Is life a bunch of roses?

And sweet smelling roses, at that?

Well, I’d like to think so, I’ve always thought so.
But the truth is, life is surely a bunch of roses, if you can handle the thorns that come along
After all, roses are beautiful and soft. I believe anything’s that truly worth living (not just roses, there are several sweet little things I’d vouch for) needs some kind of struggle to achieve.

Like face pain, then experience pleasure (to be exact, relief to be away from the pain).
Like happiness, for example. I see people cribbing about their jobs, I believe that one should enjoy what they do, then it’s not called ‘going to work’ (Get the point?)

Instead of complaining about thorns, vision the pleasant roses that comes along. You will then automatically walk your way through the thorns. After all, what’s the bliss of success if one hasn’t faced failure? Oh by the way, there’s nothing permanent in this world. Not success. Not failure. No one can call anyone a failure. No one can call anyone successful. The human mind is ever yearning, ever pining for more things. Be it materialistic, emotional, physical.

So, instead of cribbing about trivial issues, focus on what’s necessary. It’s very important to have a goal in life.
A small child can have the goal of learning a cycle. He falls a few times, probably even cries (if he’s the sentimental kind) and later smiles when he feels the wind against his face as he goes in a speed he never went on before (unless, of course, he has gone in his dad’s car, and uses Einstein’s theory of relativity )

As I said earlier, nothing’s permanent, success is an on-going, continual process, and the human mind is ever desirous… blah blah..
So, be ambitious, have goals, and have goals that seem impossible to achieve. Trust your mind, trust your instincts. And most importantly, trust yourself, like no other. If you think you can do something, you can (I’ve read this somewhere, and truly truly love this line). There’s another word for this in the English dictionary, actually two. One’s ‘optimism’. The other is ‘hard work’. (there’s a difference between hard-work and hardly-working)
Have the two, coupled with seemingly-unachievable goals. And guess what, you just achieve it! I’d like to add a third, very important word, people forget today. Don’t forget ‘enjoy’ or ‘happiness’ in whatever you do.

Because in the end (and I end this post for now) it’s the happiness, even in tough times, that will matter most.

Dedicated to my friends in India

I was listening to music… Music makes me happy. Music makes me remember friends, loved ones. Music makes my heart go heavy.
I miss all my friends, miss the parents who made me what I am today.

Let’s start from school. A shy person when I don’t know someone, which changes in a few months when I get to know the person better (you know, that feeling when you can just talk to someone with the ’same frequency’ feeling).
Laughing in class and cracking jokes, and then being sent out, only to work harder and get good marks. Sharing tiffins, eating lunch together was another fav. Complaining about the school uniform was yet another, talking about the most handsome hero / the most happening songs, the infinite no. of hours gossiping…
Walking back home with friends… omg… so many memories!

Trying to know the facts of life together.. Playing badminton, singing English songs whose lyrics we always took time to understand (initial accent problems, later sang only English songs)..hehe… Playing antakshari.. the picnics..

Cycling and talking at the same time, searching for beautiful places to cycle, getting up early only for this.. and sleeping the rest of the day after coming back (we used to get tired, and since it was the holidays, we had nothing else worthwhile to do.. Koel, I miss you!!!). Talking for hours together on the phone, planning when and where to hangout..going to a friend’s house, lazing around at home with friends and family… Cooking mango milkshakes in the summer and inviting friends home to watch a movie

Sharing stuff, even clothes so that we wouldn’t repeat our style..How cool is that! Sharing is soo cool!
I miss the fun times, the panipuri stalls and fun everyday with friends, the lectures at home after eating panipuris and junk food (yes, that’s what it was) outside and not able to eat at home.. Miss you Ma!!!
Mom, junk food always tasted so good, because it was bad for me. Just miss your cooking and awesome food!!!!

The ragging faced was fun, then the blissful sweet revenge of ragging our juniors in return…
I miss the movies we saw, the laughter in class and then being sent out and laughing some more (chuckle), the silent understanding during exams and helping and taking help from friends

Sitting in the last bench counting how many people have slept in the class..
Playing word games, bingo, drawing caricatures in class, reading a ‘contro’ book under the ‘class notebook’ was another big time timepass………

Always being a few minutes late to class ( one particular class where we used to be stuck in the traffic and somehow the professor reached much before time – the bus was our only commute to school ), and not being allowed for the rest of the class.. Doing ‘timepass’ outside.. hehe… Then taking half day from college and going to a friends house (or my own home)… Going out for shopping, going to eat out, going to Imax, City Central, .. what amazing times!
p.s: This was a long time ago, I don’t do such things now (such situations don’t happen to me anymore.. no getting stuck in traffic like before)!!!

Sitting in the terrace talking about everything under the sun, watching the sunset… Talking about butterflies in the stomach and hearbreaks soon after. The best looking guy was almost always committed. Night-outs studying (always 1 day before the main exam) for 1-2 hours then taking 3 hours break.. lol!! And still managing to get good marks in the exams, now that’s we call talent!!

Though we had so much fun ,we used to work hard when it was required. There have been times when we have worked day and night…. The group studying one night before the exams, cribbing about how bad college is, how difficult life is.. never realising that one day we would miss all this later. Today, a few of my friends are in the U.S.A, some are in Hyderabad, some are in other parts of India… but all I know is that I just can’t get that life back!!! Or can I ??? If nothing, I want to meet my dear friends soon!!

P.s : I will talk about my first job and friends and work experience soon.. Stay tuned!

Shah Rukh khan

I’m a bigtime fan of SRK… More can be said later…

My first remembrances of U.S.A

Today, I finally find the time to actually write this down. Life has always been a journey for me. This journey started off with my friends and parents telling me goodbye and wishing me good luck, and me sitting on a plane to go to a foreign country.
I had no idea whether I still wanted to continue with this. I just wanted to cancel everything and come back to India. But there was the curiosity of seeing a new country, the hope of making new friends for life, having fun and getting a degree.
So there I sat, in that plane. I made a friend there right away. We spoke throughout the journey, and when the flight got delayed, we even stayed together.
I never saw her again! When I landed at GSP, I struggled to keep tears at bay, and I wont say how successful I was. Seniors picked me up and took me to the place which was supposed to be my home for another 2 years, CLEMSON. The drive was a rather uninteresting one, except for the conversation we had. The trees were withered, there was a sense of depression.
When I reached Clemson, people around me were helpful everywhere ..
Ok, let me explain helpfulness here. Help came in from all angles, must say everyone was an angel here, I slowly but surely made some friends. One actually learns the meaning and depth of the word ‘Thank you’ here… especially when a total stranger helps you out, and becomes a good friend later…
Well, so much for my first experience of U.S.A

Hello world!

I am Amrita Rajamani !!!