Life lessons at Rishikesh – 1.0

First day of offsite.
Life lessons learnt:

  1. Never waste your sleep for people who would NEVER wake up early for you.
  2. Once you become a leader, you stop having friends.
  3. The so-called friends are your friends only because you have access to information that they don’t have.
  4. It’s okay to enjoy your company. And dwell in it.
  5. Eat less. Happy more.
  6. Also, be grateful for the team. Yet love your own company.
  7. You attract people to you when you are on your own.

Also, did I mention – how to find solace in your own company πŸ™‚

Why is change so hard?

I returned to Delhi yesterday.
Was waiting for this for long.
Still, I miss Mom. And Papa. And kids. And the drama πŸ™‚

Change is hard. However, change is what we must.
Maybe I will go back. Maybe I won’t.

Not pronouncing any decision as of now.
But really trying to spend time with myself.

And telling myself, “It’s okay. You will get through this.”

To all those in their 20’s

A 20 year old kid asked me what life lessons I would want to download to her?

Here’s just 3 of them:

– Say yes to opportunities more often
– Say NO to people more often
– Never miss out on workouts, meditation and 20 mins of reading

Have a rocking decade (and life)!

Things I fail to understand


1. Why do we think we are liked if we have more unread messages when we open WhatsApp?

2. What satisfaction to softdrinks give?

3. Why do people prefer ordering out instead of home made halwa?

Our importance, satisfaction and satiety – all come from inside.

Inner validation. Water at home. Halwa at home.

If you make those choices, you are unstoppable!

45 KM per hour

I drove 70KMs yesterday.
All the way to Manesar to my place.
Took 1.5 hours – typically less time, but it was good because the roads were empty, because of Sunday.

If we calculate the average speed, it is 45 KM per hour, as per this.
However, did I drive at that speed?

Not at all.

Rather, for most part of the journey, it was 80-100 KM per hour, due to national highway being empty.

It was rather the slow movement at some traffic signals, that brought down the overall speed.

We all know this. We’ve all experienced this. We are at a place of accepting this.

However, this is what makes life go average:
Small useless insignificant things done small number of times, come down to reduce the overall average of your phenomenal epic performance.

Our days, certainly, aren’t any different from those drives.
The question that might help us, is: Are we setting ourselves up for the 100KM per hour drive, or the 20 KM per hour, that brings the huge average down?

The red stain on the white sheet

Yes, it happened.
Not on my bedsheet.
Rather on the sheet of a meditation hall of a huge retreat center.

Yes, you read that right.

I had just had my dinner, and had gone to the meditation room to let go of what was in my head.
Little did I know I would let go of much more πŸ™‚

Since I was menstruating, I thrust my kurta behind, before sitting on the floor – that had mattress covered with white sheet.

And when I got up, I left an imprint! A huge one!!
Surprisingly the kurta was stainless because it had been thrust back, it was through the leggings that the stain had escaped

Now I had two options:

I could tell myself: “Nishtha you have been menstruating more than half of your life, and you do not know even this basic thing of taking care?”

Or, I could get up and find for a solution.

I got up, and told the girl next to me (by disturbing her meditation) of what had happened, and she helped me out.

She suggested to keep my bag on one side of the stain, and she kept sitting on the other side. Meanwhile, she asked me to bring a wet handkerchief from my room to clean it.

I ran to my room. Changed. Got a handkerchief. Made it wet. Ran again.

Did the operation. Didn’t succeed.

Then she suggested, this time I keep sitting, and she will bring a bit of soap from her room.

In all this, the coordinator who was taking care of the premises started turning off the lights, and requested me to leave. I said I’m waiting for someone, and requested for ten more minutes.

He waited. Then said he has to come back early morning. So he insisted.
Then another girl next to me told him what the real problem was.
After which he became quiet, and waited.

Then came the face wash. And my handkerchief. With few drops of water from the girl who told the coordinator to wait.

And I rubbed and I rubbed. For ten full minutes. Post which it finally became clean.
Though the mattress was wet, but it wasn’t red anymore.

Lesson learnt: Take extra care going on, however, if you screw up, figure out solutions instead of screwing yourself up further.