It's time of the year again!

Each time the month of February comes, we will have special extra thoughts. It's not because of Valentines, unfortunately, but it's more than that. It is our little sunshine's birthday we are talking about here. As the chatterbox turns 6 next month, she is most in control of what she wants, happily makes her own decisions. Unlike few years ago, we decide on everything, our preparations and stuffs. Now, she's really growing fast and we are unable to catch up with the pace. Gone are the days when we say 'Why not you wear this blue dress, you look nice in it?' or ' Why not you tie your hair this style, it's much nicer!'. Right now, we will just respect whatever decision she makes for herself, and if that gives her sense of independence and self control, we will go with it. There were times where I miss those good old days, little I know I would be wishing for it again. It's time to let her grow, appreciating each moments as it comes. She taught us many lessons in life and the journey continues. Some are inarguably astonishing to realize how life changes with time. Today, she helped me to decorate her birthday goodie bags. It was a fun filled evening with no phrase said 'I'm bored, what can I do?'. With coloring and cutting, we managed to finish up our assignment for the day !

Simple act of kindness

Yesterday, I was at the bank queuing up to deposit some cash at the kiosk. In front of me there was a lady and her daughter (I guess so because they looked alike). Nationality was unknown. In front of them was another customer. Suddenly, the lady turned and gave me smile. I smiled back. In my heart I thought maybe she likes to smile at strangers. Then her turn came so she and her daughter moved up to do their deposit. There was some problem with the deposit as some notes couldn't go thru, she turned back to look at me and said sorry. I said it's ok. Now, I feel awkward. Why would she want to be sorry? They continued with the transaction and it took maybe a minute or two to complete it. When they were done, she looked at me and said thank you. I was taken aback by this lady's actions. There were times when I waited so long for the person in front of me to complete their transactions but they never apologized. But this lady was kind to say sorry to me because she made me to wait (even though I didn't wait for long!) 
It made me realize there are bunch of good people in this world. People who care about others. Genuinely. It was good to know. Hope this generation lives forever. They can be the role model to the rest. A simple act of kindness made me day! 

Believe In Giving

As an ordinary person, no one can deny that we are more comfortable in receiving than giving. In fact, it is much easier to do. Giving seems to be something hard especially when we are clinging to it. A quote from Winston Churchill goes like this ' We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give'. Sometimes we just have to accept that we are born not for ourselves but for others. We work hard for our family and children. We try to please them as much as we can. We are running day to day life in a routine. Giving just being regarded as something not so important rather than necessary. We need to realize the power of giving. You reap what you sow. If you give kindness, you will get kindness in a different form. We have to train our mind to accept this fact.
There were times, I used to ask myself, why should I give money to beggars. There are beggars who just sit by the road side and beg. There are few who are disabled but sell some stuffs and gets money in return. For those who are just begging , am I encouraging them to do more begging when I slip a dollar or two into their coin box ? I have stopped giving money to this kind of people not because I'm selfish but because I don't want to be the contributor to begging culture. I used to stand by this rule for many years till recently. When it doesn't matter anymore when your heart is all out to help the needy. It doesn't matter anymore when you feel some kind of contentment when you give be it financially or something which can't be measured like kindness. Indeed, it takes an effort to make people feel that they should give. It is just a feeling which comes naturally without any force. It is the best feeling of the day when you know that you made a difference in someone's life. This good feeling should continue as long as you are alive in this world. Hope the God gives me an opportunity to do that!

Spiritual Trip 2012

I was glad and feel blessed when I was given the opportunity to fulfill my mom's long time wish to visit the temples in India. It was truly a chance which I grabbed at the most suitable time as I myself never  believed I would step into India for the second time in my life :)
Our family's spiritual journey started on 28th of June 2012, a day after we reached Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu. We travelled to Kanchipuram, on the way visited Melmaruvathur Aathipara Sakti temple. We had lunch at Pondicherry and proceed to Chidambaram. It was already quite late in the evening, just nice for another temple visit to Nadaraja Perumal temple. It was quite undeniable that the temples are much more grand and huge compared to the ones in Malaysia.

Temple at Chidambaram

A road side view at Chidambaram

The next day, 29th of June, we headed to Vaitheeswaran temple and a place well known for Palm leaf astrology.  We were not spared either, we checked out how our future lives going to be. Whether it is true or not I'm not quite sure about it, nothing much to comment :)
On the same day, we travelled to Kumbakonam. On the way, we visited few more temples - Sani Bhagavan Sannathi (Thirunallar), Sri Ramalingeshwarar (Kumbakonam), Suriyan temple (Kumbakonam) and Thirunageswaram Sri Rahu (Kumbakonam). We put up a night at Kumbakonam and we had some time to do some preliminary rounds of shopping ;)

A view at Vaitheeswaran temple

We traveled to Thanjavur the next day. One of the most visited and famous temple located here was Brihadeeswara temple. This temple was huge and magnificent. The weather was hot and so windy. It was said the month of June/July brings strong wind. We spent some time with the local tourist guide who explained some history of the temple to us. One of the most noticeable thing about the temple was the whole structure was made of granite. 

The magnificent Brihadeeswara temple

Another view of Brihadeeswara temple

Undeniably beautiful view at Brihadeeswara temple

Our next destination was to travel Ramanathapuram district at Pamban island. We reached here quite late in the evening and visited the city's most historic temple , Ramanathaswamy temple, yet another huge one. There are many holy water bodies in here, one should not leave without 'purifying' themselves in these water. The next day day morning, we visited the temple again, this day which I never forget when I accidentally dropped my camera and the lenses broke :(

A view from Pamban bridge

We travelled to Thirucendor on the same day. Another famous temple which would be my favorite of all -  a temple by the sea side. It was such a beautiful temple with glorious surroundings. This is one of temples which is worth visiting and should not be missed. 

A view at temple in Thirucendor

Sea view at Thirucendor

We headed to Madurai and put up a night in the city hotel. The next day morning, we visited the Meenakshi Amman temple, Madurai. We travelled to Palani. It was a long wait to go up to the temple situated on top of a hill. We had options either to walk by the stairs or train or cable car. Unfortunately the cable car service was down at that time so we took train to go to the hilltop. Here, we got the opportunity to view the deity from near. It was a blessing though. We travelled to Tiruchy the same day. The next day, we visited the Maalaikottai Uchhipillayar, Rockport (Thayumanaswamy) temple. It is quite noticeable that the temple was built on top of big slab of rock. We took many steps to each atop. The city view was visible from here. Our next destination was Sri Rangam to visit Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, where the idol was said to be seen in form of coiled serpent (we were not gifted to see this, subject to note for our next trip :) )

Train trip to the hill at Palani

City view from Rockport

Temple located on top of huge rock, Rockport

We also visited Samayapuram Amman temple before heading to Thiruvannamalai. The Annamalaiyar Temple was located at the foothill, the most famous temple in this district. Yet another huge temple with amazing backdrop of hills. The journey to this place was very pleasant. There were trees at both sides of the road and very cooling environment to our eyes. We went to Vellore and put up a night there. Here, we visited the magnificent Golden Temple at Sripuram. A very well kept temple located a the middle of a huge pond.
Next, we went to another temple in Vellore, Jalagandeeswarar Temple and then travelled to Kanchi. A very famous temple, Kama Kotti Kamatchi Amman temple located in here. It was quite hard to get the blessing, as usual all the temples were extremely crowded with people. Then, we went to another temple called Varadaraja Perumal temple which is also famously known as Golden Lizard temple. There is a golden lizard embedded on the ceiling and it's believed one's sin will be washed off by touching it. Hope I did wash off some of my sins on that day ! 

A view at temple, Thiruvannamalai

A night view at temple, Kanchi

The last destination for the day was Arulmigu Kachabeshwarar temple before heading to Tirupathi. This hill top temple was said to be very powerful, the journey up to the hill was awesome with scenic breathtaking beauty. It was an quite an experience for us visiting this temple , of course self explained 7 hours long wait to see the magnificent deity. Something which we  might not be able to forget in near future. Our last temple in the list was Thirutani which we visited before heading to Chennai. It was a tiring day for us as we spent most of the time shopping for goodies to bring back home. It was quite sad that finally we had to head back home although few of us couldn't wait to break from vegetarian fast :) But most importantly, we missed our dearie homeland food. All in all, the trip was wonderful and the experience was an eye opener for all of us, especially to our parents. Can't wait to have another family trip again in future!

Expecting the Unexpected

We are always on the move. We are always expecting something at all the time. Can you pause for few seconds and think what are you not expecting? Will you be able to give an answer? We expecting everything in our lives to be perfect. Well, things don't go as we planned all the time. That is when we should prepare ourselves to expect the unexpected. If life is meant to happen as we plan, then it should not be called as life anymore. Preparing ourselves to face uncertainties opens up our world. It helps us to think out of the box. It helps us to think broader and in a more larger perspective. It helps our mind to grow. We are no longer limited and self contained. We will be stronger than we think when we started to prepare ourselves mentally first. Therefore, lets face our fear. The feelings which has been engulfing you for many, many years.Yes, it requires extra energy to think of possibilities that might happen but it does no harm. Preparing ourselves to expect unexpected is just as important. 

Accept, Embrace, Move On

Sometimes in this life, we have to learn to recognize what are the things you need to attach yourself with and things you need to detach yourself. There are many things you often cling on, unable to let go. It makes it hard for us to even think or visualize.
Why this happens? Why we are unable to accept the fact that things change constantly ? Why our heart is so stubborn ? Why does it keep listening to inner self to hold on to it? Why are we not opening up ?
When we are fighting within ourselves with our feelings, it makes it difficult for us to live. This is going against the flow.We are not willing to follow the way it is designed for us. Rather, we cling to what we wish it should be or happen. Life becomes harder. We feel we are being like an enemy to ourselves. We are being disliked for our differences. We start questioning ourselves. How different are we ?
Rather, don't let your heart wander. Accept things as it is. Go with the flow. Don't row the boat in the opposite direction of the current. You feel tired mentally. Finally, it tires you up physically. By accepting, you are telling your brain - 'what I had is enough. I'm going to just observe and let the flow begins'. This is much simpler way and easy way out from having a stressful life. Learn to let go. Accept how things should be and will be. Don't start the fight within yourself.

Guess Who Is Walking With You...

Guess who is walking with you all the time ever since you were born ? Without you realizing it, you often swamped with so many thoughts which you yourself have no idea why are you asking. When you are alone, you cry your heart out. You blame yourself for your loneliness. You crave for someone to comfort you. But when the person doesn't meet your expectations, you get upset again.
There is no need for all this, you just have to realise the truth where no one is alone in this world. There is someone guiding you throughout your life. The day you first opened your eyes till you permanently close it, God is always with you. He takes every single step with you, guiding you along the way. He gives the challenges to you. He offers the solution at the same time. Believe that He is with you always. Then, He will be. Fear not to take the steps forward.
Problems are given by your Maker to mould you into a better person, who can take on challenges no matter what. Accept it truly, surrender yourself into thoughts you are being followed and guided only by Him. Those who constantly look for Him will find peace in his/her heart as nothing is soothing and calming to know that the Creator himself is with you, all the time.