PENDOWN

Experiential travel stories from India and 31 other countries!

Lets do a Scrapbook on Happy Life!

I am used to getting lovely books delivered to my house almost very week (book-lover is me) and as I unpack the courier packets my heart never misses to do a happy dance. Since childhood the sight of new books always filled me with joy and happiness. My Mum tells me that I wouldn’t eat until I had turned all the pages of my new books. I am reminded of it all because when the ‘My Long and Happy Life Scrapbook’ and the ‘Money Book’ from Exide Insurance arrived yesterday, I just couldn’t control the child in me. Almost instantly I sat down to work on the empty pages of the scrapbook. Like a restless one, I turned all its colorful pages to assuage my curiousity. I wanted to cut, stick and play right away. The Money book looked cute too but I decided to organize the financial numbers with my husband later.

The two colorful books that made me a curious child !

The book reminded me of my many autograph books and scrapbooks which were filled with lovely messages of my friends and pictures of my favorite bollywood star. I also owned a personal diary with a lock and key but nothing as cute as this one. Initially it felt difficult to write about oneself but soon it was so much fun creating my dreamspace, defining the creativity in me, listing down my travel wishlist, writing about the people who make a world of a difference in my life, etc. While adorning the book from pictures and moments, I let the thoughts from the nostalgic past and the dreamy tomorrow take over me. Until one pens it down, one never realizes the worth of doing it. I felt at peace with myself. More, a step closer to my goals. I wanted my husband to participate in it too, thus I sent him the below video right away and asked him to come prepared in the evening. He returned the gesture with a cute smiley.

The scrapbook is a thoughtful way of reiterating that life is a cocktail of lovely moments, valuable lessons and sweet-sour experiences. Happiness is the icing on the cake. Everything that we do revolves around our goal to make our life better each day. Our family, friends, job, passion, lifestyle, dreams keep us going. We keep growing along with our urge to acquire more and more but amidst all the chaos and fun in life, the uncertainty always lurks.  While the past is gone, no one knows what the next moment has in store for us. The best way of living life is believing that ‘Kal Khoobsurat hai’. (Tomorrow is beautiful)

In fact my Dad always says that ‘Setting goals and milestones for oneself is the best thing that we can do for our present and for a long and Happy life. There is no better way to remain focused and tamed all the time’

Ask me now and I would say I am very passionate about my three wishes – writing a book, traveling to maximum countries with my husband/family and taking my blog to a new level. Maybe two years later, I would have different goals. Thus its important to write them down. Remember, its human tendency to forget. Thus making notes or listing down ‘must dos’ has always been a successful mantra. This scrapbook is about keeping our thoughts and dreams safe and secure.

Financial Securities, savings, investments for future are equally important if we talk of well planned life for a beautiful tomorrow. Here comes the role of a Money book. Even though husband and wife live together, I am friends with many couples who are not aware of their partner’s investments. There are many who do not even have any. Its important to sit down to fill the book because it is only then you realize that there is much to be done yet. Maintaining the financial details comes very helpful at the time of filing yearly returns and also when one of the partners is away.

I made my Husband fill the Money Book and together we jotted down our bank details and investments

If you love doing scrapbooks, I am sure you will love this – ‘My long and Happy Life Scrapbook’.  As far as the ‘Money book’ is concerned I would say even if you don’t have inclination towards investments, you must own it. It will act as a reminder to you and your partner to make some savings for a happy future.

#MyLongHappyLife

One thought on “Lets do a Scrapbook on Happy Life!

  1. Hi Manjulika,
    Thank you for writing this masterpiece on “Happy Life”. I have read your blog posts and I must admit that I have always found them really useful and insightful. Along with loads of useful information, I also like your style of writing! Thanks!

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