Love Thy Job and You'll Be Happy Forever

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and - snap! - the job's a game!" 

- Mary Poppins

There goes a Chinese proverb:

"If you want happiness for an hour - take a nap. If you want happiness for a day - go fishing. If you want happiness for a month - get married. If you want happiness for a year - inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime - help others."

One of my mentors once slightly twisted this proverb and told, "If you want happiness for a lifetime - love your job." Indeed, we all have to be involved with our job since we start our career until retirement. Some jobs don't even have retirement, like the job of a homemaker. Hence, if we fail to love our job, our entire life will be devoid of any fun. So we need to find out that fun element in our job.

I have been in a government job since long. My job entails routine work and leaves very little space for innovation. But I get to interact with a lot of people on a daily basis because of my job - people who belong to different social strata. Now if I focus on the mundane aspect of my job, I'll soon lose interest. Instead, if I take it as an opportunity to meet varied kind of people throughout my career, I'll be able to sustain my motivation for long. Similarly, doing household chores like cooking, cleaning etc might seem boring apparently. But if you add a bit of the spice of innovation, you'll be able to thoroughly enjoy even these chores. For example, one can try different recipes apart from the regular everyday menu, especially during weekends. Thanks to the internet, learning and sharing recipes have never been so easy.

Another point to note here is that every kind of job contributes to someone's well-being. A teacher teaching students, a doctor curing patients or a homemaker looking after her family members are contributing to the well-being of other people. Even the job which doesn't seem to be of any importance apparently, also holds value. We may look down upon the sweeper who cleans our streets regularly, but then someone has to do the job.

The Bhagavad Gita tells us to do our allotted work. We should never refrain from carrying on our share of work. The trick here is to find the fun element in every job we do. Carrying on with the job will then be a cakewalk.

Write Tribe Festival Of Words June 2018

#writebravely

#Day2

For day two, I chose the following quote prompt:
Day 2 – Jun 25 – “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and—snap!—the job’s a game!” – Mary Poppins

Life Lessons from the Past

"The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it." 

- The Lion King

Yes, the past can hurt so much. And who can understand this fact better than me. The trauma of going through a broken marriage has taught me how difficult it can be to forget a painful past. So finally, after all the struggles to forget that episode of my life, I have given up. Now I have decided to learn from my past, instead of running from it.

"My room is like a bit of June,

Warm and close-curtained fold on fold,

But somewhere, like a homeless child,

My heart is crying in the cold."

---- Sara Teasdale

And now I have decided never to let my heart cry again. Now I know what I want from my life, from my relationships. I do not let my love to be the one-way traffic anymore. I look for reciprocity in all my relationships. For now I know that it takes the sincere efforts of both the persons involved to make a relationship thrive.

Another important lesson that I've learnt from my past is to never keep the key to my happiness in another person's pocket. There is an infinite fountain of joy within each of us. In our quest to find happiness from another people, we often tend to forget our true inner self. Now I have learnt to look inwards for happiness.

After learning all the lessons that my past has taught me, I am in a relationship with myself currently. Like all 'normal' relationships, this relationship too has it's own share of ups and downs. There are times when I feel upbeat about myself and the world around me, work hard on my professional commitments, try to squeeze as much time as possible for my son, read a lot of books and laugh with gay abandon. Then there are the dreaded times when a cloud of despair cover my conscience. This phase comes suddenly, like that uninvited guest in your house. During these times when I feel very low, I find solace in my spirituality and my writing. I am a changed person now. My past has taught me to love myself first before I can claim love back from the earth.

Write Tribe Festival Of Words June 2018

#writebravely

#Day1

For day one, I chose the following quote prompt:

Day 1 – Jun 24 – “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.” – The Lion King

Letter to a Son

Dearest soon-to-be-six Mainak,

Do you know why I named you 'Mainak' in the first place? 'Mainak' is the name of a mountain in our epic Ramayana. When you were born, your mother wished for you that you will outgrow all others in stature just like a mountain does. None will equal you. Everybody will have to tilt their head to look at you- you who will outshine all others. Do you know the fact that according to the mythology 'Mainak parvat' could fly also? I wish the same for you- one day you'll surely fly high.

Your birthday falls in the month of Shravana according to the Bengali calendar. A light drizzle was coming down on the parched earth on the day you were born. Inside the OT, your mother was shedding tears of joy on your arrival.

In these six years, if I have taught you the alphabets, then you have also taught me what it means to love unconditionally. I never knew how much love my heart can hold until I saw your cute baby face for the first time. I never imagined how much love I am capable of giving to another person until you called me 'Maa'. I know that I am not a perfect mother. I never was. Rather my role in your life can aptly be summarized as a 'part-time mother'. When you needed me the most, I was not by your side. You have often complained to me that unlike your friends mothers, your mother never visit your school to pick you up. You are too little to understand why your mother cannot do as much as your friends mothers do or why she cannot visit your school often or why she has to go to the office everyday. But I do hope that one day when you'll grow up a bit more, you'll understand and forgive your mother for all her faults.

In these six years of loving each other and caring for each other, its not only me who have made the transition from being a woman to being a mother. You have also become more of a father to me than a son. In days when I come late from office and you become anxious, in rainy days when you wonder whether your mother has taken the umbrella with her or not, in days when you make my room tidy and arrange my books neatly in their proper place when I am off to my office, I find you resemble my father. For you care for me in the same way.

One day you'll learn to fly by yourself and leave this nest to fly high in the sky. But no matter how far you spread your wings, your mother will always be there for you. Your mother will always protect you under her wings whenever your wings will get tired of flying. Till that day comes, let me hug you a little more tighter today. Let me love you a little more today. Let me cuddle you and buy birthday gifts for you today. Tomorrow I don't know whether I'll get the chance.

Here's wishing all the good things in the world for you on your birthday as you cut the cake and snub off the candles.

With lots of love and love and only love,

Your Maa.

This post was published first in Momspresso. Click here to read.

The Hazards of Friendship with Persons of Opposite Sex

I was devastated. I had lost track of my life. I was entangled in the legal proceedings of a bitter divorce case. I, who was the last person on earth to believe that my relationship can end on such a bitter note, was witnessing my own marriage to crumble like a house of cards. Probably I was a fool - a fool living in a fool's paradise who hoped against hope that the house of cards can survive every storm. Back then, I had become an embittered individual who was afraid to even to talk to friends, who all seemed happy and content with their lives.

At this junction of my life, I met him. Or rather, I became his friend because we never actually 'met'. It was a virtual friendship which is in vogue these days. I normally never accept friend requests from random strangers in Facebook. So this friendship blossomed in Goodreads. I am a born bibliophile and what can be a better place for me to spend my precious time than Goodreads. I was and am an active user of Goodreads. Very few persons in my friend circle use Goodreads, or read book to be precise. So  in Goodreads, I connect with some like-minded strangers who actually love to read just like me. He was one of them.

To read the full story, click here.

Header image is a still from the movie Qarib Qarib Singlle

This post titled When I Discovered The Hazards Of Online 'Fraandship' With Strangers Of The Opposite Sex  has been published on Women’s Web as a Featured Post. Featured Posts are a careful selection of highly relevant and interesting posts picked by the editors of Women's Web each day.

© 2018. Swagata Tarafdar. All rights reserved.

Review: Mistress

Mistress by Anita Nair
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Adultery is one topic which I despise the most. "Adultery, I assumed, dragged itself into murky places. Hotel rooms and box beds, bathrooms with dripping faucets and bed linens that wore bleached spots of previous assignations. Stolen kisses and clandestine couplings. Cars with tinted, rolled-up windows and dingy movie theatres." Instead, what this novel portrays is love. Love which cannot be "dismissed as squalid or vile".

This is the second novel by Anita Nair which I read, after 'Ladies Coupé.' And I am spellbound. The author's take on art and relationships, and life in general, is full of insights. Nair's language is lucid, almost lyrical at places.

Five on five, as I can't rate it higher!

View all my reviews

SMILE

After you're done with your make-up,

Wear your smile today.

A smile that doesn't fail to reach your eyes,

And make them shine brighter

Than your exquisite diamond studs.

After you're done with draping your silk saree,

Wear your smile today.

A smile that makes you look resplendent,

A smile that is more flamboyant

Than your Kanjeevaram saree.

Smile and thank Almighty

For all the blessings

That He has strewn along your path,

And be blissful for receiving

This marvellous gift called 'Life'.

And when life doesn't give you any reason to smile-

Laugh hard.

A laughter that makes your stomach ache

And your eyes teary.

Life may not be a bed of roses,

For every rose comes with its own share of thorns,

But whatever you come across- roses or thorns,

Do not forget to wear your smile today.

This post is written in line with  Prompt: Nothing you wear is more important than your smile. Do you agree? #Smile

This post has been published at Women's Web. Click here to read.

In The Battle of Life

As far as the eyes can behold,

Not a single tree comes in view.

A tree which can provide shelter.

The earth beneath my feet is parched,

Barren,

Bereft of any vegetation.

Under the scorching midday sun,

I stand alone-

Defenceless,

Vulnerable.

I have lost direction 

In the labyrinthine maze of life.

I turn my face away from the world,

Like Arjuna in the battleground of Kurukshetra.

And I turn to thee, O Krishna,

You are the beacon of light,

Which my tired soul trails.

© 2018. Swagata Tarafdar. All rights reserved.