]". I asked him why he was thanking me.

Tears went flowing when he told me, "Beta, you had given me 5 rupees, I had gone to a small temple nearby. I prayed to GOD with 2 rupees out of those 5. I used 1 rupee to pray for myself and my family and I used the other rupee to PRAY FOR YOU!".. Now this really touched me and left me speechless, when he said, "Beta, I prayed for you because you came as an angel in my life today. I did not have anything to eat or drink since morning, I had no penny at all. Suddenly, you came and paid me 5 rupees, and I could at least have a cup of tea and 2 biscuits with the remaining 3 rupees.. I have prayed to GOD to keep you happy throughout your life and you keep bringing smiles on faces like us"..

I had BARGAINED for my HAPPINESS!! And this Rickshaw wala PAID to GOD for MY happiness!!!!

A walk with the HEART...

Have you ever walked on those beautiful paths along with your HEART? I walk there each day, along with my heart, hearts of everyone.. People call me 'Heart's preet' coz I stay in hearts..[My parents blessed me with this name "Manpreet"]

I love that heart, the one who cares, who feels the pain.. Sometimes, my head revolts and conflicts with my heart, but it's the heart always that makes me and you smile.. :)

Another usual day in my life, I was taking a walk with my heart; and I saw a little girl walking on the road. She had an ugly looking face, was wearing dirty clothes and her hair were too messed up. Her hands were dirty too, but there was so much of beauty in those hands.. BEAUTY that was holding hands of a little kid whom someone had abandoned.. There was so much of BEAUTY in her tears too that were flowing on seeing the plight of those in pain.. She was so BEAUTIFUL in her feelings too that she had for a poor, hungry man to whom she had given her share of food..

This little girl had everything except for her 'head and mind' as she was mentally retarded. Still, she was so HAPPY.

While lost in these thoughts and her BEAUTY, I continued walking WITH MY HEART.. At every turn, I found my 'mind' standing in the middle of the road, blocking it. My Mind kept on saying, "Stop here! Don't move forward, there are thorns..”. Suddenly my heart held my hands and said, "Keep moving.. Rose blossoms in midst of thorns only..".

I took a step ahead, chose a new path but the Mind again interfered, "Stop! The path on which you're already moving is easy and known". Again, my heart came and said, "Go on.. New path will take you to a new destination, which might be even more beautiful.."

I and my heart kept walking, holding hands-in-hands; towards those unraveled and unexplored paths but perhaps the more beautiful ones... we went on and on and on... and are still moving....

Are we ready to BUY nature??

Mercury soaring high makes me go nuts. Every morning as I awake and glare at the bright sunlight from my air conditioned room’s window, I crave for clean, fresh breeze
but my nose gets stiff with the pollution. Feeling slightly disheartened, I retire to my artificially air conditioned room, still half asleep and feeling restless. Lack of fresh air has made my desire of getting my office shifted to the picturesque Himalayan terrains, even stronger. This takes me to the dream world and I land up in the hills where I feel so delighted with the beauty of nature, my lungs are happy inhaling so much of fresh air and skin just smiles and feels as fresh as dew.

Just 2 days in the lap of nature and I feel an immense rush of energy in my body. I feel like getting up and reaching out to conquer the whole world with my revived energy and rejuvenated spirits. Why am I not feeling drained out today? I haven't read any inspiring books or read about management gurus, haven't taken any energy pills either. This suddenly makes me wonder about the power of nature that has transformed me from a weary and exhausted person to a striving and ambitious dreamer who suddenly has got the power to change the world.

I question myself. Why I feel happy and contented just by talking to the flowers and telling them how beautiful they are? Why I wait for the first rain to come and my feet start tapping merely at the thought of dancing in those rain drops? Would the poetry have been so beautiful if there were no colors in the rainbow? Would I mind having my honeymoon in those dark concrete jungles without a puff and sweet smell of fresh air, with no greenery around? Who will enjoy those long drives without lush green lanes?

Let us do some introspection and contemplate over why we reach out for those far-flung and isolated destinations merely to explore nature, which has always been so near to us. Movies, pubs and malls, they all leave us with empty feelings somewhere, to find a calm place, to sit in peace and serenity. All this gradually becoming far from our reach with commercialization of green lands and coming up of concrete jungles, by not preserving water bodies and converting this earth into a huge trash can.

Are we preparing ourselves to make our children die at younger ages by inhaling aerosol fumes in the polluted air or engulfing food grown and cooked in polluted water?
Are we prepared enough to miss the rains or our morning walks in the parks that have no trees left?

Let us question ourselves and think of why are we depriving ourselves of so much of beauty and healing power of nature. Let us preserve it and conserve those great rivers, birds of paradise, enforce environmental protections and prevent illegal damage to the nature’s diversity. Preserve habitat for those rare species of birds and animals, preserve the global blanket which is a cover to the joys of the nature and let us all care for it with our gentle hands and take a pledge to preserve it.