What's in a Name?

What’s in a Name?

OOk... So the phone rings and I pick up. The voice on the other side crackles to a very hesitant " Errrr.. May i speak with Sh….sha…shvee… -....Err... umm...”

"S-H-V-E-T-A! ! ! " I almost holler, but all I manage is a sophisticated "Shveta ???? "

" Aaah yesss... Shavettaa!!... Right... (I feel the immense relief in her voice)... Phewww....

So, the past few years of corporate life and especially corporate life in America, have been extremely entertaining. The frequent barrage of unusual re-incarnations of my name, proves one fact - The human fraternity has a deeply ingrained ability to be immensely imaginative (and extremely entertainingly so!) and has managed to mellow down my initial annoyance.

I cannot help but dedicate this article to the interesting versions that have been released and quite frankly I find it amusing that a single name can have so many flavors hidden beneath !!! All in a day's time, I can hop from being a cool, funky chick from Delhi to a Mallu bomb shell to a famous Indian comic porn star and also at times the hot sensual Russian. Anything, but Me!! Lol.

Anyway, I have classified the different versions under categories so that the readers may feel free to throw themselves into any one of them (or come up with a new category/version all together, I'm in an extremely jubilant mood tonight!!!  - Well fed so won't bite!)

So here goes... 

Sweta – To my big in number friends from UP and Bihar who are beyond therapy!

Shwetha – To my friends and colleagues from down South (No offence )

Shaveata – Happens to be popular as my “Starbucks” name. Trust me I gave up after the third time.

Sheweta – To all my buddies for whom I have relaxed the laws of mutilation just because they make me sound “Extra Sophisticated”

Sveta – To my friends who have an innate love for alcohol….sounds like some sort of “Vodka”

Sweetha – To those who are in dire need of something “Meetha” and are generally greeted by me with compassion given my love for sweets.

Savita – Seriously dude? Didn’t know I was being fantasized by the “Savita Bhabhi” fan club!

Svita – To those who are way too lazy even to pronounce a full name and found short creative ways!

Svetlana – To my Russian and Ukrainian colleagues who don’t even want to try to learn the name lol! I don’t mind the excuse though…”Oooh that’s a beautiful name…so similar to what we call a beautiful girl in our country…it suits you so well…Svetlana!”

Then there are the random ones which I have set aside for a few individuals who get a huge kick out of the entire thing! I have to be really careful around these people, as the most ridiculous of the versions have proven to be the most adhesive!!! 

Golu – To all my closet buddies who have ensured I totally forget my real name and be popularly known as “GOLU”. Trust me I’d turn if anyone call me that in Public lol.

Golunda – To Pinku by gunda!

Goli – To Minal

Golzy – To the one any only wicked “Toni””

Jalandhar – To Ashu

Tamatar – To Bond

Gol-gappa – To my uncle who has to pull my cheeks every time I see him

Motu – To my Mom….no matter how much weight I lose, she will continue to fondly call me “Motu”

Gummy – To Pankaj who’s creativity I adore and so love being called “Gummy!”

Cheetah – To Manu who continues to keep my inner predator alive.

Sharmaji – To Dharam who keeps me synced to my Indian roots

At this point I can safely assume that the laws of permutation allow no more.

Meanwhile, I’m just going to share this with my folks, give them a call and thank them for blessing me with such a beautiful name. I'm sure they’ll have as much fun reading as I had writing this.

P.S – SHVETA in Hindi means " Lovely, Pure and White " and I love every moment of being me :)

                                                                                             Dated: March 25, 2020

                                                                                                     (Inspired by – Shelter in Place!)

Me vs Myself!

No matter what or who I become in front of others, unintentionally or otherwise, the one time I get to know myself, is when I’m alone, with my guard down, that is the one time when I’m not wearing the mask of the role that I’m expected to play. It is then when I‘m standing face to face with myself and there is no veil to shield my faults, and no modesty to underplay my strengths

I believe that I’m a part of a larger whole, which would be incomplete without me, and this is what motivates me. The awareness that my life is infinitely important and my mission is to showcase my individuality in my own unique way, in my own sphere of activities. I strive to pursue a path ever upward and onward…Please don’t get me wrong, m not all about serious ‘philosophy’... I’m very human; I’m Complex, inscrutable, enigmatic, and indifferent. I’m predictable, unpredictable, logical, illogical... can be irrepressibly naive and terribly wise at the same time. I refuse to live unconsciously. Almost everything is a well thought of, conscious decision (barring a few times ;) ).

I'm too people oriented to sit by idle.. I'm genuine (when I want to be) and sugar sweet (if I have to be)... till then expect anything. I can viciously hate a few things and when "moved" I could curdle milk with one of my sour stares (my friends tell me so). In moods like these I don’t know what i really like.. but I think i like to hate most of the things.. Which is so funny, and I eventually end up laughing to myself.I love to perpetually have myself glued to either a sofa at coffee shop sipping overpriced chocolate espressos with 2 or 3 friends that I absolutely adore, or in front of my laptop doing no real constructive work.

I sometimes get very random with my thoughts.. to illustrate:

Shveta is

A food lover…...

highly optimistic ,

the thinker..

the art lover..

chocolate addict.....

music lover…

nature lover...

the poetess..(this one I’d like to be)

wonderful advice giver...

sports woman...

Popular for sense of humor….

clothes obsessor..

fiercely loyal...

thoughtful...

patient...

letter writer...

romantic…

Formerly the outstanding student’..
And Miss Talented(I think I have lost it now)…..

also the life of parties...(hehe)( That’s what all my friends have to say to me!!)
and now the almost 34 something corporate slave!

So what is Shveta Sharma about…………..

Shveta, a smart woman. A simple bundle of contradictions and complexities. Very plain to see. A study in silence. Seldom sesquipedalian. Shveta………………………………

Light up!

We all want perfect lives, no one wants to be alone

There are times when life gets so lonely, 

we turn to people unknown    

Seeking affection, we sway the way we get blown.

All I see is darkness,

something like a huge black hole,

Evil thoughts with full force,

ready to take control.

Determined I stand,

to not let darkness ruin my soul.

I face it strong, I face it bold...

Until, I see the light, an awakening that made me glow.

We all need to face our dark side

that is where we have passion and energy galore!

Do not fear it , direct it, embrace it.

That's when you become whole.

You are the darkness, you are the light.

You are the lighthouse of your life!

                             ~ Shveta Sharma

                                27th Jan'14

The Leaf of Life...

I came into this world fragile and innocent
Looking for water and sunshine to grow.

I blossomed into a beautiful green leaf,
fresh and vibrant, 
enthusiasm that made me glow.

Dancing in the wind, playing in the rain
Life was fun there was no pain.

Then one day, a gush of air...
Departed from the branch and I was blown.
With so much glee, I gently floated without sound
I traveled far, I traveled slow 
Before I touched the ground so low.

I lay there confident smiling and bold
Ready to take on the world that was beautiful
as I had known.

At times I wildly flew, 
twisting and turning through the air
Exhausted, drop to earth below.

Time flew and so did I until one day I felt huge pain
A feeling so terribly new that drove me insane
Tremendous pressure crippling me down,
Crushed, I lay on the ground.

I just lay there slowly turning brown, each breath was a pain
With each gush of air I tried to reach the branch, my home, but in vain.

As days pass, I fray a little more, it pains a little more
and I learn about life a lot more.

Every time I rise with the wind...my hopes soar high
But gently I fall again without a sound and hopes again defy.

                                                       ~ Shveta Sharma
                                                          19th Jan 2014.

Vulnerability and security....is there a point of convergence?

Its been 4 months since i posted something on my blog...yes and i do have the usual most common excuse.."Life's been really busy". Anyway i guess the topic that i intend to write about has had a deep impact on me and so i had to steal time to express what i feel.
Being into a relationship for sometime now i realize how important it is to feel secure about the relationship and how very vulnerable it makes you to the other person. And "NO ONE WANTS TO BECOME VULNERABLE TO ANYONE IN TODAYS SCENARIO"...and so all of us want to play safe! Look at the irony finally one starts feeling insecure about being vulnerable to another person just in order to find security...gosh! its a viscious circle.
I see my friends who are "committed" seeing other couples breaking-up and ruining their own relationships by applying or trying to apply the same situation on there own relation. Come on how stupid can that be. There are friends who come to me and say "Shveta, even though we are going strong , i am trying to maintain a distance so that if in future things dont work out or we break up, none of us is hurt and esp I should not be hurt. I love him/her but i dont want to so vulnerable to him/her that he/she starts taking me for granted or hurts me when we break off."
For god sake...how on the earth can one get into any relationship for that matter...where you are always trying to play safe and where you are scared of being vulnerable but you want to feel secure at the same time! I see no point of convergence any where! It is this mentality and this attitude in people now days that relationships fail miserably.
The only solution i recommend is that you got to trust a little more, do not rush into realtionships, take time to express your feeling, make sure that you strongly feel for someone and its not just infactuation and that you are not scared to let the skeletons fall off from your cupboard in front of him/her and that you can be yourself all the time. That is when we can arrive at a point of convergence. Trust, Patience and an open mind is all it needs to make things work and to make life happy!

Between Friends

Yes the girl in the picture on your right is my best friend. She s the one person who is always with me through all seasons, all my moods and sometimes she just arrives when I need her the most and am least expecting her! I meet her atleast 3 times a week and after that we feel that we are always short of time to complete our conversations. After I joined my MBA we have been meeting regulary but its always been not more than an hour that we could spend with each other and talk, we would meet to go shoppin together or to discuss some thing important etc.

Some 5 days back we both met up to exchange some stuff and it so happened that we both had time to spare and spent 5 hours just talking and listening what the other had to say. And by the time we headed back it felt as if even though we had been meeting regulary we never really knew what exactly is going on in each others lives...as in our views on things happening in our life, our reactions, our expectations, our frustrations, our dreams....we could never find the time to express these in the short timeperiods that we meet for. But after this lovely evening that we spent together I felt so relieved, so light and at the same time so much more aware of what she means to me :).
Well i guess they are so right when they say:

" The biggest gift you can ever give anyone or ever receive from anyone is your/their time"
Its all that you need to catch up with everything in life!

Child Locks...A Parent Trap!!!

Gosh! kids now days are such smart asses!!!A few days back I was travelling to Goa with my uncle and a "small" cousin...who was jus 4 years old. My uncle had borrowed his friend's car and was really glad that the car was equipped with a child lock facility as my cousin is a really notorious boy. While handing over the car keys my uncle's friend explained to him the car locking n unlocking mechanism and during that time my cousin was playing around. So finally we left for Goa and soon after we got into the car again after our first halt in the journey...my uncle got into the car and it wouldnt start at all and after trying all tricks for 5 mins he realised that he needed to unlock the child lock thru the remote and only den would the car start! So he had to get out of the car lock it and then unlock it again...and guess what this happened each time we halted every time new confusion in order to avoid the earlier mistakes.
And the best part about each time this happened was that it was my cousin who would point out what my uncle was doing wrong! He would say "Papa ...aise karo to car start hogi" each time we would get stranded and each time he was right!
So with the kids getting just too techno savvy and smart by the day...I really dont think child locks are gonna make things easy for parents and its rather gonna make their life even more complex and to add to this would be that the parents would finally need the children to unlock themselves from the trap they got locked into!!!