It is no secret...

that I totally love the girl child. The boys in school used to get very angry with me because according to them I always favored girls.....which was true. They were not happy that while I was fair to them, the extra mile was always for the girls.

I love it that girls today are strong and independent, without losing any of their femininity, and their never-say-die attitude and courage in the face of all adversity is truly amazing...My DD, for me, stands for all these and is the most special person for me.

I follow Malala as she tackles her new life without compromising on all that she believe in and stands for, in spite of all her suffering. In see her I see the courage and the indomitable, invincible and beautiful spirit of the girl child.

Here's another amazing girl: Mayam Mahmoud, an 18-year-old rapper from Egypt.

Mayam raps for women She has amassed a huge following for challenging how women in Egypt are meant to behave and for how they are traditionally treated. An undergraduate studying politics and social science, Mayam spends a lot of time talking with women who share their stories of daily discrimination with her. She then incorporates those experiences, with their permission, into her music.

Her lyrics highlight the importance of girls' education and denounce sexual harassment of women on the streets of Egypt. "Egyptian women undergo harassment and bullying on a daily basis," she says, stressing that "It was never about going on stage in a scarf. It was about going on stage and sharing a message."

Holly Golightly...

protagonist of Breakfast at Tiffany's, has the most evocative way of differentiating between two kinds of feelings that sometimes threaten us...

1. The mean reds - 'Mean reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is.'

and

2. The blues - 'The blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long.'

We often use 'blues' but there are times when we all experience the 'mean reds'....

Next time, let's say it out loud.....I have a feeling we'll know exactly what to do to get over them....at the very least, saying we have the mean reds or the blues out loud, will help us come face to face with them and then they won't be so scary any more...

If you don't have a choice...

work your way around it.....

Only...


Make sure you keep YOU as the focus....you deserve a chance too...

Everyone, but everyone...

deserves a chance to be looked at again should the first occasion prove to be disastrous, or not be what we had in mind, or not go the way we envisaged, or not come up to our standards, or just be too different from our experience........A second chance definitely needs to be considered, and maybe even a third chance, before we draw conclusions that we can live with.

Wouldn't we like to be given chances too?

People who interest us, are leaders of the time, are our colleagues, are our employers...whoever... change all the time. We cannot and must not go only by our first impression (favorable or otherwise).

We all change all the time.

10 ways we can make life happier for ourselves...

If we are happy, we'll emanate happy energies...

1. Everything (even the worst possible thing) has one humorous thread hidden in it - find it and laugh

2. Don't underestimate daily rituals - doing them even when you don't feel like it, becomes a form of meditation and releases pent up stress. Pep up daily rituals with sharing - a potluck meal, maybe? or something that puts the spring in the step

3. Exercise, maybe gently - but do some physical activity - it releases happiness hormones

4. Make sure there is something beautiful in every room - something beautiful to which your eyes get drawn - they make a glow spread all the way from your tummy to your heart

5. Take up some hobby - some art or craft work - when you see yourself creating something, it will give you a good, 'wow-I-did-that!' feeling

6. Hug - that will make you feel warm raise you on your 'lovable' scale

7. Nap - Indulge yourself and enjoy God's balm for the mind and soul

8. Let it go - Lot of truth in the Beatles song 'Let it be'. Just let it go - whatever it is. And WAIT in silence

9. Keep a Journal and note down 5 happy things you are grateful for. When you search through the day, you'll find more than 5, actually

10. Besides your 'serious' reading, make sure you have something light and frothy too on your bedside or study table

Happiness is in hidden in every moment...find it...

Imagine an India...

without the irreverent, irrepressible, non-conformist, utterly genuine

Khushwant Singh

Impossible.....

Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, journalist, and New York Times op-ed columnist Anna Quindlen...

in her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life says:

'Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. That’s what I have to say. The second is only a part of the first. Don’t ever forget what a friend once wrote to Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator had decided not to run for reelection because he’d been diagnosed with cancer: “No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office.” Don’t ever forget the words on a postcard that my father sent me last year: “If you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.”'

She goes on to reinforce something we all know deep in our gut, but somehow forget to apply every moment of every day as we should, that we are the only persons who have sole custody of our lives...she spells out - 'Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.'