Connecting with Nature

How often do you take a stroll in a garden?

How often do you prefer walking than taking a vehicle?

How often you breathe in fresh air?

How often you read a novel under the shade of a sun?

How often do you notice nature’s beauty?

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Are the above-mentioned things even important to you?

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To me, it is…

Snaps from my recent visit to Lodhi Gardens – DelhiLodi Garden is one of Delhi’s most beautiful and popular parks. Here monuments are located amidst landscaped gardens. The most prominent are the 15th and 16th century tombs and a beautifully decorated mosque. There are smaller structures belonging to the late-Mughal period as well.

The Lodi dynasty in India arose around 1451 after the Sayyid dynasty. The Lodhi Empire was established by the Ghizlai tribe of the Afghans. They formed the last phase of the Delhi Sultanate.

As there is little architecture from these two periods remaining in India, Lodi Gardens is an important place of preservation. A favorite picnic spot and a joy for morning walkers with lots of greenery and trees.

Benefits of morning walk –

• helps to lose weight    • reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke

• reduces type 2 diabetes risk    • improves lung’s breathing capacity

• helps in the management of stress    • helps to treat hypertension

• protection against miscarriages

• very beneficial for the people suffering from insomnia. 20-30 minutes’ walk after the meals in the night can help to reduce the stress levels and can also helps in the digestion of the food which in turn gives you a sound sleep.

• supplies fresh oxygen and blood to each and every cell of the body which is required for the transport of every nutrient in the body

• reduce the risk of cancer and if someone is already suffering from cancer then it helps in the fast recovery and survival of the person

• improves the brain power    • add years to your life

Most common excuses for not going on a morning walk :

1. I am too busy    2. There are pet-walkers and the stray animals

3. The virtues of sleep    4. Walking is for the old, I work out

5. I play sports – that’s enough    6. Garden/Park is too far

I think we owe it to ourselves – to be connected to nature – make the best use of its gift. We may be too busy today, but won’t we be too late if we don’t take an action soon?

Musings from Rajasthan – India

The largest state of India – Rajasthan accounts for more than 10% of India’s surface area on the globe. Rajasthan is the only Indian State that has captured the imagination of the people, rulers and invaders through the ages as well as tourists both national and international.

Above is a painting by my super talented aunt. It truly depicts the exotic and vibrant nature of this state, a culture that has retained the very essence of the bygone royal era.

Rajasthan was dominantly ruled for over 1000 years by the Rajputs, a warrior clan who claim descent from the sun, the moon and the flames of a sacrificial fire. They have a strict sense of honor and chivalry similar to that of the medieval European Knights and preferred to die an honorable death rather than face defeat at the hands of the enemy.

India’s oldest mountain range as the backdrop; feast your eyes on spectacular sand dunes, take the tiger trail, or just watch the birds in the wetlands. Rajasthan offers it all.

Rajasthan is culturally rich and has extensive tradition in art and culture, which reflects the Indian way of life. The dance, music and art forms have been consciously cultivated and patronized by the erstwhile royal courts. An equally rich and varied folk culture from villages is both fascinating and mesmerizing. The music is of uncomplicated innocence and songs depict day-to-day relationships and chores, more often about the bringing of water. Rajasthan’s cultural tapestry takes in simple folk to highly cultivated classical music and dance, in its own distinct style.

Rajasthan has a rich tradition of cuisines – for this land of princes had some of the finest cooks in the palaces. The common-folk also took epicurean delight in the culinary art. Aptly has it been said that the royal kitchens of Rajasthan raised the preparation of food to the level of a sublime art.

Generally, Rajasthani curries are brilliant red but not as spicy as they look. Most Rajasthani cuisine uses pure Ghee (clarified butter) as a means of cooking.

Rajasthan is often portrayed as one vast open-air museum, with its relics so well preserved that it delights even the most skeptical traveler.

Other Fun links :

travel to Rajasthan – why?

facts and figures

wiki page

myths from Rajasthan – movie

Rajasthan Tourism

Beauty- an over rated virtue!!

Beauty is the most over-rated virtue for us humans!

To be frank, I have seen (and heard about) marriages break up, relationships not working out, lots of bullying and harassing, just because someone is not good looking.

Nobody wants to be branded as racist; but they’ll mind if their to-be-son-be-law is not tall enough or daughter-in-law has a protruding jaw line. Worst of all, not many people accept handicapped people in the society.

Outer beauty can be modified with herbal products or cosmetics or surgery, but to what extent? I have seen talented people never able to come out of the closet because they think they’re not good enough to showcase themselves, or because they think they won’t look good in the spot-light. It’s hard to be the one left out to be asked for a home-coming dance or ignored in a group of people partying!

In my opinion, it’s just the matter of a few years and a game of certain hormones that we don’t “like” ourselves. But once we learn to love ourselves just the way we are it’s a beautiful thing in itself! We don’t need to please someone else to be happy.

Yes indeed I use all these beauty products myself, I apply a body lotion so that my skin is not dry, I use a lip balm so that my lips don’t chip off, I use a hair-oil, shampoo and conditioner because I don’t want dirt or lice nesting in my hair! I do all this FOR ME, my personal gain, NOT to show someone that I have a closet full of branded cosmetics and I CAN very well afford them.

One day we all have to grow old, one day we all will have a receding hair line, one day we all will have a wrinkled face. What matters is how we deal with it.

Nothing can give us that joy – just smiling at ourselves looking in the mirror – knowing that we’re happy!

 

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Some superb quotes on being beautiful : Source – Google Images

  

do brand owners use their brands?

I recently spotted Shahnaz Husain in the newspaper, for the marriage ceremony of  Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan. It got me thinking, she became such a DIVA of cosmetics industry, why doesn’t her pics look so appealing?

I mean, seriously, If TATAs make the TATA salt, is it necessary they won’t use anything but TATA salt at home? If Reliance has petrol pumps, do the chauffeurs of Reliance owners  go to  Reliance petrol pumps only??

What I am intend to say is, the brand people put out for the public – to buy and use – do the brand owners use it themselves?

For example, (a funny one) do the manufacturers of Wheel washing powder use Wheel washing powder at home? Because clearly Ariel or Surf Excel is kinda more famous! Do Pril owners have Pril at their home?

And I don’t question this because I am confused about brands or which to use. I just got inquisitive after seeing Shahnaz Hussain, if she uses her own herbal products or the more famous brands are flown for her from NYC or London?

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Personally saying, it’ll be easier for them to use their own brands na, they can avail them so easily. But I don’t know if they do! Hmmmm…

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Oh I have a better question, do the brand ambassadors use the brand they endorse? 😉

I mean apart from the free sample or whatever they might get! 😀

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Some Interesting links – 

Economic Times tells us about the race and trend and other stuff about the Indian Brand ambassadors.

List of all major brands and their ambassadors by yahoo.com.

About Shahnaz Hussain :

Biography -> http://www.theforthright.com/shahnaz-husain-profile-biography/

Website -> http://shahnaz.in/index.asp

Blog -> http://www.mylifewall.com/shahnaz.php

Online store -> http://shastore.com/index.php/

Rainbows aren’t just in the sky :)

I took this pic at an oil-spill at my workplace 🙂 And I thought to myself, Rainbows aren’t just in the sky – it’s just a matter of perspective!

In our day-to-day life, we forget observe the beauty nature offers us. But such microscopic events (for me, at my workplace itself) brings us a moment of realization that sometimes we need to take off our blinders and live in the moment!

There is a saying in Hindi, “Dhoondne se toh khuda bhi milta hai” which means – If one searches intently enough he can find God too! 

All we need to find is our moment, and take a break once in awhile 🙂

Erasing the dots..

Don’t we hate it, when we can’t get to wash away a stained table-cloth? Or bed sheet or favorite party-wear? We give up at times; but if it’s a special one, we don’t give up easily, do we?

Then why not do the same for our inner self? We all get our spirit broken and scarred. We all come across people who cheat or hurt or humiliate us. We keep those people-those memories in our minds and hearts. 

See the irony, washing the stains off our dress is more important than cleansing our soul.

But we owe it to ourselves, to forgive-and-forget and have the passion to keep our lives free of negative energy. There is so much love to be shared, then why give even the tiny bit of importance to negativity.

I made a deal with myself. Once in a while, I think of one person who hurt me. And tell myself “I forgive him/her. I no longer want to keep the memories of that pain.” 

I have faith that with such baby steps, forgiving one person at a time, I can heal my souls and cherish only the good memories.

What do you do to heal your heart?