Dusk to dawn

“Oh you got such a wonderful job, who recommended you?”
This is often asked to those who get a lucrative job.
It is sometimes true that we need a great backbone support to come ahead in our life. Life becomes all sugary and things fall in place robotically. Recommended people need not face the smirks of people, the hierarchy leg pulling, the political affairs and a lot more which a person otherwise needs to counter.
Yes, the only thing that comes along with the recommendation is an image and a reputation to sustain if u do that, then voila! You are almost there where the world respects you, not for who you are but for the family that you belong to.

Life becomes a bed of roses, as the path that you are going to walk is already paved, all you have to do is walk, unlike those who have to first gather the apparatus and material to make a path of their own and then walk on it.
I too had the latter path. In spite of being from one of the prosperous family and having influential uncles and relatives, be it maternal or paternal, I had no one, to hold my hand and show me the ladder of hard work or success, not to forget they were very successful and hard-working themselves. They had made a niche of their individuality in their own industry.

I did not need any recommendation; however I surely wanted to get a hand of how the practical world is. I wanted to get sculpted, wanted to explore just with the help of someone who could show me the mirror of the actual world.
Be it destiny, but due to our downfall, I had no option than to throw myself in this fake world.
It came as a shock to me as I was like a girl who had spent her life in a shell. I was unknown and ignorant as to how shallow can people be and how much they can fall in terms of a human being.

I FELL, I GOT UP, I AGAIN STUMBLED, GOT HURT, WOUNDS HEALED AND AS THEY HEALED I LEARNT THINGS…

I started working as a co-teacher in an international school which hardly paid me 3500 and today I am having my own classes.

This journey would not be possible if I was supported by the ones whom I expected. Thanks to them that I could reach here with a handful of experience, good and bad.

However except them the entire credit of me existing and that too without having my trust hampered is my parents support and their blessings.

I owe my every thing to them JUST THEM!

Valentines! <3

L () \/ 3

Valentines! What strikes you when you listen to this word? Love? Betterhalf? Celebrations? Or probably all?
Love is in the air, in the month of February. With Valentine’s Day approaching we see greeting cards, heart-shaped balloons and pillows, red roses, chocolates and much more on the shelves of any shop. People have accepted this foreign culture, years back and have hence started celebrating it as if it was one of their home cultures.

There are millions of people who celebrate with their loved ones being unaware about why actually the day is rejoiced. Very few know that it is named after a Saint whose name was Valentine. He was imprisoned and then hanged to death for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians who were maltreated under the Roman Empire. Hence 14th February is celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day by all the lovers.

People celebrate it in different ways like they go out for brunch, long drives, candlelight dinner, romantic escapade and lot more! They also buy presents for their loved ones and spend each and every moment cosily…
Hope you too have the most amatory love day…
Happy Valentine’s day ❤ … xoxoxo!

DIWALI !!

 

 

 

And Diwali, my favourite festival is around the corner! It is one of the most fascinating festivals for children to adults. There is a certain kind of aroma that spreads during this festive season.

My city, Ahmedabad, is dressed up in colourful lights and discount banners at every nook and corner! Shopkeepers earn the most by hiking the prices and then bringing them down at the original one and then selling them in the name of SALE. The word which usually attracts shopaholics esp. women.

The street is completely flooded with copious vendors selling flowers, rangoli colours, diwali and new year stickers and so on. Flower market as well as the fruit market in the heritage city (old city) is deluged with a lot many people bargaining for the freshly plucked flowers and garden fresh fruits. Not only that, but majority of the old city sells firecrackers (read pollutant) and the strange thing is that the firecracker market is open all night the day before Diwali and there are so many people who are ready and eager to buy these pollutants. Common guys, be eco – friendly and stop bursting crackers!

Going back to the memory lane I recollect how we used to decorate our houses as well as our selves 😉

Being a Vaishnav, Diwali has always been a bounteous and a vital festival for us. We used to commence cleaning, scrubbing, dusting and mopping each and every corner of the house before a month as it takes at least that much time to scavenge the dirt and unwanted items from our house. What I love the most about cleaning in Diwali  is that I “discover” lots of memories hidden somewhere in the closet in the form of “pictures” or a “forgotten gift” or a “misplaced earring” or a “precious letter” or that first “card” – so yes i like Diwali cleaning because it gives me the missing smiles back!! 

On the occasion, we usually decorated our house with oil lamps or candles, vibrant rangolis at our door step, flower strands of galgota, rose, jasmine etc on our walls and the small in-house temples. We dolled up ourselves in the most expensive and flamboyant ensembles, quaffed the most exotic sweets and along with that met and greeted the relatives which led to dinner soiree with the gossip rounds.

But now few things have changed.

Currently, children are excited because of vacations and the trips that they take during the same where as the youngsters look forward to it as an excuse of celebration and hence I feel that the only people left who celebrate Diwali for its true essence are the elderly.

Anyways, may this Diwali bring prosperity and success in your life…Happy New Year!

 

 

Stufriends!! (Students + friends)

And it has been 5 years that I have been educating linguistic skills. Students ageing from 18 to 40 have studied under me for IELTS training and it has been a fantastic experience understanding them and dealing with people ranging from being dumb to astute.

Some, out of the bunch of grapes turned to be really sweet and amicable who progressed to be one of confidants where as some were sour enough to keep them at the bay. Hardly having any close friends I really enjoyed their company. The cherry on the cake was that they were more or less the same age that I was or rather I would say I am.
My way of educating too made the environment very comfortable for the students because I always tried not to pressurise them irrelevant to their linguistic skills. Rather I always persuaded them to learn more and motivated them to enhance their level. That’s what brought them to my classes voluntarily. They would not only learn and practice but would also have fun in the mean time.

However there was always a time when a student had to cease coming to the class as he/she would have achieved his/her bands and would be preparing to fly abroad. Students kept on changing and thus they were a consistent change in my life. There was always a pain when they departed because knowingly or unknowingly they became a part of my life. Being the same age we shared almost the same perspectives and I felt as if I am loosing someone close to me one after the other. Though it is said that attachment with people involved in one’s profession is not good but who can keep their emotions in control be it care, love, anger or warmth.

623 and more yet to come. Those who have come and gone will always be cherished and remembered where as some of them are still in touch. I wonder how easily people walk in to our life, leave their footprints and walk out…! Anyways that’s all for now…going back to the classes to bid adieu to the ones who are departing tomorrow.

Comeback of the Earthquake…terror stricken!

“I am sure you will be able to do it, if you work hard”…is what I was making one of the students understand when he was skeptical about achieving his required targeted bands, and that is when the table began to jolt. It took me a moment to register that it was an earthquake!
I shouted and asked my fellow employees to vacate the place along with my students. Of course even the students took a while to understand that why was I asking them to leave the classes unlike other days when I had to literally compel them to sit and study for their upcoming exams. In a minute we bucketed along down the stairway, and rushed out of the apartment. We could soon see the professionals coming out of the building in dozens. They were terror stricken!
I am sure that everyone would have had a flash of the pitiable sights of Earthquake across their eyes which occurred in Gujarat in 2001. Everyone had started calling up their kith and kin to inquire about their safe being. “Anchko anubhavyo?,” (did you feel the tremor) “kyan chu?,”(where are you) “jaldi niche utro” (run downstairs quickly) were the few glimpses of conversations that fell on my ears when I was dialing my parents.
I soon left my office as my timings were over. To my surprise I had to walk a lot in the scorching heat to catch an auto for myself which otherwise is very easy to get. But, what I saw was cluster of people standing at the “kitli” (tea stalls) and discussing about how they realised that it was an earthquake, where as few were discussing about not going back to the offices for sometime as they work on a high storey.
However, I feel that the Amdavadi’s courage is very commendable and I can say that because just in few minutes everyone was back to their work station instead of being panicked. They, without being daunted continued their daily routine… whether it may be professionals or housewives or children. This is the courage of Gujaratis!

HOLI!!

Festival of hues

The festival of hues is here! It is an eagerly awaited festival by the youngsters and children across the country. Holi festival signifies the onset of the spring season and also bids farewell to the crispy winters. We celebrate holi on full moon day by worshipping the bonfire at dusk, which is lighted at almost every cross roads. Worshipping the sacred fire also has a fable behind it.

The fable goes like this….Decades ago, Hiranayakashyap, the king of demons, had a boon from God that no one would ever be able to kill him. Hence, he started compelling people to worship him and not God. However, his son Prahlad, worshipped Lord Vishnu which made his father very furious. He tried to kill Prahlad through various means but Prahlad was always cosseted by God. After many malicious attempts, the king of demon asks his sister, Holika to sit on a pyre with Prahlad in her lap as she had a blessing of being safe from fire. To everyone’s surprise, Holika was burnt to ashes as the boon only worked if she was solitarily placed in the fire, whereas; Prahlad remained safe and sound. Hence people celebrate the victory of good over evil on this day.

Dhuleti is celebrated the next day. People arrange a jamboree where they throw colour powder and splash colour water on each other. People celebrate it merrily where as children just soak in enjoyment by spraying water through water guns.

The only thing that we need to restrict is the use of chemical colours as it sabotages our skin immensely. Instead of that, we should use natural colours to make the festival health friendly which allows the people to bask up to their appetite.

Remain colourful…Adios!

Alien to IELTS

Alien to IELTS examination? Not anymore…

It has been a dream of many Indian students to go abroad and live up to their parent’s expectations and be independent. But sadly, only few are able to do that, not because of any other reason but because they have not been able to achieve the required bands in IELTS (International English Language Testing System); an exam which is very vital for admission in certain foreign colleges. IELTS is a compulsory entrance exam for colleges in Canada, UK, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and many more countries!

Let me tell you further about this examination:

• It has two genres: Academic and General. Academic exam is given by the students who want to go for further studies where as general exam is given by those candidates who want to apply for PR.
• Both the genres are divided into four modules namely: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.
• Though reading and writing module have different format in both the genres.
• All the four modules in both the genres are scored out of 9 bands individually and the overall score is an average of all the four modules which is obviously scored out of 9 bands.
• Listening, Reading, and Writing exams are conducted on one same day where as the Speaking exam is conducted on another day.
• 6.5 bands to 8 bands are required in different universities depending on the courses you apply.

I hope the above information has satisfied you for a starter…adios!!!

Pls write in at devanshikshah@hotmail.com for further queries

                                                                                      -Devanshi  K. Shah

                                                                                        IELTS Faculty

Hues of relationships…

Have you ever wondered what makes few relations go sour and few the sweetest? The different hues of relations makes it possible which is assorted with different feelings like anger, love, pity, hate, trust etc.

After going through all the ingredients of a strong relationship and a weak one, it has been seen that the most important factor is LOVE WITH A TINT OF TRUST.

LOVE is a wonderful feeling which has no barrier of status, gender, caste, class or creed. It melts and moulds a person if given all the time. Bits and parts of loving a person not only makes the person distant but makes him doubt the existence of it. Love is the most important essence of every relationship whether it is between parents and children or between life partners.

The second emotion which is the supporting factor of every relation is TRUST. It not only garnishes your relations with happiness but also strengthens the bond. Trust is like china ware, if broken into pieces it can surely be put together but crevices will always remain. Thus it should be very carefully handled in such a way that it never shatters.  

Let your relationship be a blend of these emotions and you shall see that it will not only blossom but will spread the aroma of happiness in your life!!!

Burnt life

Burnt life

Part 1

Sipping a cup of hot chocolate near by the glass window, a rainy morning and having a wonderful view of the youngsters and families enjoying together, I drive back the memory lane when my parents were together. It was raining that morning too when my mother and I left our house due to various reasons. It was a day which I never thought would change our lives completely forever. It was a sudden step which unknowingly took us into another world.

Had I the faintest idea that the step which we took would never be corrected, and that it would change my brother’s life as well as my life so drastically I would have compelled my mom not to do so. Walking little bit further down the lane, I have had the best childhood one could possibly have. It was indeed a fairytale childhood which I had spent. I was treated in the lap of the luxury. I was pampered with love and unending care by both my parents. I had everything before I could ask for. A lavish bungalow, a plush garden where I spent my summers sprinkling water to the colorful plants and having a splash in the pool, a well decorated yellow and cream room with a huge balcony, an array of imported dolls, stack of fascinating books, the most expensive doll house, frilled clothes, colorful accessories, bubble baths and a lot more to state!

My parents had always given me the best of all. I was sent to Convent School, the best college and had attended a range of classes and workshops related to painting, sketching, calligraphy, craft making, swimming, tennis, personality development, computer and also language enhancement classes.  I met different kind of people in those classes. Few were helpful and few snobby. That has what probably made me so confident and fearless which helped me to sustain through the rough times which I later faced.

As adolescence took charge and childhood faded out, I always felt a need for close friends which I always lacked because they were too materialistic where as I was way too emotional for the plastic world where they belonged to.  Most of them were double faceted and boasted about the wealth they had and the rest never bothered about anything at all. They preferred discotheque where as I preferred an evening walk in the fresh air, they yearned for a glass of wine where as I pined for a cup of coffee. It’s not that I considered them to be wrong but that was certainly not what I wanted! They were always behind partying, drinking, smoking; tattooing, lying, pretending etc and I hated them all.

Loneliness hovered around me as a faithful companion and it was then when my parents were on the verge of breaking their relation. I heard my dad saying it one day but he was unaware about my presence. I ran down the stairs from his room and locked myself in my room and threw my face into the cushion so that no one can hear me cry. I was devastated by the thought of my parents staying apart. I sobbed like a small baby and could hardly breathe back. The sound of my sobbing still echoes in my ears on lonely nights.  The times were tough enough to break anyone down mentally but my parents showered me with love even after they separated. Their love for me never went pale. At that moment I was suddenly left with me with nothing at all. Not my lovely house, not my parents and not the life style which I had. All that was left with me was a road ahead full of challenges and smirks of people who then later sniggered and bitched about my parents break up and the feasible reasons for it! It was an abrupt end to a fairytale story which was destined to be talked about!

Time passed and each of us fought back to emerge out of the troubled waters in our own way. My dad tried his level best to put together whatever he had lost, my mother made a new beginning and started to study so that she can earn a living and I tried my best to earn a living wage though I was never forced to do so. I was still than pampered with the same love and care. The only thing that hurt me the most was when I looked into my parents eyes and always found them to be moist and the person to suffer the most at a very tender age was my brother. Being 5 years old he watched and suffered everything which I did at 18. He had the most opposite childhood than what I did and of course few people never failed to make us realize the same time and again…