Stories - Geet Vijayvergia

Sweet Lessons By Diwali Sweets

Nov 15, 2020 | 9 comments

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Diwali hangover is definitely still there. I can’t stop thinking about the sheer amount of sweets and snacks I’ve had and the amount of stories I’ve heard this Diwali (courtesy to my grandmother). Another interesting thing I learnt was the fact that we remove clutter from our houses as a metaphor for removing the clutter and dirt of our minds. I had no clue about this. This lesson about Diwali and the thought of sweets got me thinking about combining two of my favorites. Yup, it’s sweets and lessons. Eating so many of the ladoos gulab jamuns, the least I can reciprocate is by learning from them.

Here we goooooooooooooooo.

1. Kaju Katli

Never lose your shine. You look better with it.

KAJU KATLI – RCL Products

2. Jalebi

Your shape doesn’t matter. What matters is how sweet in nature you are.

3. Soan Papdi

You may not be everyone’s favorite, but those who love you will never let you go.

Soft Soan Papdi at Rs 90/kilogram | Chocolate Soan Papdi | ID: 10542092912

4. Ladoo

Boondi boondi se laddoo banta hai. Every small effort matters and counts.

Motichoor Laddoo Recipe: How to make Motichoor Laddoo Recipe for Diwali at Home | Homemade Motichoor Laddoo Recipe

5. Rasgulla

You’ll be subjected to a lot of pressure in your life. You’ll be squeezed and compressed, but you’ll stay true to your form.

रुई जैसे सॉफ्ट और रसभरे रसगुल्ले की रेसिपी - How to make rasgulla soft and fluffy tips in hindi

6. Gulab Jamun

Being soft isn’t a weakness. The softer a gulab jamun, the better.

7. Besan Ladoo

Even if you crumble under pressure, things will turn out just fine for you.

Suji Besan Laddu recipe | Chayya Bari recipes | Recipebook

P. S. Kaju Katli lovers, don’t kill me, but I just don’t get the hype around it and why people love it so much.

Comment down below and tell me your favourite sweet.

Bumpy Starts Aren’t As Bad As You Think

Nov 8, 2020 | 1 comment

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Vani was heading towards the school cafeteria and saw Kavya coming out of the library. Vani waved at her, calling her.

“Hey. somebody looks super engrossed.”, Vani spoke only to receive no response.

“Dude. I’m here too, I’d really like some attention.” She attempted again, now snapping in front of Kavya’s face.

“Huh? Oh yeah. I was just at the end of an awesome chapter.” Kavya finally responded, closing her book after putting in a bookmark.

They came to the cafeteria where they found Chaitanya and Neil playing cricket using a lunchbox and a ball of foil and Kisha completing her pending work.

They all gathered around a round table and Chaitanya pulled a chair from an empty table.

Amongst friendly banter and sharing lunches, Kavya spoke up.

“How did you guys meet? Everyone knows that Vani offered me a place in the reading competition team and then you guys practically adopted me. But I have no idea about you. I wanna know.”

Neil spoke up as if lost in the thoughts of some distant memories. “My mom and Vani’s mom are great friends from college. So we have basically known each other since we were born.”

“Interesting. What about Chaitanya and Kisha?” Kavya raised her eyebrows, taking a bite out of Vani’s sandwich.

“Our sections were shuffled in 6th grade. Kisha became friends with Vani after Vani saw her reading her favourite, Little Women. And I couldn’t resist learning the awesome finesse shot that Chaitanya kicked during our first P.T. period.” Neil spoke all of this in one breath.

“And that’s all about how we guys met.” He said, finally stopping for some fresh air.

Vani put her elbows on the table with an amused expression. “Neil. Lying is bad manners. Don’t you know.”

“What? Lying? Me? How? I don’t understand.” Neil responded clearly confused.

“Yes you. It isn’t all about how we guys met. If you’re telling a story, at least tell the complete one.”

“But that is all I know bro.”

“Oh really! My bad. Sorry.”

Even though she said sorry, Vani wasn’t looking like was sorry.

“Guess you actually don’t know the whole thing.” She was now looking at Chaitanya with her eyebrow raised.

Scratching the back of his head, Chaitanya replied, “Yeah. About that. It’s nothing.”

“Oh it’s nothing? Let me tell them then if it is really not that big of a deal.” With that Vani started speaking as if she waited all her life for an opportunity to tell this. As she spoke, Chaitanya became more and more embarrassed, yet seemed to quite enjoy the anecdote.

“Well I was going around making a list of the people who wanted to participate in the Annual Day Function. Then I came across this guy”, Vani said pointing to Chaitanya, “and asked him his name. He replied, ‘Chaitanya. Though it doesn’t matter. You won’t remember it.’ All I could say at the time was, ‘Ohhhkay… We’ll see about that.’

And I believe it’s safe to say that I do remember your name, Mr.You-won’t-remember-my-name?”

“Don’t tell me that’s true bro.”, Neil managed to say it in between fits of laughter.

“I’m afraid it is true.” Chaitanya was trying incredibly hard to hide an embarrassed smile.

“Woah! That was one hell of an awkward introduction. No wonder you guys kept it a secret.” Even Kisha couldn’t keep herself from commenting on this introduction.

“Kisha and Neil you should thank me. If I never brought this up, you would’ve never known this introduction that is making us laugh till we’re crying.”

“Really dude. A big thanks.’ Neil said, giving a fist bump to Kavya.

Kisha made an observation while putting her books back in her bag. “Huh. See? No matter how much of a bumpy start you get, you can end up being pretty good friends. The beginning need not dictate how things go after that. Clearly a rocky beginning does not equal to no ending. Though, it would have been nice if you said something smarter Chaitanya. Or maybe stuck to just saying your name. Either way you guys are friends. And if anything, we have something so hilarious, yet so awesome to talk about. I am kinda happy that you guys did have that hella awkward intro because now we’re all together. Anyways, gotta go. See you guys later.”

Just like that recess was over and everyone rushed back to their classes.

Maybe Kisha was right. You need not have a perfect introduction, or start anything perfectly for that matter. Things always have a way of working themselves out. And by no means does a rough or even an awkward start mean you’ll be distant or awkward forever. Someday you’ll be laughing over your ice breakers, promise.

Applications Of Exponents In Real Life

Nov 1, 2020 | 8 comments

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In my last post, I talked about how working with exponents and variables make you feel more grown up. After finishing that post, I wanted to delve a little deeper in the concept and power of exponents (pun not intended).

While exploring exponents, I came across a very interesting post that not only highlights the impact of exponents, but also shows the difference of pushing yourself just a little out of your comfort zone.

It said:

1.01³⁶⁵=37.8

0.99³⁶⁵=0.03

I am truly astonished by the volume these few numbers – not even words – tell us.

When we do our normal tasks, and give our average best we practically perform 1.00 or 100% you could say. It could mean just doing your daily tasks – nothing more, nothing less.

When you push yourself forward and do a little extra than you thought you could actually do you, you give your 1.01 or 101%. It’s just a little more than what you would normally do. It’s more than usual, but definitely nothing drastic. It is like working out for 35 minutes if you normally worked out for 30 minutes.

When you just loaf around and become sluggish, or get sick you obviously underperform, hence giving your 0.99 or 99%. It’s like your usual work out duration is 30 minutes but you just worked out for 15-20 minutes.

What one can see from this eye-opening post is that when you put in your 1.01 day after day, for a whole year you get 37.8. It might not seem like much right now.

But just watch now. When you just do your normal and the daily average, at the end of the year all you get is 1.00. It’s not exactly bad, because at least you have what you started with. But it’s not great either since you don’t get anything extra. If you’re putting in effort for a whole damn year you might as well get something out of it.

So 37.8 is way more than just good as compared to 1.00 if you look at it.

However that’s not all there is.

When you become sluggish or lazy and continue to do so the whole year (I hope no one gives their 0.99 the whole year), you don’t get even as much as what you started with. All you get is 0.03. This simply tells half-hearted efforts do no good to anyone.

Now is the time for the big comparison.

Can you guess how much difference there is in the result of 1.01 and 0.99 over a year?

The results of giving your 101% are … Wait for it… FREAKING 1260 TIMES THAN THAT OF GIVING YOUR 99%.

This observation was not included in the post that I saw and when I did find this out by calculating, I WAS MIND BLOWN. Mind blown might be a small word. I was baffled, bewildered, perplexed and rattled, and any other synonym you can find for amazed, all at the same time. This is not 10 times the result. Not 100 times. Not even a 1000 times. But literally 1260 times. I think that’s just insane.

If you can’t get motivation to push yourself forward, just remember if you do more everyday you are going to end up with results greater than you could ever imagine.

Phew! That got me moving from my bed.

Believe in the Power of Small Things

Oct 25, 2020 | 6 comments

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Do you remember the first time when you solved a question with variables in maths? I mean the first time alphabets and numbers were combined? I think it would be somewhere in your 6th or 7th grade.

Try and remember how you felt when you started using exponents, even if it was just the square of a number.

How about the time when you were allowed to cross roads by yourself and go to neighbourhood places alone?

You were probably dying to do all of these things again and again till the time it was as interesting as washing the dishes. But surely, the first few times they would have made you think that you could rule the entire goddamn world. You must have felt like you’re actually worth something – like you matter.

All of these instances, the variables, squares and road crossing, have one feeling in common.

Do you want to give it a shot?

It is the feeling of being slightly grown up. Feeling just a tiny bit more mature.

It is in these small, silly yet wonderful moments that we have found power. Moments that have made you feel – Yes, I can do things too. And that feeling when you think that you too can do something that matters, is not very easy to attain.

That is why these moments matter so much. This is the reason why we shouldn’t undermine the power of small unnoticed moments in our lives. None of these moments make a difference by themselves. But it is when we add up all these moments that we realise how much our life has changed and how much we’ve grown. It is when all of these apparently trifle moments are added, that your life becomes valuable.

Now whenever you feel, ‘oh when have I grown up so much?’, just remember that it was these moments that made you grow up.

What does the Word ‘Assume’ Really Mean?

Oct 18, 2020 | 11 comments

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Assume.

Know the meaning of this word? It means a few things, but in the context of this post, we’ll use it in the sense which means to take something for granted or without proof.

Ever tried assuming something? Just like that, without any basis for your assumption?

What was the outcome?

Let me guess. I’ll give it a shot.

You probably either embarrassed the heck out of yourself for doing something stupid; or you carried out a command not even near to how it was supposed to be done.

Or you could miss out on great opportunities simply because of assuming.

Because I was sure gonna miss out on some.

All I did was assume something. Because of that, I could have genuinely let go of the best possible opportunity for me this year.

Wanna know what great could’ve slipped from my hand because of assumptions and why?

I’ll tell you.

My bestfriend had his birthday the day before yesterday. So my group of friends and I were planning to do something for him. We thought of a zoom call but it seemed too dull and boring for someone who wanted to meet his friends beyond anything else.

So we decided to surprise him and show up at his house. (Of course, we showed up out of the blue for him, his family knew we would be coming)

Because of me being the slightly topper kinda kid, both my friends and I did not expect me to come (although I have no idea why this notion exists because I haven’t really missed any of the group gatherings 🤷🤷)

Now this part may seem really dumb, but at that moment I genuinely thought that my parents wouldn’t let me go to a friend’s house. That too a guy’s house. That too in a pandemic.

So I didn’t even bother asking.

But my heart kept itching to go after I looked at all of my friend’s group chat messages.

I decided to shoot my shot.

And… I got lucky. Like really lucky.

Not only my parents allowed me to go, but they even cooperated to pick up my friend who was otherwise cancelling her plan because of commutation issues (shoutout to Papa for that 🙌).

I am so glad I went there because my friend’s reaction was easily the best thing for me this year (and remember this blog was started this year too).

You know what could’ve happened with me if I didn’t trust my instincts to ask my parents?

I would be found sulking on my couch on his birthday, secretly crying my eyes out and thinking about all the fun I was missing out. If I hadn’t gone, I would not even know in reality what I was missing out on.

Somewhat the exact opposite situation happened to one of my other best friends. She just ‘assumed’ that she’ll get the permission to go from her parents, like every other time. So she started preparing and in fact, she was the one to plan everything down to the t. But the consequences were quite luckless for her, unlike me.

Moral of the story

My dad has coined the full meaning of the word ASSUME. Assume means a$$ of ‘u’(you) and me, as he likes to call it. So if you’re gonna assume stuff, you’re just gonna make an a$$ of yourself and the other person.

Tell me about the time you got a good scolding or fell flat on you face because you just assumed something.

(Also Garima, if you’re reading this I’m sorry for the mention of the birthday. Believe me there are great things in store for you)

Life is a Roller Coaster

Oct 11, 2020 | 13 comments

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Life is like a roller coaster. You must have heard it. People say that life is a roller coaster because it has it’s ups and downs and spins and its own twists.

Well I’m saying pretty much the same thing. Except that there’s an extension to this.

Imagine this –

You are in an adventure park. You are just finishing up on your snacks and deciding upon which roller coaster to ride next. Your eyes move from your left to your right and to your left scanning the area. And you land up on a not-too-big-not-too-small sized red roller coaster behind a themed restaurant with a fair amount of twists and turns, nothing too extreme.

You head towards it because there’s no reason to delay it.

Since you are not visiting the park during the peak season, you don’t have to wait in any lines and can even do some rides multiple times (that’s super lucky).

So you jump in the roller coaster seat and sit with your roller coaster buddy. The ride technician puts down the over-the-shoulder restraint and you hear it click, which means you’re ready to go. Woohoo!

The technician counts down from three to one and your seat starts moving.

The cart begins moving slowly towards your left.

You shut your eyes and expect it to pick up speed.

But for some reason it doesn’t. You wait for a few more seconds with your eyes closed thinking that maybe you expected it to pick up speed too fast.

But it still doesn’t.

Within a fraction of seconds, you think about opening your eyes to see what’s wrong, not wanting to witness a technical difficulty.

When you do open your eyes there is one good news and one bad news awaiting you.

The good news – there’s no technical difficulty.

The bad news – there’s a 21 meter absolutely vertical hill waiting for you. That is as nearly long as a fricking cricket pitch. And it is ABSOLUTELY UPRIGHT. You just didn’t see it because of the damned restaurant in front of it.

What do you do now?! There’s absolutely no way that you can stop this roller coaster at this moment. You can’t just jump off it either, because if you do and not die somehow, your mom will kill you for doing this. So either way, you’re dead.

The only you can do is sit there quietly making noise and enjoying the heck out of it. You can see the entire amusement park from the top of the vertical hill and it feels absolutely uh-mazing.

You actually do that and enjoy the roller coaster so much that you are up for redos reredos of the ride.

What you just imagined was an actual roller coaster experience from my perspective from when I was in a theme park in Dubai. I was there almost the same day as today last year. (Don’t mind me, I’m just a little nostalgic here from my trip)

As much fun it was, I also realised another reason for calling life a roller coaster while sitting in it and going towards the vertical cricket pitch.

Sometimes when you come on the ride of life, you get things you didn’t agree to or didn’t even know about (I definitely did not know there was going to be a 21 meter high vertical slope). Instead you get something different altogether. Sometimes you get thrown in situations without even wanting to. In such cases, all you can do is hold tight and enjoy the roller coaster (of course, unless you can get it stopped. Jumping is not really safe). You might even wanna ride it again.

Huh! Never thought I’d learn such deep things while sitting in a roller coaster.

Also here’s a visualisation of the experience I just narrated. Give it a read again and watch this video to know yourself how steep and high the slope was.

A Request

Tomorrow it will be exactly 6 months since I published my first blog post, “The Reason Why Chocobar is Underrated”. I’d like to know how much I’ve grown from there and I need your help to know that. If you’ve read this post or any other one or liked anything about my blog, drop an “I” in the comments below to let me know. That way I’ll know where and how far this blog is reaching. It would mean the world to me. Thank you for your love and support 😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️