Khatarnak Mitros, Great Experience, lots of learning, Thank you !!

Life does take you to some turning points somewhere sometime, and provide you an opportunity to accept it or pass it by. A few months back, on 26^th November last year, I met one person who gave me ride from San Diego to Los Angeles as we both were traveling to India and had flight almost at a same time in the evening. Airlines were different though (wish we could have traveled on the same flight), We had brief chat on the way to Los Angeles and that was it. Those few hours we almost get to know each other I found him a real source of inspiration in many ways. We departed from LAX. That was our first meet.

We came back to San Diego after our vacation time, He also came back almost similar time frame. We were chatting over the phone and were in touch with. Couple months passed and there was one more opportunity in front of me. He was looking for people who can participate in his drama that he was preparing for “Mahavir Janm Kalyanak” celebration at Jain Society of San Diego. One day I received an email to check if I would like to participate. Immediately, I replied, YES! didn’t want to lose the opportunity to work with such an inspiring person. We started meeting more frequently for drama practice and discussion. I got to know many new people who were participating in the same drama. What an amazing team we have. Each and every person are so enthusiastic and with full of positivity that I never saw in past. He thought us “Respect Time”, “The time you lose, never comes again”, “If you cannot respect time, you can’t respect anything” What a powerful and inspiring statements. Looking at his enthusiasm, we all agreed that he holds more than double energy than we all participants. He is a wonderful personality, such a down to earth person, and a lifetime friend.  His name is Mr. King Uncle. My son Aarav has a story, why a very first time he called him a “King Uncle”) He actually deserves this title.

He invited everyone to his house,  and read the drama story and explained to us what he is looking for and about the plan. We started practicing as per plan, the first step was recording, we had to record each and every characters’ dialogues. Then we had to practice with lip sync with emotion and expression, nobody was a professional artist but King Uncle made us all performed like a professional.

One of my colleague  Shvetank shared his feeling about our experience on Drama which exactly expresses everyone's feeling and I would like to share here with his permission :)

From the very first conversation about the drama, story or skit to the final moments of the performance, there have been many moments that have made us a family. We had our sine-wave moments, we mostly saw far more upside than any downside, if there was any.A family always have one path maker and we are fortunate to have King Uncle as our path maker along with Queen Aunty, guiding us, supporting us, teaching us, going along with us, laughing with us and above all, lifting all of us up. We will always be their students and we feel proud and fortunate in saying that. This show is dedicated to and belongs to the backstage performers, whom crowd didn't see doing what they did. To begin with, someone had a VISION from the story, someone THOUGHT of making a drama visualizing and CRAFTING characters, someone took the TIMEOUT from the daily routine spent TIRELESS hours in reaching out to each and every one, finding alternatives, CONVINCING on what-if scenarios, and making us BELIEVE that we can do it. Someone lost their sleep and spent nights and STOLE every moment from the work-day that they could to keep the momentum up and doing what was needed to be done. Someone spent and drove many places to find the right PROPS for each character. Someone WROTE each line of the dialogs on the blank paper, knowing nothing what word was going to come next. Someone had piles of rewritten papers before anything presentable came along. Someone spent hours with each character in making sure the dialogs were accurate and suited each character. Someone corrected, someone memorized, someone learned to deliver, someone brought emotions from the very first dialog, someone came along and put all the pieces together and artistically converted raw sand into a sculpture. Someone happily accepted the role that was given, Someone came to all practices just for one dialog, Someone helped behind closed curtain or AV systems, showing no pictures, no videos, no wows (what a selfless act!), Someone Crafted, Painted, Decorated (...again no direct-wows from the crowd, what a selfless act!), Someone made "What?-Really?-Is-This-possible?" to real life Elephant and Samosharana "Refuge to All". Someone showered the Petals showing another dimension was possible. Someone joined us with their unique expertise and no relation to our religion or show and yet didn't hesitate to help. Just imagine the hours from thoughts-to-real life props, This is YOU, This is you Someone, who made it all possible.

The expectation was high from all of us because This was not the first drama that he directed, He had a long successful history of making wonderful plays and he has been making these types of play from last more than around 20 years. He has a proven history of raising bars every year by giving best out of best plays with a nice and inspiring message. This play was on Lord Rishabhdev, his son Bharat Raja, his mother Marudevi Mata, and his younger brother Bahubali Raja. The drama was on how they achieved “Keval Gyan” and what are our main enemies which are not letting us go on the right path for the liberation of our immortal soul. The name of the play was “Khataranak Shatru” (Dangerous Enemies). The play was compiled so nicely that each and every word had a deep meaning.

We all were so tensed just before our play and we were not sure whether we are going to deliver right and met audience and his expectation. There was a huge expectation from this play. Everyone was hungry, tired and ready to call it a day. In spite, pin drop silence throughout the play...and everyone listening to every dialog and every scene, It was amazingly performed a play together by every one of us. We received lots of compliments and have been still receiving it… What a great teamwork and success, Guys! I am really blessed and fortunate to be part of this team.

ભુલી જવાના છે બધા લાખો કીતાબો સામટી..

અમે નથી ભુલવા ના કાઇ આપેલી શીખામણો આપની... 

You, the someone, who is a visionary, thinker, creator, dreamer, maker, laborious worker, teacher, helper, leader, speaker, artist, performer, dancer, and a lifetime friend. If you heard "wows!" yesterday, those all belong to you and your hard work. This was indeed a great opportunity given to us and what a lifetime memory it has become! Very fortunate to be a part of it.

Thanks and Love to all, "Khatarnak Mitros" :)

LisAnk-Aarav

Happy Mahavir Jayanti !

Happy Mahavir Jayanti Everyone.

Let's all know a little bit about Mahavir Jayanti, why it is one of the most important religious festival for Jains and how they celebrate this auspicious day?

As per the Hindi calendar, Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated every year on 13th day of the month of Chaitra, however, as per the English calendar, it is celebrated in the month of March or April (date and month varies every year)! This year the day is 29^th March 2018!  Mahavir Jayanti is also called as “Mahavir Janma Kalyanak” most important religious festival for Jains.  

According to Jain texts, Mahaveer was born on the thirteenth day of the bright half of the moon in the month of Chaitra in the year 599 BCE (Chaitra Sud 13). Mahaveer was born in a democratic kingdom (Ganarajya), Vajji, where the king was chosen by votes. Vaishali was its capital. Lord Vardhaman’s (Mahavir’s) expecting mother had 14 dreams. When astrologers interpreted these dreams, they predicted that the child would become either an emperor or Tirthankar, a person who achieves spiritual enlightenment. The prophecies of the astrologers came true and later he became the 24th Tirthankar.

Lord Mahavir was believed to be a proponent of non-violence, and preached love and respect of all kinds of living beings, from the tiniest micro-organisms to the largest multi-celled creatures. These values then translated into a religion that he found – Jainism

Celebrations on one of the most auspicious day for Jains vary between communities across the world. Usually, an idol of the founder of Jainism, Lord Mahavira, is carried on a chariot which is then taken on a procession popularly known as a Rath Yatra. The devotees chant a variety of religious rhymes or Bhajans in praise of Lord Mahavir and his contributions. The idol is then given a ceremonial bath or an Abhisheka. Since the day is considered to be special, people who belong to the community indulge in a number of charitable work in an attempt to give back to the society and do good. They also get together and visit temples that are dedicated to Lord Mahavir and conduct prayer meets. Monks or priests of the community also hold lectures so as to preach the path of virtue that defines Jainism. Many Sanghs across the world celebrates by playing dramas, performing stavans, giving lectures to the community from Lord Mahavir’s story to pass the Bhagavan Mahavir’s path which defined Jainism!

On this day, Let's understand few simple things Lord Mahavir has given us, An understanding of these things could be a life-changing experience and will definitely help us uplift our life with a true understanding of Soul. 

1. The most important principle of an environment is that you are not the only element
2. Live and allow others to live; hurt no one.
3. Anger begets more anger and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love
4. The soul is the central place of spiritual discipline.

One of the important thing that I learned recently after reading lots of material on Lord Mahavir's Karma theory is “How to get rid of Karma?”.

જીવન મા જે ઘટના બને, એનો પ઼તિભાવ મન મા ઉઠે, ત્યારે  એને  વય્કત કરતા પહેલા, એનુ નિરીક્સણ  કરી લેવુ તો આ સમજણ કમઁ નીરઁજળા માટે મદદરુપ થાય છે… !!

Before reacting to any incident in your life, if you first understand why it happen.. that would help get rid of Karma.. !!

Let's Pray for Peace and Harmony for all the humankind on this auspicious day Let your Spirit fill with Ahimsa and Truth

Happy Mahavir Jayanti !

Love,

LisAnk-Aarav

Pain is inevitable while suffering is optional !

There is no suffering if you can simply let go the Pain. Pain becomes immaterial in the absence of suffering!

Just learned this yesterday from my spiritual friends, “PriAm”. The knowledge and the positivity they have within is fabulous; they are a source of inspiration in many ways, you guys are awesome!! Learning many inspiration things from you both! Thank you for pumping this positivity and encouraging us to do more and more Purusharth to achieve our final “Goal”!!  I could not hold my thoughts from our last session and couldn’t stop myself writing this, “Pain is inevitable while suffering is optional”. What a profound statement!

To understand this, let me give you a very simple example from our regular life. Say, you’re running and suddenly you hit something on your way and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘HURT’ part is an unavoidable reality here, but the optional part is the ‘feeling’ of suffering. What we choose to feel from inside is in our control - whether we feel miserable & keep blaming (god, karma or the Nimit) or we accept it gracefully & move on!

The best example we could take to understand is from the story of Lord Mahavir (also known as Vardhamāna, the 24^th Tirthankara of Jainism)

While he was meditating in a forest, a cow herder came there with his cows. He wanted someone to look after the cows so he can go somewhere to finish something else he wanted to do. The cow herder asked Lord Mahavir to look after his cows for a few hours. Lord Mahavir was in deep meditation and did not reply to the cow herder. However, the cow herder went away thinking that Lord Mahavir had heard him.

In a few hours, the cow herder returned and found that his cows were missing. He asked Lord Mahavir, "Where are my cows? What did you do with them?" Lord Mahavir was still in meditation and did not reply. The cow herder got very angry at Lord Mahavir and he picked long nail like thorns and pierced the ears of Lord Mahavir deeply by hammering the thorns in. Even such excruciating agony did not move Mahavir from his meditation. Even bhagwan Mahavir calmly meditating while the pegs were removed. He was so deep into his meditation that he just let the pain go which was inevitable, this helped him to separate himself from a body and concentrate on the liberation of his immortal soul.

Pain could be in any form physical, mental etc.. The “Karma Theory” in Jainism tells that Pain is always inevitable and is not optional, one has to go through it. The thing one can control is the suffering! We should use our mind and the power of our soul with full of positivity such that we could let the pain go and control suffering for any situation!

Love,

LisAnk-Aarav

The joy of today, Hopes of tomorrow, memories of yesterday, Happy Anniversary 💕

I was standing in the greeting card section of the grocery store a couple of days ago, I just couldn't find a card that could adequately express the love that I feel for you Lisa. After a 7 years of marriage, I just can't believe how happy I am!

From last couple days I have been thinking that how often I express my appreciation to you for all such things that you have been doing for me. Today, I could not stop writing myself. “Thank You” for your all support and being with me during my bad and good time. I would like to express thanks for all your support and care that you have been doing for myself and family from last 7 years!

1st March, 2011 was the day when the new chapter of our life started, since then we have been writing lines by lines and paragraphs by paragraphs. Each page of these chapter has memorable moments and it gives us happiness whenever I go back and open any page of this chapter and read any paragraph. Each and every paragraph has one or more reasons to make us happyJ I would like thank for writing such a wonderful memory on one of the best chapter in my life, I wish we keep filling up the contents for coming years and years!

Last year we had few challenging situation in front of us that we together took care of very well and we learnt many inspiration things !! Major one was your surgery and your recovery, I was really tensed before your surgery but I must admit that you have very strong willpower and I should learn to improve mine! As someone says, a good time is always waiting for us, we just need to pass some hurdle to get there. Thank you for helping us pass those hurdles and get all of us there to have a fantastic life!

It's been an incredible ride and looking forward to what the next many many years have in store for us. Thanks to all family and friends for supporting and celebrating with us all these years.

Love,

💕 LisAnk-Aarav

Love you to the moon and back, Happy 4th Birthday, Aarav !!

Four!!!! Four years old! Where in the world has the past four years gone? It just seems like yesterday. I find myself wondering where the time has gone. It must have been just yesterday that I first gazed into those newborn eyes and held his warm little body close to my heart for the first time. We are feeling like we are in some sort of speed time zone where the years actually melt away every time you blink !! Lots of memories this last year, games we play together, song we sing together dance we do together, fighting we do together (pretty much every night) before we go bed, Your million dollar HUG when I came back from office, you won't let me enter into home and run and jump on me and welcome me with HUG. 

We can’t believe that you are 4-year-old now, honestly, don’t know where the time has gone. These years came and went too quickly! You have brought us a pure joy since that very first moment. Watching you grow, absorbing things around you, learning new things every day every moment,  You are no longer a baby, but a boy who is an impressive, passionate and loving person who God created and chose to be part of our family.  You are outgoing with mom-dad and also with friends J. You are confident, brave, strong, passionate, loving and funny too. You made us laugh many times with your sweet KATHIYAVADI Gujarati language. You have a great sense of memory. I have been watching you how you co-relate things from your memories no matter how old you saw and sensed in past. Many times you proved us wrong on something that we did not remember but you do. You are exactly who God wanted you to be, and I am so grateful that I get to watch you grow each and every day.

You LOVE your school MLC. Well, actually it took couple months. Initially, you didn’t want to go school but after couple months you started asking us why can’t I go to school on weekend J It makes us so happy that you love going to school and that you have a love for learning. You LOVED your teacher, all of your MLC school staff. You LOVE all your friends. Thank you, MLC staff for letting us visit a school and celebrate Aarav’s birthday with his classmates. It was really nice watching you do circle time with 4 (because of you turned 4 today) round of circle. We had a nice celebration with delicious cake. We had cake with your favorite Hot Wheels theme. Thank you once again to MLC (Montesorry Learning Center) staff and teachers. This will be an unforgettable memory in our life. We left you to school after a birthday celebration. We knew you were going to have blast today. In the noon we came to pick you up from School and teacher informed us that you had a nice day. Aarav, remember you had your first reading book from school today.

Your favorite toys are still cars and trains. Disney Cars, Hot Wheels, police cars, Matchbox Cars, PJ Mask Car, Thomas the Train, and any other random car or train you LOVE. I’ve always thought you would start liking something else, but you haven’t. You love to watch how the wheels turn, how mechanic repairs the car and how the trains connect. You get down eye level to watch how the wheels stay on the tracks or how the cars shoot through your Hot Wheels track. You always try to get me to buy you a car. We did not know that you have around 110+ toy car at home until we started collecting it for your 4^th birthday photography with cars. Interestingly you know and remember each of your cars.

I can do nothing to stop the time from passing, but I know that I can cherish every moment you are learning, growing, loving, caring, playing, exploring, and smiling. Every day we count our blessings and we are so blessed to have you in our lives. You truly are amazing and have shown us what it means to love unconditionally. Keep being awesome and bringing joy to everyone who is lucky enough to know you. Please keep filling our book of life with lots and lots of memories and happiness as you have been doing so all these 4 years.  Best wishes on your birthday. Keep smiling and be the reason for someone’s smile too!! Remember "A Smile you sent will always return"

Love ❤

LisAnk-Aarav 💕

હું વસ્તુ સૌથી મોંઘેરી ને જાજરમાન વહેંચું છું, ઓલ્યા ઇમાન વેચે છે ને હું મુસ્કાન વહેંચું છું.” - શાહબુદ્દીન રાઠોડ

Dear Readers, 

25th December 2017 was and will be the greatest day I can never forget in my life. I was fortunate enough to have spent some moments with very well known and highly reputed Gujarati Humorist, philosopher and performing comedian artist, Shree Sahabudding Rathod !!

@Aashiyana, Thangadh with Sree Sahabuddin Bhai

"શાહબુદ્દીન રાઠોડ" આઠ અક્ષરનું આ નામ સાંભળતા જ સૌના ચહેરા ઉપર હાસ્ય ફરી વળે કારણ સમગ્ર વિશ્વમાં ભાગ્યે જ કોઈ ગુજરાતી એવો હશે જે શાહબુદ્દીન રાઠોડ અને ‘વનેચંદના વરઘોડા’ થી અજાણ હશે. 

Shree Shahabuddin Rathod was born on 9 December 1937 at Thangadh (now in Surendranagar district, Gujarat, India). He was born and raised in a Gujarati. He was a teacher from 1958 to 1971 and a school principal from 1971 to 1996 at Municipal School of Thangadh, Gujarat.

જીત પર હસતો રહ્યો ને હાર પર હસતો રહ્યો... ફુલોની શૈયા ગણી અંગાર પર હસતો રહ્યો... એ મુસીબત એટલી જીંદાદીલી ને દાદ દે... તે ધરી તલવાર તો હું ધાર પર હસતો રહ્યો..... 

I have been listening to his recordings, videos of his programs at various places and read books written by him, I have learned and continue learning lots of inspiring things from his humor and philosophy on various topics of life with his simple and easily digestible examples. I always wanted to meet him since 2008 (time since I started following and listening to his speeches, programs, CDs, online videos, his books), We (few like-minded) tried meeting him in the year of 2009 and approached her to personally thank him but at that time Sahabudding Bhai was out of country and we could not meet him. Since then I had a wish to meet him one day! 25th Dec, 2017 was the day!

How I got an opportunity to meet him? My mother in law was a student of Mr. Sahabuddin bhai and was studying at Thangadh municipal school during the 70s, In our last India trip they found out that I am a big fan of Sahabuddin Bhai and have a wish to meet him. They immediately approached few people in Thangadh and helped us meet Sahabudding bhai. We found out that he is available to meet on 25th Dec, They told us to come around 4:00pm at his house as he wanted to leave to Rajkot to attend some social event. This was a dream come true, so I was so excited for this meeting. We all reached at "Aashiyana" @ sharp 4:00pm. He requested us to come to upstairs, we went there, he then requested us to take a sit. We introduced our self, he was happy to know we especially come there to thank him, and he said "હું વસ્તુ સૌથી મોંઘેરી ને જાજરમાન વહેંચું છું, ઓલ્યા ઇમાન વેચે છે ને હું મુસ્કાન વહેંચું છું"  I firstly thanked him for giving such a nice Gujarati literature and positive philosophy on many important topics of life with nice humor. He is very down to earth person discussed few important things on human life with a simple philosophy.

There are thousands of important points from his great literature but here are few important that inspires us a lot to think for self-realization:

• Troubles start only when people start comparing themselves to others!
• Irregular life is ugly life, we should live life with certainness!
• Humor is the shortest distance from human to God!
• You should write something which is worth reading or you should live your life which is worth writing about
• ગંભીરતા વગર નું હાસ્ય અને હાસ્ય વગર ની ગંભીરતા, બન્ને વ્યર્થ છે. (Laughter without seriousness and Seriousness without Laughter, is Waste)
• હું નથી જાણતો એટલું બોલવા પેહલા તો ઘણું જાણવું પડે
• Simplicity, More spoken, very less Implemented
• 
  

We tried to fetch some interesting treasure from his knowledge bank. Many people know him as a Gujarati humorist but his personalities has few other corners too. He himself is a good reader and a painting is his another hobby. He showed us some of the painting drawn by him, How beautiful it was. We also came to know that he visited 25 countries to spread Gujarati literature with his Gujarati humor. He pretty much visited all the country where Gujarati people live. Afterall, જ્યાં જ્યાં વસે એક ગુજરાતી; ત્યાં ત્યાં સદાકાળ ગુજરાત !!

Very few people would have an idea that Gujarati movie named "Shahabuddin Rathod no Hasya Varghodo" was released on 10th Dec 2010 was written by him. He has also played a small role in the movie. This is also a fact that approx 70 percent of the shooting is done in Thangadh, Devsar, Rupavadi etc.. nearby villages.

We requested his autograph for my memory and he gave us his photograph with an autograph and also gave me a priceless gift, a book written by him "Ame Mahefil Jamavi Che" !! We took a nice family picture with him.

@Aashiyana, Thangadh, Gujarat

શાહબુદ્દીન રાઠોડ વિશે એટલું જ કહેવુ છે કે ગુજરાતી ભાષા માં કોઇ હાસ્યકાર નથી થયુ જેમની હ્યુમર આટલી ઉંચી હોય. એમને મળવાનું જે સૌભાગ્ય મને પ્રાપ્ત થયુ છે તે માટે હું પોતાને ખુબ જ ખુશ નસીબ ગણું છું !

💕 LisAnk-Aarav,
Inspiration With Ankit

Happy 2018 !!

Happy New Year dear readers J

2018 has finally arrived like every new year. A new year always bring new challenges in many fields which will allow us to learn and grow even more!!

This time of the year is filled with moments of celebration, reflections, and resolutions- all of which are great for inspiration and making the necessary changes one has been thinking about in the past year.

It is also the time to assess the year that has passed. So what happened during 2017 and what to do for a new year?

Everybody expect life to have smooth way, nobody expects their life to have painful bumps like a 'ROLLER COASTER'! Things may go wrong in life, everything is up and down in life. Every year has new challenges and opportunities with lots of fun, learning !! Like every year this year was also an awesome year together, we had lots of fun and good learning experience… ! Most of them are really nice in terms of learning!! Let’s all step back for a few moments and think, list down all major good/bad events occurred to individual’s life. I must say… every event would teach you something to learn and accept few things.. whether it is good or bad. Good events teach you how to share, celebrate and enjoy quality time while bad events teaches you even more… like how to react, fight bad time, learn, accept and how to move forward with all set of new positivity. I strongly believe It’s a matter of how you look at it together.

With all these things in mind…. 2017 was more special for us in terms of many things…. Aarav… our Son turned 3 and is going to turn 4 this month, Our parents visited us and we visited a home country for short vacation, spent fantastic time together at Rajasthan, India and had lots of fun together! 

My dream came true, met a well known, highly reputed and my favorite Gujarati Humorists, philosopher and inspiration!!! Mr Shahbuddin Rathod at his house "Aashiyana, Thankgadh"🙏

🙏

We had many more events and celebration we expressed it with friends and family together and added few more pages to our memory book! 

Everyone has their own learning and experience from past year and new thinking, the expectation from new year! Like everyone we also learn many things nice way while some hard way….. but you learn in any case!

I wish new year would be 1000 time more better than past year for everyone! Stay tuned for a more exciting post this year !! May this year brings lots of happiness and energy to do more any more good things for family, friends, and society.

Wishing you all very happy healthy and wealthy new year !!

With Love,

LisAnk-Aarav💕

તું "એકલો" નહિ "એકડો" છે... હજારો મીંડા તારી રાહ જુવે છે... !!

Read this statement somewhere recently and could not stop my thought process relating to the life of (pretty much) everyone who have struggled to achieve one after another success and appended zeros to their life!! 

Meaning of this statement (તું  "એકલો"  નહિ "એકડો" છે...  હજારો મીંડા તારી રાહ જુવે છે.) is You are not alone, Single, you are the "ONE" who has thousands of zeros (opportunities) waiting ahead !!

I have been keep hearing many times from people around, that luck is the only factor which helps to achieve success and everyone are not blessed with that factor! Really? People who accept this would always try to prove this right by providing examples, debating and explaining. However, people who knew "Purusharth" is the main thing that ONE has to keep doing to achieve Success. There are always opportunities around us, It just that it can be only visible to the ONE who does "Purusharth". (Purushartha is a Sanskrit word that can be translated as the "object of human pursuit” or “goals of man.” The term is derived from the Sanskrit, purusha, meaning "person," and artha, meaning "purpose.") 

One should never feel alone, single because there are always thousands of zeros (opportunities) waiting ahead. We just need to do the Purusharth so that it can be visible to us and we can keep grabbing them and keep appending to our success stories!

Let's not feel alone instead feel the "ONE" who has thousand of opportunities (ZEROs) waiting ahead. 
તું  "એકલો"  નહિ "એકડો" છે...  હજારો મીંડા તારી રાહ જુવે છે... !!

Let's start grabbing those zeros and keep appending it to our stories. Let's all have this thought process in our regular life and keep inspiring each other. 

Inspiration With Ankit
💕LisAnk-Aarav

Priceless Happiness with “Chaakri – Seva” !!

Contribute for a good cause and earn priceless Punya karma (Good Deeds) !! 

Someone might have offered you a helping hand when you were down anytime in your life, volunteering gives you the opportunity to pay that favor forward. Contributing for a good cause gives you HAPPINESS that can’t be bought by any amount of money!!

I could not stop writing my recent experience volunteering for a great organization and supporting their very nice products called “Chaakri” Khakhara (Wheat Crisps), Chaakri signifies ‘seva’ and ‘service’ in the Hindi language. All the great products for Chaakri are made by underprivileged women from a rural part of India. “SaNiSa” (Shramik Naari Sangh), this organization thrives to integrate the talent of contemporary and less-privileged women to build an ‘inclusive’ society. “Privileged are those who support the less privileged” is their tagline, you can find more details on their website www.sanisa.org.www.sanisa.org This organization help creating employment for needy women through the skill identification, motivation, capacity building, and innovation. It helps to create lots of employment opportunities for underprivileged women in a rural part of India.

We had very nice and small booth of Chaakri Khakhara at Sri Mandir, San Diego Diwali Mela where couple to few thousand people visit every year on this event. We started couple hours before the event, set up a booth in about an hour time with the help of a fully energized team of volunteers. We had a free sample of Chaakari Khakhara for people to try, taste and feel the difference in quality. People who tasted this didn’t leave stall without having a packet in their hand! It was a great feeling and happiness, not just for volunteers but also for the buyers as they both knew that both are contributing something to a great cause and earning “Punya Karma”!! In just 5 hours of time spam, we sold 110kg khakhra, that proves the quality and interest. A great event ended with lots of happiness, positivity, energy to empower ourselves to help as much as by whatever way you can! 

With busy lives, it can be hard to find time to volunteer but I must say, time and effort you spend volunteering for a good cause gives you priceless happiness that you cannot get it from anywhere. Volunteering and helping others can help keep you mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose !!  What I feel best out of my recent volunteering experience is even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference to the lives of people, and organizations in need.  

I would like to thank Amee-Pritesh and "SaNiSawww.sanisa.org" organization for giving us an opportunity to volunteer and be a part of this big cause and to earn new Punya Karma (Good Deeds) “PunyanuBandhi Punya” !!

Thank You,

LisAnk-Aarav

Happy Diwali & Prosperous New Year!

Diwali is the biggest and the brightest festivals celebrated by families around the world. Deepavali (actual name of Diwali) means "a row of lights." This auspicious day is also known as the "festival of lights. There is a saying “A Happiness can be found from darkest of dark if one knows how to switch on the light”!

There is so much happening during this whole week, people start preparing for Diwali, shops (e-shops J) are full of sales and there is light all over. People celebrate Diwali with many other things like firecrackers, visiting friends and family places and having lots of sweets! Well, I miss those days celebrating Diwali with lots of firecrackers and lights on streets with friends. A lot of regulation here, but still we manage to celebrate with some of the crackers in our patio J One of these years, I am going to take a vacation to celebrate Diwali back hometown to renew my Diwali spirit. 

Diwali is one of the biggest and brightest festivals in India and we do celebrate it with full of enthusiasm and happiness. I would like to celebrate this Diwali by expressing thanks to all my friends, family members, near and dear ones! You all are awesome and I am lucky to have you all in my life. 

Diwali is the last day of Gujarati Year, Today, Vikram Samvat 2074 begins. So wishing you all a Happy New Gujarati Year. May this new year comes with lots of happiness in your life. Few messages on this new year… that I would wish we all can follow to start this new year wiht lots of positivity.

• Hashmuk Sweekar - Acceptance with a smile
• Life is too short to worry about stupid things, Have fun, regret nothing and don't let people bring you down.
• Value your family and care as much as you can
• Make your parents happy and be the reason for their happiness
• Spend quality time with your family and friends
• Stay focused and motivated in life.
• Spend more time with people whom you think motivates you.
• Help poor and needy people whatever way you can

May This Diwali be as bright as ever and brings joy, health, and wealth to you and your family. May this Diwali bring you the utmost in peace and prosperity. I wish you all a Happy Diwali and a prosperous new year!

Happy Diwali & Happy New Year!
💕LisAnk-Aarav

HASMUKH Sweekar - Acceptance with a smile :)

I could not stop writing on a very nice lesson, recently I learned from one of the learning spiritual session from most inspiring and motivational, friends Amee Vora and Pritesh Vora,
“HASMUKH Sweekar – Acceptance with a smile” :)

As we journey along each day of our lives…. Things, people, weather, circumstances everything changes. In our very much busy and so dynamic life, “HASMUKH Sweekar” is one of the best tool I learned and experience in my life.

What is HASMUKH Sweekar?

One of the most powerful tool to empower yourself with positivity within yourself. In a more simplified language. “An ability to accept things with a smile:)”

One can develop this ability to start with a “Bhav” (thought process) to get the inner strength to accept things whether it is good or bad, favorable or unfavorable!!  

Almost around 5-6 years ago, I wrote couple blog post with a tagline “Smile With Ankit” with different perspective and importance of smile which helped me pump the motivation to “move on”!

But here, I must say, we must put efforts hard to keep things alive. Efforts must be 100% but favorable or unfavorable need to be accepted with a smile J. Have some “Bhav” (Bhav is a thoughts/emotion process) for "Veeryabal" (inner strength) to accept things with a smile.

A company does not stop just because CEO dies or leaves…..

Carrier does not stop just because you failed in exams…..

Life does not stop just because you lose somewhere…..

Likewise, things do not stop just because you think “it should”

Accept with a smile, learn and move on with positivity. I am sure, these will pump more fuel to empower positivity within yourself.

Difficult situations comes along with the life but KEEP LEARNING…,

There will always be speed breaker in your journey but KEEP MOVING...,

Many difficulties you face along with the life but KEEP ROCKING…,

Keep smiling……. :) :) :)

Remember, “A smile you sent will always return”!! (One more blog post, written years back)

Have a Hasmukh life :)

❤ LisAnk-Aarav

Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्) !

Dear All,

On the last day of the Paryushana, the most important annual holy event of the Jain calendar, I seek forgiveness! I understand that there are many people who might be hurt as a result of my deeds without me knowing about it, I take this means to bow to the entire world and all the creatures and ask for forgiveness. If I have offended you in any way, knowingly or unknowingly, in thought, word or deed, I seek your forgiveness… Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्) !

Traditionally, it is said on the day of Samvatsari which is the last day of Paryushana, 8 days of the most important annual holy event of the Jain calendar. Seven days are days of attainment and the eighth day (Samvatsari day) is one of fulfillment or achievement. It is at this time that we embark on our respective annual pratikramana – a reflection on our spiritual journey for the past year. Old quarrels are forgotten and friendships and relationships renewed, as we fold our hands and ask for “मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्” or forgiveness. Michhami means to be fruitless (forgiven) and Dukkadam means bad deeds. Therefore the meaning of Michhami Dukkadam is my bad deeds (with you) be fruitless. So concept behind saying or writing someone “मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्” is that ‘if I have done any harm to you than those bad deeds to be forgiven (be fruitless)

Antha karan thi,
Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्) !
❤From : LisAnk-Aarav & Gopani Family.

Its Mumma Mania... Say Cheese !!

Today is not Valentine’s Day, not your birthday and even not our anniversary. Today is just another ordinary day when I am feeling thankful for having a wife as special as you. Thanks for making every day of our lives a grand celebration with our little champ.

It’s been a year I wrote a blog post on “It's Daddy Mania...Say Cheez” and today I could not stop wring the same post but this time it's “Mumma Mania”. In last one year, we have seen a tremendous amount of growth in you Aarav, you learned many many things. There are few things (like wearing a shoe, eating lunch, tying up the seat belt, etc… etc.) that you learned but never wanted to do on your own in presence of mom or dad ⌣. Actually, you know what… we never let you do on your own when we are around 😍. Your smile after helping you doing all these takes our all worry and we feel awesome by doing so! We know you have been doing all these when we are not around so its fine!! People might disagree with me but My opinion is somewhat different than others. Kids do learn few things on their own. As they grow they learn by observing things around. It’s a matter of time, some kids learn things quickly while others take little longer. You are on fastest way momma's little master!

Ohh these technologies…. Seeing you grow with all these technologies around makes us think how fast you all will grow with the help of instruments around. I was surprised when you recorded a small story in your voice on “Police car - walkie-talkie and sent it to me over WhatsUp (I know your learning source 😄)!! I couldn’t stop laughing when I heard that audio clip. The funny part of the story was when Mumma asked you, “who is going to use walkie-talkie with you?” and you immediately replied “Daddy” J.

There is going to be millions of opportunity and I am eager to see your interests. I know you are too young Aarav but still, my eyes are constantly watching your growth and we are reading your interests J. Well, We must admit that kids do change and seeing constant change and growth in them makes us feel so nice in many ways. 

There was a time when Aarav was completely Dady’s dude and Lisa was feeling good as she did not have to do many stuff J, (kidding, well, she keeps asking Aarav when will you be Mumma’s little master?). Aarav was always like, Daddy will put me in car seat, Daddy will hold me, I will go with daddy, Daddy will feed me, Daddy will hold me and not Mumma, etc.. etc.. All those little things which Lisa and I thought we would divide between us did not work the way we expected! But as I said, kids do change and A LOT. Their need, their interests, their expectation, their requirements, their food habits, their friends all changes… 

You keep predicting them and they keep proving you wrong !! J 

Now It’s not just Daddy, there is also a Mumma mania at home and I must say, its equal J.

Love You,

LisaAnk-Aarav 💕