MODI JI KI BETI SONG

Sunshine Japan

I have written this for all those who had been

 asking me about my experience visiting Japan.
Here is the compilation of my adventurous 

insightful visit. This blog will give you an overview
of Japanese culture, food, places, people and my 

perception why I find Japanese more 
successful.

Konnichiwa! Welcome to Japan. That's how I felt 

the warmth in frozen wind. 

I visited Japan in the month of March. It was 

autumn season while little upsetting since I 
could not see much of cherry trees. However 

there were stunning leaves and beautiful
others flowers. 

Mainly cherry trees bloom from Jan to April and 

it is worth seeing, country lit by cherry 
blossom. I am sure it will be an enchanting 

moment if you visit during the season.

The magnificent statue of Kusunoki Masashige

 was my first breath taking moment at Tokyo’s 
Imperial Palace. Kusunoki Masashige was a 

great samurai warrior who fought for Japan’s 
Emperor. This place is beautiful for long walks. 

I went to this place in a bus with my friends. 

However the best way to experience this place
is to travel in bullet train. 

Japan is a place, bursting with contemporary 

urban culture. There are many sides of Tokyo
to explore, from fascinating museums and 

world-class shopping; to neighborhood 
backstreets lined with restaurants and 

karaoke bars.

My next destination on day 2 was Shinamomachi.

 This land is beautifully created by my 
mentor Daisaku Ikeda. It is most famous town 

known for Soka Gakkai. You will find people 
practicing Buddhism here and few shops for 

Buddhist gifts.

My trip to Japan was a training ground which 

made me realize a need to really nurture our
own buddhahood. Being courageous and loyal 

all time.

It was a great learning point to seek the true spirit 

of many in body one in mind from people there.

It’s difficult to develop taste for Japanese food

for everyone, so even I started with small meals.

On day one I started light at an Indian restaurant...

 but later rest of the days my pick for food was 

Japanese.

If you are traveling to Japan and you are a 

vegetarian then you will have to pay attention. 

For vegetarians there are limited options and like

 every vegetarian if you choose tofu then let
me tell you, its taste is not good. Also you won’t

 be able to read menu if you don't know 
Japanese.  So all you have to do is, order the food

 by looking at the picture. However in few
restaurants you will see dummy of food plating 

which will give a fair idea. 
I had sushi, ramen, miso soup, tempura which 

I believe is must. I will suggest have local 
Japanese food. Its taste is delicious. And yes as 

part of custom and tradition each dish you 
order cannot be shared. However depends from 

restaurant to restaurant. 

Green tea was another fomous thing there known 

as matcha. However my taste buds didn’t like it.

Coming to deserts, there were many delicious 

things.
The first must try innovative sweet on my list 

will be Mizu shingen Mochi. It is also known 
as raindrop cake.

My favourite one was maple syrup pan cake, 

which they call as Doryaki.

My next destination was Kamakura. It is a seaside

 Japanese city just south of Tokyo. 
There are many prominent resort town with 

dozens of Buddhist Zen temples and Shinto 

shrines
There are many famous temples around 

like Hasdera temle, Kotoku-in Temple and 
Nichiren Daishonin temple as well. You can 

also do surfing at Yuigahama Beach on Sagami. 
This place is best where you find mix of old and 

modern Japanese culture.

This is Shijo Kingo house. He was a great warrior. 

Refer to stories before 1945, you can
browse more on internet. This place is also in 

Kamakura. If his stories interest you...
then Japan should be must on your travel list.

While I visited shrines, I learnt their ritual for 

entering shrine which is known as 'chozu'. 
Chozumeans cleansing of self. It is the customary 

way to clean or purify our mind, body and
soul before making any prayers at shrines or 

temples in Japan.

And here comes an inspiring story which is about

 the building that looks down on airplanes. 
It is also about the spirit of man who worked for 

dreams rigorously. There were times when
he had nothing to serve food on plate for her ill 

wife.
 With conviction, faith and hope he changed his 

situation. 
This wonderful person who had nothing in life 

built a skyscraper building which is known 
as Sunshine City Prince Hotel.

Last but not least enjoy potty even in public toilet.

And that’s what you see the great Mt. Fuji on 

your return.
While returning the only thing that was running 

in my mind was to jump in air and fly 
above snow capped mountains.

The day I stopped saying ‘Hurry Up’

The story began in 1991, at the time of my birth, probably that was when I first heard the word hurry up said by doctors, at the time of my mom’s emergency delivery.

As I started sensing things and while growing up I realised everyone is in a hurry. Accidently it started with my mom and grandmother when I heard them insisting me and saying hurry up finish your food, my uncle saying hurry up, you will miss your school van, my sister asking me to finish my talks asap. (Sahiba can you hurry and speak fast), my brother hurry up finish your homework I want to play.

And it went on… school… examination hall… college… work… home… over all everywhere in life for any task you begin, you hear hurry up along.

There was one single person standing beside me saying sit, relax, don’t hurry up and asking me to work carefully. As I come back home, he is the one asking for hug and few moments of talk, discussing each other’s day.

One fine day when nothing was going right and felt undervalued, my dad said live your life the deserving will come to you. He adds on “You don’t have to rush. Just take your time,” He said gently and my whole face instantly brightened and shoulders relaxed.

All I can say is a daughter is little girl who grows up to be a friend. Every parent play a major role in their children life. Being a daughter all I can say is parent’s time is the best thing for their kids especially when you hold their hands at right time.

Many a times we caught up ourselves being a multitasking. And no matter how many ways you divide your time and attention, no matter how many duties you try and multi-task, there’s never enough time in a day to ever catch up. To dear parents your children are waiting for you. Hold them.

Finally I learnt to say no! And stopped hassling. This was the day when I stopped hearing and saying ‘Hurry Up’

And it was all because of my handsome buddy, my daddy aka popsi.

On darkest days when I feel inadequate and unworthy, I remember whose daughter I am and I straighten my crown.

Love from daddy’s girl.

Colourful Shades at Work

Namaste India!

Work and travel together is blissful. I was on shoot for one of our clients filming an emotional branding film, covering their CSR project. This blog has excerpt about my travel and how I enjoy my work and life while I am on travel. The important thing is to be proud of your work and your capacity and to live true to yourself. Each travel brings me time in spite of long hours of work. New place, new people and discovering new you. Exploring yourself, celebrating life with other lives is another way of being happy and sharing happiness with others. While I am away from home my camera, diary and pen have always been with me as soul mates. I believe what's important is to explore our unique talents, that one can live with the full radiance of their being. This is what makes me truly alive.

I was fortunate to explore a new place, sparkling golden city named as Jaisalmer situated in Rajasthan state. The journey began when I woke up early morning. Walking down the lane, seeing shades of yellow cheering with rising bright yellow sun, shaking my head with colourful turban on Rajasthan song. And that was when my heart expressed loud saying Namastey India! The warm breeze and people had enough warmth welcoming me with bright colours all around. There is always magic in air when you are on travel but this one was special may be because I was on solo trip. The warm breeze hugged me with traditions and a feeling of being a proud Indian with such vibrant cultures and variety food around. 

Jaisalmer is one of the important cities of Rajsthan. It is almost a desert area. There is no direct flight to Jaisalmer so I took flight from Delhi to Jodhpur followed by 6 hours’ drive. As you are about to reach Jaisalmer roads get bumpy and lonely. People usually don’t stay out of their house after 8:00 P.M. so the road becomes lonely. There is only one direct train from Delhi to Jaisalmer and Jaisalmer to Delhi that leaves once a day. It is about a 20 hours train ride. So I chose to come back through train from Jaisalmer to Delhi. Note: Do grab some snacks before you start your journey. Otherwise train stops in the morning around 5-6 A.M. at Jodhpur station where you can grab breakfast for yourself. Otherwise you'll be left feeling really hungry for the next 7 hours. A good news from October 29^th 2017 many airlines have started direct daily flights from Delhi-Jaisalmer to & fro.

In day time temperature is pretty high but as the day passes, atmosphere starts becoming cooler. At night the temperature and atmosphere is really cold and breezy. I stayed at the Lalbagh Hotel which has a beautiful fort view. The view from the room was amazing especially during sun rise. Discovering peace corner has become a hobby now. Fortunately my room with traditional interior decorations had a deevan inside with a window facing fort. Yes sipping coffee and watching the lights of fort at night was the best time and a great way to relax.

 The city is all golden, made of sand stone and most of the buildings showcase great examples of complex carvings on the stones in typical Jharokha pattern. Well my hotel was good, the owner was very welcoming and treated really well, that is one thing I noticed in Rajasthan, natives there are very friendly, honest and they like to welcome tourist, I guess tourism is one of the biggest industry in Rajasthan with most number of western and Indian tourist visiting there among anywhere in India.

I went to Jaisalmer fort palace museum heritage centre. It is the first fort where humans live. Beauty of this fort engraved my heart with a great impression.

There are variety of food options available inside and outside the fort. If you have a few hours to kill, sit at any of the rooftop restaurants and sip chai all day. For foodies out there laal mass is must have and very few restaurants cook it in authentic way that too on request. So make sure you check with them whether it is cooked in traditional method before you order one. Here are few places recommended that one must explore – Kaku restaurant, it is a café where you are served continental and Indian food both. Lalbagh hotel prepares great laal mass. Outside the fort you will get amazing Kachori and Ladoo which is known as Gotwah at Dhanraj Bhatia sweet shop, the market near fort.  Pokhran is another place which is few hours’ drive from Jaisalmer where you can have good breakfast, the place where you get delicious sweet called cham cham.

Shopping was another way to explore the city. There were tons to shop for jewellery, bags, turbans, etc… but I had bargain really hard! The shop owners always overstate the prices by 2 to 3 times.

My next morning was at Sam Dunes a desert, 40 kms away from Jaisalmer. While driving to the destination on this lonely planet I had many thoughts on way. As we drive along this road called life, we find ourselves… I had reached the desert sun rise point at 6:30 A.M and witnessed the beauty rising exactly at 6:55 A.M. Serene... skyline and sound of camel bells took my heart away. The seam of desert horizon became my favourite colour. As I was returning back to car walking beneath the cold sand, with shadow ahead and bright light on my face, I could reflect within.

So many roads... many detours ... so many choices... so many mistakes... between many sunsets and many sunrises... but this one said all. Maybe the journey is not about becoming anything. Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't real me. 

That's all for now - I'm sure I have missed out on some things - so feel free to ask any questions.

Email - sahibakaurchawla@gmail.com

For more pictures follow at - https://www.instagram.com/sahiba_kaur_chawla/

APPO DEEPO BHAVA

What is right? What is wrong? What lies ahead? How? When? Why? This is natural human tendency to fill our bag with questions.

Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time visiting a monastery and that's when I discovered simple pleasures in life. The peace corner there helped me to gather all my thoughts. Taking a break without anything to do besides breathing and noticing little details in my environment - how soft the rug is after having been cleaned; how sunlight from the window leaves shadow; correlating with Buddha’s thought how absolute state of happiness buy problems peacefully.

After seeing peaceful painted walls, I closed my eyes and went into deep thought. The whole world and life was an utter darkness.Who will show me the light now?” After getting into peace I dreamed about a Buddha, a mirror image meditating. The story began where a Buddha just opened his eyes and said, “Appo Deepo Bhava”. He said, “Just be a light unto yourself. Nobody can give this light to you.” 

He pointed towards a light entering from the half open door.  And he again said this light is not only outside! It is hidden in the heart of every being. Release your thoughts but don't let them control you.
Who you are is what you have been. Who you will be is what you do now.

And soon I heard an enchanting bell echoing into my ears on which I opened my eyes with a bright smile. A serene moment!

  
One after another I saw people coming with a joss stick. Each one of them was hopeful, holding dreams in their eyes. They taught me hope is the greatest weapon in the world.

My first encounter was with the priest their. Seeing all my books piled up on the table he said don't do this with your life. Ek kitabh hathao ge toh dursri rakh pao ge. Problem ko hathao ge tabhi solution rakh pao ge naa. I dont know what but his thought really clicked me.

On reading Buddhas teaching, I observed he is talking about painful life, changing from moment to moment. Where we are born for a mission that is eradicating sufferings and creating hope. 

While I was struggling with my studies my mentor said "Ask yourself - Did you come this far to only come this far." I decided to discover my your own capacity. His word helped me to look within and developing trust on self.

Next I met a young beautiful lady, mother of a young girl aspiring to be choreographer. She said I might not be a big name today but I don't want to die with a regret. I believe unseen virtue gives visible reward. I hope and still wait for her call, saying; she did it. We may not see what lies ahead but the efforts that we put in cannot go unseen.

As I walked down the street, I went into illusion, each person transforming into a Buddha. When this is, that is ... When this isn't, that isn't... Everyday life around us is so miraculous. We as Buddha might fail but there is always potential to awaken every moment. Change must come from within. A tree lives on root, if you change the root, you change the tree. Similarly culture lives in human being if we change the culture from human heart, it will sync taking thousands of attached hearts around you. It all depends on what you think.


Happiness in life begins and ends within our own heart. I end this with Buddha’s last words ‘Appo Deepo Bhava’ – Be your own light.

Stick to your resolutions- Happy New Year

Wishing you all a very happy and successful new year.

I am sure most of us are ready with new year resolutions but the point is for how long are we going take it forward?

While I was traveling, I was busy with my me time and here are few things that I encountered. It started with a long walk towards hill, humming on the tune" Hum kis gali jaa rhe... apna koi theekana nahi..." Finally I got struck to the rising sun with a new meaning which brought a strong conviction within. And this was the promise made to myself that I will rise each day without fail.
The journey began than onwards... A walk to remember, where nature was encouraging me with different perspective to challenge myself when I go back to routine.

Here are few conversations with my nature friends:

Flowers- "Just like flowers need all air, water, fertiliser, sunlight likewise I aim to put all my skills and efforts to bloom beautifully.

Standalone tree- Conveyed "Standing alone doesn't mean I am alone, it means I am strong enough to handle things all by myself."

Bonfire- "Seeing at fire flames, I realised more the wood longer fire will last" Collecting wisdom,skill and courage to act.

And so on...

However I believe transformation is not five minutes from now, its a present activity. In this moment lets aim to bring productive choices within for better productivity. These small choices of change within will build success and cultivate better output.

Cheers!!! Best wishes for 2017.

Happy Birthday!!!

Hi a very warm welcome to my blog and wishing you a very Happy Birthday!!!

Wondering??? Why I am wishing you for your birthday? 

We are lucky enough that we are continuing our journey called life.

For this month I am just going to share my intrapersonal moment with you all. 

To begin with I would like to quote “you can either learn from books or from life.” However books have been a great friend to me but when life brings uncalled surprises, it gets difficult to call it as a friend.

Have you ever given a thought before going to bed that you will be waking up to the sun with bright cosy cheerful smile?

Hmmm!!! No! Never! No one wonders about death. 

But one fine morning dated 15^th September 2016, I encountered a news of my friend’s brother liver failure and requesting a donor. However I was not broken by the news but had many thoughts in my mind.
- What would be thoughts behind sufferer?
-Is he praying for an organ? For someone to die? 
-Why do we religiously criminate our body?
-Nature has built us and better to come in use rather than destroy.
-What if I donate my organs? In bizarre corrupted world, will my organs be used without taking money from anyone?

Many thoughts surrounded me which lead me to self-awakening. 

Here are the facts that I came across.

To begin with death is natural and it comes without informing. So here is something in for you which says how you can contribute to society even after your death. It is organ donation. However it is something that people don’t accept easily but I am sure my thoughts will provoke you in doing so.

In Sikhism ‘Death’ is termed as ‘Hukam’ which means call from God. Birth & death is closely associated as part of human cycle both coming and going which is said transient state to liberation. According to me, the funereal rituals of cremations which demands body in totality is important for soul to rest in peace and reincarnation but not at the cost of burning organs that can be used to save another life. 

Based on the research, 8.4 million people die every year in India which comes to 22,500 per day approximately.Myths and misconceptions about organ donation discourage potential donors from making the decision to donate organs or tissue after death.

I don’t think there can be a better satisfaction or ‘Punya’ than saving a life.

With advanced medical sciences, organ donation can play a major role that can save a life through organ transplantation. But in bizarre world it is shame to say human is progressing in all fields but where humanism lies, we all fail.

Source Times of India, DNA India says:

-Almost 1.5 lakh people in India need a kidney; however, only 3000 of them receive one.

-Only 1 out of 30 people who need a kidney receive one.

-90% of people in the waiting list die without getting an organ.

-India’s annual liver transplant requirement is 25,000, but we manage only about 800.

-70% liver transplants are taken care of by a live donor, but 30% are dependent on cadaver donations.

So imagine 22,500 people who die each day can be a life saver for one or may be many. Today I leave you with a choice life to someone or death, between prosperity and disaster. What do you want to see more suffering or joy?

Sharing the best words that I believe in- "Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy.Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life,”

So let’s regard life and other lives by doing our bit to lessen the suffering.

Cheers and Hi to life. Happy Birthday once again!!!