Addictions in my family.

As you are already aware the Kulshrestha's are a very pious family.We have no addictions.Well, almost.

Remember, a saying " Life is uncertain.Eat dessert first." My father is a rigid disciple of this saying.For him there are only two kind of people in this world:Those who love dessert,and communists.There is no "in-between" for him.With his budding age and sugar level ,he does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.He no longer bears the fear of being caught.Its an open war now.His weapon of defense-the puckish smile on his face is enough to tranquil the raging anger of my mother.I wish if one could make him learn and preach a whole new definition of strength-Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.But then again,he is cutting down on sweets now.I mean,he is doing it in phases.To start with ...he doesn't eat sweets while sleeping!

It's very difficult to single out one addiction of my mother as she believes in giving equal amount of time and energy to all her unconventional habits.She is cute,super cute-and that explains for all her uncanny addictions.Just like my father has a sweet tooth,she seems to have a sour tooth.A single lemon drop in her food is enough to give her an adrenaline rush and keep her high on life the entire day.The moment she says "khatha-khatha",we know that now an entire lemon is about to be squeezed in our lentils and vegetables,blemishing its taste further up.But hail "mother-power",all we can do is nod in approval.I cannot dispense with the fact that her taste buds just savor one taste i.e,sour. One of the other conspicuous addiction of my mom,particularly in winters which she follows unfailingly is sitting in the sun,doing nothing.My mom and the "earth" are somewhat similar. The earth is round,so is my mom.The earth moves "round" the sun,my mom moves "with" the sun.Her chair just loves to follow that small scorching sunny patch.This reciprocal journey starts from our "entrance door" and ends at our "entrance gate" or probably further up.And what delight she drives in this entire expedition is a big question mark.

My brother is a funny bone,and so is his addiction.He believes in that famous saying by Shakespeare(who himself did not forget to mention his name below his quote)-"whats there in a name?" He loves to be called as the "beer man" to start with.The credit solely goes to my brother for this invention of a new super hero.I wouldn't actually be surprised if one day i come to know that he has also designed a costume for himself.And knowing my brother's feral imagination,beer man could actually be a drunk adaptation of batman,he-man,superman or spider man.Anyways,when its too much
alcohol ,the only thing that you seem to remember is whether you are a "man" or a "wo-man".So much for the beer man.My brother's names changes with his looks and style.With moustaches-"bhaji rao",without moustaches-"Vijay deena naath chauhan",in kurta-pyjama-"thakur",in a three piece suit-"Don2",with hair-"god-knows" and when bald he would probably call himself "ghajini."You name it,and he has already named himself with it.Little did my parents knew when they did his naming ceremony,that would be the first and the last time they would call him "Raveesh."

Next in line is my sis-in-law.Her addiction is so palpable that its impossible for it to be overlooked by anyone.Tea addiction is generally classed as one of the least bothersome addictions,but not when you take it in like air. The main signs of tea addiction are headaches, brown teeth and dressing like your grandparents and my sis-in-law has none of these. She has just been inflicted with tea obsession and iam sure often feels helpless due to how unversed medical professionals are on the subject, as they normally say to patients, "let's have a cup of tea and discuss this." My brother might often think that just because her wife is addicted to the caffeine in tea,she doesn't sleep well as she drinks too late at night, whereas he actually doesn't know that it is usually because she is laying awake anticipating the morning's first cup of tea. This can lead to problems, especially if they wake up to find that they are all out of tea bags.I wonder how would my brother have felt when he threw around this question(with his one eyebrows raised) to my sis-in-law"what would you like to have-tea,coffee or me?"and the possible answer that would have come from her"Honey,tea with no sugar and less milk would just be fine."For her, tea is the most versatile drink and can be consumed in all situations.




There are other addictions too in my family…but unfortunately we haven’t exploited them as much as we would have wanted to.Unfair would it be to keep myself out of this discussion.I have an addiction for writing and that explains for this blog and for the many more to come:)

Now or Never!

Most of us are beleaguered with a mental illness called unconscious living,where we suffer from symptoms like peeking into the past or peering way into the future.Seldom we realise that the past and the future only exists in our thoughts.Today is the life we are meant to live.

It is in the present moment that we touch base with our inner selves and come to terms with outside reality.If we live in the now, we experience the richness of the present moment.Moment,where we have the bliss and woe ,laughter and twinge, dismay and hope, beauty and ugliness all wrapped up as a bequest.There is an ever present flow of existence and we flow along with life.

As the day progresses, we go on to encounter both good and bad. We choose in each moment to strengthen the good in us and to weaken the low and unpalatable, so that the now acts as a bridge going from one good experience to another.This in turn helps us to arrive at our destination in the most effective way possible.

Happiness can be created; it’s not merely bestowed upon us like good hair or evenly descending toes. By learning to find the magic in each day, we can put our demons in their place and ensure that what we have left is the elation of living moment by moment, day by day.

Live in the Moment is geared for those times when we simply need to stop allowing life’s ups and downs to dictate how we feel and look to ourselves to set a more positive tone. So if we are willing to lighten up one minute, dig deep the next, and be painstakingly candid throughout, we will come away with new found sense that we can indeed end with the ever-allusive “happy life”.