Keerthana Gunreddy

Growing up I have always wondered, what would just a change in the date at the year end do to anyone's life? Why do people give so much significance to 31st Night, is it just not ordinary like all other days? Reflecting upon these thoughts now, I understand the partition between these two days is not just about the days but about perspectives, experiences and learnings! It's about " How much a year can transform you "  It is special because today you sit back and recall everything the year has done to you and you have done to the year, Good days or bad days at the end are 'days' and 'you' have lived through each and every day, you had the strength to fight your battles and made it through 365 days , all this might feel very simple when you are at it but today when you look at the time frame of the year you celebrate that, you celebrate life, you celebrate those good and bad days and pat yourself for 'Living'.  You now know the mistakes you hav...

Another day and another new thought entering my brain like how waves at the beach keep coming back to the shore - Is a person's fate already decided? Or with the effort one puts can they change their fate and write their future? How do I know If what I'm doing in life is what I'm supposed to do? Am I fulfilling the purpose I was put in this world for? Ikigai is a perfect intersection of what one likes, what makes one earn money, what one is good at, and what proves to be helpful to society but where am I in this overlap? Is the ikigai I found truly my Ikigai? Can my Ikigai keep changing?  Is it ok to have varied interests? Or does that mean I'm fickle-minded and can never stick to one path? Does that mean I'm being slothful and giving myself excuses not to do something? What if I put my soul and heart into something while I'm at it but I still feel this isn't where I belong, and I'm not able to make any progress? Should I keep moving like the fast-flowin...

  Another day and another new thought entering my brain like how waves at the beach keep coming to the shore - is a person's fate already decided? Or with the efforts one puts they can change their fate and write their future? How do I know If what I'm doing in life is what I'm supposed to do? Am I fulfilling the purpose I was put in this world for? Ikigai is a perfect intersection of what one likes, what makes one earn money, what one is good at, and what proves to be helpful to society but where am I in this overlap? Is the ikigai I found truly my Ikigai? Can my Ikigai keep changing? Is it ok to have varied interests? Or does that mean I'm fickle-minded and can never stick to one path? Does that mean I'm being slothful and giving myself excuses not to do something? What if I put my soul and heart into something while I'm at it but I still feel this isn't where I belong, and I'm not able to make any progress? Should I keep moving like the fast-flowing r...

Do you ever feel there's freedom and also there's not? You say to yourself you are the king or queen of your life, you have your own rules but how many of us are taking decisions fearlessly? How many of us are truly following our hearts? I bet at least once in our lives knowingly or unknowingly we would have succumbed to the " Log kya kahengee " factor. We would have stopped doing something because it's against the societal norms, It's against what many people believe. But to me, even if the whole world's against you, you gotta do what you want to - that's it, period.  I wish life would be as simple as it was supposed to be. I mean you like something, just go get it, you want to start something, do it! What's that pulling you? Is it because you doubt your capabilities or is it because you're coaxed by the expectations society has for you? For many of us, I'm sure it's the latter. He's a boy - he can't cook, she's a girl she...

 It is 5:30 in the morning and all of a sudden I feel tense, I feel lost, I understand and realize now how my seniors must have felt in their 4th year when they used the hashtag of one last time every time. The truth that there is only 1 week left for us on the campus and the next semester is going to be online makes me all nostalgic and unhappy. It is like the sun setting on everything I know, I must have scolded my faculty a million times, ranted about Vasavi a billion times but now my heart aches that in a blink of time my status in college would change from 1602-18-734-018 to a passed out, alumni. Just like Varun Sandesh asks his principal at the end of Happy Days, ' naalugu ellagaa college naa illu , College naaku em nerpindhi'? I feel the same now and I'm glad I have considerable things on my list:  Meeting people from different backgrounds and perspectives , being able to multitask, explore and discover myself with the help of various clubs in college, submitting ass...

Happy Nurses Day Amma! You are a superhero. It's been almost 25 years since you took up this profession and you were always a mother, a mother filling belief, confidence in every patient struggling their battles, a mother protecting, nursing her patients as her own.  The world was shaken by the pandemic but you came forward and menaced your life doing your duty with utmost attention, care. Your commitment, enthusiasm, concern about your work never fail to inspire me. Though I don't say this often, you inspire me a lot, from being independent to finding passion in a profession you are someone I always look up to. This rampant rife challenged you, going to work during this COVID-19 pandemic has placed frontline workers under immense and unprecedented pressure, putting their physical, mental, and social well-being at risk and yet you were selfless and asked us to stay at village till the outbreak of the virus settles so that we wouldn't be affected by it in the city.  During t...