Festive Lighting...

Diwali is long gone and it's time for Christmas with reds & greens, cakes & cookies and loads of happiness....

...but festivity can never go out of style, can it?

Enjoy..!!

How to Protect Yourself from Failure-Deepak Chopra

A failure is a setback that has left scars. When it doesn't scar you, setbacks are learning experiences, but there's no doubt that suffering a setback is difficult. It only turns into an opportunity if you have the psychological tools that protect you from failure. In the last post I presented a strategy for preventing failure in advance, which is always the best way. I encourage you to take a look before reading this post, which is about how to recover from setbacks.

In many ways the two states, before and after, call for the same steps. In particular,

1. Have a good support group around you at work.

2. Communicate with your spouse or partner.

3. Don't isolate yourself and carry the whole burden by yourself.

4. Identify with core values that sustain your sense of worth.

5. Build your self-esteem.

6. Develop interests outside work.

Since these points were covered in some detail in the first post, I won't elaborate on them here. It's realistic to accept that for most of us, preventing future failures is something we pay little attention to. Our focus is on immediate challenges and their success. Therefore, when a setback actually does occur, we are left vulnerable and open to a rush of negative emotions. The more that a setback feels like a failure, the more likely it is to scar you. You become more wary of risk, sometimes to the point of genuine anxiety. You feel a range of emotions from guilt and shame to anger and fear. Your mind obsesses over "What did I do wrong?" and "Why did this happen to me?"

This composite of reactions differs for each person, but the major setbacks for most people are similar: divorce, losing your job, having a small business go under, and bankruptcy. To make full use of the points already listed, you have to get over the trauma first. Here's a general guide.

1. Give yourself room to grieve over the loss. Healing takes time.

2. Don't hide from your pain. Denial makes healing take longer.

3. Notice the signs of depression and seek help for them.

4. Spend minimal time with commiserating and indulging in "what if."

5. Find a confidant who has survived the same setback you are suffering through.

6. Revise your vision of the future in a positive way.

7. Make clean breaks with the past where it's necessary.

These points are all action steps; they get you moving instead of brooding. It's unfortunate that the most common way of dealing with crisis is to watch more TV and play more video games, although surveys show that this is so. Sometimes laying low helps your battered emotions to recover, but more importantly, they will recover, in time. Everyone has an emotional set point that returns to normal, usually within six months of a major trauma. Even so, recovery isn't the same for everyone. At one extreme are people crushed by a setback, who internalize it as "I'm a failure." At the other extreme are people who say they thrive on stress and only want to fight harder when they go down.

Most of us fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, and therefore we vacillate between discouragement and hope, self-disparagement and self-belief. Beneath all of this turbulence, there is a steady state of the self that can be accessed with meditation, contemplation, and other practices that connect you to your center. It's very worthwhile to explore these techniques, because at the very least you will begin to have a sense of inner purpose.

Most men in particular feel compelled to move on as a first response to setbacks. Something bad has happened to them, so they are determined to find something good as a remedy. The impulse is commendable, but too often what gets ignored is the inner turmoil created by a setback. As a society, we are so used to efficiently organizing the externals of life that we ignore where the real damage occurs, which is inside. You can be swindled out of a hundred dollars in a shady investment and feel enormously angry and resentful, or you can lose a million dollars honorably and walk away from it a better person. The choice is yours, and it depends on how much attention you pay to building a self. In the coming posts I'll talk more about this lifelong project, which is the most valuable thing you can do for yourself and others. Someone who is successful at building a self doesn't fear the ups and downs of his inner world, because he has created an unshakable foundation in the true self.

(Deepak Chopra, MD, author of instant New York Times bestseller, What Are You Hungry For?)

I posted this because i feel like to share with you all, very  useful  article. Yes, I'm subscribing him occasionally..no very frequently as I like to read him.

"The Cuckoo's Calling"-Fun Read

"The Cuckoo's Calling" (Mulholland Books), by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

I have not read yet any book of J. K. Rowling, so I thought to stop my search on "The Cuckoo's Calling because this is a good story that entertaining enough to merit a read even if Robert Galbraith had been a real person who really wrote it.

"The Cuckoo's Calling" introduces readers to Cormoran Strike, a London private detective with his own complicated back story — he's the son of a rock star and a groupie, has a prosthetic leg to replace the one he lost in Afghanistan during his military service, and he just ended a difficult romantic relationship. He's also quite clever.

Along with his started-out-temporary-but-who-didn't-know-that-was-going-to-last secretary Robin Ellacott, he looks into the death of a supermodel, Lula. Everyone assumes it was suicide, but Strike is asked to investigate it by someone who tells him it had to have been otherwise. His investigation takes Strike into the worlds of high fashion and big money as he makes his way to the truth.

Rowling's (Galbraith’s whoever) literary gift is on display in this work. She crafts an entertaining story with characters that hold the reader's interest, and comes up with an ending that I'll admit I was surprised by.

It gets a little too clever in some places, with the final denouement tying together some earlier elements in a way that's almost a little too pat, and some of the leaps Strike makes seem a little too out-of-nowhere. And it wouldn't be a J.K. Rowling book if it didn't have lots and LOTS of description, not all of which seems necessary.

But overall, it's a fun read, with a main character you can care about and one you'll want to see again in other adventures. It reads like Rowling had fun writing it. There's a certain lightness to it that was missing from her other grown-up fiction endeavor, "The Casual Vacancy." Perhaps that came from the freedom of writing and publishing under a pseudonym without all the pressure of her own back-story. It will be interesting to see if she can maintain that sense of fun now that everyone knows it's her and that particular mystery has been solved.

Life's Journey..!!

It reminds me of life and people and our journey together. 

Each one of us traveling together but to different destinations. I like to think of this life as a wonderful journey where we have wisdom of the past, moment of present and thrill of the future. 

Journeys are beautiful, you get to meet strangers. You get to learn from everyone, you just need to have an eye for it. One thing each stranger can teach you is how all of us are connected on the same level.

'Following My Paint Brush'-Dulari Devi

This story is all about a village girl in India (Bihar) follows her inclinations and becomes an artist, in spite of her upbringing in a very poor family. "I am an artist, but I wasn’t always one."  This is how Mithila artist Dulari Devi begins the account of a life that moves from extreme poverty and constant menial labor to that of an accomplished and recognized painter. 

Following My Paint Brush is the true story of her life rendered in the brilliant colors and detailed patterns of the Mithila folk art style. The heroine and illustrator of the book (published in 2010) is Dulari Devi, an artist from the Indian state of Bihar. Gita Wolf, author of Following My Paint Brush, wanted to illustrate Dulari Devi's own tale of artistic awakening. And so the story goes, beginning with a childhood of working in rice fields, selling fish and cleaning the houses of others. She never goes to school, so her life hardly changes as she grows into womanhood. Devi, a woman from the state of Bihar, has illustrated her life story with Mithila folk-art paintings that employ bold patterns of parallel black lines,swirling shapes and intense colors.  Unschooled, she is doomed to be a cleaner in someone else's home. when she finds work at an artist's house, her creative yearnings finds an outlet and an artist born.

Dulari's mother used to
sell fishes in the market

Dulari Devi not only found her passion but also finds pleasure in pattern and the images that form in her head while observing village life. Then, she lands the job that will change her life. Hired once again to clean a house, Dulari Devi finds herself employed by an artist, Karpuri Devi. Entranced by the beautiful images that emerge from her employer's hands, Dulari Devi expressing her experience and opinions as traditional religious subjects and also she depicts social  

ills like discriminatory health care provision, alcoholism and  dowry. Recognizing the joy she finds in creating art, Dulari Devi seeks out mentorship from Karpuri Devi and works hard to learn how to use the tools of a painter.

 



Her work has grown in popularity since her
artistic career began and she can occasionally sell pieces for as high as Rs. 50,000 (around $800 in the USA). Yet, she is hardly wealthy and still expresses great pride in telling her story to a wider                audience. 

Dulari as a little girl accompanying her
mother to work in the rice fields

In an afterward, Devi is described as combined combined community tradition with modern themes and her double-page spread of "Raju Ice Creame Wala"(The Ice Cream man)  surrounded by eager children in traditional dress, under a spreading leafy tree with a highly decorated trunk, is the best example of this synthesis. The paintings, based on traditional floor and wall decorations, have been commercialized, but they also provide a way for rural women to make a living. Devi’s story has been put into written form by Wolf, but it is the paintings that stand out here.

 Picture courtesy: Google

 Detail: Internet

Dear Monday !!

So Called Brandaholics...

I strongly feel each one had two sides to us. One that the world sees and one who we are in the dark. Okay..with some with some exceptions of course. You may take it  offensively  but think about it. Are we R.E.A.L.L.Y. ourselves in front of others?

Completely..?

I kept myself away from the flashy glamy side of Delhi. i found it all too  artificial  and it always made me restless.  Right now, my most important need is to find myself.  Because  I have not found myself yet, my eyes are wide open. I am seeing people. I am observing them. And sadly, most of what I see makes me realize my own shell is a better place for me. Few days back I went to a most posh residential area of my city...The whole place had big magnificent houses, lush gardens at the front, each one finely designed by probably the best architects has to offer. It was like they were on some sort of competition, competing for something so vain as whole house was bigger, whose house was flashier and so and so. It ridiculous..funny actually. Each house had  guards  outside the gates. sitting in the chilling cold(in the night too) has been hit with lately. Agreed, it's their way of earning bread & butter, but it was sad to know the people of these houses sat in air conditioners/heaters(as per the weather) inside while these poor people were out in the cold. There are people who lived in those houses made a point proudly and used to brag about the things that something a normal middle class person could not ever afford and other things of the like. It was very disgusting. Is it all there to people  these days?

Status Symbol..ahh?

My point is human builds walls around themselves and I fail to understand how they can manage it so well  carrying  so many covers on themselves around? Do not they get tired of it? Does not the child in  suffocate? Branded clothes, Branded Shoes, Branded accessories, they all create a Branded you. What's with brand anyways? They are willing to spend so much themselves, just single item, not realizing how many unfortunate people can benefit from the same amount if given for charity. I have seem any women/girls transform themselves completely with new hair styles, new hair color, and makeup..Ohh,,did i mention with imported Brands? 

What happens at the end of the day if there's no one to pretend to? Do they have a conscience that guilty of running away from themselves? Lying with themselves..Cheating themselves with fakeness..Being someone the are not..Putting on so many faces that it kills their natural innocence.

Open up.

Breathe.

Be the beautiful person you really are.

It takes courage to be who you are in the eye of the whole world.

Friday Wishes...

Happy Friday !! 
Last night, I was sitting on my couch after the end of a busy day and thinking how I wish my couch had a massage function that would instantly rub my shoulders and feet for just a few minutes. Then, I started thinking of all the other fantastical things I'd like to see happen. Because it's fun, here are five things I wish were possible...

1. I wish there was a Sleep Bank for all those times you just need a couple more hours of rest. You know...when you're sick or just really tired, I'd like to be able to grab extra sleep from those extra spunky days when I didn't need them.

2. I would like a delivery truck that offers ice cream, milkshakes, pies, or milk tea. You want a milkshake? Call them, and they'll be at your door in 20 minutes! Because sometimes you just need a sweet treat like now.

3. I wish pets could live forever (or as long as we do).

4. I'd like it if my hair and makeup could instantly do itself while I sleep just a long in the morning. It seems so silly that we have to get ready and look presentable every day, couldn't I just wake up looking that way?

5. Finally, I'd really like to be able to grow plants—like some sort of vegetable bush or a lemon tree, perhaps? This may sound like it's within the scope of real possibility, but it's actually not. I seem to be able to take care of humans and animals, but plants, not so much.

What about you? What would you like to be possible? Who knows, someday these things could be possible...

The One you Cannot Have-must read

An absolutely wonderful read…. 

Like always Preeti Shenoy has told an amazing tale of love in her own unique style...Very much TOUCHED..I really have no words for this book..Really a MASTER PIECE..from the depth of the HEART, I Thank Preeti Shenoy to write such a wonderful story with such delicacy.

Actually, It is not only TOUCHED, but the previous books also left an impression on me and I always remember and cherish the moment when for the first time my eyes fall on "Life Is What You Make It" and since then I have not disappointed reading you.

All the characters are endearing and the book had me hooked right from page one.I wanted absolutely no distractions. Anjali knows who she wants, she wants Aman. Aman too knows who he wants, he wants Shruti. Shruti and Aman were once inseparable. Theirs was a love that would last forever. Then Shruti left Aman. A devastated Aman moved abroad in the hope of  forgetting Shruti and to heal. Shruti married Rishabh. Now Aman is back in India and looking for a fresh start. But he is still haunted  by memories of his love. Can he ever break free from it? His head tells him to move on, to find love with Anjali, but his heart won't listen. No matter what he does, Shruti's shadow looms large. Can there be a "happily-ever-after" for any of them? A straight-from-the-heart modern-day romance of unrequited love, of complicated relationships and about moving on when you realize that there will always be the one you cannot have.

To all those who are reading it….Keep going ..you get to read such good books once in a while. Full of good thoughts and so close to reality that I can relate to most of the characters and events. And those who have not yet purchased it, go Grab one… It is worth your time and money. And as always it comes with a lesson you need to learn and can adopt to enrich your life. Read it to know…

How long does it take to heal a broken heart? Can you ever forget that  one perfect relationship you had?

Thank You Preeti Shenoy for a delightful read.

Traditional Art Vs Modern Art

Today I  accidentally  stucked on these line about Traditional Art Vs Modern Art, i.e.,

"Why Young Artists Only Interested In Modern Art?

   Why They Do Not Think About Traditional/Indian Art?"

I Do not Even Know Why???

I thought to search this on Google. Let's do that..and I did..and I reached on the conclusion that Young Generation nowadays don’t want to study our traditional art because it does not have a high profile. Television shows modern art only, everyone talks about modern  art these days, majority of Art  Gallerias exhibits only too modern art, so that’s all young Artist inclined towards Modern Art and doing that. Moreover, information about schools that teach traditional arts is hard to come by and even some students who want to study it don’t know where to go. Job opportunities in the traditional arts are very limited and performers often don’t make  enough money to support their families. Most of us or needless to say, we all study and gain skills because we want to find a good job and earn a living. If we graduate and we cannot find a job in the area we’ve studied, we have wasted our time.

I also think the same that nowadays  people aren’t interested in learning traditional art because they think it doesn’t have a huge market. And students of traditional art need to have a good deal of talent and it also required passion &  patience, as it isn’t an easy skill to learn. But I think it’s a good major for the future.I am learning few of  techniques  of  Indian Art these day and I'm enjoying it.. I do not consider myself an artist yet because I made all these just sake of hobby and I chose it because I love this skill and I have my own talent as well. My family have always encouraged me to do better, even though it’s not a popular major among other.

If Anyone Read This Note Please share your views. I would love to read people's comments.

“

Phad Painting

This time I'm inspired by Phad Painting originated from Rajasthan, is created traditionally on a lengthy piece of cloth which is known as Phad. The painting is mostly concentrated to Bhilwara district. It is said that it saw its origin in the first half of 6th decade of the past century. The Phads illustrate the accounts of the local deities of Rajasthan, most especially Devanarayan and Pabuji. Phads are carried by the Bhopas (the priest-singers) and they are used as the transportable shrine of the folk deities. Normally, the phads of Pabuji are about 15 feet long, while the phads of Devnarayan are general approximately 30 feet in length.

Themes of Phad Paintings

Phad paintings focus on Rajasthani heroes like Prithaviraj Chauhan, Tejaji, Goga Chauhan and Amar Singh Rathor. They were the initial characters of the olden Phad paintings. Recently, maximum Phad painting in India depict Narayandevji and Pabuji with their heroism.

The Phads portray an array of life and activities of Papuji Rathod as he backed the cause of the Charan Community. Bards of Rajasthan have given the standing of a godly man to Papuji. These paintings are created with vivid colors in order to illustrate several historic scenes and episodes of Rajasthan. Phad paintings are knitted with the culture of Rajasthan. The scenes painted serve to be the image narrations. Great renderings of gallant and valiant kings with their heroic deeds by the folk ballads accompany them.

Colors and Materials Used in Phad Paintings

To build up Phad paintings natural stone colors are used. The Phads are customarily painted with vegetable colors. But today, a blend of gum, indigo, natural dyes and water is also used. The colors are yellow, black, green, orange, red, and brown. Gorgeous greens and ravishing reds astonish the viewer and turn the scene alive. Fighters’ limbs are painted in orange, ornaments and brilliance are depicted by yellow, ordinary clothes of characters are soaked in red, plants are dipped in green, water bodies are bathed with blue, and the general structure is illustrated by gray. As a base for Phad paintings, a hand-woven aboriginal fabric known as Kadhi is used.

The Phad paintings commence with various rituals. Goddess Saraswati and Lord Ganesha are revered before starting to make a painting. On the Kadhi, background settings and outlines are sketched. A general coating of yellow is then applied and the first stroke of the painting is given by the youngest girl of the family. Now, the painter sets on with his painstaking task of creating a masterpiece. Folk dance and song representations of Pabuji’s life are blended with Phads. This Phad painting in India has bewitched the art aficionados for its uniqueness and cultural legacy all over the planet.

With  the  inspiration of Phad technique I portray The Krishna Series on handmade paper with acrylic colors.

Have a look:

Daasi offering the duties to Lord Krishna:

Lord Krishna Ordering here:

 The full version:

 Rough Version of an another Scene in which Krishna Teasing Gopi with his Sakha:

View  from different angle

Gopi with Matkas on Her Head:

Here is, Full Version(Oops..Pic is seems Blurry:

So Thankful!!

It was a blissful weekend, a lot of soul searching, a lot of soulful music, heart to heart talk with some of my old friends, knowing how they have been doing all the while we were disconnected, catching up, the sorts. I'm happy I linked up with them once more. I am discovering myself all over again, and I'm discovering who my real friends are and who love me for me and who just don't. I'm just taking each day as it comes. I know it will be fine. God will heal me. 

Keep  Smiling Always :) :D :)

HairDo..