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What’s my Net worth?

A few days back I was looking at the data of HNI in India. For the uninitiated, HNI is High Net worth Individuals. Basically all the people who pay the highest Income tax in the country which directly means the elite cream class whose earnings per year can rob the day lights from any one of us! Like the very successful Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said “Money is the harsh reality of life. Some love it, some die for it, some use it well, some waste it, some fight over it, but most people only desire it!” Somehow this word ‘Net worth’ set me thinking, what is my net worth? In terms of accounting after you remove all the liabilities /debts, whatever money you are left with is your net worth. So if I earn Rs. 5,00,000 per year and I need to pay a loan of Rs. 3,00,000 then my net worth is Rs. 2,00,000 ..As simple as that! How much is my life worth? Can I put a number to it? While I do not have any impressive numbers to speak about, it took me in to an ‘Accounting’ mode. What would be my Net
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Dil without bill

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  Paradise has never been a ’place’ for me, it mostly represents a memory that is frozen in time, always getting that smile in the heart. While there are many memories that do brighten up my face and warm up the soul there are a few that are truly etched in memory! It was the time of my life where I had taken a ‘break’ from regular career and was volunteering in the IT centre of an NGO. There was a proposal of conducting a heart camp for little kids which sounded like the need of the hour. As many of you may be aware, many small kids especially till the age of 10 to 12 have a heart condition where they have a hole in the heart making normal life extremely difficult.   In no time, we were preparing for conducting the mega camp and like it or not I became the ‘eye’ of the storm. All coordination between patients, the conducting hospital our own NGO was being handled by me. Sometimes I feared that I myself will develop some ‘heart condition’ as it was an extremely stressful time.    A
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Of Wishes and Resolutions

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Image from Shutter stock   We are just beginning to settle in the new year 2022. While it will still take time to getting used to writing 22 in the year column we have (thankfully!) gotten over the arduous task of sending  our New Year Wishes to one and all in our Whatsapp Groups, FB family , Insta, LinkedIn (never mind mindlessly!) My genuine wishes for all of us is that - We throw away our masks - physical and otherwise and live in a free world. Over the years I have begun to fear the virtual masks worn by human beings. We no more have the courage of telling our close ones - I love you or otherwise. Sometimes I feel that all are operating with a garb of 'looking good' avoiding our innermost truest feelings! May this year give us the courage to move closer to our family and friends and move away from the ones who no long contribute to our growth. Our children start going to school to give us parents a breather, not to mention the reduced stress on our teaching community! Not o
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It could have been me..

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The past few weeks have been filled with news that made you shudder every morning when we accessed the phone. Shudder to think who has hit the bucket, who else has succumbed to Covid, which family has been brought to their knees by this unknown, unseen enemy. It's the first time that you actually felt your breath every morning and sent out a silent 'thank you' for feeling it! It also has made me think 'It could have been me..' It could have been me whose passing away was being circulated on WhatsApp groups and so many people replying a life less 'RIP' or  'Om Shanti' and forgetting all about it the next minute. It could have been me struggling to get an Oxygen bed desperately with the husband man running pillar to post for the same. It could have been my obituary in the newspaper, which by the looks of it may need a separate supplement these days. It could have been me who recovered from Covid but the lungs got so damaged in the process, that the bo
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Take care!

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The last fortnight I have learned so many lessons and has been laced with so many firsts, it would be a pity not to pen them down. To begin with, my husband and I earned the title of 'First POSITIVE couple' in the organisation he works for. In these times, you very well know in what we were found 'positive' in. No prizes for guessing! We gained so much attention that even the media houses can be put to shame for their coverage of current (in)sensitive topics. The only 'positive' part to it was were not hounded by any of them for earning this distinction.  It was the very first time our daughter went away from us for 'safekeeping'. It was so heartening to see my husband's side of the family step in to take her without any hesitation and with open arms. I must mention that my mother-in-love (do not want to use the law-word!) is close to 70 years and has a full time online teaching job. She dropped everything and took leave with just a firm assurance  &
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You are mine - always!

Let me say this, I am proud of my position - literally and otherwise! I am what you call ' the center of existence' for ALL the people who live close to me. Not a single day goes by when people do not come to me to share a happy news or a sad one. I know the latest gossip that happens - call it grape vine or healthy discussions. I know it all. Just the other day  a group of ladies (yes they love me the most!) came to me with their horror stories of hours spent in 'house keeping' and how their effort is hardly acknowledged by the family members. I felt sad hearing this, after all the woman of a house is like the 'spoke' of a wheel, if she is well tuned and happy everything falls in place. I could not offer much advice except showing my stoic presence to them and they understood they could always come to me when needed. Then these children, I have no clue why a school goer needs a 'boy friend' or a 'girl friend' - I spend hours every day heari
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The Garden of Life

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We are grateful for being one of the few people in Mumbai who have a good garden close by. Considering the encroachment of open spaces (both geographically and mentally), I feel really blessed having a nice garden where we go for walks, nevertheless we being the  regularly irregular types! The garden to me seems to be a melting point of all ages, apart from being a meeting point for many culturally different people. It is with keen eyes and inquisitive mind I see young school children (really young) and college girls and guys dating. Sometimes children in school uniforms too and I wonder how the parents would react to this scene. So much of trust (and money) invested in children, going down the drain - rather taking a walk! Some married people walk miles apart and the discord is obvious, whereas someone who is sitting alone on a bench thinks of life "if they had someone".  Some feel lonely being together and some look happy even though alone. The various games our min
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