Nasta Kar ke Jana!!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We should have breakfast like a king and dinner like a beggar but we mostly end up doing the opposite. We eat something not so nutritious and filling for breakfast mostly due to lack of time. Some people skip breakfast to lose weight, however it’s proven that having healthy breakfast everyday helps in reducing weight and stops us from over eating throughout the day.  I like continental breakfast, where I should have wide verity of fruits, cereals and juices to choose from. My husband likes Indian breakfast options like idly, poha, dhokla etc. When I used to stay with my parents my mom used to make sure that no one leaves home without having breakfast. But now being a working woman I don’t get time to cook breakfast every day. I know the importance of healthy breakfast but in the mad rush of reaching office on time we mostly end up skipping our breakfast. I know that cornflakes or any other cereals are a good option for quick and healthy breakfast, but eating the same type of cereal everyday is so boring. My husband specially hates cornflakes because he feels he cannot eat the same thing every day.

I delivered a baby 3 weeks back, and now I am a busy new mom. I am on my maternity leave so in a way I am not going to office and expectations are that I cook some nice breakfast for my husband every day. However things are totally different when you are a mother of a newborn, my baby takes all my time and attention and staying away from him for more than 10 minutes is not possible for me. That’s why I was looking for quick and easy breakfast options and whiling searching for same I met Gupta ji’s family, who is famous for their breakfast options. They eat healthy cornflakes for their breakfast every day, but with a yummy twist. Though the main ingredient is cereal but there is a delicious variation in their breakfast everyday, which makes each day’s breakfast special and different. They serve the same old cornflakes in many different variations like choco mint, banana cinnamon, strawberry etc. They also make tasty payasam, healthy salads and delicious shakes with cornflakes. Can you believe that the same old boring cornflakes can be served in so many different ways? This makes sure that you get the taste and verity in your breakfast everyday without compromising on the nutrition factor. After seeing the breakfast menu of Gupta ji’s family I certainly want to go to their home for breakfast J

Using the awesome recipes the Gupta’s have to share using the kellogg’s cornflakes, everyone can have healthy start for the day. Healthy start of the day with healthy breakfast will ensure a good energetic day throughout.

Together, I feel secure

Optimistic outlook to life is the best way to lead life, but staying optimistic all day everyday is a difficult task to do. We tend to feel negative, sad, and miserable about things at times. Sometimes we know that nothing can change that situation or we know how to fix the issue but we just want an assurance from our loved ones that they are there with us to get the energy to get going. I consider myself quite a practical person still sometimes I feel miserable about something and that is when I just need someone to listen to me and be empathetic to me. Before marriage I used to turn to my close friends and my mom for such things. But after marriage it’s mainly my husband whom I look up to for all the support and positivity.

It is very difficult for me to talk about just one incident when he supported me and gave me the positivity I needed to go through that situation. However one incident which I remember more clearly, was this one evening when I came back home crying from office, because of one colleague’s misbehavior. I have considered her more like a friend than a colleague but something which she spoke on my back was very hurtful for me. I get close to people very easily and once I consider someone my friend I be friends with them forever. So for me this came across like a shock. I came home and my husband opened the door for me, I just hugged him tight and started crying. He was furious and was asking me again and again the reason of such outburst, and when I told him the reason he consoled me and asked me to get ready to go out for coffee.

While walking out he talked to me about many other things which were not related to this colleague of mine so that he can divert my mind. And when I looked normal he told me something which I really liked and now I use always. He told me, where there is competition friendship or love cannot be there.  Workplace is a palace where everyone wants to give their best and be the best and then in the race of being the best sometimes people tend to do or say something which can be hurtful to other. May be they don’t mean to hurt you but you are hurt because you took it personally. So in the business world keep professional and personal things separate, when you mix these two you will have problems. I listened to him with open mind and felt how right he is. Even I knew these things but with mind filled with negativity I was not able to think straight. With his support I cleared my mind and then things looked better.  Even if we know what is right what is wrong we still can’t see it if mind is filled with negative thoughts. The positivity we get from our loved ones make us realize what is the right, it’s always their presence which makes all the difference and together we feel safe J

My Look Up Story

How we look at things defines what we see. A person with positive attitude will see things straight and one with negative will see things going wrong only. It’s our attitude which defines our altitude and its optimism which give us hope for better future. We often say that time has changed now, world is not a good place to live as it used to be. All these thoughts does nothing but fills us with negativity and takes our belief away from humanity, however optimism is the way of life which makes us hopeful for good. It brings back our belief in humanity and goodness.

Talking of such incidents from my life where optimism kept me going, I am going to share a recent one. Though I am quite a balanced person but when in pain like many of us I too tend to think negative. I have very low pain tolerance and I am very sacred of needles and everything which can hurt me. I always used to have this weird feeling that I will die while delivering my baby. When I got married I shared this feeling of mine with my husband and he just laughed at it and ignored the conversation. When I got pregnant like everyone else in the family I was extremely happy too but at the same time this fear of getting hurt while delivering the baby was there with me. I used to do self counselling and was motivating myself that I can do it. However when the day arrived I kept very strong face and tried baring the pain for very long but after being half way through when the pain increased a lot my positivity started to give up. I was constantly telling my husband to get Cesarean done for me, I was telling him that I can’t bare the pain anymore and I am going to die. But he stood by me firm and strong, he kept on motivating me, did everything to divert my mind from the pain. He kept on telling me that you can do it, just think about the cute little baby you will get to meet at the end of this pain. Somehow with his motivation and the help from the supportive staff at the hospital I went through the painful journey faster than expected by the doctors and at the end when I saw my son all my pain vanished. After that whatever needle and all the doctors were pocking me with, I felt no pain. My husband’s motivation and my son’s cute face made me optimistic about coming happy days and I bared the toughest pain on earth in better way than I expected. At the end doctors were really impressed by my will power and my husband’s supportive nature, and we two were super happy as new parents.

It was only my hope to see my cute little bundle of joy which kept me going through all this pain. It was only optimism which kept our belief firm on a better tomorrow and today we are really happy as 1 week old parents. Now looking at my son’s face when I think back of that painful day, it feels it was all worth it. 

New Life New Beginning

In this world only one thing is constant and that is change. Change brings new meaning, new dimensions to life. Like all of us I too have taken many chances in my life which bought changes in my life in many ways. And if I have to talk about one thing which bought the biggest and best change in my life then it would be moving away from my family for my first job.

After collage when I got placed in a start-up VLSI company in Bangalore, where as all my other friends were placed in well established software companies my parents (especially my dad) were a little worried. VLSI being an industry they did not knew much about, they though I will not have much career scope.  And the company I got placed in being a start-up was making them more scared. I was the only girl who got placed there from my collage so they had that other fear of me being alone in new city too. Everyday my dad used to tell me to not accept the offer letter and get some job in my hometown only. He also wanted me to peruse career in soft ware as most of the engineers do, but I was not interested in that. Somewhere my dad’s concern and fear made me stronger about taking up the job and accepting the challenge to do well in life in an unknown city all alone.

When it was time for me to join the company, my dad wanted to accompany me to Bangalore. However I wanted to come here alone as I was sure that if he will see that my company is so small he might not like it and might ask me to comeback with him. I decided to go to Bangalore alone, and assured him that I will take care of myself and will inform him immediately if there is any problem.

Luckily there were no issues I faced in this friendly city and I liked my work and company. Slowly and steadily I learnt more and did well in my work. After a year and half I switched to a well known company in VLSI domain and after taking an apartment on rent when I invited my parents to visit me, my dad was the happiest to see how confident and self depended I was. He was happy that I liked my job so much. And with my new pay, which was better than many of my friends working in soft ware giant’s I felt more successful in my career which made my parents feel proud of me. This was one of my decisions which brought a big change in my life. It made me confident, independent, and helped me win confidence of my parents in my abilities. To #StartANewLife one need to take chance, bigger the chance better the change it will bring.

Your Life Your Responsibility Your Decision

My Dad is a salaried employee and unlike few of my close relatives

who did very well in their business and have a good cash flow all the time he only
has a fix income every month. Still If I compare the lifestyle he has
provided to me and my siblings is nothing less than my well off cousins.Dad
and my mom together provided us the best things in life, be it cloths, food,
education, vacations or values. They have always encouraged us to do the right things,
and plan for things we want to do in long run.

The art of saving was taught to us in very young age by mom.
We used to have our own piggy banks and as teenagers we had our own savings
account in bank too. In my case I had my first bank account at the age of 13,
which I owned jointly with my mom, but I was the one supposed to maintain the
account. Whenever I saved 500 or 1000 rupees from my pocket money I used to
deposit that to my bank account. This way I not only learnt the bank related
work but also became confident about myself.

We are two sisters and one brother and we have just 2 to 3
years of age gap between us. During our school and college days there were
times when my parents had to pay 3 equally big tuition fees at one go and they
did it all quite smoothly. None of us had to go for education loan or anything
of that sort. For mine and my sister’s weddings the kind of arrangements my
parents did left many of our relatives surprised. They were not expecting my parents
to organize such lavish weddings one after another, but my parents did it as
that was their dream and they have planned for it in advance. They did not take
financial help from anyone and were able to do it all on their own. They were always
able to give the best to their children and it was the result their good financial planning.

By seeing them and with my mom’s motivation I also started
with financial planning and investment quite early in my career.  And luckily I am married to a man who too comes from quite similar background as mine and believes in planning and being
independent. We are working together towards our financial and personal goals
and I am sure we will also be able to give the best of best to our future kids :)

Being independent financially not only gives one confidence
to face the future but also makes the present more peaceful. You can live in
today completely only when your future worries are all taken care of. In today’s
fast lifestyle we cannot guaranty that everything will be good in future but
with planned finances we can be sure of a financially secured future, which for
sure will be better than an unplanned one.