Dear Zindagi

Dear Zindagi,

I am no poet that I can pen down a poem dedicating you. Still today I'm blogging about all those simple things you have gifted me throughout my journey with you which keep me alive and whose presence make my life worth living:

* Walk under moonlit sky- from childhood I have fascination towards full moon night and spent many such nights playing with my cousins in village house, doing many naughty things. Nowadays I don't get village house or company of my playgroup but still I manage to spend quality time walking under moonlit sky to find happiness.

* Wife's chicken curry- my better half knows exactly how to make any man water by her cooked chicken curry. I think if saints of satya yuga were there today they too would water and feel greedy. No jokes but the secret which she never reveals even to me must be very special and I only know her chicken curry is good enough to make me happy.

* Memory of grandmother's fairy tales- In our joint family village house, grandmother used to narrate fairy tales of prince, princess and demons while we group of 12-13 kids used to gather to cherish those tales in the late evening and now such opportunity is not available but the memory still makes me happy.

* My daughter's hug after I return home in the evening- it acts as a mind relaxant and I feel the warmth of my family and my place in their hearts. It is a routine thing which never loses its flavor before me and I look forwards to it the whole day.

* Maternal grandfather- he is 104 years old now still he can take care of himself and talk meaningful. He can no more visit us although when I give him a visit once in a month or two, as we were very close since beginning, he gives me a welcome smile full of life and hope and that makes me very happy!

* Clock striking 5 PM evening- I get liberated from my office and happy faces of my family members float in my imagination, my wife winking at me, daughter hugging me and mother quenching her son's thirst. It is not that I hate my office or I feel out of place but the moment clock strikes five I feel time to shift to top gear and touch highway. There is no doubt I love my family more than office.

* A Thanks from a satisfied customer- in rush hours of office everybody sweats and loses temper, sometimes not cooperating and behaving so nicely with each other, be it staffs or clients. So amidst all chaos and formalities when a customer leaves my desk with a natural smile direct from his heart and a “thank you” I feel elevated and it truly makes me happy.

* Morning tea- I am totally tea loving guy and my morning will never start without a cup of strong tea. Due to weight issues I was taking green tea for six months but it was only due to health reasons and never from mind. So a decent morning tea makes me happy and acts as a perfect launch pad for my daily life.

* Cuckoo's song- In childhood we used to spot singing cuckoos hidden behind tall tree leaves. We used to compete among cousins. Till now a tune of a cuckoo bird hidden behind leaves makes me happy.

* Travel plans- travel plans in daughter's school vacations make me very happy as we all stay close to one another for few days, no office, no worries and moreover I love exploring nature and new places.

* Ice cream- I am fond of chocolate ice cream bars and cornetto. Even in winters I take ice cream. When I was in school I stole money from father's parse to buy ice cream from the wheeler outside school gate. The sense of ice over my teeth and tongue gives me heavenly relaxing mood. I like the thrill of biting through ice. Nowadays so many types ice creams available in market. But I love those chocolate ice creams with a stick which I bought after school. Ice cream makes me peppy.

* Chocolate- by chocolate since childhood we know only Cadbury because other brands were not much available in our place. It is different thing that nowadays many chocolate imported packets you get everywhere, but, in our childhood we did not have much choices. So I love diary milk and its sweet plus bitter taste gives me adrenaline rush. It boosts up my mood and makes me happy. I like toffees too but not as much as chocolate bars.

* Uncle- my uncle is a very benign loving father like human being who loves me very much. Sometime he visits my house and his company makes me happy. He is a perfect motivator and guide in my life.

* Chicken Pakoda by mother- I take chicken pakoda from many food courts but the one my mother cooks is beyond imagination. It is too good in taste and once you take you'll come to our house again and again to find happiness in your life like mine.

* Wife's morning kiss- the first kiss my wife gives in morning while handing over the newspaper makes my day. Our is an arranged marriage so the romance started late of marriage and I'm having the magical feeling for her everyday since last 10 years.

Frankly I do not know how to express my gratitude towards you. Please take this letter as my warm gesture and do keep in touch as always.

Yours faithfully,

Me

I am writing a letter to life for the #DearZindagi activity at BlogAdda

Eating Better doesn't mean opting blindly for a crash diet

By balanced healthy diet we mean a diet that gives our body the nutrition it needs to work optimally. Our daily calorie intake should be based on age, gender, and the level of physical activity. As the common sense goes, men would generally need more calories than women, and active people need more than sedentary people. Interestingly, the source of our daily calories is equally important as the number of calories we consume. Consumption of empty-calories (those that provide little or no nutritional value) should be strictly restricted in a healthy balanced diet. A healthy balanced diet is important because our body’s organs, tissues and cells need proper nutrition to function efficaciously. In the absence of a balanced diet, our body is more susceptible to disease, infection, weakness, sub-optimal functioning, growth problems and developmental delays in children! Rising trend of chronic diseases like diabetes, stroke, heart problems, cancer etc is the result of lack of affinity for balanced diet. Our balanced diet must incorporate- fresh seasonal fruits, green leafy vegetables, whole grains, adequate proteins, low fat dairy products and polyunsaturated oils. A combination of fruits and vegetables usually provides most nutrients and vitamins required for our body's metabolism. Whole grains contain much more nutrients than our foolishly preferred refined grains. Low fat meats, especially when the skin is peeled off save us from excess cholesterol intake along with protein. Proteins help us to develop our muscles. Protein includes not only meats but many vegetarian options like- peas, beans, lentils, walnut, soy products etc. Fat-free dairy products are quite healthy and good source for calcium and vitamin D which are essential for our bone health. We have to be very careful that our diet must not contain unnecessary fats and sugars. Health is wealth and a healthy balanced diet is the stepping stone to good health.

Crash diet is basically a very limiting diet plan (abruptly restricting your dietary calories sometimes as low as 700 calories per day!) that is impractical for the long term and maintenance of our normal body. If we cut off our intake so abruptly, our poor body starves and metabolism suffers! When we opt for crash diet, unknowingly we end up burning our muscles along with fat. When we are on crash diet, we get easily irritable and inconsistent in our behaviour by seeing people around us enjoying delicious meals. Unfortunately, on prolonged crash diet, our adrenaline and thyroid hormone levels fall which makes us inefficient to react in emergency or quick situations. Our cognitive function falls short due to the lack of some or the other amino-acid or, various micro-nutrients. So, clearly crash diet does more harm than good. Once you shift back to your old diet plan, you may gain quick and extra weight and worst part is- you would gain more fat than muscles! Eat healthy balanced diet and think better. Thinking better means not falling for easy but cheap ways of weight loss as in crash diet, because it is easy to put up with plump look but not with harmful long term consequences of crash diet.

I am joining the Saffolalife #ChhoteKadam initiative in association withBlogAdda and follow these small steps for a healthy heart.

One dream at a time!

In January I made my last business trip before the birth of our child. I traveled to Helsinki because I had a meeting. During the same trip I also visited my FB friends Deepa and Karthik. It was so nice to have some time for myself and for social media friends! My trip to Sundarbans went well in every way. In a train I had good time to think about my life. My thoughts about the blog clarified. I realized that if I had had courage to create and make Explore Bengal public, I have also courage to make it exactly what I want. When I was a student I noticed that making your dreams come true improves your happiness. That notice had given me courage and will to keep on making my dreams come true, one at a time. As a student the things I did were small. However they helped me to have the courage to make a little bit bigger dreams come true, and after that again a little bit bigger dreams.

Making your dreams come true is one way to have power over your life and affect the content of your life. When you have that power and courage, you start to feel better. The improvement of well being is based on developing your self-esteem and self-confidence. Both of them are important parts of well being. You can get better self-esteem and better self-confidence when you can be the one who makes the decisions in your life. What is funny, it doesn't matter eventually whether your dreams really come true or not. The main thing is that you have tried. Instead of saying to yourself and to the others that your can’t change your life.

But back to Explore Bengal. So how my thoughts about my blog clarified during Sundarbans trip? I realized that my passion for natural well being and finding the balance and happiness in a woman’s life was the reason why I created Explore Bengal. Those are the topics I want to concentrate in Explore Bengal. And what I mean with “natural well being”? Well, we will talk about it another day. As I've told to you, I've worked in tourism after graduation. I'm proud of my home country and region. My pride is shown in “Explore Bengal” name. I chose that name because I feel that there are so many sources of natural well being here in Bengal and in India. By having them -sources of natural well being- in life, my own well being and life balance has been improved. I want to continue to create “a natural lifestyle” in my own life. And I also want to encourage other women to do the same in their lives so that they could feel better and improve balance and happiness in their lives. That is my next dream.

I am blogging about my dreams and the people who helped make them true for the #AdviceThatMattered activity at BlogAdda in association with Stoodnt.