Keys

I forgot to take my house keys with me when I left for a training early morning yesterday. My dear husband went on a trek and came home back at 1230 in the night (Oh! but that is another story). So here I was, at 5 PM in the evening, without the keys, without the husband who has another set and all stranded outside my own house.
I just remembered a lot of things. I remembered when I was a child, one of my friend had lost her house keys and then they finally had to break down the lock. I remembered when we had a lock that belonged to the last century, which was made of stone and yet one day, when the robber broke into my mom's house, it might not have taken him more than 10 minutes to break the lock. We didn't have the latch system only because my mother was worried that one of us (me and my sister and even my mom) would accidentally lock ourselves out when we are just hanging around at the neighbor's house (not without any justification, because there were frequent cases of the door getting shut due to wind when somebody is standing outside the door, chatting with folks around).
I remembered how as teens, we believed we had the keys to the locks of someone special's heart. I believed I knew somebody in and out only to be mistaken soon. I remember the cliches around keys, and how the key to success is blah, blah, and, blah. I remember keys playing an important part when I wanted to attract a small baby towards me - kids like shiny, ringing things.
If you were wondering if that's what I did till my husband came home, stranded outside my house - well, you don't know me then. Instead of panicking, I realized we have a spare key with the house maid, whom I contacted immediately and got hold of the keys from her graciously.

I solved a problem, but I did not see the lock of my memories broken without the need of any key.

My new resolution: Write more, talk less

The world bores you when you’re cool ~ "Calvin" Scott Adams

My very dear friend says I talk too much. My best friend says I talk too much. My husband says I talk too much. He also says I love when you talk so much (which, after two years of marriage I have seriously started to doubt). So, now my resolution is to write...not to much, just write. I have been away from the blog too long and now I have so many things to write about.

So this is what I am gonna do - take one word and build a post around it. I want to see if I can spin an entire story inspired by one word. 

I would also invite anyone, who wants to try it out on my blog. Pick up a word, write a blog of around 100-500 words or as much as you want it and send me. I will put it on my blog. 

I don't have a strong reason for doing this, I am just in a mood to experiment. :)

So let the fun begin!

Daydreaming

As a rule, all my Monday morning blues disappear when I spend 10 minutes in office, reading mails and planning my day. Just in case, the start-of-the-week day blues start peeping their head post lunch time (yawn) I indulge in a little day dreaming.

There are several things that I can think of at such times such as -

• Having a vacation in Goa with my better half (husband, in case anyone doesn't know I am married :P)
• Thinking about what I can make for dinner ( After being a little lazy, food is my next big weakness). I can imagine all the goodies that I can make at home or even plan to go out and eat, and zap! 10-20 mins have gone by :). I am craving for fish today and wish I can eat simple fried fish today!
• I can imagine myself having a good time in Nashik with my friends. 
• I can also imagine working from home for the rest of the week and enjoying work at its own pace. 

Well these are some of the things that I can dream off...without even much needed winks of sleep.

Do you indulge in daydreaming? 

My foray in the world of make up!

I love to do makeup! I am not great at it, especially since my daily regime consists only of a Kohl. Yet, inspired from our all girls trip to Mahableshwar, I decided to buy my first eyeshadow :). I am going to attend a couple of functions in the next few days and intend to sparkle for them a little bit :)

So I went and got a Chambor eye shadow in the shades of blue (as I would be wearing blue sarees for the functions) and here is an evidence of my first attempt :)

Any comments are welcome!
PS: Please ignore the overgrown eyebrows :)

Thought for the day: “-You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet

The complete quote is uttered by Calvin and it runs like this:

“You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. -What mood is that? -Last-minute panic.”

Thought for the day: “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we speak”

New year, new week and a new idea of my take on the thoughts that I like.

Today's thought for the day is  “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we speak” :)

Maybe this is particularly applicable to me. I talk, talk, talk and talk all the time. This is only the case with people I really know and am comfortable with. I take some time to open up with a person. But once I am friends with someone, then no one can stop the blabberhead in me :).

In 2012, I should take this thought to my heart and actually start listening more. So many times it happens that we do not allow somebody in front of us to talk, express their views, thoughts, emotions, opinions etc. How happy and better will this world be if instead of talking all the way, we start listening to people. We listen to our spouse or kids, our mom, dad, our friends, relatives, even people around us.

Listening is healing they say. What more can we do for a grieving friend that to listen to his emotions. Give an ear to a lonely parent, ailing grand mother, or an exited 4 year old. The benefits of listening are emotional health (not just yours), inner peace and tranquility. I am sure we would also feel happy when we share someone's happiness; or calm when we help a disturbed friend relax just by being there with her and listening to her.

I hope this year I stay true to this line of wisdom and hear twice as much than I speak :)



Photo courtesy: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Grass_g353-Nature_p25733.html

The new year begins on a Sunday...

The year 2011 begins on a Sunday...does that mean we get a lot of leisure time in this year?

Finally 2011 is getting over..and we are entering in to 2012. A new year brings hope, happiness, cheer, joy and pleasure. I am grateful for one more year in my life that had its own ups and downs and made me a better person :)

Oh how I wish it was true. My wish list for this year is:

• Let there be more reasons to celebrate this year
• Let there be more long weekends :) We have a lot of festivals in India and I would love to celebrate them with my family
• Let me shake my bum and do some work around the house. My new year resolution is to finally clean my cupboard :) (I had offered Deven my complete 1 month salary for it, and he still refused :( :()
• Let me know how to manage my finances better (This is a resolution I make every year)

On the advent of the new year, I would like to thank all those people who matter to me. People who helped me, people who love me, people who taught me new things- knowingly or unknowingly, people who hurt me - yet made me stronger from within, people who appreciated me and criticized me likewise :) cos they helped me realize my own shortcomings, people who stood by me when I needed and who supported me with their love and friendship. For all the gestures, all kindness and care, all love and friendship, I am grateful.

Thank you for being a part of my universe and would hope you continue with me further!

Wish you and your families a happy, merry, magical and beautiful new year!

My blogging family

I don't remember whether it was me or my elder sister who first started writing a blog! So I wont take complete credit for being an inspiration for people in my family to start their own blog :)
I, my sister Shilpa and Hemant already write blogs. Shilpa is an avid and new quilter (if that is indeed a word), hemant is an out-an-out foodie, like me and he writes about his experiments in the kitchen.
My friend Ishani also has her blog, Moments of Life, which is a sheer pleasure to read! She writes in a very straight and lucid manner. I loved her recent post - Au revoir 2011; a cool way of saying goodbye to the year 2011 :)
We have a new addition on the blogosphere with Sayali, my cousin starting her own blog - My world today! She is a new blogger and her blog is sure gonna be interesting to read!
So here we are, a big blogging family :)

My plants

I have a small terrace in my apartment which currently serves as a home for all my plants. I love to have a few plants around me, even in my office; (I just have a chinese bamboo on my desk and I want to add more :)). The plant I am most proud of right now is the Basil. I had got basil leaves for cooking and when I hosted an all girls party, I put (shevanti) and basil leaves in a small glass just for decor. It lasted fresh and blooming till one week and when I started removing it, I realised that the basil leaves have got roots. Without wasting a minute, I planted the small sprig of basil and today (after two-three weeks) I am happy to say that it is growing :)

I am still researching so do not know if it will really bloom and become a plant, but that's what I am hoping for. This will also be the start of my kitchen garden, where I plan to plant tomatoes and chillies as well.

Here's a look of my basil plant and all other plants in my गार्डेन

My first day on Independence – Kindof!

I drove my pleasure to office today (albeit Deven sitting behind me). I have such an immense pride and pleasure to announce that I drove on my own to the office. I didn’t knock anyone on the roads, followed all the rules, swore only little, was afraid even less than that and yes I did reach office in 20-25 minutes.

To top it all, I met 2 friends, Kunal and Pankaj accidentally just at my office entrance. They had come to meet me J . This was the best thing that could have happened today, a surprise that put a smile on my face all day long J

As if even this was less, Deven (my dear husband)said I drive much better than what he had expected J

So, cheers to my independence and booo to all rickshawallas (OK, maybe not all, I have met a few who were extremely helpful too, so yayyyy for them :)

20 Second Reading - Reality on TV

I like this concept of writing blogs which readers can read in or less than 20 seconds. This is a complete inspiration from Paulo Coelho's blog posts - 20 second stories
So, now to polish my concise writing skills, I am going to write posts out here that you can read in max 20 seconds.
To start with, my today's post is about kitch on TV. Do you know what is the most favorite or probably most watched TV show format? It is Reality television. I always remember my professor - Mr. Samar Nakhate, you used to scream at us (literally) when we spoke about reality shows that are entirely fabricated. They have to be, I have enough faith in our TV actors that they have some sense which they lose completely in big boss. Why would I want the life of my sister and I splashed across the TV, with all our sibling rivalry spread open in front of the viewers?

I would consider reality TV shows equivalent to kitch. They are attractive, blingy, but 2 years down the line, you cannot remember either of the sister no matter what!