Four Clover Life- By Namrata Shailendra Singh

A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEBODY I am N ….Naina Thakur and this is my story. Not only mine but also yours. You are as chained as I am, handcuffed and shackled...and this conversation is as important to you as it is to me.  N- Hey Hi. Somebody- Hi, you are talking to me? N- Ya. May I know your name, please? Somebody- aha! My name? N- Yeah! I have been following you for 36 years and I still don't know who you are. Today I saw you, again, and thought of asking. I went asking my grandfather who is 88 and he seemed to be clueless. Somebody- He didn't know? That's strange. I thought by 88 you become wise enough to know pretty much everything. N- O common. Don't beat around the bush. Just tell me who you are? Somebody- Why don't you go and ask your mum or dad? N- My mum?   Well, yeah, I remember she was the one who spoke about you. Yes, I remember. I have heard her talk about you often. In fact, she is the one who introduced

I am an advocate of appreciation. We were brought up at different times. Parents were more critical, and appreciation of any kind was hard to come by. Even if they did it had a hyperlink attached- “ हाँ ठीक है , अब ज्यादा उड़ने की जरूरत नहीं . आगे भी अच्छा करते रहना है ”. (It’s OK...you don't need to fly so much. You have to keep doing well.') The tone in which this dialogue was delivere was confusing to us- ' ये क्या था ? "What was that? Are they happy or not happy?" The inflated self-esteem went whoosh as we were thrown back to the ground. It's different now. We, as parents, indulge in appreciation. A small or big act of achievement or even just the effort. We laud our children with ‘GOOD JOB’ as often as possible. Yes! The hypothesis has changed today. The more you appreciate, the better it is. All kinds of research going around to prove how appreciation is linked to better grades, better behavior, and better performance acad

I love this speed. It gives me much better control of the car and life:) Dearest non- driving moms, Don’t fret over not knowing how to drive. Don’t let it hit your self -esteem and when the other mom asks you – “do you drive?” don’t get sheepish and wrinkle up your nose with a malcontented smile. IT IS OKAY. DRIVING IS NOT THE KEY TO A HAPPY LIFE or a TESTAMENT TO ONE. I wonder if it even figures in the list. He!He!He!Guess, to some, it may. To some, it may not -SO, NO JUDGMENTS. I know driving. It's just that I prefer   1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Special  . Below that, it doesn't suit my taste. Yeah! It is 26.4 million $, and hence I have not been driving. You have no idea how misery strikes in life? Ha!Ha!Ha! Jokes aside, back in Chicago, when I tried to merge onto a freeway, I had my first nervous breakdown, and after that I swore to myself that I will drive into anyone’s home but not on a highway. Amongst  the biggest fears of life, driving fi

Preschooler, Elementary school going child, middle school children or high school teenagers---------It really doesn't matter. Lying happens-To us and to them. THE PRESCHOOLERS The issue of moral development in children extensively researches in the field of Child psychology. It's natural for you to feel upset when you find your preschooler lying to us. You think that it reflects poorly and that you are not bringing him up the right way. But do you need to get distressed over your child’s ‘truthfulness’ yet? No. It’s too early. BUT Imagination- ----You have to differentiate between his actual lying and his fantasy. For example- My son often cooks up these stories about how a dinosaur came to his class and all his friends fought them. Many such stories I hear every day, from bugs to cockroaches to lions to dinosaurs. I am glad his imagination is doing the job well. Preschoolers observe the world around them keenly, and ‘creative play,’ ‘pretend and play,’ ‘ima

“I am wondering how will I fart post the wedding? What if he hears? Oouuchhhh! What will he think about me? All the romance will be flushed out right there. So unsophisticated! But, you tell me, a fart is fart is a fart. A body mechanism and how am I supposed to hide it forever?” I looked at my laptop screen in disbelief( Yeah! I was reading -How to have amazing sex every time! ) while my bestie poured Harpic around the rim of the commode in our bathroom and mockingly answered “he would also have all kinds of noises coming out of his body, so, just chill!” I remembered this conversation today, early morning, when I let out the infamous fart while stuck in a yoga pose(Bhujangasan) right in front of my husband, Kuchipoo(his puppy pet name given by me), for 5 years. Because we sit opposite each other while doing these aasanas, it caught his attention for a millisecond and we moved on. The fart disappeared in the humdrum of regular life.   I remembered my days just after my

If you find yourself drawn into conversation with self or others about the next iPhone on the shelf, the Amazon box that needs to be returned, the selfie your girlfriend took while at lake Tahoe, and searching on google what is the best position to get pregnant, YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. I am not a corporate person. I am an MBA and swam the corporate before jumping out of it, gasping for breath and meaningful life.  I use to be 6 years ago, but the business minds( Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Tim Cook) still intrigue me, as I look awestruck at their whale of ambition and scale of success, the vision they have and the confusion they have spread. It is no child's play, to say the least. I cannot write anything that does justice to their persona, mind, and their business. I can at most write what they have come to mean for an ordinary person with an ordinary life like mine. I am not exactly tech-savvy in the truest meaning of the word. I use technology