What is Happiness!

Happiness is the quintessential feeling that all of us are hankering after! We want to feel happy all the time. Be it in the morning, during the day, in the evening and when we go to bed. If we don't feel happy, it is said that we are stressed and "un"happy and we need to take measures to bring ourselves to the state of being happy!

Happiness to me is many things and since I am labelled as the happy go lucky types, I am usually happy! So let me list as many as possible things that add to my Happiness quotient!

· - Hot morning cuppa waiting for you to wake up: How happy I get, when I have barely opened my eyes and my tea is waiting for me already! Thank mom for the little things in life. 

· - Having home-made food: Oh! The feeling of mother's ghar ka bana (home cooked) food! Happiness guaranteed.

· - A home filled with happiness and loads of positivity: A must have for anyone who needs happiness!

· - Shopping spree: With the advent of online shopping, this element brings happiness at least once a month! (Wide grin = Super happy)

- - Vacations: Oh! How happy I get even at the thought of vacations. Sheer Bliss. Whether it’s a trip to Kashmir or Chandigarh, happiness is surely going to be yours on a vacation!

· - Long weekend road trips: You wake up in the morning and suddenly you are packing for a weekend getaway to Lonavala, Nashik or anywhere else. It’s sometimes unbelievable at how quick these decisions can actually be made. Trust me, its total happiness.  .

· - Local food: I am sure you can identify with the “Happy” feeling of travelling to another city and using GPS to search for the oldest, most authentic food joint to taste heavenly food.  

· - The Perfect Dessert: I love sweets and it isn’t always that I get to bite into the most perfect dessert. But, when I do discover the perfect strawberry tart or an awesome carrot cake, my happiness is unparalleled.  

· - Catching-up with school friends and cousins: If your school friend moves to your city and becomes your next door neighbour, it is an amazing feeling. Equally amazing is when you have a destination wedding to attend and you end up having crazy fun amounting to sheer madness. Total Happiness!

· - Winnie, The Pooh: This one person has been making me happy ever since I was 5, I think. Honestly, I don’t even remember when my love affair with this one started.  

See, I am not even half way in my list! But I hope you got what I am trying to say here. It isn’t the big things, it is the small things that really matter. You will definitely be happy when you buy a house, buy a car, get married, have kids etc. But, happiness isn’t limited to that! There is more of it and can be found in the tiniest of things. You might even find it in a fizzy bottle here: http://cokeurl.com/96jnc

Never Give up, Just Look up!

When I moved to Mumbai in January 2011, I was desperately looking for a job. The city was alien to me and I spent all of my days gazing at the Jobs page of Job Portals all day for around 90 days. Around this time, a long lost friend pinged me on Facebook and asked me for my resume. Completely out of the blue, I hadn’t spoken to him in the last 2 years. I casually sent my profile across like I would do every day to endless recruitment agencies and companies.  To my surprise, I got a call back from him the same day saying someone from his company would give me a call for a screening. I was elated and my focus shifted from job portals to this company’s website.

Sure enough next day, at around 10 am, I got a call. We talked for about 30 minutes at the end of which, the lady on the other side said, “We will get back to you.” The next day, I had an email in my inbox requesting for a convenient date to meet with the HR. I was more than excited. Finally, the D-Day came and I arrived at their sprawling business complex in Vikhroli. It was a brand name that everyone in India identified with and it would be prestigious to have a job here, I thought to myself. 

The interview took an entire day with endless hours of waiting and two interviews. You know, it is a great feeling when you have gone to meet/ interview with your future boss and towards the end of the interview he says, “Let me check if the Head HR is available.”  It was instant feedback for me, all the reassurance I needed. Sure enough, I got the offer letter within a few days and I was to start immediately. 

The first days were great with an induction program, followed by an off-site Change Management program to help open up the mind to new ideas, even before we started working and were absorbed into the norm of doing things. I was expecting to have a great time working with this organization. The mind-set of this age old organization seemed to be very new-age. 

Little did I know, that this feeling was short lived. As soon as I started working, I realized that this organization was still functioning like it was the 80’s. Nepotism was a norm and politics was rampant. My manager came to detest my guts and moved every stone to try and change my personality completely. Teary evenings had become a part of my daily routine. Despite giving me best and earnest efforts at trying to be a performer, I was not considered in that league.

I started the job hunt over portals for hours all over again. Nothing came about and my days of misery continued. One fine day, I got a call from a consultant for a job opportunity- 5 minutes from my residence. I jumped at the thought of not having to at least travel an hour each way every day.   

Post my interview, I gladly accepted the offer. It’s been three years since and my work has been appreciated by all my managers and peer group. I am having the time of life and I think this is my dream job. I have traveled across India and abroad for work and have met some of the best people in my life through it.

When I think about the past, I thank God for putting me through the experience that he did and giving me the strength and optimism to go on. I finally found something that I truly value because of the past experiences. 

This is my favorite Look up story. It constantly reminds me to never lose #optimism in the face of adverse situations. It tells me to go on. You may find your story at https://housing.com/lookup

Start your NEW life TODAY!

Well, there I was, living the life that millions would die for. A swanky city, a full-time job, domestic help for all household chores and friends to spend time with! But what nobody realized was that the life they longed to have was one I don’t wish anyone ever gets to experience firsthand! What they also did not realize was that all this had been possible because of one decision, and that decision was to get married.

Like almost every Indian girl, I was raised in a home where marriage proposals for girls aged 18 was a norm. Where these proposals were considered and like most families, my family too wanted me to agree to these proposals. In my quest to complete my education, I had said no to a few in the past and a few said no to me. But as fate would have it, certain unprecedented events, led me to agree to the idea of getting married and settle down. 

I was transferred to this magnificent city in the Western part of India immediately post the wedding . All was hunky dory until I realized that I had been tricked. I was expected to play the role of a strong man and shoulder the entire responsibility of the household, be a demure wife and give in to the whims of my chauvinist husband and to be the quintessential daughter in law and please my in-laws by wearing the correct clothes, displaying the correct mannerisms and making the right kind of food for their son at 7 am everyday. In return, I was to expect nothing. Not even the freedom to be able to buy myself a smartphone using my own paycheck. In fact, I was asked everyday to quit working and give it up to cook, clean and perhaps raise kids. 

This went on for about 2 years and I had sort of resigned to my destiny. This was meant to happen I thought to myself and prodded along. But somewhere along the way, it dawned on me that it’s my life and my only chance at being happy was if I changed things! That was it. There was no turning back. I stopped kneeling into the pressure to conform to the norms of society, let alone my own family who, then, thought of me as the black sheep.  

I took the decision to #Startanewlife and moved out of that apartment and with it, the shackles that I had been living with. To my surprise, very soon the chatter and buzz in society around the "developments" in my life died down. 

Since then, my life has changed and beautifully so! Today I have an  apartment  that feels like home. I miss it even when I am actually traveling to my original home. I cook food better than ever and I think I have become fabulous at it. My love for sweets continues unabated. I have a peaceful sleep everyday without any shadows hovering over me. I have traveled more than I imagined. My family now supports me in whatever I wish to do. 

I thank God everyday for the strength he gave me to endure longer than I could ever imagine and to finally be able to say goodbye when I needed to. 

My advice to everyone reading this post: Don’t Hesitate! It’s your life and you only live once!  Shun the apprehensions of what society will say! Do what your heart tells you to! And Lastly, it is NEVER too late! so go out and Start your NEW life TODAY!

You may startyourNewLife here: https://housing.com/