13 blue diamonds

Here is a peek-a-boo to the 13 most wonderful people whom I admire and are my role model. They are my blue diamonds, as they represent creativity, ingenuity, inventivity, faith and endurance.



Author – Robin Sharma

Robin Sharma is professional speaker who shares insights on leadership, change, personal effectiveness, and life management. Robin is a dedicated philanthropist too. His writings are distinguished and thought provoking. He is the proud author of 11 bestselling leadership books. www.robinsharma.com



Art - Atul Panase

Light hearted and a passionate artist. Atul is the most sought after artist, with immense determination and dedication. With vivacious experience an award winning artist states “There is no right or wrong in art – only good or bad and that is too subjective”. www.atulpanase.com



Business – Anil Ambani

Anil Ambani is said to be the foremost entrepreneurs of Independent India. He is India’s fourth richest business tycoon who has pioneered many financial innovations in the Indian capital market. Determined, strong-headed, optimists, courageous, disciplined and an early riser are the few ingredients of Anil Ambani. www.relianceadagroup.com



Celebrity – Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan, famously known as a perfectionist, has elevated the standards of Indian Cinema with his impeccable acting and directorial debuts. From flimography to being a social activist (Narmada Bachao) he proven to be versatile and has achieved immense excellence. www.aamirkhan.com



Media – Rajdeep Sardesai

He is an Indian journalist, political commentator and news presenter. In times when the ethics of journalism is increasingly getting clouded, Rajdeep's writings come across as a voice of conscience. It’s an art, to convey the news to people in a more appealing way and I think Rajdeep does complete justice. www.cnn-ibn.com



Music – A.R.Rahman

A.R.Rahman needs no introduction from Oscars to Padmashri, he has bagged it all. The man who redefined contemporary Indian music and is the pride of the entire nation. A world-class musician who has made a difference, he holds the credit for totally overhauling the style in which music was being made in India. www.arrahman.com



Police – Dilip Sawant

Dynamic, disciplined, intellect, professional, loyal and most of all honest are the few known traits of Mr. Sawant. An extremely learned, dignified police officer, who performs his duties with great integrity and honor. His dedication and commitment is commendable. DCP (Zone VI) serving Indian Police



Politics - Rahul Gandhi

He is a diligent and young politician with excellent communication skills and versatility. He has no air about the famous family he belongs to. A very humble, efficient and dynamic young age politician, who has the potential to change the face of India to reap its maximum potential. www.rahulgandhi.us



Radio Jockey – Malavika Vardan

I admire her job. The task of a RJ is to entertain the listeners by playing music or conveying messages in a most attractive and sophisticated way. This profession requires a lot of hard work and presence of mind. It is an extremely talented based field and I think Malavika surpasses it. www.city1016.ae



Singer – Lata Mangeshkar

Awarded by Bharat Ratna, Padmashri and been on the Guinness World Book of records, Lata Mangeshkar is the nightingale of India. She is a legend in her lifetime and undeniably the best singer India has ever produced. Lata Mangeshkar is in fact that rare artist who has realized her search for excellence. www.latamangeshkarsongs.com



Social Activist - Mother Theresa

Mother Teresa was a true follower of humanity. She served every needy person, breaking the barriers to religion, caste or creed. Mother Theresa is considered the "reincarnated form of Lord Jesus". She devoted her entire life in serving the needy and abandoned people of the society. Besides the Nobel Peace Prize, she was also awarded with Ramon Magsaysay and Padmashri Award for her social works. Mother Theresa quotes “If you judge people, you will have no time to love them.” www.motherteresa.org



Sports – Sachin Tendulkar

A genius without a doubt, you can fall out of words to describe a man of such caliber. He is the greatest icon of world cricket for almost two decades now. Sachin has always created new records and destroyed innumerable of them that had been already established. He never takes things for granted and each passing year, he outdoes himself but creating another record. www.tendulkar.co.in



Youth Icon – Sushmita Sen

First ever Indian woman crowned as Miss Universe, 1994. She is currently an actor cum entrepreneur who lives life on her terms. She is attractive, witty, charming, and bold. A proud single mother stood who against all odds by adopting two baby girls. In all walks of her life, she has proven to be an achiever.www.iam-she.com

Love, N.

Mother

A famous saying states that "God could not be everywhere and so he invented mothers", these words are a great inspiration to mothers across the world. Describing a mother's love is virtually impossible. It is a feeling that can only truly be understood by those that experience it. Here I dedicate this blog to my mother's and I hope to have done justice with what little I can part by about having a Mother.

Mother - we acknowledge and esteem her faith in every footstep. A mother’s affection and love has no religion, no caste, no creed – it is mere love, and love in its simplest form. She loves us unconditional and stands by us against all odds. The role of the mother is infinitely complex, but she makes it look simple and effortless.

The first crawl, the first step, the first tooth, the laugh, the cry, the walk, the fall - she remembers it all. She kisses our sufferings, hugs away the pain, shares the happiness, teaches to love, to be kind, honest and sincere. We have many a times gone against her, but she still forgets and forgives. We may have let her down plenty of time, but she still never stops loving us.

Sometime or most of the times we trade our Mother’s love and patience to materialistic wants, and have the audacity to expect her to give in. When we failed plenty of times and ceased believing in ourselves, our mother gave us the strength, she always believed in us, believed that we can achieve anything if we put our heart and mind at it. She has always held us with patience with perseverance. Any relation can be condemned but that of a Mother’s, her heart melts only for her child, her heart aches only for the one she has given life to.



Nothing can come close to the love that a mother feels for her children. Most women are inherently excellent mothers. Like the two most beautiful and loving Mothers I am blessed with– my mom Nirmala Noronha and my mother-in-law Stella Fernandes. Both these ladies have filled my life with good teachings and strong faith; they have always stood by me. My mother actually is an ordinary woman but within her tiny appearance lays an extraordinary fortitude, perseverance, a mighty soul and a very kindly heart.

My mother means the world to me; she is my courage, faith and virtue. She never gives up; she will always get her way out of crisis with little or no damage. To me, my mother means my life. She gave me life and she wants me to live it to the best of my ability.

So this Mothers Day – May 9th, tell you mother how much you love her, honour her and thank her for all the efforts she has endured in making your life worth a living.

- A Grateful Daughter

Vanity !

Vanity - It is an excessive desire for notice or approval; pride; ostentation; conceit.

Humans are perceived as the most intelligent form of animal, they groom themselves to attract a mate. Women are supposed to be the fairer sex. Enhancing and beautifying the aesthetical characteristics of an individual is traditionally a female concern. But as technology evolves in parallel to the evolution of the lifestyle of the public, there has been a plodding emergence of a new male prototype in the society, hence men too splurge money and utilize their time in looking appealing and handsome.

To follow this new trend, the business sectors in the society have founded ways on how they will cater the needs of these people who want to have them beautified. Fundamentally, that is the reason why beauty centers or salon have become in-demand and prevalent as well.

Confidence is often tied up with a feeling of personal beauty – as within our society the emphasis mostly is laid upon the external. Using make-up to look good enough; to face the world could swiftly become an issue of pertinence for both the sexes.



What one considers vain another may take it as necessity. Cosmetic vanity runs into a wide spectrum; there are many facets to it. For many people, how they look is a huge part of how they feel about themselves. Feeling beautiful is an integral part of their self-esteem, and they're willing to go any length in order to acquire a high level of physical beauty.

From basics cosmetic therapy like hair removal, hair cut, colour or highlights, pedicure, manicure, facial, clean up, spa, sauna to the relatively expensive plastic or cosmetic surgery – rhinoplasty (nose job), abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), liposuction, breast augmentation, buttock augmentation, lip injections.

Beauty is said to be the root of vanity, we cannot outrun this fact, but yes, it depends on how it should influence us. Beauty and body treatments should help in boosting self-esteem and elevate self-image; it shouldn’t be abused or used as a substitute for personal growth.

Mark Twain quotes “There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it.”

Benjamin Franklin quotes “Pride that dines on vanity sups on contempt.”

- Love, N

Integrity OR Facebook

The internet and social networking sites actually appears to reduce loneliness and improve well-being, but instead it is a potential risk.

When we think of social networking, we first think of Facebook. In recent times people are incredibly involved in social network sites and the most famous among them is Facebook.Over a couple of years, Facebook have stormed ahead of MySpace, Orkut, Friendster and the likes.

Facebook was introduced as a socializing network, where you can keep in touch with a whole lot of friends online, unlike pay off huge phone bills; but on the contrary it has started to interfere with our daily functioning.

The Facebook "wall" is where it all happens. This is where you write comments on what you are up to or share photos and articles with your friends, but if you carefully observe people often misuse the usage of this social network site, therefore it compels me to think Facebook is completely overrated.

a) Facebook is full of narcissism, gloating and gossip

b) It has some serious privacy issues.

c) Individuals create false profiles in order to remain anonymous in their communications.

d) Individuals may post derogatory, hurtful, or threatening information about others.

e) Facebook profiles are overexposed to anyone who chances upon it. A person’s every activity on every group is made visible in the profile.

f) Another unpleasant by-product is that whenever we log on to Facebook, we are confronted with irrelevant information about our friends like playing silly online games or busy posting in forums.

g) People have made Facebook an agony aunt. They go to the extent to wash their dirty linen in public, making their personal life and open book, were you can leave suggestion.

h) If you have received a nasty comment on your picture or your post, it hurts the ego and you can’t wait to get back – with all your strength.

i) This is a tough cookie …………………Did you delete me from your friend list on Facebook? Even tougher than the interview question – Tell me something about yourself? Never try deleting your office mates or your boss from the list, if you did………God save you!

j)There was a recent article on Times of India "Facebook ‘logs out happiness from marriage’ - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/relationships/man woman/Facebook-logs-out-happiness-from-marriage/articleshow/5784007.cms

As of facts and figures there are more than 400 million active users on Facebook, wherein 50% of the active users log on to Facebook in any given day.

Hence capitalizes your profile on Facebook by making your social network stronger and wider, exchanging required and relevant information, keeping in touch with your family & friends amicably and to remember e-mail addresses with birthdates.

In my opinion Facebook is just hype, the craze will eventually die. As we all know nothing in life is indispensable hence don’t get addicted to it and make it a necessity, instead use it as a constructive networking tool.

- Love, N.

IPL (Indian Premier League)

Cricket has become one of the most exciting games in the world today. It is the age old game in India, now with the introduction of IPL, it has thrown open the arena for businessmen and has given this game a new foray.

2008, when IPL first started, we were oblivious to this concept of cricket, as we could not relate or seem to understand the teams and the owners. But, the intoxicating flurry of positive publicity that had preceded the second edition of the IPL - 2009, compelled us to comprehend the concept and went on to support the Mumbai Indian team.

There are 8 teams and each represent different cities in India, so without contemplation you will support the city you hail from. For those underprivileged whose city or state do not have a franchised team, their selection is wide open to either choose from their favourite celebrity or cricketer.

IPL is the shortest form of cricket hence it gripped all our attention to this exciting and action-packed league. It seems like a nice package to savor in and to watch stunning cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer, Bhaji, Dravid, Shane Warne, Nannes, Malinga, Bret Lee, Gilchrist, Ganguly, Kumble, Dhoni, and the Pathan & Hussey brothers playing with or against each other. IPL has undoubtedly become intrusive to all the other channel's TRP, from the legend saga of Kyunki saas bhi… to the most watched Grey’s anatomy.

From an average fan to cricket guru everyone loves the shots played, the boundaries, the highest sixes, wickets breaking & high scores chased, IPL in essence is electrifying cricket. 45 days of pure entertainment and enjoyment….. With the entire crowd screaming, hysteric laughing, and own prediction, it definitely has attained mass following.

With the excitement growing each year, more & more people are tuning into watching the matches, indirectly promoting sportsman spirit to all the spectators.

Let alone being radical, I would say that IPL with all its entertainment and fun, it has also impacted the country’s growth. IPL is claimed to be the costliest cricket tournament in the world and of course it will earn huge revenues for the government.

Just a week more for this breath taking league to come to an end, then but of course begins the world cricket T-20…………. So sit back and relish the most priced sport of India.

- Cricket Lover

Black Cat Enigma

As a kid, I have always heard people say black cat crossing your path is unlucky, black cats are bad omen, they represent witches, on the contrary there is no scientific reason for why black cats are lucky or bring misfortune. But as a kid, my mind succumbed to the old superstition of black cats are unlucky.

On the eve of 5th April, heard a door-bell, at opening it we saw a young lad carrying a beautiful black cross breed Persian cat. They were vacating the apartment and were low on cash; hence he was giving the cat away for 100 Dhs, completely bewildered and amazed at that statement as nothing of it made sense to us……. Why would you sell your cat?

None of the neighbors on our floor gave into taking the cat, nor did we. It wasn’t about parting with the money but it is a responsibility, a commitment that we weren’t either prepared or ready to take upon.

In the meanwhile the owner said the cat had a fall from the balcony of the 3rd floor, it was very recent and his tooth has been chipped. Since they were busy it couldn’t be given any medical attention. For this wasn’t enough he added, if none of you wish to take the cat I will leave it astray…………. How would he even think of doing something so mean? How could they be so careless and irresponsible? My husband asked indignantly.

It was alarming as the cat looked extremely unwell. Hence our neighbour decided to keep the cat and I volunteered to take him to the vet the next morning. The vet said the cat is traumatized suggested keeping the cat back for a couple of days for treatment as he was really sick, had high fever, hadn’t pass urine or motions for number of days – he was in terrible condition, so we left him to come back happy and healthy.

Now the dilemma begins - who would give the cat shelter? Our neighbors or me…… With all honesty I didn’t want to take ownership of the cat because it was black, ridiculous I know, but the theory of black cat had feared me to the point of irrationality. I still give it a thought and after a lot of contemplating I decided not to keep the cat, as I was unsure if we can look after him responsibly and moreover my mind was not open to shelter a black cat.

Hence after a few days, before the cat was brought back from the vet, I arranged a shelter for him, by talking to SCADS (Sharjah Cat and Dog Shelter). Now, the cat looked well and much better than the day he was left initially.

While I was keeping the cat at the backseat of the car, I felt him say “If you can drive and own a black car, why can’t you keep a black cat?” I had no words, had nothing to say……… felt very terrible......... but couldnt help and finally gave the cat back to our neighbors, who decided to take him to the shelter.

Just when everything was falling in place, my neighbour calls up saying, the cat is unwell again. He hasn’t moved an inch and was urinating blood. I insisted they take him to the vet immediately.

The vet concluded saying the cat was very sick, extremely unwell; he couldn’t be cured as it is terribly infected. The vet said the fall from the balcony was the cause of his agony and pain.

The only solution the vet could think of was “euthanasia”. The vet had nothing but sympathy for us and the poor cat's ordeal, the cat obviously was ambulatory. The vet said we were absolutely making the right decision, helping him with a peaceful painless death to end his suffering, and that there was nothing we could do to help him, except to help him die.

We had no option but to give in and put the cat’s ordeal to an end. 13th April 2010 a day that will always be remember in his name – Misha.

One question remains unanswered, where is the black cat enigma ? What do we conclude with Misha - was he lucky to succumb a painless death or are we unlucky that we couldn’t do enough to save him?

- Victim of superstition

Friends

We are social beings; we need someone with whom we can entrust our really feelings and reason on issues that concern us, moreover we humans aren’t self-sufficient, we dislike being alone. While we might spend time alone doing certain activities, still there is a fear and anxiety at being alone. Here is when friends come to bridge the gap between loneliness and togetherness.

Friends are the most precious gift from God to mankind, which very few of us nourish. We need friends for many reasons – to comfort us when we are sad, to laugh with us when we are glad, to advice us on wrong or right, to play with, to share your darkest secret without them being leaked, to quarrel, to feel secure, to tease, to support and most of all friends are amongst those few people who accept us, as we are.

A friend is one who believes in you when you cease to believe in yourself. My grandfather once said – “Tell me who is your friend and I will tell you who you are.” Friends do not happen, it is nurtured, it takes talking, listening, loyalty, understanding and flexibility.

The neat thing about friends is that they come in lot of shapes and sizes, and there’s no limit on how many friends you can have. Some people have a really easy time making friends, while others take longer getting to know people.

I am proud to be blessed with amazing bunch of friends, had a lot of deceptive ones too – but yes learnt from them. My friends have been there in my good and bad times; they have stood by me at all times. All their friendship is unique, their companionship makes you feel alleviated, you can never feel down and out in their presence, they always make it so easy and light.

Yes, you do admire and adore your friends for who they are and what they mean to you, but I admire my friends because of their positive vibe, the faith they have in themselves, the sense of assertiveness they display; there is a certain divine light they disperse; a light they spread wherever they go and part to whoever they meet.

I want to take utilize this medium to tell them how much they mean to me, to thank them for being by my side, for all the moment of truth, and mostly for making our friendship meaningful and trustworthy. I am happy to share a place in their life!!!

A friend once said “Friends & Love could last for a season, for a reason or for a lifetime.......... so what do you choose?"

Friends 4ever

Love, N.

Happiness

What do you require to be happy…………. Love, passion, faith, courage, positivity, or just the feeling of being happy and blessed.

One life to live, make it big – hold so true, but we conveniently over look the basics. Yes we all have troubled times, sorrow, agony, hatred…….. but we also have love, good people, happy moments, blessed parents, loving spouse, adorable children. In times of pain and suffering we scream, “Why Lord, Why me?”, but do we ever scream the same words in our happier and good times.

Reflect: If we didn’t have our share of pain and suffering, then how would we enjoy and cherish the feeling of happiness. How would we leverage the best out of life without the blend of joy and sorrow? Can you imagine life with death, who you the sun shine if it didn’t drown, only good no evil……… with this state of affair, I can only think of one word “CATASTROPHE”. Yes, it is the thumb rule of this universe, if you wake up to see the sun shine, you are bound to see night fall, if you are ailing in sickness, you will healed. You have an antidote to everything in life.

Let’s make this simpler – name one living being who is happy with everything life has in store for him, who has no complaints, either any suffering or sorrow……………. Ostensibly the answer will be “NO”, because everybody is bound to his share of grief, the rich, the poor, your friends, children, your relative, neighbours, elders, employers, employees to the extent we the prime minister or the president.
Our universe is made of these components, day & night, good & evil, happiness & sadness, black & white, beautiful & ugly, Adam-Eve & the deceptive serpent. All this has been there long before we even came to existence.

So, hence it is time we rise beyond our sufferings and pain, only to understand, make an effort and learn that Life is beautiful – it is how you take out of it, it is how you portray it to be, like the famous proverb goes “ Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”.

Science teaches - When your response to an event is negative or stressful, you blood pressure rises, platelets become sticker, white blood cells mobilize and cortisol levels increases. By contrast, when you have a positive attitude or indeed when you fall in love, exercise or laugh a lot, you produce endorphins that have positive effect on your immune system which makes you feel happier.

By being happy will my problem solve? No, definitely not, but by being positive and keeping an open mind, you certainly gather the courage to fight back, it helps to face challenges and accept life gracefully.

We should try and not make our problems bigger than life or ourselves – instead take a while and realize the gift of life we have been bestowed with – being mentally sane, physically fit, well-educated, intellectual, sensibility, people who have faith in us, who rely upon us and mostly people who love us.

We need to spend your time in ponder over the solutions to our problems rather than brooding over it. So wake up from your slumber sleep to a wonderful life you have and see the good you are surrounded by.

Let me tell you something – when I’m amidst my troubles and pain, I gracefully smile at it, accept and say “Thank you, Thank you for giving me the strength to fight back and for most of all giving me the hope to see a new day”.

“Dance like no one is watching; Sing like no one is listening, Love like it will never hurt and Live like its heaven on earth.”

- Happy Soul