Author: Deepti Sawhney

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What’s in a Name?

“What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” said the great playwright William Shakespeare. Dear friends, in the next couple of minutes I am going to prove Mr. Shakespeare wrong and make you believe that – at the end it’s all in a name. Let me start with a story. Story of a name. Way back in the year 2006, a dear friend from a small town Meerut went down South to Chennai for a training program. On the first day of her program as she walked towards training room 106, her thoughts wavered from the hot humid weather of Chennai to spending the next 2 mo

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Becoming Me

Picture this. 1978, Punjab – the land of the five rivers, of bhangra, of upbeat folk songs and dhol, of the very brusque language called Gurmukhi, and the beautiful city of Amritsar. Well, dear toastmasters that city is my birth place – a city that gave me life.  But the city that gave me a name, my identity, and a chance to realize my 3 little weary epiphanies (out of the many) is saadidil walon ki dilli (our prodigal city - Delhi).  When the baby me was to be given a name, it was a plain ea

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How best to pray?

This question has been bothering me for days, weeks, and yes ~ a couple of months now! A plethora of information on the internet only confuses me further. So I decided to go back to basics. Well, Q1) What is a prayer?  Here’s what I could relate to best - a prayer is a solemn request for help or an expression of thanks addressed to God. Correct, we pray for passing marks, to get over an illness, and immediately after a wedding to thank for the start of a new life! Q2) Why prayer is important? Hmm.. so I was looking for that one reason why should I pray. To m

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How best to start a day?

Well, definitely not by checking your WhatsApp messages or emails configured on the phone. They will only initiate worry or a sense of urgency. Open your eyes to look straight into your palms. They not only contain your destiny but bring prosperity, wisdom, and happiness into your lives. You won’t trust me when I say so but you will if I tell you that according to the Hindu religion, the three sections of your palm signify a God/Goddess each. And when you look at your palms you seek blessings for a beautiful day from them. The sections of your palm and the Gods they signify are

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How to make paranthas fun for your little ones?

A regular parantha can be pretty boring - square, circle or okay, some may make it triangular too! But the regular geometric shapes aren’t attractive after a point in time! So here’s what I suggest you do ~ roll out the regular parantha and then pick up that darn sharp knife and chisel your way through. Make interesting shapes like a smiley with oval shapes eyes and big deep smile, a fish with fins, a house with a chimney, a doll with a dress, a robot, trees, birds, aeroplanes, cars, and what not! Let your imagination go wild and your kids go crazy! Keep them guessing! P.S. - p