Thru my heart

I have now moved my blog to wordpress. You can read me at www.akswrites.com. Hope you will visit me!

I open the newspaper and am aghast to see the news of a young lady being trolled and sent rape threats for voicing her opinion. While she did talk on a sensitive topic which has the probability of invoking anger and probably hurting sentiments of certain sections of society , it is her opinion as an individual. Resorting to trolling her and threatening her of consequences such as rape is absolute blasphemy. Makes me shudder and think what kind of world am I living in and most importantly what kind of world am I leaving behind for my little daughter Angel? I then scroll down through my twitter feed and its not much different. An actor/model or politician or sometimes a common gal/guy has made a comment and everyone is hell bent on showing them their place. Makes me shudder and think how we have forgotten the very basics of being kind and have an empathetic attitude towards one another, We may not agree to the other person but does that mean we forget how we can agree to disagree...

"And they lived happily ever after"- as Aesha closed the story book, little Anya was asleep, her tiny hand holding Aesha's arm firmly. With one more loving look at the little angel, she gently unwound her arm and tucked  her into bed. She sighed and wondered- Is it really happily ever after? Maybe she should alter these fairy tales and tell her daughter more real world stories. The chilly air outside continued to blow. Aesha looked out of the window. It had been 6 months she moved to New York and she loved the vibrant and energetic city. Little Anya had settled down quickly too, much to her surprise and delight. She absolutely loved the day care in Aesha's office where she spent her day with other kids of her age. Aesha loved the new office, the energy levels and enthusiasm was at a new high. Being the Head Office, it was abuzz with activity. One thing that she found in stark contrast to India was that people took their work life balance very seriously. No o...

As Aesha tapped her heel restlessly at the Visa Consulate, one might just think of her as yet another young woman who has set her heart on an overseas dream, a future in the greener pastures and she is probably nervous if her visa will be stamped or not as her fate can either be made or broken by this one seal (or the lack of it). But for Aesha , her tumultuous mind couldn't be tamed today. While she was at the cusp of an important milestone in her career and getting the visa would mean she inches one step closer to her dream professionally- somewhere she shuddered to think of how it would impact her love life and the very foundation of her marriage. It seemed like yesterday- Aman and Aesha met at a sangeet and got talking. They hit it instantly and never realized where time flew. They would always chuckle when they got to know later that this had been set up by their parents.  Aesha was a young, dynamic, super smart, intelligent woman who was a great fan of Sheryl S...

Mr and Mrs S and their toddler live in my residential complex. Mr S is an engineer who works in one of the software companies. Mrs S who is a post graduate stays at home taking care of the toddler. Mrs S's son and my daughter play together , being almost of the same age. Mrs S would often tell me "Its nice you go to work, look at me I have studied so much and I sit at home. Hopefully when he grows up a bit and starts schooling I can do something." I suggested to her that if she does not have family support and is reluctant to leave her son at a daycare or with a nanny, why not think of starting something from home. She knows some basic beautician work and the complex we live in has many working women who would love to have an in house beauty parlor. I suggested to Mrs S to enroll for a professional course and then start a parlour on a small scale at her residence which would serve the dual purpose of her being engaged and making her own money and at the same time being a...

My tryst with motherhood is what made me pick up the pen (to be honest the laptop) and start writing my thoughts and publish my blogs. I could never have thought in my wildest of dreams that I could pick up the pen and write something that would be of any interest to anyone to read. I count myself fortunate to have been bestowed with so much love, adulation and popularity and most of all some great friends in this virtual world. If I think of how it has enhanced my perspective as a Mom, here are the few blog posts I wrote, each of which bring out different shades of my parenting journey and here is what I learnt from this: 1)       Being a Mum don’t lose “you”, keep loving yourself fiercely: As a Mum it’s easy to get lost in the whirlwind of emotions for your child, the daily routine sucks you within its grind but its importance you don’t lose sight of yourself. For me it’s my passionate love towards my blog which makes me find ways and means of comi...

You usually pick up a book to read because you heard a good word about it from a reader friend, or you chanced upon a good review or simply browsing for a book, you read the back cover and were intrigued to know more. My reasons for picking up this book is something you surely can’t beat! A chance encounter with the author Bavna Rai in a networking event right at my workplace made me rush home and download it on my kindle for weekend reading. Now being a blogger and aspiring writer, nothing gives you more joy than meeting someone who shares the same passion. Unfortunately I have never met a single soul who has remotely anything to do with blogging or writing in my workplace though I have worked for some of the biggest names in the Investment Banking World. Imagine how euphoric I was to receive an invitation for a networking event with 2 senior women leaders and I see that one of them is passionate about writing and has authored a book. Listening to Bhavna’s candid thoughts ...

A short story                   I look out of the plane window excitedly- my animated face resembles that of a school kid who is eagerly awaiting his summer holidays. And why not? Not exactly summer but these are my half yearly holidays when I fly down from Riyadh to be with the people dearest to me. The feeling of spending two weeks with my beloved kids and my wife is something that fills up my void life with so much excitement that I find it difficult to contain it within. I am one of those unfortunate few who makes a lot of money but has to pay the price of living away from my family.  I fondly remember those days when I hardly made a pittance, we lived in a one room kitchen rented house but we were such a close knit family. Love kept us strong despite the financial difficulties we faced. My wife is a homemaker but together with our two kids Astha and Karan we had built a beautiful life. I kept trying to change my jo...

#IWD2017 was remarkable will forever be etched as a special day in my mind for numerous reasons. To start with it was heartwarming to see one of my blog posts which is very close to my heart do fabulously for the 3rd time. Though it’s not a new one, sharing this on multiple platforms has always evoked such a heartwarming response. This time it was on the eve of International Women's Day and the topic was something we Indian women always grapple with- and hence I always say this -NO - Getting married is not a woman's biggest achievement. There is much more to life than “settling down” as we call it (for reasons I fail to fathom). Why not celebrate her dreams, her aspirations? You can read the post here . The other big highlight of the day was a Panel Discussion with some really strong, veteran, women leaders in business. This was a part of Women's Day Celebrations by our very own Women's Network at UBS- something that is very close to my heart and I love ...