Here it is!!!!

Maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvam

Harati nimeshaat kala sarvam

Maya-mayamidam Akhilam hitvaa

Brahma padam tvam pravisha vidhitva

-Sri Adi Sankarar

My friends and family are my biggest treasure, I have infintely re-iterated Emerson’s ‘Friends are the ornaments of a house.’

Secondly, I treasure my body and health.

But, I also COMPLETELY agree with Adi Sankarar in I should not be proud of myself due to the wealth/health/status in society I possess. All of this can be wiped away in a single second. What cannot be wiped away and will be the true treasure is our faith.

Without faith, plan, perseverence, persistence, and patience, the four virtues I believe in, will have no further progress. Also, faith acts as a glue to bring together these 4 habits, individually they are nothing more than silliness. Reverse is also true. Faith is not just a 5 letter word, to acheive it you need the 4Ps. I guess I have just discovered a spiritual theorem

As a kid, faith comes from outside in, parents and teachers begin to plant it in us. As we grow, we need to have faith in ourselves, and hence, stems from inside out.

Entry to

This too shall Pass!

This particular quote keeps me going when I am down. The other all time favorite one is ‘winners never quit & quitters never win.’  Somehow, I believe those who win are not necessarily the smartest or the strongest, but people who stay the longest. One fine example will be George W. I make my share of fun of him, but deep in my hearts I admire and respect him for one thing - he did not give up his hot seat. He knew how much he was made fun of, right from the start, all primetime shows think he is an absolute idiot, and they are correct too. But what made him run for 2nd term? SHEER PERSISTENCE. C’mon, you have to salute to him for that, even if he is a doughnut,

I once was fortunate to have Mrs. M. Sivananda Rani Abhiraman as my math teacher. She told me several times, over a course of 2 years, many insightful things about myself, but one that I remember in particular is when she told me ‘there is no shortcut to success. Hardwork and Persistence are the only two ways you can reach it.’ When she said that I couldn’t care less. I was quite good at stuff and had a high grasping capacity. But 10 years down the road, when I was doing my MBA while being a mom for a 2 year old and on teaching assistanship, it all came back to me. I always thank her for saying that to me while she knew I wasn’t "listening" and was in my TEENs.

WINNERS NEVER QUIT!

Now, 2 years after MBA, while I am still trying to make a career, everyday I tell myself of this. Also, life has indeed taught me it is not the smartest or the strongest, but who stays the longest that wins. There is one thing I tell my daughter time and again: Practice makes perfect and she agrees too, now that she is only 5

I maybe right or wrong, but I believe having faith during hardship is the only way out.

End of education is character.

This is the first thing I have learnt from my daughter’s Bal Vikas class, and it has been just 1 class yet. How true…

"To criticize one’s country is to do it a service and pay it a compliment. It is a service because it may spur the country to do better than it is doing; it is a compliment because it evidences that the country can do better than it is doing…In a democaracy, dissent is an act of faith,"

Senator J. William Fulbright