Board exams..

“BOARDS”- a word which attracts the attention of all and is a big source of stress to the children. The examination which is considered as the most important in Indian education system. But ask yourself a question- is it really that hard or different?

I gave my boards for the first time in 2020. I was damn tensed since my preboard 1. The hype around that time was real. People’s expectations, teacher’s doubt sessions, peer pressure- uff! Who would’ve been relaxed at that point? No one at all. The only question which pondered in our heads was whether we will be able to do it or not!

I have been a person who never took stress of exams (the last day before exam was an exception though :p) and therefore Xth boards were a big deal for me. My head used to pain immensely when I read books all the time. And then I realised that I need to see the eye specialist after 5 years of struggle with my vision! And voila! I got specs with -4 a power!!

25th March 2020 was the final day of preparation for my first board which was English. I was so stressed that I literally fainted after dinner! And then I encouraged myself to calm down and give my board with a fresh mind! And yea I got 95/100 in English 😅

So that is what.. I need to tell you all.. Do not burden yourself with the so called “board pressure”. They are just like any other exams! The only difference is going to another school and writing your exam. You need to normalise this trend because it’s not worth it! They’re rather easier than all of your other school examinations because they’re set according to all the children around the country! Do not compare yourself with others because they’re not like you and you’re not like them. Everyone cannot score a 100/100. Everyone who scores 100/100 is not always successful! What matters is -how much you improve yourself rather than burdening yourself! Be motivated to make yourself a better version of you not a version of someone else!

Enjoy your studies rather than treating them like a hindrance in your daily life and mental peace!

I realised this when I got into XIth and chose my favourite subjects by pursuing Humanities. Ah! I started enjoying studies.. I loved studying human behaviour in psychology, about Cold War in political science and finally about government budget in economics! I am simply grateful for my stream! Not only because it’s easy for me but because it made me realise how much fun it is to do something which you like!

Always pursue your passion! Follow your interests!

Marks don’t matter! Examinations teach you discipline, help you to handle burden and make you rough&tough! They tell you how much can you absorb! How much can you concentrate! And at the end of the day.. they embed values which help you become a more valuable person! So start taking examinations as a technique to improve yourself and not to deteriorate your mental state.

Currently I’m giving my XIIth boards and trust me when I say this that- I AM LOVING IT!

YOU CAN DO IT BECAUSE EVEN I DID IT. I was never a topper or a studious kid. I just did the needful and today I’m satisfied because I chose my interest!

Let’s break this bubble which is full of myths about board exams or maybe any other exams!

Wish all of you who are appearing for boards this year or next year the bestest of luck!🥰

My travel plans..✈️🌎❤️

I want to start this blog by stating a simple thing- dream,enjoy and explore forever! It will help you not only getting to know the newest places possible but will make you aware about yourself as a person! Whether you’re a mountain lover or a beach baby, either you like crowded places or you prefer peaceful locations and also, are you an explorer or a person who loves being in his/her own surroundings.💫

Nowadays air travel has made life so easy! Domestic travel is the easiest. No matter where do our loved ones stay, we are just a flight away!❤️

Travelling is about living the vibe of the place you’ve visited. Enjoying the authenticity of the location. Etch every beautiful memory in your heart forever. Breathe the exclusive fragrance of that city. Eat the staple food. Click thousands of pictures. Live every moment to the fullest.

Sounds fun..right? 😄🌸

The heart wants to explore and enjoy the beautiful things which our nature is ready to offer us!
Heya~

Time is running..let’s enjoy every bit of it!

My travel bucket list-

Bora Bora islands, French Polynesia 🇵🇫– heaven on earth for a beach lover like me..can’t wait to explore this exceptionally beautiful place with someone special! 🌸
London- yes! Love the vibe of the city (through pictures)! Super excited to experience it in person! 🌸
New Zealand 🇳🇿– a small, peaceful and a gorgeous country.. when I scroll it’s pictures on Internet..ah! They’ve my heart! I love such places where people are minimalists and simple and I suppose this place is an example of basic but beautiful!🌸
Paris 🇫🇷 – the city of love! It’s a beautiful city where romance blossoms! The architecture of the buildings is one of its kind! Can’t wait to enjoy the beauty of this place! 🌸

Though I love being home, in my comfort zone with my loved ones but I really want to experience “the once in a lifetime” things.

Five reasons to travel! 🥰

It provides you a much needed break from the monotonous routines of our daily lives and recharges us to get back home with a good and fun loving mood. And instead of finding our routines boring , we enjoy them! Isn’t a wonderful way to make life easier and happier?
It enables us to explore the beautiful virgin landscapes which are bestowed by god to the mankind! Every place has its own lands and uniqueness and it’s the best to explore such beauties as it removes the negative impulses in our lives and gives us a relief from worldly worries!
Provides us an opportunity to spend time with our loved ones or ourselves and understand each other better! Daily lives don’t provide us with such chances where we have the time and patience to talk to each other! So it’s a beautiful getaway!
It also helps us to gain knowledge about the history of other places rather than our domestic land!
Last but not the least- through these trips we gather lifetime memories which fill us with a spirit of joy and happiness when we look at them and feel bliss!

So don’t wait for anything! Pack your bags and get yourself a break soon! You deserve it! You deserve everything good!

Love 🌸

This is how my Sunday looked like..🌸⭐️

I started my day at 10:30am. It was a usual morning where mumma was busy in the kitchen, papa was having his breakfast and my brother was roaming around. I brushed and finished up my studies. The lunch was super yummy- malai kofta(my favourite). 🥰

At around 6pm, the doorbell rang and THERE THEY WERE. My family! The world itself sounds so beautiful, right? Suddenly there were voices of talking and laughing. Warm hugs were shared😇!

This is what I live for..💗

My dadu really wanted to meet us since long and his smile seeing me, made my day! He is the sweetest person ever.

You know..when you see your grandparents smile and laugh..it’s a blessing! And I am super blessed 😇. We all missed maa (my grandma) today but she is having a great time with her sisters in Kolkata! We video called her and tried to make her jealous 😝 but duh she’s too busy with her gang right now! I love it when they’re all happy.

The evening started with chachu, who is also an exceptionally good cook, baking some delicious cheesy and garlicky breads with onion, capsicum and mushrooms! Ah-this is what I call bliss. It was finger licking good!🤤

Then we sat together in our living room and talked for 2 hours straight..😄. Well, there was absolutely no sensible conversation. The most random one yet so comforting and loving! Full of laughter and excitement! It was followed by a delicious dinner meal where we had chole and malai kofta. Yes my family loves North Indian, after all we are typical Delhiites 😜.

It was a very simple evening with no dressing up and no hustle bustle. An absolutely beautiful family time!

An important reason why spending time with your family is essential is because tomorrow is never promised.

Family is the greatest thing god has gifted us. It is there when nobody else stays..it supports you no matter what. Sticks to you in your worst. Enjoys with you during the best times but cries with you too when the times aren’t favourable! It is the most loyal relation!

We tend to take our families for granted because they’re always there..but we need to know that only they’re the ones who will always be there. So instead of sidelining them because of temporary relations, we should give them the love and importance they deserve! ❤️⭐️

Your grandparents are the ones who pamper you immensely since the day you’re born. They love you unconditionally. They do whatever they can and sometimes what they actually can’t..🥺. They’re the purest forms of humans present! 💗

Your parents are your birth givers. They’re no less than God! They will praise you at your best and scold you at your worst. They love you and at the same time they improve you. You should always make them feel the same. Accepted and loved. Never forget that you’re you because of them.💗

Your blood relations which include your immediate family – chachu, bade papa, chachi, badi mummy- they’re all an example of your second parents! They love you like your own. For them you’re they’re own children and you should always reciprocate the same love. They will provide you with whatever you want. They will hold your hand in every situation. 💗

Your loved one who is your soulmate! Your life partner! They love you , enjoy with you, fight with you but in the end they always be with you no matter what. This is again one of the purest relation we have in our lives. Two different individuals becoming one. What a beautiful concept..❤️

Your children your own versions in baby form. What an absolute bliss it might be to hold them in your hands and see your world in their eyes. They’re just like another body organ without which we can’t live! ❤️

Let us all take a moment to appreciate each one of our family members for the unconditional love and care they provide us!

And now this week is gonna be super interesting as my sister from Mumbai has come for a vacation and we are going to enjoy tons! 🥳

Love n only love 🌸

Spread positivity! 🦋🌼🌈

Let me start with a question- what is that one thing which makes your day?

For me, it’s making others happy! Yes. The sense of satisfaction you get when a person smiles because of you is the greatest thing.

There are days when we feel low and not at all motivated to even carry out our daily tasks and then there are days when we are super energetic and positive! It’s normal. After all every day is a different day. We should never let our bad days overpower us. We need to be really strong mentally. We have to remind ourselves that tomorrow is going to be better, tomorrow is going to be amazing!

Although it’s difficult to be consistent with these thoughts.

Do you know how do I make myself happy? It’s really simple. Suppose I’m having a very unproductive day where I feel useless, I will just go to YouTube and watch a food or travel vlog or I will open my camera and will start talking randomly. Yes! This is it! “DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY”

When you feel low, find something recreational do to! Never sit ideal or empty minded because it always leads to more negative thought patterns.

Here are a list of things which can help you(according to me):

Get adequate sleep!😴 A lot of you might not know this but it’s true that disturbed sleep patterns not only affect your routine but your mental health too. Therefore it’s really important to get ourselves a sound and peaceful sleep.
Practice gratitude!💫 This is very necessary. It helps us to appreciate the little things around us and also enables us to find joy in everything which results in a good mood!
Speak your heart out!❤️ This is my favourite thing to do. There are various therapies which help us to overcome negative feelings and thoughts but all of them are effective till a considerable extent. The thing which can help us the most is talking. Talk to anyone around you and get an insight into their life too! This will help you to not only unburden yourself emotionally (known as catharsis in psychology, this enriches the environment and has healing properties) but will also make you learn from the experiences they share. Learning from your surroundings is the most helpful thing one can do as it leads to better understanding of the world around you. So share your thoughts, feelings, emotions and motives with your close ones or anyone for that matter rather than piling up things within you!
Enjoy nature!🌼🌻🌸 This calms us down! When we listen birds chirp, when we feel the subtle wind blowing around us, when we see the trees dancing in the sunlight, when we notice insects hustling and bustling around, when we walk on the grass- green and clean, and when we enjoy the fragrance of the flowers- colourful and blissful! (Didn’t you enjoy reading this too?😍). This is a very soothing thing to do when you feel low and lack motivation!
Indulge in cooking or baking!🧁 The chocolaty batter and the butterscotch icing will make you remind the sweetest memories you’ve had and will cheer you up! The colourful spices and the aroma of a spicy Indian gravy will excite you and make your life easier and full of flavour! Mmmm! Sounds yum😋
Self love! 🥰 Accept your flaws. Accept yourself. Love yourself! Don’t be upset about the undesirable! If we all become perfect, wouldn’t it be boring? There will be nothing to worry about, nothing to laugh about, nothing to improve about! You’re amazing the way you are! You should just never hurt anyone or lie! Be honest and be real!
Dance and sing!🎤💃 It will help you enjoy the beautiful lyrics of your favourite songs and will make you forget about the bad things your mind entertained. It’ll make you smile and imagine the loveliest things present in your subconscious!
Capture beautiful moments!📸 We live joyous moments for once but we can relish them forever when we capture them not only in our heart but in our cameras too! This will help you to enjoy these moments again when you open your phone randomly with monotonous thoughts! It’ll give you a sense of bliss and will let you relive those memories again!

Live life to the fullest and focus on the positive

Enjoy everything! Live every moment! Be happy! Be satisfied! Be thankful! Be you!

I hope this blog helped you feel better. My only motive is to make you all feel good about yourself! You are unique the way you are!

Last but not the least, I would like to add one suggestion! Spend a lot of time with your friends and family as it will help you explore the beautiful relations god has gifted you with!

Love and only love!💗

Little things! 💫

I am a strong believer of practising gratitude and valuing the littlest things around us! According to me, life is all about learning from insignificant experiences, different people we meet and the values taught to us by our family!

For most of us today, leisure is the most important but my friends all good things come when we earn them! Hard work is really important and apart from that, holding onto our basic responsibilities and values is equally necessary.

On a Sunday afternoon, I clicked my father polishing his footwear.

This picture which I have attached above might be a daily task for most of you but when I saw my dad doing this that day, I felt a sense of pride. Being the daughter of man who is capable of doing the greatest things and never forgetting the little things which belong to him.

You know we are all humans with a tendency to start taking a comfortable life for granted. And this isn’t our fault, it’s a tendency. But we need to remember that valuing the smallest things gives us so much joy. Today all of us lead a stressful life thinking about materialistic things like money, branded clothes, footwear etc. We all want ourselves to be totally presentable (including me) all the time! We are always worried whether we will have a new set of clothing for the party we have to attend next! And in so much hue n cry what we forget are the little things- a sweet good morning with which our parents greet us wearing a bright smile , the tasty cold coffee we had which has a special ingredient- our mother’s love , the laugh we shared while fighting with our sibling, the moment of pure bliss when we eat yummy food and the feeling of heaven when we see our loved ones happy around us!

All of my friends today are tensed about which college will they get but guys this is just a phase. Enjoy it! 5 years later when we get our first job and salary, we will look back and miss these days of crying and laughing together with no burden of responsibilities..this is the most beautiful phase of our lives..where we just have one duty- to study. We will miss all of this so much.

Let’s just stop for a moment and thank god for a beautiful life..for a comfortable life..for a loving family.. for everything!

It’s about the little thing(s) that matter!

Social Distancing- The New Normal!

Let me begin by asking you the question “What is normal?” What is normal for one may not be so for the other. Who would’ve thought that the very basic normal acts of socialising,partying,moving out everywhere for work or for leisure,being surrounded by family and friends in joy as well as sorrow and of course going to school and colleges everyday would become such a big deal!

So what was normal till a few months back is not so now and god knows till when. “Normal” then has come to be identified as something which is conducive to making a healthy and safe environment be it physically, socially or mentally.

“

The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.
Kakuzo Okakuara

The whole experience of this Covid-19 pandemic has taught us various things, one of them being observing social distancing as that has been identified as the only definitive way of not being inflicted by the disease.

It is no mean task to be socially distanced from all those whom we love being with. The initial few days took a toll on everyone especially mentally but sooner or later everyone realised that it was in the best interest of not only oneself but also all those whom we love so dearly. This has become the “New Normal” way of showing love,care and respect. People started connecting virtually and even enjoying it eventually.

We all hope this fear of the pandemic ends soon and we all can go back to our old “normal” and be really happy once again but till then we should follow social distancing extensively and hope that it :

“Heals The World

Make it a Better Place ,

For You and For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough For the Living

Make It a Better Place For You and For Me!”

~Micheal Jackson

What the lockdown has taught me?

So the lockdown has been a learning phase for all of us. I’ve learnt. I’ve learnt not only how to cope up with staying in four walls for more than 100 days and counting but also to live with less. It’s been days since I’ve met my near and dear ones, I miss them but this lockdown has taken my patience to a level where it has never been. I stay calm no matter what. I’ve learnt to adjust myself according to the situation without getting irritated or worried! I couldn’t have asked for more!

Let’s talk about what it has personally taught me~

So the first and the most exciting thing I started learning and doing was to bake! Baking is not only making cakes and pastries but it’s mixing your emotions with chocolate,vanilla and cocoa powder!

***Chocolava cakes made by me to overcome my craving for Domino’s chocolava cake!***

Life is what you bake it!🧁

The second thing I learnt was also related to my cookery skills! I’m a big fast food fan! I love pizza,momos,sandwiches and what not! But the lockdown didn’t allow me to relish my taste buds until and unless I decided to serve my self with the help of my mum.

***I made the yummiest momos I could with my favourite red sauce!***

***All my love is for you! For your curves and your toppings ;)!***

So till now my blog is all about food,food and food! But that’s not the end for sure.. no doubt I’m a die heart foodie but I also learnt more things.

I surrounded myself with green plants! This not only helped me contribute to the nature but also made my house look so soothing! Planting indeed gives us a positive feeling!

Be leaf in yourself! 🌿

I tried my hand at writing which resulted in me expressing my thoughts beautifully,in a way in which they cannot be spoken. Jotting down indeed lightens your heart ..it helps you share your thoughts with others and spread positivity!

***A snapshot of what I wrote a week ago***

We all have learnt to live at one place! We’ve started spending a lot of time with our families. At home. Without going anywhere! This is the beauty of this time! Living each moment with your family is .. priceless! And we got a chance to experience it,without this lockdown it would have been impossible for this generation to do so!

Family is where heart is!

The most important fact that I have come to realise is that I cannot take anything for granted now. Lockdown has taught me so. The early morning walks, flowers on my pots, chirping of the birds, gardening, just sitting quietly or chatting with my friends ,nothing is trivial. These are important tasks that keep us grounded.

It took just one invisible being, a virus, just a lockdown to make me realise all these truths of life!