Friendship " QUOTE- UNQUOTE" line up

My mom had a fascination of  reading and then writing down in a note book all the quotes that she loved. That book  in her own handwriting is now a fond memory with us three sisters. I guess that is where I got my passion for writing quotes which I write an upload on my social media almost every day.... and you what I realised?  That there were so many quotes out there by people from around the globe, that I could actually write a whole blog just using those quotes in a proper sequence and by just adding a few words (those you see in italics)  to string  it together... so  this is what my love for quotes inspired me to do... Here goes one on "Friendship"...

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one^{."(~C.S, Lewis).}   ... "No friendship is an accident." ^{(~ O.Henry)}. but 'Making a friend and maintaining a friendship are two different things. Be picky about who you keep around you. Personalities, words and traits do rub of naturally' ^{(~Sonya Teclai, the Goodvibe.co).}  'It is important to make friendships that are deeper than gossiping, drinking and going out.  Make friends who can you can go out with, make friends you can cry with, make friends who support your life goals and believe in you' ^{(~Word Porn)..} 'Anyone that encourages intellectual, emotional, artistic or spiritual growth is worth keeping. Don't let them go' ^{(~Dau-CosmicExtensions).} So it is simple, “Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.” ^{(~Thomas J. Watson).} After all it is said that, 'Friends are the siblings God never gave us. ^(~Mencius). and that "Friends are born, not made' ^{(~Henry Adams)} ... Think about it. "God gives us relatives; thank God, we can choose our friends". ^{(~Addison Mizner)}.  'Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to is letting a person be what he/she really is' ^{(~Jim Morrison)....} because  "A friend is someone who can see the truth and pain in you even when you are fooling everyone else "^{(~ Unknown).}

"Friends should be like books, few, but hand-selected." ^{(~C.J. Langenhoven)...} More importantly it is true that,  “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” ^{(~ Zig Ziglar).} Even then,  "I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.”^{(~Plutarch). ).} It is therefore better to remember that  “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ^{(~Martin Luther King, Jr.)}  So, "If you wanna find out who's a true friend, screw up or go through a challenging time.. then see who sticks around." ^{(~Karen Salmonsohn)}

Let me end with one of my own thoughts about friendship.

"Friendship is not something you learn in school.

But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship,

you really haven't learned anything. There comes a

moment in life when one must acknowledge

that some friends will hurt you, intentionally and

sometimes unintentionally too...It is then best to

either keep quiet and forget about it....or move on !!"

Lit-O-fest, writing and me!!!

It all began with some out of the blue some random thoughts that began to flow in the middle of the night and from that day onwards a pen and pad always lay open on my bedside. The "filmy keeda" in me seemed to be wriggling its way onto paper and I began writing stories that had a touch of life and things that I had seen around me and on celluloid. I remember how it all started. I used to handle annual reports at the bank where I was working, collating data, coordinating shoots and actually proof reading the data for my colleagues something I did not need to but began to enjoy and love ensuring standardization in the data. This was probably the best time in my career. Those random thoughts seemed to be calling out to me and often during the lunch time I began to put down thoughts and mailed them off to myself and began fleshing them out at night...Writing has always been something I loved and even more surprising was the love for proof reading which somehow I became totally fascinated with ....  it was just something that I continue to do unconsciously for everything I read, sometimes to the dismay of my friends whose stuff I begin to correct.

Almost all my efforts  pointed me towards self publishing with exorbitant costs  to print, market and promote leaving me wondering what would I get out of the whole deal. Time flew as wrote and ran through a million options to get my stories out there.  No one seemed to want to publish short stories anymore and besides novels were being published dime a dozen.  I began to wonder how and what would make me so different from others.  Writing a novel was not for me definitely, as I cannot put it down until I know how it ends. It has to be short and sweet for me with a closure at the earliest. So that's why perhaps even a Saas-bahu serial on TV does not hold my attention sadly!  That did not stop me from writing as I shared my stories with friends, In fact to put it plainly forced them to read!!!...... and then Lit-O-Fest just happened to me like a rainbow on a rainy day.

My long journey of four years just melted into nothingness reading a mail acknowledging my manuscript submission to the festival that said " "Congratulations!  We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been finalized for the LIT-O-FEST 2016 Awards. Please do come on the 20th Feb to be a part of the LIT-O-FEST event and the award ceremony."   That was IT for me. Someone out there had thought my words were worthy to be read. That in itself was an achievement and to get to this day when I can a big thank you to Smita Parekh, Festival Director and her team at Lit-O-Fest for appreciating the writer in me. Yes, I won, I won in the "get published" section.  Whatever this holds for me in the future is just a big big dollop of icing and a culmination of a dream come true.

So let me share what Lit-O-Fest is.......Lit-O-Fest is a festival with a difference and a one of its kind initiative where publishing contracts are signed with deserving authors and what's more for free. It's a festival with a philanthropic perspective as this is an only platform where one-the-spot publishing contracts are signed with deserving authors. A friend Hariharan Iyer introduced me to this festival and  I submitted my manuscript in the short stories section a few months ago. 

The festival was held at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, on February 20- 21, 2016 and when I walked into the college premises on Day 1,  it was so heart-warming to be received by the students who escorted me to the multimedia room where an talk was already in session. As I sat there listening, I felt an immense sense of peace and happiness that comes with just being a part of something so laudable. Sailesh Lodha of Tarak Mehta fame brought a smile on our faces as he spoke on how we have lost our ability to laugh and finding laughter and humor in everything.  A session with Ram Jethmalaniji on money laundering in our country and its repercussions that followed was so eloquently put that I could not but marvel at this 93 year grand old gentleman. He actually refused to sit down but chose to stand and talk at the dais for over thirty minutes with such truth and passion. If this is not inspiring then for me nothing ever will.

The awards ceremony began with the Lit-O-Fest giving away the 'Living Legend’ award to legends Narendra Kohli, Kiran Nagarkar, Pankaj Dubey for Creative Leadership and Radhakrishnan Pillai in the education field. I had the privilege of being there to listen to them share their thoughts. Thereafter, I was called on stage to receive my award at the hands of Ram Jethmalani ji and what an euphoric feeling and honour indeed. Though knowing me, I did not let Shatrughan Sinha leave before expressing my disappointment to him. He was to give the awards away but was getting late and he very sweetly acknowledged me by saying he could not wait as he had another appointment. My bad luck.

I wish that I could have gone again on Day 2, but for another commitment.  It was not surprising to read that Day 2 saw sessions with Manoj Bajpayee and Shilpa Shukla, child abuse and  teenage tantrums with Kiran Manral, Harish Iyer and Sonali Shroff with the  event ith concluding with live band by Leslie Lewis.

We all live in a world of stress and competition and everyone is definitely impatient for sure and wanting things to happen overnight, including me,  but as the saying goes "there is a time and place for everything" .....and the time and place for me is definitely now....

Who says people have stopped reading & writing!!

Most of us like to read and some maybe some don’t... Even though reading helps understanding instructions on a jar, filling out applications and most importantly getting onto the right bus or train. Reading a book is a magical experience and happy reading to those who like to…… but who says people have stopped reading and writing? Let us leave the children out of this one.

Take me. I love to read and write. Maybe not a book but I read every morning, every afternoon, every evening and every night before going to bed? My day begins with reading the newspaper and then voila the mobile…starting with whatsapp…sms…..then face book ….then twitter and then instagram. Then everything I read and feel about, I write…I write on whatsapp, face book and sms and yes I tweet too and the cycle never stops.  I am the most well read person in the world!!! Everything I need to know is there for me to read daily and updating faster than I can keep up. Besides don’t forget the biggest bonus, I make friends and more and more each day and the reading and writing never stops.

What’s more I have realised that I have turned into the most creative person too.  I create cards for birthdays, I write messages for anniversaries, I send videos for information. I sometimes even create my own video message and send. There is absolutely no difference for me between stories in a book and the stories I share. They are more true and more from the heart each time. In fact my writings are just right for every occasion and you, my friend, get it when it needs to be shared. 

They say a book is a gift you can open again and again, but personally, why would I want to when there is so much new and interesting stuff to read with the flick of a finger. Think about it.  Reading can be quite a meditative lonely habit while reading is also an interaction that keeps the mind alive and responsive. You write, I respond. I write, you respond. The more I read, the more I will know about you and the more we will write and share.

I do profess though that till the digital world hit me, I read and read and read all the books I could lay my hands on during train journeys from office to work and back each day. Today I see the same thing but it’s not a book it’s the mobile that’s taken its place.  I do agree that books are truly a man’s best friend. So all readers of books go ahead and get lost in the wonderful world of words.  Book lovers enjoy your books, while today I enjoy being a SWIFT lover (Sms, Whatsapp, Instagram, Face book and Tweet lover, you see).  

See you sometimes on the SWIFT train. I am waiting.