Balloons

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On the wings of wind

They float with such grace and beauty

That dazzles everyone’s sight.

They bring enthusiasm and inspiration to all

They reminds us of the innocent laughter

Of kids at birthday parties.

A balloon when filled with hot air flies

Human Spirits must be inspired in similar ways

But a balloon can be burst into pieces with a small blow.

Balloons are like people.

They come in such beautiful colors

Yellow, blue, red and green

Balloons are like life’s journey

They fly high to unknown places

From land, sea and mountains they travel

They go off to far off places

And no one knows where

Its destination is written.

The captain of the wind steers it to the horizon

He decides the path and the destination

And no one else knows.

What does 'Success' mean to you?

During my college years and while preparing for a new job I frequently heard this question, what does Success mean to you? We hear lot of definitions too for success. I come across several quotes about success, the difference between successful and unsuccessful people etc.

I am not satisfied with any of the explanations any motivational speaker or any books I have come across. They all define what success means to them. True, that’s why the question is subjective and not objective. The simple dictionary meaning of the word success is ‘The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.’

So if we have achieved out of our efforts what we have wanted, then that’s success for you and me. I think most of the time people misunderstand success as gaining wealth and fame only. Gaining fame and wealth can also mean success to those who desire to have them, but counting only people who have achieved fame and wealth as successful is not right.

We hear and read about many people who succeeded in business, entertainment, sports etc. And we tend to portray them as successful people. Of course they have achieved success, but only career wise. What about their life? You think all people who achieved success in their career are equally successful in their life? I don’t think so.

Why limit success just to career? During our education, we are encouraged to set goals which are purely career based. I grew up hearing most old people asking young children, what they want to be when they grow up. It is good and important to have career goals, but it is equally important or even more important to set goals in other facades of our life.

From many seminars that I have attended, I heard people speak about how we should aim high in life and should stop thinking and leading a mediocre life. True, but once again they were all talking about aiming high in career only. I could not completely agree with any of them, because for me family come first, career come second. I felt for the speakers it was the other way around.

I used to think for me success means is to be happy. So whatever that brings me happiness is my success. But I think it is the success that brings happiness to me. I don’ think we can ask someone whether they consider themselves a success or failure, because like the saying goes, it is not a destination but a journey. We are all constantly either succeeding or failing in something or the other.

Always people want to know the formula for success especially if they want to be successful career wise or if they want to make lot of money in their life. Making lot of money and holding a prestigious company in your hands is not ultimate success. The happiness it brings will fade out sooner or later.

We need to succeed in life. We need to overcome the challenges and struggles we face in our day to day life. For different people, the challenges are different. Some struggle with careers, some struggle with disease, some people faces injustice, some people face challenges from society, some from within family. We need to succeed all the challenges we face in our life.

There are certain qualities we need to cultivate in ourselves to succeed in all walks of our life. The first and foremost is the determination to succeed. Take a look at the following quotes.

1. "Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success." - Dr. Joyce Brothers.
2. "Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed."- Abraham Lincoln
3. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." Vincent T. Lombardi
4. "When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success."

All the above quotes direct towards one thing that is will power. If we have strong will power, nothing can stop us from achieving what we want. Abraham Lincoln’s quote point to us how discouragement can kill our dreams. We all start with a resolution but we all mostly by the end of a week we can no longer stick to our decision due to lack of enthusiasm. We get discouraged and that’s how we fail. In the 4th quote we can see that along with determination, we need to put our will power into efforts in order to succeed and that is the second quality one must possess.

1. "Success doesn't come to you? You go to it." Marva Collins
2. "The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right." Edward Simmons

There is no substitute for hard work. Hard work always pays off. Putting our determination into action is equally important as to having will power.

1. “Whenever I hear it can’t be done; I know I am closer to success”-Michael Flatlay
2. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”-William Feather
3. “The penalty of success is to be bored by the attentions of people who formerly snubbed you.”- M.W. Little
4. “Remember you are born to live and don’t live because you are born. Don’t go the way life takes you; take life the way you want to go.”
5. “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
6. Success depends above all, upon people. Build relationships, teams, partnerships -- and motivate people to contribute. Cultivate leadership, creativity, excellence. Listen; seek new ideas and advice. --Ruth Scott Pres. & CEO, Assoc. for Portland (OR) Progress

7. 7 secrets of success… I found it in my room
• Roof said: ...................................... Aim high
• Fan said: ......................................... Be cool
• Clock said: .................. Every min. is precious
• Mirror said: ...................Reflect before you act
• Window said: ............................ See the world
• Calendar said: .......................... Be up-to-date
• Door said: ..........Push hard to achieve Ur goals


8. “The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right” - Edward Simmons
9. “All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure”- Mark Twain
10. .

We see so many different viewpoints from many great men here. Among them I find that they all have undying enthusiasm and they all speak out to us, not to be afraid of failures. Einstein himself said it was his 3000th attempt when he succeeded in inventing light bulb and when asked by people, so you failed all the 2999 times and his answer was inspiring. He said “I found 2999 ways how not to make a light bulb”


I particularly like the 6th quote where this person talks about building relationships as part of being successful. True indeed, whether for business or personal, relationships we build shows how successful we have been in life as a human being. For any goal you have in your life use the 7th quote as a formula to overcome any challenge in front of you. Success does call for a plan of action that we need to follow strictly and sometimes we fail because we didn’t do what we were exactly supposed to do. Success calls for discipline.


Mark Twain talks about confidence and something that sounds odd to many of us- Ignorance. How can ignorance bring success? We know that knowledge is power, then how can ignorance help bring success. Sometimes even ignorance is good. In certain cases ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ For example when you know every risk or obstacle that stop you from achieving something great may shake your confidence, in those events it is better not to know.

And the last one just breaks down everything about success. To become a man of value is given more importance by a man who is considered by the world as a successful person. Great men are those who had great value. If you strive to become more valuable, success will follow you.

Success and failures come and go in every man’s life. Is being successful is all that means to you in life? Listen what Winston Churchill said.  

                                                                     

So don’t be so obsessed with being successful, there is many things beyond success and failure. Life teaches you many things. Success and failure are just one chapter in life. There are many more things to explore and learn.

HONEY, WHAT’S FOR DINNER???

Even as a child though I didn’t know how to, the idea of cooking always delighted me. I knew I could cook. I knew when I’ll get a time to do some cooking, I will rock and I have in my opinion. You can take my husband’s opinion if you must. I am sure he will tell at least 3 or 4 dishes that I cook best.

Every day after work we (me & my hubby)call up each other on our way back home asking one another, whats for dinner? We discuss and accordingly we purchase whatever is required to prepare our dinner on the way. I started cooking about 2 years back. I had finished my PG and I had amble time to try out cooking which I always wanted to. Because I was in boarding and hostels most of my life I didn’t find much time to cook.

Well I have no professional training what so ever in cooking. Because I am so fond of cooking, I always watched cookery shows on television. From traditional Indian cooking to Chinese, European, Moroccan, Caribbean, name any cuisine; I would like to cook all kind. But sadly I have not yet eaten anything beyond continental, Chinese, Arabic and Indian. I am eager to put into practice whatever knowledge I have accumulated in the past in Thai, European, Moroccan and Caribbean cuisine.

Cooking has become a passion for me. Even if I am not cooking anything special but some ordinary dishes from our everyday life which I have been eating since my childhood, I love every minute of it. I have heard and seen many people who either don’t like cooking or they don’t know how to cook. I never had a doubt when it came to learning cooking nor did I ever tell anyone that I do not know cooking. I always said I can cook. Because like I said before I knew it in my heart that I could cook.

Recently I watched a movie called “Julie & Julia” which is based on real life story of a young woman who was really passionate about cooking and I realized how much I love cooking as equally as this person from the movie. I knew about this movie when it got released and I have been waiting for a chance to watch it and I loved every single moment of it. And now you know the reason why, because the movie is all about cooking with heart and soul.

Cooking like any other art form is not only relaxing but transforming. It is an art and a science as well, no argument in that. What matters to me is that it is a creative form which enables us to experiment. There are 2 things I love the most when it comes to cooking, one is cutting vegetables and second one is sautéing. These two simple things are involved in almost cooking anything.

There are so many techniques in cooking. I know few theoretically and a few in practice. I want to learn cooking more seriously. But I cannot imagine myself working as a professional chef or something. Well it is not my cup of tea and I am sure my skills are not cut out for that world.

My one and only rule in cooking is cooking healthy food. But cooking healthy has its restrictions. Once in a while I indulge myself in cooking as well as in eating some heavy items and I do not feel guilty for it. If food is not to be enjoyed we are missing out so much in life and I believe that.

I would like to use the freshest ingredients possible. I am just an ordinary person. I do not own a farm. I do have plans for building a small vegetable garden back home, once I settle down over there. So when I say I like to use the freshest ingredients possible I want to, but all I am using right now is what I get from market. It would be a wonderful experience to grow our own vegetables, poultry everything from scratch. But it is time consuming and I know if I want that dream to come true. I should stop working at office and start working as a farmer. Well I am not sad, I know there will come a time when I will become a farmer too in life.

This just reminded me of an important thing about careers. I have always heard people talking about career planning. And most of them I know have lived their whole life doing just that one job over 3 or 4 decades or even more. Why can’t we have more than one career in this one life? The television show “One life to Live” explains exactly the same thing which I have wanted to do. In that show one expert says, every man in the beginning of his youth wants earn for a living, so that becomes his primary goal. So we all want to be financially independent, so we all work in places with people from where we can earn the most. And in our mid-life say 40 years onwards or so just making money doesn’t motivate us. We want to do more than that we want to enjoy what we do and we want to do something we enjoy not for the sake of money but for our mental satisfaction, something that will enlighten us. It is during these times, we see most people who have had everything going on for them, life well settled. Good house, car, job, wanting to do something entirely different from what they have been doing their whole life. Some even talks about wanting to sell off their properties and live a much meaningful and simple life doing something they love, even if it is a low paying job. This is a natural state the expert say. As we grow older we want to be more close to nature, God etc.

So I have also planned my career similarly. Till I need to financially support my family I will continue with what I have been doing. I am fairly good in writing, photography and cooking. I want to take up a course in mass communication or journalism, may be a crash course in photography and read few books on cooking and take up gardening etc. after my 40s or so.

Coming back to what we were discussing, there is no one whom you cannot please with food. So cooking can be a greatest asset for anyone who has interest. For those who really want to impress the men or the woman in their life learn cooking. As old as the saying goes “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”, it that much re-instates the truth that all men love eating good food.

For beginners who hate cooking; think of it like this. Cooking is not a job, think of cooking like a must thing like breathing, eating, bathing or sleeping. Of course eating is must otherwise we cannot survive. So cooking is a survival skill rather than a job or a responsibility. That’s how I thought. Cooking can be taken as a job; those who cook always earn respect from others. You may not remember every folk who have invited you for dinner, but surely you will remember a hand that fed you good food.

Food is part of celebration of life in every culture. Let it be birthdays to weddings, New Year celebration, festivals, anniversary, new-job etc., we all celebrate with food. For those who are interested and want to learn; cooking can be a mesmerizing experience for you. It can cleanse you from the inside and gives you that feeling of bliss when you are able to create something out of scratch and present it before others to enjoy. There’s no better feeling than that. That’s the most sensuous and beautiful thing about cooking. We always cook for others, not just for ourselves. It is a self-less act. Of course we cook for us too, but cooking is about sharing. So unless you share what you have cooked with others; it isn’t complete.

There are many specialties about cooking. One very important thing that I can tell you is this, it is the only art that can influence all your senses, you can smell, taste, touch, see and even hear what’s been cooking. When you come home tired after a long day’s work, a good meal can replenish you like anything. The moment you enter the house the pleasing smell of your favorite dish will make you forget all your day’s hard work.

If you ask me what’s chef Elanto’s specialties. I make scrumptiously delicious China Grass Pudding, my mom’s recipe, which can never disappoint a soul. Ghee Rice again my mom’s recipe, which I gave my own style to it. It is light on your stomach and can make you want to eat more and more. Chicken is my weakness. So I make variety of chicken curries. Pepper mushroom and Cauliflower soy are my two other specialties. My Idiyappams and Palappam’s are white and fluffy like doves. I know this is a bit self-praising but I am being brutally honest in here. You can always check with my better half, who gets to enjoy my pleasant cooking. My stew (veg and chicken) compliments the Appams into perfect marriage of flavors and textures.

I am waiting to buy an Oven, so I can start baking all my favorite cakes, cookies, chicken roasts, grills, pizzas, lasagnas, tarts, keesh etc. The list is endless

When I watch all these top shows about cooking, I hear them saying a lot about seasoning, flavoring, textures, many techniques like braising, poaching, blanching, searing, etc. I wonder did our mothers and grandmothers know what they are technically called. I guess not. But still they made excellent home cooked food. So cooking is not so much about knowing big jargons or making food that has many techniques involved like French cooking. Not that these things are not important. But cooking should always be done with love. “Cook food, Serve Love” that should be our motto.

For young aspirants out there to whom being told especially girls by their mothers the need to learn cooking as we are one day to become home makers, do not learn cooking just because your mother told you to or just because it is your responsibility to do so. Learn it for the sake of learning it just like how eager you may be interested in learning dancing or music or painting for cooking is equally an art. Do not treat learning cooking to be a lame thing or a thing of the past. As long as we need to eat, somebody has to cook. In today’s world everyone talks about wanting to be independent. So learning cooking also becomes a part of being independent.

My name is Elsa and I am really passionate about cooking!!!