Being You!

Life's a funny journey. We all begin at pretty much the same origin, but our paths and destinations are carved from the various choices we make and the circumstances we face on the way.  Like a wise man once said...

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” 

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Life is a journey. Enjoy each mile!

I guess the question then lies in, how many of us really know what we want and aren't afraid to either seek it or go after it? How may of us truly ever max our potential? What were you built for? What's your true calling? Have you given life all that it's given you?  I've often had these questions bother me in my moments of solitude; each time I'm traveling solo or lying down with my thoughts at the end of the day.  We're born in a cruel, cruel environment - one that demands we conform to our surroundings, become one among the army of soldiers already fighting life's battles.  Our time, fortunately, is a little more accepting of individuality but then this thing called 'a conscience', which is so subtly driven into our little selves before we even discover that individuality, kills us when we're even on the verge of swerving off to a new bend.

Thanks to the highly social nature of all that I do (media, corporate training, modeling, writing, anchoring, travel, adventure sports…..) I've met with and heard stories from numerous individuals from various age groups.  A vast majority of them believed there were different things they wanted to or could do but never had the chance.  My question is "when is your chance?" Do you just sit under a tree and hope to be as lucky as Newton? Does it mean you pull out a calculator and strike out the best calculated risks? Or is every moment, every opportunity your chance?

Growing up I wanted to be a fire fighter (don't ask me why), an astrophysicist, a geologist, a pilot, a model, a movie star, a stunt professional, a social reformer and the list is endless...  I'm sure we pretty much all have a costume carnival of professions we've thought of.  And yes, both circumstance and the choices I've made along the way have helped me achieve some of these dreams and disown a few others. I know I'm still on the route to achieving some more.  But here's what I want to focus on today:  The moment, the right chance, an opportunity - these are all around and waiting to be grabbed! All we need is to truly believe and truly want something; hard-work and determination are good, but can have you go around in circles without direction.  So simply put, imagine life to be a very important wheel. This wheel is only so useful if it's turning and if it's taking the vehicle (YOU) to all its destinations from the routes you need to follow. Some will be winding, some enticing, some long and some pleasurable.  So just like a hub & spoke model to a sturdy wheel; let your vision, your values and your ultimate prophecy or purpose be your hub around which the spokes of growth, energy, hard-work, passion & commitment, responsibility for choices and determination strongly radiate out of.

Remember: There's just one life and you live each moment only once - Life has no replays! So spin on (the wheel of life)!

The Rich Man's Food Dilemma

I've spent a lot of time studying, understanding and experimenting with food, and I don't mean gourmet but food that benefits health, vitality and life expectancy.  Here are some of the things I believed were what any individual can easily do to maintain healthy food habits:

1. 1. The thumb rule is to eat freshly prepared, home-cooked meals with balanced components that meet your daily recommended nutrition needs.  So, no packaged foods, no fast food, no synthetic or processed foods. Tough, but do-able; particularly if you can hire a cook or have a home-maker to take care of it for the family.
2. 2. Colourful meals.  Yup, but not with the help of food dyes and colorants! Adding the dark greens and reds to your meal (spinach, broccoli, radish, beet, berries, carrots) ensure you cover the various essential and much-needed vitamins and minerals into your meals without actually calculating. So, just checking if there's colour in the plate can be an easy way to good health! 
   
3. Cut out the saturated and trans-fats (artificial fats) from your diet completely. While a healthy balance of natural fats is essential to maintain a healthy body and prevent joint troubles, bowel disorders and colon-related complications, we can all do without any LDL (bad) Cholesterol. Fats from virgin oils of olive, coconut, fennel, flax and other seeds are good, while dairy fats should be reduced to skim and low-fat only.  Cow's ghee, however, is the only saturated fat that is not harmful and recommended in daily diets to about a tablespoon a day.  Fish oils too are very healthy and have anti-oxidation properties along with Omega-3.  
4. Fad-diets are more harmful than helpful.  So going on a no-carb, no-fat, no-grain or high-protein diet is only going to have short-term benefits as your intestines, kidneys and other organs work doubly hard to keep up to such diets and cry back in the long run.  So the answer is to balance carbs, proteins, fiber, and fat according to the body's metabolism and daily requirement.
   

Our Paper

A whole year has passed, an unbelievable twelve months that's only gotten better with time. This day last year we walked down the aisle and vowed to stand by each other through thick and through thin. A year later, we celebrate our Paper, first, anniversary and I can definitely say there were the thins and there were the thicks and  through it all I am even more confidence that I'm glad I institutionalized my love with you, my husband.


Three years of knowing you, three years of friendship, three years of crazy, movie-like romance and finally saying 'I do'. A year of knowing you even more and each day you turn dearer and new. Among my weakest moments and my failures you've stood right beside me and picked me up... I ask you today to forgive me my shortcomings and make me stronger in your love, just like you have this past year. May Paper turn to Silver, and Silver to Gold! May our tender affection grow and may we see each other turn old. There's nothing I feel we can't surpass after the biggest achievement we nailed. I look forward to the future because any journey with you for a companion can only be an adventure worth experiencing!


Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Break Ke Baad

Procrastination isn't a word I like, because it makes me feel incompetent, but that's what I've been doing with my blogging.  It's almost a year since my last post (Wow! A whole year has gone by. And that also means I'm a whole year older) and even with a plum for my right ring finger today after a mishap at the gym, I am determined to put an end to this impasse.

What's changed in 12 months - Let's see: my marital status (for beginners), a new home, a new life, different responsibilities and of course a whole list of other things that come with being 'MARRIED'.  So, I decided this is what I was going to blog about - My encounter with new life.

I've set sail on my new journey with Sagar Mali

I must start with saying that I never thought this would be me - All settled with a husband and a ring on my finger. I always imagined life to be just the same like it was - carefree and independent! Somehow sharing it with one other individual for the rest of my life didn't fit into that equation before.  And I never missed a thing with adventure, thrill, work, excitement, challenges and travel keeping me more company than I could handle. Everything seemed sorted out for me; why would I want to disturb the equilibrium? Until... Sagar happened to me.

When I look back and think about what made me alter the equilibrium, what clearly strikes me is never before having met another human being more caring, considerate and loving as this man.  But of course that wasn't the all-discerning reason, there was more. Here I was this  independent woman, completely unstoppable, who knew how to handle just about anything and had just about everything planned out for herself. Then came along a guy who's very nature is completely grounded and apart from the rest, with the highest self-confidence (damn, he beat me to it too!) and yet whose focus was selfless. The more I got to know him the lesser I realised I knew of me; the further away I tried to get from him the farther I got from my soul.  He caused both a confused mix of satisfying comfort and a disturbing uneasiness that made me feel incomplete for the first time in my life.  With the passion of a creator and the nurture of a gardener he planted seeds of the future in my life that were so deep-rooted, God alone could have been the mastermind.

It's no wonder then that the whole year that went by seems transcendental. And now that I've emerged on the other side of the marital fence; I can safely say marriage is not a phase or a planned progressive stage in anyone's life. It's only the most indigenous opportunity to begin a whole new life without being reborn!

This is not to say that my 'past' life was not good enough. I love both my lives; but that Janice lived to the fullest and died a 100 year old woman (in terms of fulfillment) and this Janice is only a new-born infant curious and eager to experience the new one.  I'M BACK!

From Stunt riders to buddies to friends

I've just made friends with a bunch of strangers who I've not got much in common with... It all started three weeks ago when I arrived on the set location of my shoot for another stunt-based reality show - Stunt Mania Reloaded for MTV. The show format is slightly different this time, where four squads of three boys each will compete with each other but each squad will be led by a female squad leader - a girl - who will take decisions and guide the squad helping them get to the top. Of course, none of the twelve boys who had auditioned for the show and made it to the squads were aware of this new twist. It was to be a complete surprise for them on the very first episode - a surprise that I wasn't sure whether or not they'd take pleasantly.

Chahatt, Ishita, Janice & Shaurya - Four squad leaders on MTV Stunt Mania Reloaded

So we were about to begin shooting for the first episode. Both, the boys as well as the squad leaders (me and three other girls - Chahatt, Ishita and Shaurya) were taken to the base camp or 'Stunt Academy' but very carefully and secretly so that the boys' surprise wasn't ruined. Once the boys were welcomed on the show and put into squads, it was time for the big surprise. In walked wearing Black, Red, Blue and Grey squad leader uniforms four sexy girls. The impression on the boy's faces was worth a Kodak moment. They were amazed, excited, trilled, surprised, puzzled - all at once. Alan Amin and Anouskha Manchanda, the hosts had each squad pick their own squad colours, but by picking a number. I had absolutely no clue who would pick the number that had grey - my colour; no clue what these boys were like - if we'd get along, if they were well skilled, if they were better than the others or even where they were from...

They had picked. At first glance, my three boys looked really young and like any average teenage boys. Not quite the stunt riders I had expected! I quickly got to know their names - Aditya, Nadeem and Shariq. I was then handed over the keys to our garage, the pulsars and our new homes! I kissed these keys when Alan sir handed them over to me because these were the keys to our life for the next month to come!! And this was also going to be the start of a new relationship, a new friendship; comradeship with a few and WAR with some. My boys and I picked our squad name - The SILVER PSYCHEDELICS

The Silver Psychedelics (MTV Stunt Mania Reloaded)

Sayed Nadeem (Bob) is a 19 year old kid from Bangalore whose passions are stunt riding and rapping. His top favorite rapper being 2Pac! Nadeem's an excellent off-roader and does the Seat Stander (better known as Christ) with such perfection!

Shariq Khan (Shark) is a big surprise in a tiny package! He's perhaps one of the best riders in Alan's academy this season. Shariq's control on the throttle and his excellent balance makes him a champion with wheelies, shoppies, no-handers, the human compass; but that's not it! Shariq's stunt riding is so awesome because he entertains while he performs making him perfect as a true stunt rider!

Aditya Singh Thakur (Eddy) is a local from Himachal Pradesh and has spent all his teenage life on bikes - he talks, eats, and sleeps bikes. No jokes! He's even got pictures of bike parts lying on his bedroom floor!! he's a huge fan of Chris Pfifer and believes he was meant to be a stunt rider because that's what he does best!

Stunt riders, competitors all gel like one big family

At the academy, days went by like the changing of seasons - expectedly but unpredictably. Every new day brought out new challenges that we faced together as a team. And after our skill and survival stunts were shot each day we all went back to being one big family at the base camp. We shared accessories, ate and drank together, hung out in each others' cottages and played games to entertain ourselves... even cried together sometimes. Of course there were also some not so pleasant relationships, for example BJ from Black Demons and his squad leader Chahatt never got along and would fight and abuse each other all day long! BJ and Ajay (also from the same squad) hated each other's guts. The Fire Dragons hated Bhullar but luckily for them he went out the first day itself.

It was interesting to see how the competition was only getting tougher day-by-day! As we went on episode by episode, the numbers thinned out and finally the day arrived when just two - the BEST of the best - were left! Now, the whole of India awaits to see who will be India's best STUNT MANIAC 2010!