The 'Local' experience

Local here refers to the much loved, highly hyped, local trains which give our city it's life! After a few months of energy-draining travel to Churchgate, I learnt to be comfortable travelling in this massive vehicle. It carries hundred times a truck load of people and the mad rush squeezes and pushes you, forcing you to stand in epic, almost-yogic poses, leaving you struggling to balance yourself and your baggage :/ Doesn't sound pleasant at all, but it gradually came to win my heart after I became a silent observer of the harmony it creates among all the different types of people.

Pic credits- Pranav Kumar, Quora.

It's a melting pot for people from all backgrounds, languages, cultures, religions. From fashionistas to fisherwomen, the rich and the simple, all unite here. I've seen a woman reading the Kuran, and an old lady reading the Bible sit side by side and talk about the great teachings the holy books have to offer. Yes, they spoke peacefully, no arguments, no hate, and yes it really did happen. 
I've seen women and men having different backgrounds, becoming the best of friends only because they travel in the same train every day. They share the heartiest of jokes while going through the biggest struggle (trains) every morning! They even have their own WhatsApp groups and they share all their issues too :D Very refreshing.
The view from the trains during summer, and the green beauty around the tracks, accompanied by a rich moisture-laden, cold wind in monsoon, gushing into my face, makes me smile like I will never have worries! A beautiful trance! <3

Photo: Kalpak Pathak, Hindustan Times.

A simple mode of public transportation brings together so many people and gives me a new story every day and new lessons to learn! It's taught me about cleanliness, behavior, religion, struggle, sorrow, psychology and life over-all! I'd love sharing ALL the stories but I try to keep my posts short :) Will share more if people are interested :D Enjoy the summer till then ;)

Net Neutrality #WeNeedIt

Unaware of it yet heard of this upcoming trending topic? The reason why it is becoming a big issue is because an unpleasant 'act' is about to be issued in the next 11 days and what we immediately need to do is protest! As a blogger, the concept brought forward by the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) is something I am completely against. The committee has come to a conclusion, wherein they want to put restrictions on the usage of internet because they believe that ISPs should earn as much as the website and app developers. Thus, they decided that accessing every different section/site of the internet should be chargeable, and the developers who pay the ISPs more, will benefit as their website/app will load a lot faster than the others! In short, businesses that can invest more will flourish, and we will have to pay extra for accessing everyday websites and also suffer due to low speed internet while loading particular sites because they couldn't dish out more money! So, freedom is taken away, access gets restricted, cost increases.

So many things will go for a toss if this act gets issued. Google-ing any information that you want, educating yourself diversely, entertainment, social networking, online purchasing and everything else will become a narrow path of choices, making everything limited and boring! When the freedom is lost, all the advantages are lost too.

Net Neutrality is our demand so that every website/app gets an equal status and all of them can be accessed at same speeds without discrimination! Revolutions can be generated using the strength of the internet, and that is what we want to preserve, by starting THIS revolution!

Visit: http://www.netneutrality.in/ for more information

SIGN A PETITION, OR SEND AN EMAIL THROUGH: http://www.savetheinternet.in

The E-Mail contains 20 questions that reason out and support the need for Net Neutrality, and oppose the act by TRAI.

Body Image

Why is the definition of beauty crushed by the artificial parameters of society? Why is body image so important? A well shaped, evenly-toned body is all that defines a pretty woman? Why?
Curves aren't ugly, and being fat doesn't always mean that the other person is unhealthy or hogs a lot!
Being a skinny person, I have all the diseases an obese female should have, I may look okay, but I'm not! Being healthy majorly depends on your habits. It isn't something one can always make out by looking at a certain person's outer body.
Starving, diets, liquid diets, excessive exercising, plastic surgery, liposuction and other treatments can only play with your outer features temporarily and also give you side effects, but inner health is something that can only be changed by living healthily.
If you're fat,skinny,dark, or whatever(!), embrace yourself, love yourself. The day you become comfortable in your skin and start seeing yourself as beautiful, others will accept it too... You will discover beauty in the right curve, that is, your smile. Don't be shy dressing up the way you want, as long as it's comfortable, don't chuck it just because others' eyes might make you feel awkward. Dress up, play with colors and dress types, wear your hair down and let it all go! And smile! Accept yourself, spread positive vibes, others will automatically fall for you, as YOU fall for yourself everyday <3
Having a zero-size figure, toned skin and hot physique is a thing of the past! The new trend is being yourself and loving it... Never once call yourself ugly again, every single thing about you is nothing but endless beauty, beauty and beauty!

Watch this and get inspired:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DdM-4siaQw

Apologies for not expressing myself completely and for the delay in posting :(

Teen depression

Although it sounds simple to most parents, teen stress is multi-layered and grueling, and family does add a major portion to it.
The ever-present peer pressure, studies, expectations, time boundaries, extra classes, hobbies, recreational activities, close friends, family celebrations etc. always demand our time and we are expected to deliver full quality everywhere! 90% of teenagers struggle hard to cope with this, putting the remaining 10% through another cycle of comparisons and expectations! Your child cannot be a math-science wiz, a musical savant, an athlete, a linguist, an amiable extrovert and a cheerful soul, all at once,they cannot be all of these all the time! And if they are, and you're still not satisfied with them, I think it's time for you to re-think what an ideal child actually means...
So you think I'm saying that an ideal child has to be all of that^^? NO! Don't go pressurizing your child to be the best at everything, I'm not saying that it is impossible to be an all-rounder, but is it too difficult for Indian parents to simply understand that EVERY child, including theirs, has an individuality, and that EVERY SINGLE child CANNOT be an all-rounder at every stage of his/her life?! All your kids cannot be doctors and engineers either. They have their own inclination and talents, set them free!
And you think now that an ideal parent is only the one that doesn't pressurize children about career choices and talents? But that's not enough. Buying all the things that your child wants, taking them out to expensive places is NOT what we kids want, we just want to be handled with some love, need some little appreciation and encouragement. We want you to keep us happy by giving us real quality time! We do not want you working hard to earn or to buy a million insurance policies for our future, and always be worried. Don't give us an opportunity later to think that my parents never had time,although they did that to secure our future, but couldn't give us any actual gifts while they were with us alive! We want an opportunity to thank you every day for the little moments of unanimous laughter, meaningful life lessons, lessons to become good humans. We do not want to blame you for us becoming a laughing stock. Because under pressure, we crumble, we lose hope, we give up, and WE FAIL, without anybody even realizing. And all that society is ever gonna do is laugh at us, while we cry and look around for people to blame. All you'll ever think of us, is that we failed because we never listened to you. But it is actually because we always, always tried to listen, but it was too difficult for you to notice our trials, all you ever saw was the result. Failure. That's the only thing we teens are credited for.
Your generation was different! Scoring an 85% was too too much back then, but now there are thousands scoring a 94%, and we've given it the best we've got, but it still puts us under pressure! Dressing up, wasn't important back then, but styling, fashion and being perfect is stressed upon too much now! Millions of teens are not anorexic and depressed because of nothing! Having all the latest gadgets was a dream back then, not having one now is like a shame for most kids! But you all know why? Because the elder generation was too busy comparing the two generations, and forgot to teach US to be comfortable in our own skin, they forgot to teach us to be satisfied, forgot to teach us to LIVE in the moment, because they themselves were too busy WORRYING ABOUT THE FUTURE, rather than living in the present. They allowed a complex to enter our minds, cause after all, they've always been comparing too! They were too busy stocking up insurance policies, buying loans, buying expensive goodies, worrying but not living. So when a child answers that all they want to do is grow up and become a millionaire, you know where the problem lies!
Real ambition is supposed to be happiness, satisfaction, loved ones, wisdom, passion! Enjoying each day at school/work!
Teach your child to be happy with themselves, and moreover ACCEPT him/her for what he/she is. Be happy with them, they'll be happy with themselves and you! Teach values, not worrying! Spread smiles, not pain! Teens, are not those misguided ones who need a finger to guide them, we are beings that need fire and compassion! We have our own set of thoughts too now, cause we have grown up, even though just a little, but we have. Our thoughts could be wrong, guide us. Don't leave us feeling miserable about being wrong, correct us. Don't blame us for YOU failing as a parent, improve yourself and improve us too... We already have enough academic pressure to deal with cause of the increasing competition, we can't take the burden of your expectations and mistakes too. Fix this and there would never be a rebellious or depressed child ever, because among all these comparisons and expectations, humanity died! Not only for us, but for you too!
On behalf of ALL the different types of teenagers,
Gautami Kawale.