When I travel

When I travel

Travel. Travelling is the most exciting and fun thing to do. But when you travel more and more, it becomes more like a sad episode in a mega serial. I am going to talk about two unforgettable incidents that happen when I travelled.

I travel regularly to my home town on weekends to visit my daughter. I usually take the 9.00 pm bus which starts from Egmore.

So, on one Friday, as usual, I reached the bus office on Egmore an hour prior to the departure time. I got my tickets and was seated in a corner.

To while away one hour of waiting time, I pulled out an elite fashion magazine and started reading.

Even though I don’t understand a single word in the magazine, I browse the pages and drool upon the anorexic models in their gorgeous outfits. The advantage of reading an elite magazine like VOGUE, it makes other people to think that u r an upper class woman. So they will try to strike up some conversation in English however good or bad it is.

- Maam, where washrooms.

- Madam, where hotel.

Phew!!!

 The heights of it was when a guy came and asked me

-          Hey, Is that a vogue u r reading. Please suggest a good accessory I can buy for my girl from this book.

I thought to myself “Man, if you are too rich to present something from this book, (pause) then please marry me”.

But I calmly replied “Diamonds are a woman’s best friend”.  He believed it was a brilliant idea and went on to sit in the other corner of the waiting area.

I continued to turn the pages of the magazine when I heard a very sweet voice which called me “Excuse me”. I lifted my head to see a young chap standing with a refulgent smile. He was a very handsome fellow just like the guys you would watch in all those AXE deodorant ads. I was totally perplexed with his looks. But my happiness didn’t last long.

With the T-shirt he was wearing, I understood why he approached me. The T-shirt had this brand called “Herbalife” inscribed on it. For the benefit of thin people, I will tell you what Herbalife is all about as it is being endorsed to only obese people. Herbalife offers diet plans and food supplements for weight loss programme. It is very expensive stuff.

This young man is a Herbalife representative and he is taking the same bus to Madurai. He has approached me to sell his product. He said “Are you in interested in weight loss ma’am?”

I went red with embarrassment. Apart from all the people waiting there, how dare this man come to me and ask this question so loudly.

 I looked up at him and said “No. I am not interested in weight loss. Please don’t disturb me”.  

With a tinge of disappointment in his voice, he pulled out his visiting card and said “Maam, kindly take my card and give me a call when you are free”. Why would I call him and talk about my weight problems. May be I would have considered calling him if he had promised a dinner date. Hmm.

He said this and took a seat opposite to me. He was also waiting for the 9:00 PM bus. I turned to the left side and was avoiding any eye sight from him. But back in my head I was dancing for this song “valaiyosai kalakalavena….” with him.

My chariots of dreams got shattered due to the announcement to board the bus. I got into the bus and settled in my berth. The bus started and stopped at Guindy for the passengers to get in. A 70+ years old lady, a loud lady, boarded the bus. She was accompanied by her teenager great grandson who was too embarrassed to stand beside her. The lady came to my seat and was shouting that I have occupied her seat and I should get out. I was blinking. I knew I got into the right bus and am in the correct seat.

The bus conductor came running. Now, most of the co passengers were looking at us. Being somebody who cried in all the Karan Johar movies, I was not able to control my tears and started crying. The bus conductor demanded for our tickets and after looking keenly for a couple of minutes, he said to that lady “Ada erangu ma. You boarded the wrong bus.” The entire bus burst into laughter. The family got down and I spent rest of the journey praying god to spare me of any more embarrassment.

The Magic of 21

 “Develop a habit in 21 days” they say. Hmm. Sounds good. But what does that mean? In order to develop a new habit, there are two numbers to be kept in mind: i.e., 1 and 21.

Choose one habit and Practice it for 21 consecutive days. (Yes! That means work days and weekends too)

But why do we have to practice one habit at a time, why not two or three.

Trying to integrate more than one habit actually dilutes the effort and concentration of developing one habit and significantly increases the likelihood of giving up. You have a whole life ahead to make more positive changes. You don’t need to do it All at the same time. Pick up one habit that sounds interesting (or pick up a person with similar interest) and give it your full attention.

Why are we not able to develop a new habit?

We wake up, rush to office, check email, work or not work, send birthday wishes to only the good looking ones at office (wink) , work again, go home, check our facebook status, fume at the glorious lives lead by others, and then we go to sleep. In our regular routine, how many of us spend two minutes in a day to pray, to water the garden, two minutes to appreciate someone else job, or greet people we meet every day. We fail to develop a new habit in the course of time. Not to worry. I introduce you to the MAGIC OF 21.

 So why 21?

Our brains have nerve cell called the neurons. Scientists say “Neurons that fire together, wire together”. When you start a new activity, you create new connections between those neurons. The more consistently you do the activity, the stronger the connections become. 21 consecutive days is good enough to establish the strong neuro-pathways for this new activity. It helps in making it a regular habit.

BUT the mind is so capricious.  Your brain is sure to resist. Be ready for it. It is more inclined to think of the “lack of” instead of the benefits. E.g., when you want to give up your morning coffee it really does not allow you to think of the benefits. It may say a lot of things like “This is stupid. I have been doing this for five days. I don’t feel any difference. May be it does not work.” The brain is really good at justifying why we shouldn’t continue. Not to blame. As humans, we are more result- oriented than process- oriented.

“Change your thought , Change your life”.

Start practicing a new habit for 21 days. Now, as you start experiencing the benefits of the 21 day pattern, it changes the way you see the world. The default setting of the brain goes from “cannot” to “can”. Goes from “negativity, stress” to “positivity, happiness, and gratitude”. These habits simply help us to be more optimistic and hopeful”.

What habit can we start for 21 days now?

I have made a small list for myself that I am in the middle of doing.

• Eat a fruit each day
• Have green tea instead of coffee
• Pray and lit the lamp

And I read about the benefits of having six glasses of water in the morning in empty stomach. I am in the middle of cultivating the habit of drinking six glasses of water every morning as soon as I wake up and brush. I don’t even want to think of the first two days I did that. Yuck! That was how it was. Now I am pushing myself to make this a habit.

This is what I am planning in the coming days. So what habit would you like to develop in the next 21 days. Do not give up, the beginning is always the hardest.

My Toastmaster's journey - CC1 - I, Me, Myself

My Life within 500 words

In the year 1984, a happily ever after couple, mr. Ravindran and Ahila from Madurai wanted a boy baby. They were already the proud parents of two little girls, Ramya and Ragha. They even named the to-be-born as Raja Narendran.

On January 1985, much to their shock, they were blessed with a baby girl. Now the parents faced with a problem. They have to search for a girl name. Mr. Ravindran did not want to ignore the name Raja as it is his father’s name.

Fortunately the girl was named Raja Sevitha instead of Sevitha Raja. Imagine How will “Sevitha Raja” sound. It would have been like Bullet Raja or Rocket Raja.

She studied at VMJ higher secondary school from KG to 12 th standard. With good scores in +2, she got enrolled in Thiagarajar engineering college and did a bachelors degree in information technology. When she completed her graduation in 2006, and passed out as an engineer with decent marks, she realized engineering is not her forte.

She didn’t get selected in the campus interview as her friends did. She came to Chennai in search of a job and started her career as customer support executive at Sutherland and moved on to be a copy editor. She worked across two major organizations as a copy editor for 2 years.

She wanted to move on from copy editing as it did not promise a bright future. She quit her job. Some of her friends suggested her the field of Technical writing that gains an easy access to IT sector with good pay. With good communication skills and a flair for writing, she was interested in taking up a technical writing certification and completed it successfully.

Good things come your way when they have to.

The year 2009 was a fabulous year for her as she got selected in Zoho as a technical writer and got married to Mr. Ajay Kumar. In November 2011, the gorgeous couple was blessed with a little princess, Sahana. Sevitha took a break for her maternity in 2011 and joined Servion in November 2013 as a technical writer to kick start her career again. She loves Servion for bringing out the innovative ideas from its employees. It gives a sense of ownership.

Sevitha is a capricorn by birth, an aspiring novelist, food fanatic, a super duper friend, movie freak, and a thoughtful person. 

The person I was mentioning so far is none other than me, Raja Sevitha, the loving daughter, responsible wife, proud mother, and a writing professional. Writing gives me immense pleasure when it is being read and appreciated well.

Finally quoting Steven Leigh “ You may be able to take a break from writing, but you won’t be able to take a break from being a writer”. I being a writer never deny that.