Shilpa's

Quarantined Cupid wants US to Communicate.

Ahhh… the smiling cherub holding its golden arrow struggles home alone. The arrows lay gathering dust for the wary souls sit quietly in their home, in their corners typing away, buzzing away, and zooming away. A sole child gets up to play and wanders only to find emptiness. The Cupid wonders why?

From the heavens above, there opens a window and the cupid takes a peak down. The bustling Earth is quiet, the cupid wonders why? Curious and naughty as he is, he flies down, window to the window it peaks to find families living together – grandparents, big kids, small kids all living together in silence. In silence, wonders cupid why? Curious as he is, he continues to jump from window to window, he sees families living together, but now he also sees the boxes with them… some small, some big but all bright and shiny. They type, they look down and they continue to type. He now knows the silence.

Cupid knows but does not know what to do. He sees the families smile, eat together and yet there is silence. He struggles for his golden arrow is useless. It is a love arrow. He needs, break the silence arrow. He knows the Earth loves each other, but in silence.

And today 14th February 2021, the Cupid urges us to break the silence. He wants us the people to communicate again. Pick up that little box in our hands and call a friend, a loved one. Put down the phone and actually talk to the loved ones again.

Communicate, the Cupid wants us to communicate and not text a lot more.

2020, a year of isolation, and amidst all the luxuries, the only luxury we craved for was the human contact. Families were homebound, it was fun initially and then the quarantine started taking a toll on ALL of us. Kids struggled, parents were frustrated and while the Earth was healing, we the people were struggling. The one thing that got us through the pandemic was communication. WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage, and the like kept it alive for many many of us. We were grateful for the little things… and then as the Earth allowed us to come back slowly, we started getting busy again.

We are falling, back into the trap of busyness. If there is one thing 2020 has taught me, is to talk and keep the communication alive with family, loved ones, and your friends. I know, it’s hard to pause and find time in this busy world. But we have to. I read this article yesterday and it really made me think.. we keep waiting for that perfect moment but why? If we count our lives by events as the article does, there really isn’t much left. It’s quite interesting when the events of a lifetime fit into an A4 page.

An 8.5 x 11 page is all the time we have left. Make every event dot on your page meaningful. You could argue silence is golden, however, it is in the noise that silence becomes golden, today the Earth is silent, there is no noise.

The Universe created the silence so we could hear ourselves again, so we could start communicating again.

This Valentine’s Day, give your loved ones the gift of real, live, and unadulterated talk time.

Happy Valentines Day to All of You!

O Mother Mine!

Hello, Namastey, Hola:
Hope you are having a wonderful summer and making the best of it. The blog returns this week and just in time for January 26th – India’s Republic Day. Yes I am biased, love the poet, but the poem is also very apt for India. It was written in 1993 and today on the 72nd Republic Day … One can clearly see the poet’s vision coming true. Enjoy.

Happy Republic Day India.

Oh, Mother Mine – Avinash Verma.

Oh, Mother mine,
Land of Ancient skies
I remember the days of your gay full abundance
When you danced with joy in the company of your sons
Oh, how pretty you looked, magnificently decked in gold
Your silken robes fluttered to caress your skin
And beautiful diamonds shone from every place.

Oh, Mother mine, Now those days are gone
Armies from far away foreign lands
Hearing the tales of your beauty and wealth
Came to plunder your precious wealth
But Mother mine; your heart was pure gold
You gave away your treasures galore
Some came and left, some came and stayed
But you welcomed them all with open arms
Some ridiculed your ways; some loved you dear
But you treated them all with your endless love.

But Mother mine, now you lay in gross neglect,
Your robes are tarnished, your diamonds gone
Your health is foul; your skin is dead
Your sons have abandoned you, for they have seen newer lands
Every day millions leave your shore
In search of lands far galore
The ones, who stay, build houses on your grave
They have forgotten the things you said of love, of honesty and of honor and all.
The land that gave birth to civilization, is today forgotten by all

Oh, Mother, they have removed your name from the halls of fame
No longer do travelers flock to your shore
I know you long for your sons in foreign lands
They come to visit you, but only for a while
You rush to embrace them with tears in your eyes, but they turn away
I guess they have seen better lands,

You are too foul for them Mother, you hold no charm
They say you are too old, now, its time to move on

But Mother mine, as now I sit in tears by your side,
I realize since when has a mother been bad for her child
Is she not but a reflection of her child
This world is strange Mother; I sit here in a daze
As your children blame you for their woes and despair

Oh, Mother mine, cry but do not despair
The lone live child at the end of the warfare gave birth to a new nation
In the midst of despair, there was hope
Thy tears are not wasted; there are some who love you still

You will again see glory days; you will again be alive
The world that mocks you now, will revere you then
Your ways will be understood, your sons will return home
Your love is supreme; it will win everyone again
When we play again, in gay full abundance,
That day my Mother: I long to see.

– Avinash Verma (1993)

A Year when we all became our very own Superhero.

I hesitate as I write this blogpost because 2020 to me is not the worst year. It is the year that forced us to pause and rethink. I know as everyone reads this, there will be eye rolls, and some of you might even stop after reading the first sentence, but I hope you give this post a chance and read through.

The year started with all of us hearing the news of Wuhan shutting down and while we all acknowledged the horror of it, we continued to be merry in our lives. We were comfortable and the routine of life continued, until one day we realized our world across the globe was in lockdown. All humans but a microscopic organism that magically found its way across oceans and desserts. It had baffled the most brilliant minds and its audacity to keep moving forward was scaring our souls.

And then it happened. The young couple knocked on their old neighbor’s door and offered to buy groceries, the mom who was always rushing against the clock stopped her car to give a hand to the homeless, the parent found empathy for the teacher, and the teacher extended the learnings beyond the four walls of a classroom.

We stood up as ONE human race.

2020, you are the ghost of the human past. You brought forward the scars, sorrows, and despair of our past actions. To heal the scars, we were forced to pause ourselves and find our internal wellsprings of strength and kindness.

COVID doesn’t differentiate, it attacks anyone it can. COVID leveled the playing field forcing us to UNITE and work together and look beyond the color, race, and gender of our beings.

Breathing safely is now a privilege and not something we can take for granted. Online communication while distant is breaking barriers and creating new bridges. As humans stay home in lockdown, animals move freely and reclaim their forests, lakes, and oceans. Companies are thinking beyond the box. Offices gather dust, while homes came alive as families found new ways to work together. The concept of “my space” takes a new meaning. Schools close, and teachers find new ways to reach out to their students. Parents are learning to learn with their kids.

We are learning that patriotism is more than fighting and protecting borders. It is about being one and working together to build a better community. The grocery store cashier, the nurse, the doctor, the delivery person, the teacher, the soldier, the neighbor next door who work together to support and thrive through the chaos are all patriotic. The heroes of today wear masks, deliver our groceries, nurse the sick to health, and simply watch out for the neighbor.

For all the wars that have been fought for religion, today ALL the faiths of the world are praying together for the safety and well-being of the human race. Doesn’t this amaze you?

I am personally blown away by how a minuscule organism forced us to think differently, act differently, and do differently. Today we are kinder, more empathetic, more united, and more aware of ourselves and the beautiful world we live in.

We found our inner strength and thrived through all obstacles. Wearing our own cape of courage we became our very own Superheroes.

Simply Shilpa

The Shy little girl continues to muse of another birthday, and it’s another year over…

Today, it’s my birthday. I am a happy 49-year-old.

The end of a decade demands a pause and I take a moment to look at the woman in the mirror. The mirror never lies. I see the dark circles, the grey hair, the many extra pounds, the sunspots, the fading eyesight, and I am proud of the woman in the mirror for she embraced them all because every wrinkle, every grey hair, and every pound has a story to tell… stories that I hold close to my heart and moments that make me who I am.

The world today demands growing up and yet makes it so hard to grow old. it takes nerves of steel to stay true to ourselves and grow old without aging our mind. In a world empowered by filters, it takes courage to feel comfortable in our own skin. In a world full of imperfections, it takes audacity to feel perfectly me.

I thought a lot today about what do I want for my birthday… and I realized, I want nothing. It’s that weird feeling of contentedness.. you know when you like a lot of pretty things and yet, you have no urge to add them to your cart or save them for a later spree. This weird feeling made me happy.

I am happy to be at the point where materialism doesn’t excite me, I am happy to be at the point where I can confidently say I am 90% Unfuckwithable, and I am at the point where I KNOW for a fact that Pronoia is 100% true. The combination has allowed me to be the woman I want to be… Simply Shilpa. Nothing more and nothing less.

Every birthday there are musings, lessons learned and more lessons learned. This year, inspired by the Internet, I decided to challenge myself. Somewhere between 16th Nov 2020 and 16th Nov 2021… I will give back to the world in 50 different ways. This is to honor the upcoming half-century 🙂 I don’t know what I am going to do, but I do know I will find 50 ways to give back to the world I live in. 50 ways, that go beyond donating money, 50 ways that will hopefully bring a smile on 50 faces.

I was the shy little girl in the mirror, who always saw the world with a looking glass. Today, I am the woman in the mirror who knows there is no looking glass, and yet I continue to believe I will find one. Maybe this fabulous journey of giving back will lead me to the looking glass.. Pronoia, it’s real. Believe!

Happy Birthday to Me!

The Epitome of Feminism!

India the cradle of human civilization, the country of mystic and spices, is also the country of myths and more myths. . Myths, legends, and folk tales is how we transfer our culture and value to the next generations and India has a myth for every moment in life 🙂 These myths as unscientific as they may be, are at the core of Indian culture. They ground us, and ensure we stay true to our uniqueness. India is an oxymoron. We have MOM who sends a satellite to Mars and then we have the MoM who continues to follow centuries-old myths. One such unique myth that brings forward the blend of a woman’s sensuality and strength is Karwachauth

Karwachauth – simply explained is the Indian festival of absolute fasting by a wife for the long and healthy life of her husband. In ancient India, girls got married at a very young age, there was no time to enjoy childhood or flaunt the youth, so where does one go when one misses their family; you find a fellow sister and share your thoughts. Soon this became a day when the women in the village congregated in one place and celebrated each other through prayer and worship. They fasted for their husbands not because they were submissive, but more because the myth of Savitri and Sati has taught them the power of a wife’s faith. A faith so strong that it defies the Gods themselves. A faith that teaches them to believe in their strength and become the strength of their husbands. They celebrated the strength of womanhood and gifted each other trinkets to remind each other that there is always a friend somewhere. If this is not feminism at its best, then I don’t know what is. It’s ancient India’s modern Lean In movement.

It’s all about perspectives.

Modern India calls it being servile and submitting to a regressive culture where the wife is nothing but a thing of beauty. I respectfully disagree with all my fellow feminists who feel this way. India is one of the few countries that celebrates women’s power and if that power comes with curves and glamor, more power to the women of India for they know how to ride a bicycle wearing a saree.

I fast, because not everything in life is about equality and men bashing. Men put a smile on our faces too, they just don’t fast. I am sure you have heard the age-old adage, way to a man’s heart is through his stomach 😉

Karwachauth is about a wife’s faith. The wife, who knows that she is the foundation of her home. The wife who knows that fasting is just one more way to continue to make her will power stronger. It’s about the wife who doesn’t care about being labeled, the wife who is only interested in the continued companionship and love in her life.

Karwachauth – it is about celebrating womanhood and sisterhood. It is about celebrating all women and reminding ourselves of how remarkable we are.

Karwachauth, It’s the epitome of feminism.

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The epitome of Feminism!

It’s all about perspectives.

Karwachauth, It’s the epitome of feminism.

The Girl, The Woman, The Goddess.

Once upon a time in the heavens above lived The Trinity – Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, The Perpetuator; and Shiva, The Destroyer. Shiva though the one who gets angry quickly is also the innocent one, the generous one who bestows his blessings in abundance to all who worship him. The demons knew of his strength and they worship him and worship him more, they get blessed with immortality, when no man could destroy them. Lo and behold Mother Earth bore the pain of this blessing, and then when the pain was unbearable, the Trinity created her – The Goddess. They called upon her to save them for she was valor, strength and knowledge living in harmony with her surroundings. The harmony gave her the freedom to be who she chose to be. The Goddess restored peace on Earth and all was well in the heavens.

Mythological India, is a goddess worshipping culture considers their women, the giver of life. The men had their own roles, they were the providers. In essence, humans had found their balance and there was a man in every woman and a woman in every man. There was no room for competition. Then we discovered the fire, the wheel, the industry and here we are in 2020, still struggling with the fundamentals.

The Indian festival of Navratri celebrates the Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. It is nine days of fasting, dancing and celebration. Consider it the mythological India’s Woman’s day celebration. Personally for me, my favorite is the 8th day. The eighth day is called Ashtami. It is the day when we celebrate the girl child.

Little girls, pure and innocent mortal forms of The Goddesses are welcomed into loving homes. They are pampered with gifts galore and in turn the little angels shower their giggly blessings and love on the family. Soon these angels grow up and cross the threshold into woman hood. Tradition says they are no longer innocent.

Today, let’s talk about it.The Period.

Is it the girls fault that she grew up? Is it her fault that she was blessed with the gift of bearing the next generation? Is it her fault that she has no control of the when and where of The Period? If your answer to all these questions was no, then I ask you again, why do you stop worshipping her?

The Period, makes us a woman and yet we choose to shun the very essence of us. The Period is nothing more than pain and discomfort that the female body goes through majority of her life. Every month she bleeds so when the moment is right she can bring a new life into this world. That’s pretty amazing! It’s a supernatural wondrous quality.

The Period does not kill the sacred Tulsi plant. The Period does not curse a temple and The Period definitely does not ruin Navratri. We are worshiping the Goddesses, they are women too. Their mortal forms probably had gone through the same pain. They get it. The Goddesses are not going to punish if we choose to worship them with The Period. The Goddesses will not curse, should we choose to celebrate the young woman in your life. We call them “Mata”, which means Mother. Do we really believe that a mom will punish her daughters for stopping by to say hello?

This Navratri, I reinvented my celebrations by choosing to celebrate the daughters in my life. This Navratri I reinvented my celebrations and promised my self to continue Ashtami well into the adolescent years, and beyond of all the daughters I hold close to my heart. I choose to celebrate their strength, their smile, their giggles and their hugs.

It is time we the women reinvent faith and beliefs.

It’s time we understand that The Period is a part of every woman and we all exist because of The Period.

Write to Emote

Once upon a time, we wrote to emote and today we emote to write. The cute smiley faces allow us to bring in some humor and character to the simplicity of the words. They even allow us to be a little rude without sounding rude, so it is no surprise that Emoticons and Emojis are the way we communicate today.

Communication like everything else in the 21st century has evolved and we are all gracefully embracing it. I have too and yet I struggle with the ? I get when I ask my children how they are or I ask my husband how’s his day going? I understand they are busy and I also know this is the norm, so I don’t need to be bothered by this, but maybe because I love words, this trend of using ? to show happiness, or ? ? to express silliness or ? to express love for the work or my post bothers me.

To understand this, I asked my girl gang – “lets talk with words on WA and not emoji’s or GIF’s.”Guess what happened .. yup, all in good humor the group had all the possible GIF’s and emoji’s popping up.

Here’s what I learnt, With every passing day, we are forgetting how to express ourselves in writing. Emoticons make it easier for us to acknowledge a comment, a message and celebrations without having to think about what to write. I decided to not use Emoticons for a day at least, and I found myself struggling too. That is when I understood the power of the tiny yellow face.

I get it that time is of essence and Emoticons save time. I also understand that sometimes words are hard to find and Emoticons make it easy, but here’s the thing, Emoticons are confusing, they are not precise and most importantly they create a distraction from the essence of the message.

Lets take the world we live in today… A post on BLM and how the community is creating a movement can get a ?, maybe this hints that people are bringing out the good in each other and moving forward, it can get a ? to show the sadness for the lives lost, it can also get a simple ? which today is the most generic way of saying, “I don’t know what to say, so I gave it a thumbs up.” Instead if folks took a few seconds to write; angels in action, sad this still happens, or Kudos to all; the words bring out the smiles to the readers and makes the message clear and shows that their work is actually creating an awareness because people are pausing to write.

When we write, we have to actually think, and that is why it’s so hard. Emoticons the work is already done, we just mindlessly pick one and click. It’s no secret that when we write our brain registers better, the neural connections activate more, so why are we moving backwards to the era of communicating with images. Man worked hard to put words to their thoughts and in the name of technology we are just taking it away.

Words are powerful and I love words. I am not a wordsmith, sometimes I too struggle in what to say and how to say it, but for the most part, I find them. Words – they have empowered us, from the freedom fighters to the love couplets of Shakespeare. Words have given us the strength to fight for the world that is just and fair, words have given women the right to vote and work, words have taught us to love another irrespective of their color and most importantly words give us the courage to be who we want to be.

Words allow us to be fearless. Emoticons allow us to be silly.

So today, I ask you to do an experiment with yourself, Write to Emote. Find that adjective to express your emotion, find that verb to show you are having a rough day and yet moving along, find that moment to pause and express yourself. Be original, don’t copy, don’t click.

Write to Emote!

“Virtually”the Best Class. Congratulations High School Graduate 2020!

The class of 2020, you were born into a world where the skies were grey with the fear of hatred. The world had witnessed the twin towers fall and the Earth was shaken. Today, you are graduating amidst a global pandemic. You are seeing the era of Dr. MLK come alive and everything that seemed history is a reality. The adage history repeats itself came true. Your life has been bookended by national tragedies of modern history.

You are no stranger to adversity and this is you biggest strength.

You are missing the expected, but you are gaining the resilience – Celebrate your strength. No textbook can teach you how to live life, only Life can teach you that. 2020 is and will continue to be your learning moment. Embrace it and get the most out of it. Hold Life’s hand and let it walk you through this year. Life never was and never will be easy. This is one of the many life exams you will face and by navigating through it successfully, you are telling the world that you can handle this adult life.

The tenacity and resilience of your resolve comes through when I see you Zoom through high school unlike any other class I know. Through the myriad of changes, you opened new doors and charted new paths. We as parents watch you navigate this new world of online learning and social distancing and adapt to the new normal.

Class of 2020, maybe you already know this, but the generations before you made a zillion mistakes and those mistakes culminated to the forced pause in our lives today. We grown ups expect 15,16,17 year olds to solve global problems that were essentially created by us. You are 18, there’s not much you could have done to create the chaos we have today and yet you get blamed for the generation without emotions. It’s not true.

You are our hope. You are my hope.

Don’t follow the dreams of those who came before you. Live your own dream. It doesn’t matter how big or small your dream is, if it makes you happy, then it is big enough. It is true, some of you will go on to make life changing inventions, some will change policies, some might invent a new medicine, some will save lives, and some of you might just decide to reinvent the ice-cream truck; no matter how silly or how important your vision is, please hold on to it. Use your college education to bring that vision come alive and live your dream. The one thing you need to do for yourself is to Live your OWN dream.

Grades matter but what matters most is who you are and how you treat other people. Your success in the grown up world is going to be defined by by what the world thinks of you. So as you move forward, work your hardest with honesty and humility. The distractions will always be there, stay away from the negative, learn to zone out the noise. The next few years should be about building yourself and your dream. You have the golden opportunity to do this without the interference of your parents 🙂 make the best of it. BUILD YOURSELF!

Find that village, the village that accepts you for who you are. The village that is willing to give as much as you are and the village that brings out the best in you.

Dear Class of 2020, this year may look like the year of losses, but it is also the year of changes. It is the year when life mandates mindful living and not just a mind full. I am not trying to be the saint here, and I know that there are many who are suffering. I understand that some of us have had it harder than others and I am beyond grateful for the narrow misses I have had, but I also know that the only way to move forward is by holding on to the one tiny blessing (there always is a blessing) and gathering strength from it for the next step.

Don’t despair the moments you have missed, instead marvel at your tenacity, your resilience, your adaptability and your grace. 2020 is not the year to be missed or ignored. You don’t judge a book by it’s cover, so don’t judge the year 2020 by its face. This is the year when we boldly accepted our failures and came together in harmony so we could all breathe.

Your graduation is not in an ill-fated year, but rather you graduate in the most important year of this era. 2020 is the year of new perspectives. The world paused so we could have the blessing of your being home with us and spend those extra hours doing nothing with you. The World Paused, so we could celebrate your graduation slowly and breathe in every moment.

BE PROUD, you graduate in this iconic year of change. The history books will pen you down as a generation of determination, resilience and change makers.

Now Go in the Direction of Your Dreams and Live that Dream!

**“Virtually” the Best Class. The World Paused, so we could celebrate your graduation slowly and breathe in every moment.**

To the Elementary Graduates of 2020!

Wow! Look at you, from the ginger bread houses, you are now moving on to middle school. You may not realize this, but the truth is, your elementary school is the only school where you have spent the longest time. Every other school after this will be shorter 🙂 So graduating from elementary school is just as much a big deal as graduating from high school. This is where you learnt to how read, write, jumprope, run the mile, do pushups, play an instrument, make friends, say sorry and even tie a shoelace, so CELEBRATE YOURSELF TODAY!

I know amidst the pandemic and the era of Dr. MLK coming alive, we have written off the year 2020 as the year of negatives and it is hard to see the brilliance of yourself in these times, but at this moment, I want you to pause and think. Think of all the amazing experiences you have had. You Zoomed by, unlike any other class. There were no warnings, and through your sheer tenacity and resilience you navigated the world of online learning, completed every assignment, project without the “normal” and structure of your classroom. You grew up!

Growing up is a process and we slowly learn to grow up.
2020 is and will continue to be your learning moment. You never judge the book by its cover, so don’t judge this year by its face. It is true 2020 brought forward our worst fears. It literally slapped us in our faces, screamed at us and forced all the grown ups to acknowledge their failure. And we grown ups don’t like that. But You, the class of 2020, showed us the true meaning of “adapting to a situation.”

The class of 2020, You are Inspiring.

There will always be the question, “Am I doing enough?” The answer is YES. The middle school pathways are not going to define your success. You will. Here’s a little secret for you, we grown ups expect tweens and teens to write apps, build devices and find solutions to global problems, when the truth is we ourselves are mostly stumped. And because we are stumped, we are so afraid, we do what we know best – ask you to study harder. So my dear elementary graduate, don’t ask the question “Am I doing enough?” but rather tell the world, you are doing enough because you are being mindful and putting your heart into it. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in learning to code, and write apps, and if that’s what speaks to you, by all means go for it. But if baking makes you happy, be proud and please do that. If experimenting with acrylic colors makes you happy, please do that. Every artist is a scientist first, the experimentation of different materials, the choice of colors, shapes and textures to convey a unique perspective, no textbook can teach you that. So dear elementary graduate, don’t be bogged down by the noise of math pathways and college admissions. It’s just noise. learn to zone it out and do your thing.

Middle school is when you build yourself one day at time. You will learn to manage your time so you are always ahead of it and not running behind it, you will explore new horizons and expand your interests and perceptions, you will learn to appreciate different perspective and accept without judgement, you will fail (yes it happens) and rise stronger and more confident, and most importantly you will learn to study. If you can do all of this, you will rock life and high school will then be a piece of cake, the grades will come and the much coveted college application will take care of itself 🙂

Dear Elementary Graduate – 2020 is not the year of negatives, but rather it is the year which forced us to pause, think and it is THE YEAR that will BRING CHANGE and YOU are the CHANGE MAKERS

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2020!