Candles!!!

I used to buy candles all the time. But I rarely ever actually light them. They just sit around my house. I also have tons of candle holders that I had displayed at my old room. Now I just kind of have them stored away in bags and baskets.

Yeah, we always try to keep some on hand in case the power goes out, too. I like the ones that smell really good, sometimes I just place one or two in storage boxes to keep things from getting a bad smell in them.

I like candles a lot but I love to burn them when I visit church with my best friend. I like to read at night so I need the lights on. So I use candles once in a while. So I just like the way they look.

I love scented candles and I enjoy burning them. Matter of fact as soon as I get the house cleaned up I usually light one just to enjoy the scent. It is raining here today and we can't do much so I guess that I will use one most of the day today.

If my mood is off or I am tensed, lighting my room with candle just makes me happy in no time and I get rid of the bad mood. Apart from candles I eagerly wait for that once chance to light the beautifully crafted diyas during Deepawali. I also love those traditional diyas as well as those embellished with fragrant dried flowers.

Expressing sibling love online

In today's world with a fast growth in internet, a range of things from e-commerce, e-shopping, e-tickets, e-transactions to e-relationships have gone online.

Festive occasions too have joined the bandwagon. Raksha Bandhan, which strengthens the relationship between a brother and sister is now getting stronger through the medium of internet. Sisters who cannot personally tie a rakhi on their brothers wrist can now send e-rakhi to their brothers who work in UK, US and other faraway places. This has also become easier for sisters settled in foreign countries.

The craze of sending e-rakhis as gone up. The days are gone when sisters had to wait for their brothers to come so that they can tie the rakhi and they used to feel sad when they could not send anything to their brothers. Now sisters do not need to scan the markets and waste days and days to get the best rakhi for their brothers. They can select from hundreds of rakhi at the click of the mouse.

Poonam Dash, a student says "It's much more convenient. It reaches in minutes. It's a safer mode of communicating your affection to your brothers who stay far away because u know that your cards or anything that you are wishing to send has reached them immediately and you also get a confirmation about it. Also with the coming up of new e-card sites, there is an amazing variety. You can give them a personalized touch." She asks, "So in this updated world of technology why not use e- rakhis and e cards instead?"

Rakhi e-cards have become one of the most popular ways of conveying love and affection. In the present world where people are trying to save money, sending via this medium has helped them save both money and time. They can also send emails and can choose any gift of thier choice. This medium has no boundaries and therefore it reaches various destinations in a convenient manner. As there is vast competition among the online shopping sites, they offer special packages at low costs to attract customers.

The new trend of E-rakhi has brought about heavy losses for the shopkeepers. People are not coming to shops to buy rakhis as they prefer to shop online or sent E-rakhis. Asutosh Pattnaik, a shopkeeper says “It has affected my business and there is now huge loss in the sales of rakhi. The market is not providing the various designs of rakhi that one gets on the net. But the concept of sending E-Rakhi should be stopped as it won’t substitute the emotion and the tradition of tying a rakhi on the wrist of a brother”.

Even though the present youth prefers to use e-rakhis the usual tradition of Raksha Bandhan has its own attraction. "Our culture is so strong that it is not possible for any Wi-Fi or savvy device to overshadow the usual tradition of Raksha Bandhan. The tradition of sisters tying a rakhi on their brother's wrist still continues, and it signifies the beauty of the relationship between a brother and sister. But Rakhi is not only the thing that signifies the relationship between a brother and a sister. It's an emotion, and this relationship moves ahead with the love of a brother," says Alkananda Panigrahi, S Fm RJ/Producer.

You are the best thing that ever happened to me

Trust broken, lost everything which was valuable to me. I feared to talk to anybody, make friendship with anybody and never ever dared to help anybody.

But today I think that God made the best decision for me. Today I feel you were the medium to bring me back to life. It’s God who had sent you to show me the way. You were the medium to show me the way of life.

When my trust was shattered, I don’t know how I started trusting you? Gradually you started helping me and took me out of each and every problem. You made me get back to life. You made my birthday more special by the beautiful surprise gift that anybody has gifted me ever.

You stood beside me and held me when I was falling. I feel you were the best thing that would happen to me. I knew God will make the best choice for me. I know I have numerous problems but still I feel whatever I got in life is just the best. Thank you so much God. I will keep thanking you...

Dreams!!!!!!!

When we were young, we had dreams and expectations. We imagine things, we keep thinking about what we want to be, what we want to do, what makes us proud and happy and what will we become.

We grew up, and things seemed like having its own way. We accept our success or failures and we move on. The rapid change, the need to do the urgent things, the works, the pressures and the failures, all kill part of our visions.

Things have changed, but they cannot really take away the dreams. We still have to dream on, to visualize our desires, our wants, our vision of our future, even when we are considered too old for such things. The main thing is not the age - whether being too old, or too young, but it is the desire to dream on, and the courage to realize it.

Vivid visualization, taking it to sleep, thinking constantly about it, talking about it, planning it, adding all the spices to our dreams will make us a bit closer to the realization of our dreams.

Entrepreneurship starts with a dream, a simple wish of tiny restaurant operation, or a huge business of real-estate development, or a modest training center for English education, or just any other self-employed money earning fun.

The ability to dream on is one of the fine quality of human race that other species do not possess. So dream on, and put a deadline: make it a giant dream, a tiny one, an old everlasting one, a newfound one, a hobby related one, a change of life one, a religious one, a stupid one, a stroke-of-genius one, or just whatever...... just continue to dream on........ Then, Just Go and Do It! At some point of time it will surely come true.

The silent love

From the very Begining, the girl's family objected strongly on her dating this guy. Saying that it has got to do with family background and that the girl will have to suffer for the rest of her life if she were to be with him.

Due to family's pressure, the couple quarrel very often. Though the girl love the guy deeply, but she always ask him: "How deep is your love for me?"As the guy is not good with his words, this often cause the girl to be very upset. With that & the family's pressure, the girl often vent her anger on him. As for him, he only endure it in silence.

After a couple of years, the guy finally graduated & decided to further his studies in overseas. Before leaving, he proposed to the girl: "I'm not very good with words. But all I know is that I love you. If you allow me, I will take care of you for the rest of my life. As for your family, I'll try my best to talk them round. Will you marry me?"

The girl agreed, & with the guy's determination, the family finally gave in & agreed to let them get married. So before he leave, they got engaged. The girl went out to the working society, whereas the guy was overseas, continuing his studies. They sent their love through emails & phone calls. Though it's hard, but both never thought of giving up.

One day, while the girl was on her way to work, she was knocked down by a car that lost control. When she woke up, she saw her parents beside her bed. She realised that she was badly injured. Seeing her mum crying, she wanted to comfort her. But she realized that all that could come out of her mouth was just a sigh. She has lost her voice......

The doctors says that the impact on her brain has caused her to lose her voice. Listening to her parents' comfort, but with nothing coming out from her, she broke down.

During the stay in hospital, besides silence cry,.....it's still just silence cry that companied her. Upon reaching home, everything seems to be the same. Except for the ringing tone of the phone. Which pierced into her heart everytime it rang. She does not wish to let the guy know. and not wanting to be a burden to him, she wrote a letter to him saying that she does not wish to wait any longer.

With that, she sent the ring back to him. In return, the guy sent millions & millions of reply, and countless of phonecalls,.. all the girl could do, besides crying, is still crying....
The parents decided to move away, hoping that she could eventually forget everything & be happy.

With a new environment, the girl learn sign language & started a new life. Telling herself everyday that she must forget the guy. One day, her friend came & told her that he's back. She asked her friend not to let him know what happened to her. Since then, there wasn't anymore news of him.

A year has passed & her friend came with an envelope, containing an invitation card for the guy's wedding. The girl was shattered. When she open the letter, she saw her name in it instead.

When she was about to ask her friend what's going on, she saw the guy standing in front of her. He used sign language telling her "I've spent a year's time to learn sign language. Just to let you know that I've not forgotten our promise. Let me have the chance to be your voice. I Love You. With that, he slipped the ring back into her finger. The girl finally smiled.

Smiling again…..

I am writing after two months. Life seemed to be dark few months back, when people questioned my honestly and my trust was broken. Those were dark days which I had to go through in order to get a clearer view what life is all about.

But luckily nothing negative happened. Everything seemed to be positive. My trust in God never broke. In those days, smiling was a big thing for me. But it seemed that God held me when I was falling. I started smiling on my own. I got back the self-confidence which was lost.

Another thing I learnt “God cannot give you an easy life but he can give you a safe Journey”. The line is absolutely true. Remember one thing whatever happens in life it is just for your good. Be positive during bad times and don’t loose faith in God. Forgive people who hurt you as when you forgive, it’s the responsibility of God to show that person the right path. Forgiving is the only way of forgetting.

Even tough I am stuffed with problems but still I feel there is something good in that. I know God cannot give me anything that I can’t handle. I know he has trust in me to fight and get out of problems. There were times when I thought “why me God?” but now I have nothing to question him.

Even though I feel sad that I lost some people in this journey of life but on the hand I am happy that I get to know so many new people. It seems as God has pre-planned, but thank you God for everything.