Last week, a friend came up with a brilliant idea of playing a game to help make life more interesting, motivated, and rewarding.
Each week, the two of us give each other a task - it could be something we feel the other one would enjoy doing, something we think the other should be doing, or something that the other one has been procrastinating for a long time - the basic idea being to make sure the other person "lives" their life week by week through the medium of these tasks at least.
The failure to complete these tasks results in a penalty of INR 500 payable to the person who's given the task. Pretty cool, nay?
So my task for the week is to find "happiness" over the week in the small/big things around me. I had thought this will be a cakewalk, but over the last 2 days it's been very difficult to find happiness. Maybe this is an attention call for me to consciously try and stay happier if not happy.
Monday Happiness
On Monday, happiness struck on finally getting silky smooth straight hair after spending 5k and 4 hours in a salon and walking around with not-so-straight hair for 2 days and getting looks from friends and family which ranged from pity to disapproval to ridiculous. The feeling when I tried to take a selfie and saw that I didn't have to arrange my hair was quite unknown but cool nevertheless.
Tuesday Happiness
On Tuesday, I found happiness amidst the most irritating situations - during a in-flight wait (which btw lasted 2 hours in case you missed my FB update).
An American couple flying to Goa, with their cute little daughter and Bengali lady with her young kids - a boy and a little girl - were my lucky fellow passengers. The Indian girl (whose name incidentally was Isha too) came out on the aisle and walked towards the American baby, who was almost overwhelmed at spotting another person her age an that too from her own gender. She tried calling out to her mom by pointing at the Indian girl - the way you or me would do if we see let's say a unicorn walking on the streets. The two girls kept standing in front of each other and smiling at each other - communication did not seem to require words for them. And then the Indian girl addressed the other little one as "baby" and it was so hilarious - a toddler calling a tinier toddler a baby.
In a flight where all the adults were busy cursing the airlines and rescheduling their days - these 2 girls were happy to just have found each other and the rest really didn't matter to them. Who said lessons are learnt only in classrooms and from old and wise teachers? I learnt mine from the most cuddly things. :)
Wednesday Happiness
Just like a fart, happiness sees not the time of the day or place to occur - it just happens! Wednesday, happiness surprised me early in the morning - that part of the day where I would least expect it.
My flatmate who usually plays mind-numbing pop music on her laptop in the morning much to my annoyance had today decided to listen to a soft hindi number. The happiness that ran through my still-in-sleep-mode body when I heard "Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai" while brushing my teeth must surely have been visible in my puffy eyes. Truly, this was one of those "zindagi ki sasti khushiyan" :)
Thursday Happiness
Okay, so Thursday was a particularly horrid day. I burnt one of my favorite tops while ironing it and more importantly my hair was turning out to be a complete mess post its first wash after the smoothening treatment. So when a friend asked to meet up, I greedily took up the offer even if it meant traveling halfway across the city. And well, I can confidently say that mid-week celebrations are under-rated. In that corner of the maddening city that Bombay (yes, we all prefer Bombay, still), I was pleasantly happy to draw parallels between Hiranandani and Connaught Place, even if they were not necessarily accurate. And then the freedom and safety to be able to head back home alone well past mid-night, albeit in an Ola cab does give you a very grow-up kind of high.
Friday Happiness
Friday's happiness unlike the previous days' happiness, was known before hand. A dear dear friend had come to town and gave me an early start to the weekend. We met up for lunch and talked about things we had discussed multiple times before, things we had hid from each other, things we thought we had hid from each other but had actually told each other, things about ourselves we were unaware of because of being in a semi-conscious state. Though the lunch itself was nothing to write home about, the ambiance of the cafe, the lazy afternoon, the company, and the memories more than made up for it. And then the cherry on the cake was that I got my extremelyyyyyyyy (trust me, I can not emphasize this enough) miser friend to pay!!!!!! Happy Friday indeed!
Saturday Happiness
Happiness flooded and drowned me on Saturday. I shopped around alone and bought a couple of necessary and not-so-necessary-yet-quite-cool things (read clothes). A random band was playing slightly jarry music in the over crowded mall and I was just standing and looking around - since I had nothing better to do. I actually spotted a familiar face in the milling crowd, and was amazed that so early in my stint here I had come to the point where a visit to the mall means bumping into someone or the other you know. Not a bad feeling at all.
Coming back to an empty house (the sheer bliss!), and looking out at the sparkling city lights through my 6th floor bedroom window, I realized that there is some road out there which has street lights that look just like a mini Queen's necklace from here (yeah yeah call me deluded). There is something about yellow lights that just fills up your body with warmth and hope and all things good - like the smell of good coffee.
The day ended on a high note with me witnessing what I can only call a circus, right outside SRK's house. To cut a long story short, it was his birthday, celebrities were pouring in, and people were losing their sanity and self-respect. I ignored when Rohit Shetty's car passed by, even when Anushka Sharma (who seemed a real snob btw and seemed to be having a bad hair day), and when when the Power Couple's (AB's baby and his babe aka Aishwarya) car came along, but I COULD NOT, just COULD NOT resist when Kunal Kapoor's car arrived. He is so-effing-HOT! And turns out he's super chilled-out too - on my requesting him to roll down his car window, he sweetly mouthed "can't do" while shaking his head and smiled and waved. *drooooool*
And I had a tiny celebrity moment myself, when people started looking into the car I was in to check if it was a celebrity. Some of them even banged the windows and though they realized that we were ordinary people just like them, they cheered and waved at us nonetheless. Mob energy, I tell ya!
Sunday Happiness
Sunday happiness is writing long-ass mails to a friend across the ocean who for some crazy reason has either experienced / or is simultaneously experiencing the same things as I am. Sharing our opinions, thoughts, and pretty much our lives on mail, makes me forget the distance that lies between us. I pretty much feel like a philosopher each time I write to her and that's mostly thanks to the insightful questions she asks me.
Author's note: In the past seven days, a lot of happy things happened as you read above, but a lot more not-so-happy things happened too. In life, there will always be the good and the bad and the bad will always manifest itself much more strongly than the good. This exercise made me realize that we need to make a conscious effort to overlook the bad and focus on the good. It's not easy, not easy at all. But a start is all that needs to be made. More often than not, happiness does not "happen" or "occur", it needs to be pursued - relentlessly - like that elusive CAT score, or that playing-hard-to-get boy/girl who you think is 'The One" for you - and only then will it come to you. Happy pursuing!
Each week, the two of us give each other a task - it could be something we feel the other one would enjoy doing, something we think the other should be doing, or something that the other one has been procrastinating for a long time - the basic idea being to make sure the other person "lives" their life week by week through the medium of these tasks at least.
The failure to complete these tasks results in a penalty of INR 500 payable to the person who's given the task. Pretty cool, nay?
So my task for the week is to find "happiness" over the week in the small/big things around me. I had thought this will be a cakewalk, but over the last 2 days it's been very difficult to find happiness. Maybe this is an attention call for me to consciously try and stay happier if not happy.
Monday Happiness
Tuesday Happiness
On Tuesday, I found happiness amidst the most irritating situations - during a in-flight wait (which btw lasted 2 hours in case you missed my FB update).
An American couple flying to Goa, with their cute little daughter and Bengali lady with her young kids - a boy and a little girl - were my lucky fellow passengers. The Indian girl (whose name incidentally was Isha too) came out on the aisle and walked towards the American baby, who was almost overwhelmed at spotting another person her age an that too from her own gender. She tried calling out to her mom by pointing at the Indian girl - the way you or me would do if we see let's say a unicorn walking on the streets. The two girls kept standing in front of each other and smiling at each other - communication did not seem to require words for them. And then the Indian girl addressed the other little one as "baby" and it was so hilarious - a toddler calling a tinier toddler a baby.
In a flight where all the adults were busy cursing the airlines and rescheduling their days - these 2 girls were happy to just have found each other and the rest really didn't matter to them. Who said lessons are learnt only in classrooms and from old and wise teachers? I learnt mine from the most cuddly things. :)
Wednesday Happiness
Just like a fart, happiness sees not the time of the day or place to occur - it just happens! Wednesday, happiness surprised me early in the morning - that part of the day where I would least expect it.
My flatmate who usually plays mind-numbing pop music on her laptop in the morning much to my annoyance had today decided to listen to a soft hindi number. The happiness that ran through my still-in-sleep-mode body when I heard "Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai" while brushing my teeth must surely have been visible in my puffy eyes. Truly, this was one of those "zindagi ki sasti khushiyan" :)
Thursday Happiness
Okay, so Thursday was a particularly horrid day. I burnt one of my favorite tops while ironing it and more importantly my hair was turning out to be a complete mess post its first wash after the smoothening treatment. So when a friend asked to meet up, I greedily took up the offer even if it meant traveling halfway across the city. And well, I can confidently say that mid-week celebrations are under-rated. In that corner of the maddening city that Bombay (yes, we all prefer Bombay, still), I was pleasantly happy to draw parallels between Hiranandani and Connaught Place, even if they were not necessarily accurate. And then the freedom and safety to be able to head back home alone well past mid-night, albeit in an Ola cab does give you a very grow-up kind of high.
Friday Happiness
Friday's happiness unlike the previous days' happiness, was known before hand. A dear dear friend had come to town and gave me an early start to the weekend. We met up for lunch and talked about things we had discussed multiple times before, things we had hid from each other, things we thought we had hid from each other but had actually told each other, things about ourselves we were unaware of because of being in a semi-conscious state. Though the lunch itself was nothing to write home about, the ambiance of the cafe, the lazy afternoon, the company, and the memories more than made up for it. And then the cherry on the cake was that I got my extremelyyyyyyyy (trust me, I can not emphasize this enough) miser friend to pay!!!!!! Happy Friday indeed!
Saturday Happiness
Happiness flooded and drowned me on Saturday. I shopped around alone and bought a couple of necessary and not-so-necessary-yet-quite-cool things (read clothes). A random band was playing slightly jarry music in the over crowded mall and I was just standing and looking around - since I had nothing better to do. I actually spotted a familiar face in the milling crowd, and was amazed that so early in my stint here I had come to the point where a visit to the mall means bumping into someone or the other you know. Not a bad feeling at all.
And I had a tiny celebrity moment myself, when people started looking into the car I was in to check if it was a celebrity. Some of them even banged the windows and though they realized that we were ordinary people just like them, they cheered and waved at us nonetheless. Mob energy, I tell ya!
Sunday happiness is writing long-ass mails to a friend across the ocean who for some crazy reason has either experienced / or is simultaneously experiencing the same things as I am. Sharing our opinions, thoughts, and pretty much our lives on mail, makes me forget the distance that lies between us. I pretty much feel like a philosopher each time I write to her and that's mostly thanks to the insightful questions she asks me.
Author's note: In the past seven days, a lot of happy things happened as you read above, but a lot more not-so-happy things happened too. In life, there will always be the good and the bad and the bad will always manifest itself much more strongly than the good. This exercise made me realize that we need to make a conscious effort to overlook the bad and focus on the good. It's not easy, not easy at all. But a start is all that needs to be made. More often than not, happiness does not "happen" or "occur", it needs to be pursued - relentlessly - like that elusive CAT score, or that playing-hard-to-get boy/girl who you think is 'The One" for you - and only then will it come to you. Happy pursuing!
1 comments :
you are beautiful. your thoughts, its been too long since i had a chance to witness them. :)
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Bolo bolo....jee khol ke bolo :D