Tag Archives: Books

Day 180

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Guys are overrated – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 11: 11 PM on day 180 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – vegetable curry for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – @Pitbull1970 (Al) made a $6 – thanks Al 🙂 – start reading book Sea of Miracles by Amy Oscar (@AmyOscar on Twitter) – I haven’t read much of it but I could really relate to the parts I did read 🙂 – watch the Cricket World Cup match: South Africa vs. India – it was a close match but congratulations to The Proteas – our national cricket team – who beat India in India – it was the funniest thing my mother, my father and my brother were supporting India while I was supporting South Africa LOL 🙂 – feed myself Batura – deep fried bread – for dinner and watch Aquamarine – a coming-of-age movie about a mermaid – I had watched it about a hundred times before but my sister insisted that we watch it again and I didn’t have the heart to say no – I’m a total pushover when it comes to family 🙂

As you may or may not know I do not date because in my culture dating is prohibited until such a time that you are ready to settle down and have a family and although it used to bother me when I was younger looking back on it now I realize that not being able to date has forced me to love myself from the inside out so I guess that’s one thing my parents did right – thanks mom and dad. Do you seek love from the opposite sex because you don’t love yourself?

Day 165

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Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. – Garth Brooks

It’s 11: 00 PM on day 165 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, edit the questionnaire I’m using for my book and send it to my friend in Scotland  for her to fill out (if you have no idea what talking about refer to Day 153)  feed myself a chicken hotdog for breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck today – listened to music, go to physiotherapy – I am SO proud of myself I managed to bend on one knee – my physiotherapist had been trying to get me to do that for the past THREE sessions –    feed myself rice and curry for dinner, finish reading Holly by Jude Deveraux – I don’t think I’ll read it again reading the same book four times now that would be obsessive LOL 🙂 – and watch TV – I watched The Hills for the first time – it’s the first really show that I’ve seen with ambitious people who had dreams and goals of their own suffice to say it was very refreshing 🙂  

Today as I sat in front of my laptop eating my breakfast in complete silence I finally saw myself from the outside looking in and finally understood why people’s jaws drop whenever they learned of my endeavours and I thought I’m not all that bad… you (God) deserve a standing ovation for what you’ve done with my life and in that moment I realized that had I not been disabled my story would not have been  as impactful as it is today I mean think about it disabled girl tries to change the world sound like a plot straight of a Hollywood movie only it’s not it’s real a fact for which I am very grateful. Do you have enough faith to know that everything works for the best even when God says no to one of your prayers? 🙂

Day 163

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Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. – Aldous Huxley

It’s 10: 54 PM on day 163 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a  chicken hotdog for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – two donations were made today – the first one was a $25 donation from @morsemusings (Dawn) and the second one was a $10.77 donation from @uncledorothy (Vanessa)    – thank you  guys you’re support means a LOT to me 🙂 –feed myself rice and curry for lunch,  join a few Cerebral Palsy groups on Facebook,  exercise for 5 minutes, feed myself  Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and chicken curry for dinner,  continue reading Holly by Jude Deveraux   and watch The Oprah Winfrey Show – the show was about Ingrid Betancourt’s new book Even Silence Has An End in which she told of what it was like being held hostage for over 6  years in the Colombian jungle and as I listened to her speak I realized that the only thing people can never take away from you is your freedom of choice 🙂

You may remember that a few days ago I wrote a post in which I said you use your life to help others and you will forever be happy as a human being well today I did exactly that I was online spreading the word about this blog and my campaign when I stumbled onto this post on a website called Daily Strength I just can’t help but think… why me? Why did this happen? People say I was made this way for a reason but after all these years I still haven’t figured it out. Someone told me that God has great things planned for me… but all this pain and hardship is not exactly a great thing…I’m waiting, hoping for the great things to come. Why was I made this way and not my siblings? How can I do anything “great” the way I am… isn’t that what normal people are for? to do great things? What was I meant to do that is so great? Does anyone feel the same way? What helps you get through it when you feel like this? after I read that something came over me I signed up for an account and wrote her a reply saying I know exactly how you feel I even wrote about it > http://wp.me/pZonG-J  not as a means of self-promotion but rather to show her that she could be great in spite of Cerebral Palsy. Do you use your experiences to help others or waste oxygen feeling sorry for yourself? 🙂

Day 146

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There comes a time in everybody’s life where you have to decide that people are going to treat you with dignity and respect or not at all – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 9: 38 PM on day 146 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to continue reading The Last True Cowboy by Kathleen Eagle,   brush my teeth, feed bun and baked beans for breakfast, played host to our family members who came for the prayer in memory of my grandfather – it is annually event that takes place usually of the anniversary of my grandfather’s death but this year we postponed it for two days because everybody’s had prior commitments on the actual day – we are Jacobites [pronounced yacobites] – one of three denominations of Christianity in Kerala – our place of origin – and as such we believe that it is necessary for us to pray for the souls of the deceased in order for them to be accepted through the gates of Heaven –  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – somebody – you know you are –  promised to make a donation   – I am SO happy 🙂 –  feed myself rice and curry  for dinner and exercise for 10 minutes.

Today I was lying on the bed minding my own business when my mother waltzes in and announces that we – all five of us – might be going to India in June or December and in that moment I suddenly had a flashback to a few months ago when I BEGGED my  father with tears eyes to take me to my cousin’s wedding in India and when I finally snapped out of it I realized that my father was my father so long as he didn’t have to be seen with me and I knew I deserved more than that so I decided to sever my relationship with him before it eroded my whole heart. Do you put up with disrespect from those you love because you want them to be a part of your life? 🙂     

Day 145

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Every birthday, you decide whether to mark it the end of your greatest days or the beginning of your finest hour. – Oprah Winfrey

It’s 11: 30 PM on day 145 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to watch Inception on DVD – it was MIND-BLOWING – there was so many layers to the story I would recommend it to anyone who likes a movie that makes them think because it was written in such a way that you – the audience –  felt compelled to connect the dots –   brush my teeth, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and  beef curry for breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck today   – feed myself bun and baked beans  for dinner, exercise for 10 minutes and continue reading The Last True Cowboy by Kathleen Eagle – I couldn’t finish reading it last year because my sister had to return it to the library when her school term ended but on the plus side I’m only a hundred or so pages from finishing it 🙂

As you may or may not I’m turning 20 on March 25th and although I don’t usually make a huge fuss about turning a year older this year I wanted to do something truly global to commemorate the occasion so with that in mind I asked my Twitter and Facebook friends to do something nice for someone else in the next 48 days leading up to my birthday and it is my greatest hope that you will do the same. Do you embrace your birthday or resist it? 🙂

Day 84

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If what you’re doing isn’t working then do something different – Dr. Phil C. McGraw

It’s 10: 43 PM on day84 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  a bag of chips  for  breakfast, learn about Exact Equations – I am so happy I’m almost done with Calculus 🙂 – watch the movies Legendary and Prince and Me 4 – I whole-heartedly recommend Legendry it’s all about showing up for life –    feed myself banana  for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no new donations – I just want to SCREAM 🙁 – drink tea by myself, feed myself  Pizza for supper –attempted to change into a clean t-shirt – I got my head out but didn’t have much luck with doing the same with my arms  but hey tomorrow is another day 🙂 –     and exercise for 10 minutes – a big shoutout to my sixteen-year-old sister – Neethu – for helping me out with my exercises today – I know that I get most of mommy’s attention because of my disability but please know that you are NOT invisible – I SEE you 🙂

A good leader must be able to adapt to the current situation – change what’s not working and continue with what is – I learned that yesterday when I was reading Conversations with Myself – a book by Nelson Mandela – and with that said I have decided to change tactic slightly with regards to how I get donations for my campaign – I am looking for a sponsor who will donate $10 each time someone tweets for example, Wal-Mart Water Challenge to Wal-Mart. If you’re interested in sponsoring my water challenge then leave a comment with your contact information or email me at nishavarghese_1991@hotmail.com and I will get back to you ASAP 🙂        

Day 82

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“Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” – Charles Scribner, Jr.

It’s 7: 43PM on day82 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself   Whole-Grain Bread and Baked for  breakfast,      continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –I knew of my country’s history through history books of course but never have I felt the history as I did when I was reading the book – can’t wait to read more tomorrow 🙂 – tweeted with my right-hand to improve my mother skills – it was so frustrating I typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace and so on it went for the next 15 minutes until my right-arm started to hurt – exercise for 30 minutes – I was watching my favourite TV show  – Chuck – so I didn’t feel a thing 🙂 –    and     feed myself rice and curry for supper

Before I started reading Conversations with Myself I like many of you had put Nelson Mandela on a pedestal – I was – still am – awestruck by his mere presence on Earth – but reading the first few chapters of the book I realize that Nelson Mandela is just an ordinary man who did something EXTRAORDINARY which suffice to say puts a lot of pressure on me because I too am ordinary. Have you ever wondered what kind of world we would be living in if everybody possessed the same sense of duty that Nelson Mandela has? 🙂

Day 81

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions – Proverb.

It’s 7: 28 PM on day81 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Upma – a south Indian dish made of rava – and beef curry for  breakfast,   fix my Facebook button – if you want to get to know the real me add me on Facebook – I am an open book open for all the world to read 🙂 – spend THREE  hours tweeting about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I am so frustrated it’s like all of us are waiting for someone to come and fix all the problems of the world only we don’t realize that each one of us is that somebody –      feed myself  Custard  for lunch – not the most nutritious of lunches but it was yummy nonetheless 🙂 –   continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –just in the first 10-15 pages I began to realize how much respect Mandela had for the leaders who came before him and that is something that I believe is sorely lacking in today’s politics and the world at large – feed myself rice and curry for supper and exercise for 15 minutes – today’s session was just right – nor too painful and  not too pleasurable kinda like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears LOL 🙂  

 Today as we were having supper I saw my brother – who is my 10kg’s overweight – reaching for a fizzy drink inside the fridge and I said don’t drink that have you see your stomach – I know, I know I am a horrible person – what I really meant to say was I love you want you to be healthy and in retrospect I probably should have suggested an alternative to the fizzy drink – I feel like the scum-of-the-Earth right now 🙁 Have you ever said something that came out all wrong?

Day 76

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Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true – Napoleon Hill.

It’s 8: 32 PM on day 76 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread –    and Chicken Curry  for breakfast,    spend time with my cousins – I was a bit sad that this was the last time that  my cousin – the youngest of the two –  would come shopping with us as a single woman but as the saying goes if you love them you’ll set them free 🙂 –     feed myself KFC  Sprinkle Pops – tiny ball-shaped chicken nuggets with different flavours on it – for lunch, wheel myself  out of the dining room and into the sitting room where I wheeled myself to the centre of the room and touch the coffee table – it won’t be long until I am able to wheel myself everywhere  I  just KNOW it 🙂     and exercise for 10 minutes – it was my sister’s turn to help me exercise today and she nearly broke my legs LOL 🙂     

A few weeks ago I was reading an article about Nelson Mandela’s new book Conversions with Myself and I thought to myself I want this book and today my cousins bought it for me as a Christmas present – they took us to the mall and asked us to pick out anything we wanted and Nelson Mandela’s book was the first book I saw in the book store so I took it and it was only when I got home that I remembered that I wanted to buy that book all along.  Have you ever transformed your thoughts into physical reality? 🙂