What does Happiness mean to you??

Happiness is very important part of human endeavour. Approaching each day with positive attitude contributes to overall well being.  Every person in this world strives to reach some position or gain something the reason being happiness. It might differ with people , as each one has own definition of happiness. Its a perception. Happiness is not a thing its a state of mind. 

        (Image source : http://www.carpedavid.com/blog/2014/7/25/what-does-happiness-mean-to-you)

Can we really define what happiness is ? strange fact is to define happiness one has to experience the opposite of it . Humans seem to have infinite needs , with this  can we be perfectly happy? It can be things like we happen to see at usual day , or a person's genuine smile, or some beautiful flowers , blue sky ,walking amidst green trees, moments with friends the list can go on and on.

 When I came across question "what does happiness mean to you?" it made me think about small things that we get to experience in our life. 

Happiness is being loved. Being loved for what you are irrespective of position in society. It is being loved for how truly you are from within , your soul and not about the external beauty.

Happiness is being there with family, one whom you can hold on to and cherish your life. Family does play a major role in one's life and it does drive towards your goal. 

Happiness is having friends whom you can trust and who shower love and support no matter what happens.

Happiness is working towards one's goal to reach a state called success. 

(Image source : http://www.lifesetgo.com/wp-content/uploads/happiness-1.jpg)

So is happiness is all about success, friends ,family , love ? there are certain things that makes one define happiness . What about money ? Money does people all things in world , things get worse when it comes to money , for state of being happy people turn to greedy and it does lead to destruction of one's own self.

Money can make lot of things easier , it does help in getting some sort of happiness it can be buying clothes , car and most needed food for one's living and help in paying bills but need for gaining more money in fulfilling rest of greediness is bad for one's own. 
I won't equate money with happiness. Really don't think in order to be happy one needs to be rich. If you believe to be rich to be happy , majority of people in world would never be happy.

As I said happiness is little things which we feel each day , its those little things like feeding a dog or cat, watching bird fly, it is the freedom which you can live in your country , it is walking along the sea shore, standing on top of hill watching your city experiencing the wind, clicking pictures and creating memories for future , watching movie which can help you relax and in some way inspire you, read books and transform you to better person , lend money to poor and needy in return of nothing but their smile , being acknowledged and proud for your achievement by family and friends, watching the stars twinkle in the sky , being loved unconditionally ,travelling around the world,experiencing new things each day as life throws challenges  for us, knowing the soul within us, the strengths and working on our weakness . If that is what happiness is , that's what one should do and live for rest of our life without worrying much and make each day count and enjoy the journey of life and keep smiling and spread happiness.

So that's what I feel about what happiness is. What about you? Do leave your views in comment section.

I was inspired to write this post for 

"Coca-Cola International Day of Happiness" by Coca-Cola India . Watch this video for more such moments of happiness.

http://cokeurl.com/96jnc

Keep Smiling :)
-Sachin Prabhu 

Book Review : Metro Diaries

Title: Metro Diaries

Author: Namrata

Publisher: Revelation House Books

ISBN-13:9789381841617

Number of Pages: 162

Price: 195 [INR] 

Genre: Fiction

Blurb on the Book:

Love is one of the most amazing feelings on this earth, one that makes you the most powerful person or the most helpless person in a split second. These stories capture those feelings of despair, longing, love, lust, desire, want, dejection and admiration to create deja vu. 

Hold onto your hearts as you flip through these pages and take a walk down the memory lane as "Metro Diaries" will revive your innermost feelings and imbibe in you the magic of love. Touching, amusing and deeply moving, Metro Diaries - Love Classics are tales that will hold you from start till end.

My Review:


Do you like love stories and poems then  you must read Metro Diaries ! It is collection of 20 amazing stories narrated in such a way that you will fall in love with stories and characters involved. This stories will surely make you think about the special person in your life. As the blurb says it will surely hold you from start till end, such is the magic of each story and skills of author.Here's my take on each story

1. Once in a  Lifetime: Perfect start for the book , its a love story revolving around Nitya and Ansh. Nitya is a girl who believed in magic , in miracles ,in making wishes and in falls in love with Ansh. It takes you on a romantic drive where Nitya's failed relationship with Deb makes her build walls around her heart until Ansh comes in her life. Truly romantic!

2. Then,Now and Forever: This is a story which can make you realize how beautiful love is. Linda shares the first love letter with his grandson Ron who was named after his grandfather. The letter plays a major role in life of Ron who later on finds his love of life.

3. Love thy Dreams: In this story girl believes in the guy's dreams and tells him to pursue his dreams.The guy realizes girl was right as always love thy dreams and one day they will love you back.

4. The Wait:   Unrequited Love story where girl happens to love her best friend and due  to the norms of society it turns to be heartbreaking.

5. A Secret Revealed:  The story of girl who realized she is a secret when she was 5 year's old and keeps her identity secret until certain point when she finds someone who showered her with unconditional love.

6. A Promise of a Lifetime: Story of Ranjith who was heartrob of college and Tamanna who meet each other in friend's marriage. Even though both studied in same college they din't get the courage to express their love. Ranjith proposes Tammana in a way that happens to be promise of lifetime.

7. Will You?: One more love story which happens to be a conversation between girl and boy. The guy promises the girl which turns to be heart warming .

8. Love Beyond Words: Love story which happens to be in form of letters. It happens to be magical story.

9. Imperfectly Perfect: A story where guy is so keen about perfection in his life. Abhay is one such guy who finds perfection in everything and at age of 40 he is still unmarried. Niyati, 21 year old ,the lead in story comes across Abhay. It happens to be one imperfectly perfect match .

10. A Thing Called Love: The story portrays pain of one sided love which happens to be unanswered. So wished it happened to end in positive note. 

11. The Sole Soul Mate: The story of Nishani and Saahil which happens to be sweetest in this book. 

12. The Yellowed Diary:  Heart breaking story of a girl who writes her feelings in a diary. One among my fav's.

13. You, Me and Love: This is a story which I really liked lot. A girl who takes a break from her busy schedule and goes on a trip where she finds a couple who she really admires.Really mesmerizing. 

14. Unlocked: Story about a guy who keeps his relationship hidden finally reveals. 

15. Memories: Another mesmerizing story described with help of photographs which might move you to tears. 

16. A Message of Love: One of my fav's where a girl finds a letter in a book who finds her love. Blissful!

17. Her: Story of a boy who is so into love with girl. Really liked it.

18. Love Revisited: Story of Reha who lived as a princess unfortunately ends with Pranoy short tempered guy which she realizes after marriage. She leaves Pranoy to find love of her life. Again my favorite!

19. The Last Letter :Story of Manu and Saru which happens to take you to the times of Indian Independence. I  really loved this story! 

20. You & I : A  simple sweet story to end the book with!

My Rating : 5/5

About the author

Namrata is a prolific blogger known by the name Privy Trifles in the blogosphere who romances life through her writings and aspires to make love the universal language. She dons various hats between that of a contributing author to 6 anthologies a reviewer for leading publishing houses an editor to various books and a columnist. Apart from that she is also the editor for an online magazine called Writer's Ezine. Having mastered the nuances of finance till recently she also held the title of an investment banker closely to let it go to embrace her love for writing fully.

Look up : Story from my childhood.

Life gives us so many opportunities to prove ourselves. Sometime we will fail to achieve the goal , but giving up wont help , trying again must be the approach. In this post i'm going to share one such moment from my childhood which gave me a hope and confidence that anything can happen if we believe in ourselves.

I was kid who was average when it came to studies back then and computer science is one subject which always made me so happy apart from science. I used to get excited when we had computer lab and ran towards lab and enjoy each session to the fullest. Well we were supposed to learn about paint app in windows and as I used to play games and use paint app in my dad's office this was not new to me. Rest of the students were not introduced yet. I used to draw solar system and colored each of planets and used to lose myself completely into the world of paint app. When it came to test I used to get average scores but not full marks.

Little me back then :)

(copyrights : sachin , http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in)

Once it so happened it was computer science class and ma'm was supposed to read out marks loudly. I hated reading out marks so loudly. Why should other know our marks ? that was the question I had. Ma'm said only one has managed to score full marks this time and some of the girls who were considered as toppers waited for it with lot of curiousness. I was least bothered about this announcement. Some of the girls screamed names asking ma'm did they get full marks and ma'm answered no to each one of them. Now it was something more curious , its not from the girls who were considered as toppers. It made everyone wonder who could it be? To my surprise , I got one hell of shock when ma'm called my name. It was me who had got full marks!! I think it was my first time and  I didn't knew what to do. I was so happy !! I just went to the stage and got my paper back. It felt great sheer of pleasure to see every answer marked correct with red ink and see 25/25 at  the end with "very good :)" . Some of the friends were happy for me and the so called toppers i believe were kinda jealous. Maybe they believed they had a competitor now.

"Optimism is the faith that leads of achievement; nothing can be done without hope"

 - Hellen Keller

It was one among memorable moments for me. I was the person who thought "what can i do? Me get full marks ? stop kidding! " but it was the fact I had done it. From then on I studied well and later on was not just an average student. I was among toppers of college and school . This is one such instance which filled me with optimism and future. I used to look up my seniors who scored really well and later on I reached that place where some people wanted to be like me. Believe in yourself ! So who do you look up to ? You can be reach great heights if you #lookup and believe in you. 

Read about more such moments here:  https://housing.com/.

Keep Smiling :)

-Sachin Prabhu B

Together : Memorable trip with Family

Each one of us has got memorable moments , it can be with closest friends , family or pet you love. I would like to share one such memorable moment considering my family. Its one such moment where I got to cherish the beauty of nature , Indian heritage and culture and gave me much more strength to look upon my future.

Recently  I had been on a trip to Kalasa , a holy temple town located in Chikkamagaluru district in Karnataka. It is renowned for its famous temple called Kalaseshwara dedicated to Lord Shiva. The trip was planned all of sudden mainly to visit temple and seek blessings as we just had house warming ceremony. To say about my situation I was kinda tired and sick and upon that I had to travel.  I thought it would freshen up my mind and was expecting it to be fun trip. 

Me along with parents and two of my aunts who love me so much left Shimoga early morning. On my way, I couldn't stop clicking pics of rising sun and clouds which was a bliss to watch. I showed the pics to mom and she loved it. That was a good start for the day and so as the trip. We had a stop for breakfast and had idli and vada. It was so tasty!! trust me! It was some village , and village people have a skill of making food extremely tasty. Once we had breakfast the next destination was Kalasa. We stopped exactly where the village is famous for , yeah the Kalaseshwara temple. It was not my first visit to mom's native and so as the temple. I had been

`

Family <3 

Ambathirtha

 (copyrights : Sachin , http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in)

Me enjoying the nature !

Isn't it amazing? 

 (copyrights : Sachin , http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in)

Mom's school :)

 (copyrights : Sachin , http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in)

there for 3 times or 4 and to add to the score I got a chance yet again to be there with my family.  The moment we entered the temple it made me think about last visit . It was just a year ago, but there were so many changes considering my life and family. It made me wonder how time flies so fast and brings change. Everyone went inside the temple and prayed the deity. I prayed with all my heart , to give me strength and so as my family. It was really peaceful. It gave everyone enormous pleasure as we sought blessings from Lord Shiva. It was not just ordinary temple but which had great history , proof was the art and sculpture which was chiseled on rock that the temple was made of. 

I got a chance to see old scriptures written on rock, it made me wonder how people used to live in village in olden days. I clicked few pictures of those and went on to reach next destination i.e Horandu , which is famous for Annapoorneshwari temple. One my way I got to visit two to three temples which was yet again peaceful and gave me strength. I got to visit my Mom's school. School building seemed so old and my mom was very happy to see it so was I.  Today my mom is a Psychiatrist and I felt very happy  and astonished seeing that this school has made my mom who she is today, where my mom's supposed dream of being doctor has come true. 

While coming back we had been to Amba theertha , where the river narrows down to a few meters. The river Badhara has a short rocky bed, the continuous rush of water has left interesting carvings on the rocks. Locals advice people to be careful entering the water due to strong under currents and whirl pools.  This place is about 5 Kms from Kalasa town. 

Amba theertha is named after goddess Parvathi. This place has a ethcing on the rocks where the pandavas and draupadi are shown with Akshaya Pathra.

This trip with my family not only made me happy but It gave me strength and inner peace and more important and very needed inspiration. I have been with my family to so many trips and we have been together always and got chance to enjoy and cherish so many moments. By the time we reached home that evening It was like a dream and I was so happy and I felt i was lucky to be part of this family I have which I love with all my heart. It was a journey which were we were together  #together and I got a chance to learn #lookup so much.  

Read about more such moments here:  https://housing.com/.

Keep Smiling :)

-Sachin Prabhu B

Starting New Life : City of Dreams NammaBengaluru

Life is all about facing challenges and to chase the dreams. My dreams lead me to Bangalore . As I din't get any chance to hop into IT company from my college it made me decide to join a course and look for job in Bangalore. Accordingly me and my friend joined the JAVA training sessions and decided to live in a pg. My friend has a track record of living in pg and where as me ?  I was brought up with lot of affection and care in home and never had a chance to live alone. Well not alone , but I had a friend who I can trust was by my side. 

When I reached Bangalore first day , I got a chance to visit Iskcon with my parents and to be frank I was kind of had insecure feeling reason being as I dint have a job and I was about to live in big city far from my parents. I prayed with all my heart to Lord Krishna to give me strength and fulfill my dreams. 

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vidhana_Soudha_sunset.jpg)

( copyrights: Sachin , http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in)

Ever since next day I was having a new experience of living on my own . I began to explore the city with my friends in Bangalore , travel in BMTC bus among lot of crowd, live in the noisy PG and in parallel complete the assignments given by the institute and complete the project. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and Bangalore got me chance to some of my wishes. I met some of the great people from my world of blogging and my favorite author , be part of Bangalore Lit Fest and Times Lit Fest , Book launches and even made new friends while I traveled everywhere while for interviews . 

After few months even the friend who was living with me had to leave Bangalore to pursue his dreams and that was one moment where I felt alone but I deep within me a voice said 

"You can do it, you are not alone and you have lived here for last 8 months and have loads of experience and moments which has made you learn. You have long way to go and chase your dreams. Stop being sad and smile !! " 

I listened to my heart and chasing my dreams to reach the goal.After few days I got to visit Iskcon again but this time I was strong and it made me smile thinking about the first day in Bangalore. Time really does make people change so as the city. Here's one of my favorite quote

"All your dreams can come true if you have courage to pursue them"

- Walt Disney

( copyrights: Sachin , http://jrnywithprabhu.blogspot.in)

Today I am in love with this city Bangalore  , not just because it is Silicon valley and has great places to enjoy but because it has made me strong person , made me believe in me with the situations I got to face in this city and brought great change in me. Today I  am in love with city of dreams , NammaBengaluru. This has made me start new life. #StartNewLife


This post is written for Indiblogger happy hours  https://housing.com/.




Keep Smiling  :)
- Sachin Prabhu 

Happy Birthday to my blog : 1st bloggiversary

Image source : Google

Its been One year  I started to write!!  Happy Birthday to my blog !! Time really goes fast! First of all I am scheduling this post as I don't know if I am able to make time to write with my busy schedule. In last 1 year I have written 35 posts which is a small number to start with. I really dint had a goal of making a blog , but one day something in me said me to have one as love for novels went growing each day. I was reading blogs by Preeti ma'm, Gayu di ,Jayanth and would get lost in the magical world they create but never thought that I can write one. 

Blogging has made me grow as a better person and it is a space where I can pour my heart out and reach people and that has got me some best friends for life which I didn't even dream of! I didn't try writing for contests and some topic given, I write usually what comes to my heart. 

Being movie freak and one who loves to click I usually dint try writing one  thinking what can I write? and moreover I read novels rarely. But once I read Preeti's "Life is What You Make It" things changed , I made time for novels, read blogs and finally decided to have one  blog . Naming the blog was a question for me , and my friend karthik helped me out saying JourneyWithPrabhu would be good. I'd like to thank him for that.

Well , life is a journey and it has so many ups and down's , one has to just enjoy the ride and keep the spirit up. I follow that even though at times i'l be sad and i think most of posts in blog are written when i'm happy while few when sad. I'd like to thank each one who has supported  me and read my blog and showered lots of love including my mom who read it with so much curiosity. As per my resolution i'l try to blog more and learn more with each post. Thank you each and everyone who took time to read and comment on blog and stood by me and making me realize I can write.

Keep Smiling :)

-Sachin Prabhu 

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