Look... they are so many!

Getting back to writing is really tough. Thinking of writing a blogpost and then editing it, finding the right picture and then posting it. It feels way more tedious than it actually is. And I have been opening my laptop so many times, opened Word, thought of writing something, stared at the blank screen and then shut it down. This had been my routine for the past few months. Getting back isn’t easy but it sure is rewarding. It's therapeutic as well and I realize this as I am typing this sentence. When I look back at the month that has gone by, all I want to think about are all the great things that came my way. And so I thought why not make a list of it?! Let’s see what I’ve got: 

1.   Number one to top the list would be the way my baby started laughing at small triggers. Just a small naughty expression and she is all gaga over it. The constant giggling and laughter is nothing but honey to my ears.

2.  Friendships Day. There wasn’t any celebration per se but an outing with your friends with a good food and eventful day is enough to be worthy of it.

3.   Clicking cutest of pictures of my baby!

4.   I left the baby home for the first time and went for an event. I made a few connections and met new people. What I took from that event was lots of confidence and self-realization. Also, I never thought the baby would be able to stay without me for 8 long hours and yet she did! Which also gives the green signal to get back to work asap.

5.  Signing up for an option which might give a new direction to my life. I am super-duper excited to learn this new thing and I hope it falls in place. Touchwood.

6.     Conversation with my best friend for an hour or two… just like old days.

7.     Having my best friend by my side who takes all the possible efforts to ensure I’m fine.

8.     Snapchat videos with my baby.

9.    Materializing the casual discussion into an actual plan with my cousins. Traveling with my Girl tribe will be nothing but full of surprises. Well, this makes me realize, the randomness of discussion is directly proportional to its materialization. So peeps, chuck all the planning and take your random thoughts a tad too serious… you never where you might land up.

10.  Donated to #KeralaFloods and promoted for it on Social Media. It’s always important to do your bit.

11.    Got Rakhi gifts for my siblings and received wonderful gifts too in return.

12.    Made space for a plant in my room.

13.    De-cluttered to some extent.

14.  Had the fruit from the plant whose seed I planted 3 years ago. It was bliss.

15.  Started with the class I signed up for and it is going good so far.

16. Met this new person and I am being really positive after the meeting. Keeping my fingers crossed. For once, I am thinking about myself before doing anything.

17.   Finished reading the book I started long back.

18.  Offered support to my sister and gave wings to her logic and somehow brought the whole family on the same page. *If only I could muster this much courage for myself* (rolling eyes).

19.  Ordering those touch and feel books for my baby. The new additions in her collection were the puppet and finger books. The joy on her face was precious.

20. It was my baby's first Rakhi and the day went well. We went for bowling and games and it was wonderful. I think we should do it more often!

At the end of the month I feel nothing but positive… and hopeful for a better tomorrow.  Do you guys feel the same way? This was my way of getting back to writing and see some light that I was continuously escaping from, from a long time.

Cheers

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#Mission1Million... Come and Make a Difference

After say a month, here I am on my blog… where else do you think would I go, eh? But this time, it is not a random rant post. This time I am back with a selfish reason, not for myself but for all those gentle beautiful souls who aren’t as privileged as we are. So why not come together, join hands and make a difference.

So, have you heard of Robin Hood Army? Stay tuned and find out.

What is RHA?

The Robin Hood Army is a volunteer based organization that works to get surplus food from restaurants across to the less fortunate people.

What does it do?

RHA was started with a vision of eliminating hunger and food wastage globally. It has its chapters spread in 45 cities across 12+ countries and have fed close to 20,00,000 people till date.

How does it work?

A drive includes collecting surplus food from their restaurant partners and then hitting the roads to feed the hungry.

So for example, restaurants in Green Park, Delhi will contribute to the homeless of the locality via volunteers who live in Green Park. Their volunteers are largely students and young working professionals. The lesser fortunate sections we help include homeless families, night shelters, orphanages, and patients from public hospitals.

What are the Rules?

At RHA, there aren’t too many rules. There are just 3 things that are non-negotiable--

1. They do not accept any monetary donations. Donations from donors can be made in kind only (food, clothes, etc.). They have a 10,000+ volunteer base, and to keep things transparent they think its best to steer away from money :)

2. If they have agreed to collect food from a restaurant partner / donor, they ensure that they collect it. They work towards preventing food wastage and therefore cannot propagate it anyway.

3. The quality of the food that they accept must be such that you and I should be able to consume it. Spoilt/rotten/old food items should not be collected.

Apart from that, they are all ears for any feedback.

How you can be a part of it?

The most precious thing that you can give them is your valuable time.

What you can do is share as much as you can, join their drive write on your blog, promote on your social media handles and spread the awareness.

Since, it is that time of the year (Independence Day) where all the Robins in India and Pakistan join hands and work against a common enemy- Hunger.

RHA has its wings spread across various cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Agra, etc.

If you wish to be part of the #Mission1Million, simply visit their website or drop a Hi on Facebook and they will get back to you.

I, personally know people who are associated with this organization and I am here to vouch for their credibility. I hope you all will help these robins accomplish their mission in serving a million people on Independence Day!

Other than that, if you have any queries, feel free to ask

http://robinhoodarmy.com/

https://www.facebook.com/robinhoodarmy/

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This is not a sponsored post.

Cheers

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Day 2: Take a girl’s trip at least once in year ;)

Now, this is something that I plan every year and I have to tick it off year-on-year. The fad started when I began reading more articles on solo traveling and stuff. While, I’m still not comfortable taking a trip all alone (I don’t fear it but I feel a company would make the trip much better), taking a trip with my girls has done so much more to my soul than I ever thought it would do.

This is something I always look forward to. Sometimes, because of work, A (husband) gets stuck and we’re not able to go around together, but the travel bite in me keeps pestering to take the trip even if it means going without him. I don’t know why, but the idea of going out from the city entices me a lot.

Last year, I took a trip to Kasol with my sister revelation. We learned a lot of things on the trip, which I barely think about when I go with the husband.

Then there was another trip to Calcutta with the ladies in the house (it was my MIL and SIL). More than me, it was them who were more than happy to go without their husbands. It was the first time for them in so many years of their marriage and that trip kind of opened their courage for more trips without their husbands: P

This year, after being stuck in the regular routine along with battling a lot of on stress, I finally gave in to the idea of taking a break from everything and just have some time to myself without giving second thoughts to it.

I’m happy that I have that kind of friends who’re there for you when you really want to be with them and would travel miles just to have each other’s company. This trip was to Bombay and Pune! It was nostalgic and rejuvenating! At least for me. And them, of course… I guess.

Peek-a-Boo

It mended certain irreparable things and this came as a total surprise! Everything went well and left us to look forward to more such trips.

Wherever you are, whatever is happening in your life, try to find a way and take a trip with your girls… it will heal your soul in ways you never knew ever existed. And if you have already taken one, then don’t stop… keep this ritual alive and see wonders happening to yourself.

Cheers

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The Month that went by... #AtoZReflections

I sense relief within me with a little bit of heavy heart at the same time. The blog hopping, commenting, replying, sharing... it was a phase full of utter madness and it paid off! It always does! And it always leaves you with a sense of pride.

The month was all about managing my time better, the discipline that is required to carry it off and the lessons learned.

As the AtoZ fever was in the air when the year started by, I had made up my mind on participating for the third consecutive year. Though, I did not think anything beyond that.

As February went by, a dear friend was getting all paranoid about the theme and asked me about it at the same time and I was like, dude... it’s Feb! I have a whole month to think and plan and write...

What I did not realize was this month wouldn’t just pass but would run like an Olympic athlete!

Coming up with the theme:

As always, I was confused and finally went with my heart. There was a reason behind choosing the theme I chose.

It often happens when there are certain things that happen around me and I don’t really feel comfortable about it. I am not that articulate when it comes to keeping my perspective in a group (especially family) and that is when I feel the urge to put it somewhere, to show the other side, to think from another angle different from the way everyone has been seeing all their lives, that there is so much more beyond the stereotypes, that whatever everybody does is always for a reason and explaining all of that to a bunch of people who will never come to the point of agreement, it is kind of futile.

It was all these thoughts that inspired me to come up with this theme, where I thought of writing down everything that I think, follow and believe.

I often hear, what I talk is impractical (for example, my stand on divorced women or looking beyond looks for any marriage or having a baby or not is completely one’s choice and the likes), that all of it happens in books, television series or movies. In reality, it is much more complicated. I completely vouch for it being complicated but I also vouch for the fact that it exists, that things are changing around us and that we need to change ourselves if we want the change in our society.

A to Z feelings:

Expressing my thoughts this A to Z Challenge was beyond gratifying. It made me happy because I realized I wasn’t the only one who thinks this way. With like-minded bloggers, I got an immense support and motivation, not to mention wings to my thoughts and confidence to express them loud out there.

The Discipline that came with A to Z:

Initially, I had close to 18 posts scheduled (which is so not me!) and I was doing fine but as they were coming to an end, I was panicking because I was falling out of stories but eventually every day in the evening, I sat down and wrote the post for the next day and scheduled it and started with my blog hopping.

It was the first time I had scheduled these many posts and I was happy that I did. Writing every day became kind of a ritual that I would want to continue with. April is now over and this is just the second blog post this month but I am writing every day without fail. I hope to continue this way.

Lessons Learned:

What I understood this month is when we have a deadline coming up or a challenge that we take up, we make our minds continuously think and ponder over things; we push ourselves (beyond our limits) to the extent that we never do otherwise and feel surprised for the way we perform. I, for one, have countless thoughts in my mind which I feel like writing but I don’t. I just postpone (which I am expert at) and make an excuse to myself. I assume on my own that the topic is not worthy of being written or desirable enough to form a blog post.

But this time, even the slightest or tiniest of the idea took the shape of a complete blog post. It was kind of an eye-opener for me and I’d like to keep my eyes open now.

Contented with the numbers:

I’m not a number person. Yes, I do feel happy when I reach a certain benchmark but I don’t get finicky if I don’t have them. This year, during the A to Z, my blog entered the 6-digit figure and it felt contended and worthy of everything, worthy of investing time in my blog and the peace of mind that comes with it.

Readers Choice:

‘Arranged Marriage’ was one post that caught maximum attention with the highest number of views. Other posts that intrigued the readers and compelled them to think over were Beautiful Bride, Extra Marital Affair, Identity, Quit and Understand.

You can read all the posts here.

Verdict:

All in all, it was fun writing all month and I am happy that I survived!

A big Thank you to everyone who stopped by and encouraged me with their beautiful comments and thank you to the ones who did not stop by (it only pushed me more to improve my content).

So tell me, did you participate this year? How was it? What did you learn? Where did you struggle the most?

Cheers

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Without You

Without you,

The days would be so blue,

No evening to look forward

No reason to pick a fight or two!

Without you,

Life would be so screwed

With no one around to share the woes

All I’ll have is bad mood!

Without you,

With whom will I share my stew?

And enjoy the beautiful view

And see the night pass through.

Without you,

Shopping would be so boring

No company to roam on the streets

No roaring because of your snoring!

Without you,

Gossips wouldn’t be fun

Nothing to spice it up

No joy in putting a pun! ;)

Without you,

With whom will I cry my heart’s woes?

And throw tantrums for no reason

And get my daily dose! ;)

Without you,

Who will point and tell my flaws?

And who will laugh at my faux pas?

And who will stand for me and applause?

Without you,

The Sunday cookings wouldn’t feel new

And my odd midnight cravings?

They wouldn’t be fulfilled with full credit and due!

Without you,

Who will I tease and get all pleasure?

And the endless tickles that take away your breath

Giving me our priceless laughter together, that I treasure!

Without you,

There will be no perfections

Life will be without directions

Without any connections!

~G

Linking this to Blogchatter Prompt- Without you

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Angels into Demons

The moment I close the doors

Of my room,

And am left with me all alone

The room is filled with nothing but gloom!

The angels that were dancing in the daylight

Get all melancholic, laughing at my plight

That’s when the demons come out in the dark

And show me the reality that is so stark!

‘You’re good for nothing’

‘Nothing good have you ever done in your life,

Not a single thing’

‘You will have to wait more for your happiness’

Thoughts like these bring out all the snappiness!

No Facebook newsfeed, no tweets on Twitter,

No snaps on Snapchat, and no updates on Insta,

Nothing seems to distract away the vicious thoughts

Nothing that can vanish away the woes, no friends, no folks, not even siesta!

The more you’ll lock up yourself,

The more you’re going to get trapped

Go out and breathe away the fresh air

Glow in the sunshine and get all wrapped!

And then I open my heart

And walk my way, for a new start

Finding my inspiration, with hopes held high

Walk past the demons with relief and give a sigh!

 Cheers

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10 things I love about my work

Do you love your work? I sure do. Life as a teacher has been acutely satisfying. So much so that a part of my life revolves around my work and my students. 

C'mon!. Let's explore the perks of being a teacher,

One The World knows my ability to talk! Just talk! And what better place could it be than a room filled with people, younger than your age, who have no other option than listening to you?! ;) :D Okay, jokes apart, I always find it therapeutic to interact with my students. No matter how my mood is, it always gets better after each class.

Two Who doesn’t like to stay amongst the younger crowd? Not that there is much of a difference between our ages, but it’s always a good thing to stay and meet people who’re younger than your age. It sure adds a new perspective to your thinking and involves so much of learning.

Three Isn’t it rewarding to see when someone looks up to you? To me, it’s even more motivating to keep myself live up to the expectations of my students. And that adds another sense of responsibility at the same time.

Four Daily interactions in the class, cracking jokes in order to make the subject more interesting, giving examples and going back to the time when I was a student! It makes me reminisce my old college days and all of this helps in keeping the child in me alive. 

Five Sure it occupies my time and helps me stay busy. And this is so important to keep my sanity alive. I know how miserable I get and how handy I become when I have too much of time to myself doing nothing. Sure, it ensures peace in my life :P

Six Taking one batch after the other and seeing your students come out with flying colors automatically does the due. The sense of respect in the loud and clear, ‘Thank you, Ma’am!!’ after each class is immensely satisfying. Along with the perks of recognition, accomplishing the sense of identity other being someone’s ‘Mrs’ is contagious!

Seven There was a point in my life where feeling worthless was the only sentiment I could sense.  Things changed with my work and helped me come out of that zone. The love that my students shower upon me, I don’t even know if I deserve that, but it feels exceptionally gratifying.

Eight And who can ignore the lifetime relationships and bonding that comes with it?

Nine My profession has taught me to embrace life, to consider the pebbles thrown at you as the stepping stones towards success and above all to feel grateful for changing lives for good, for shaping the thought process and for thriving towards excellence! 

Ten There was a time when I used to lose my cool real soon. But with time, my work has taught me to be patient and empathetic towards my students. Now I know, keeping calm and being a patient soul can do wonder to your class and of course, your life!

Thank goodness, I've not become like this :P

Does it ring a bell to you? Nope, you don’t necessarily have to be a teacher for it. Tell me if this post reminds you of any teacher? How were your experiences back then with them? Share with me and I am all ears J

Cheers

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For mornings like these...

It’s always good to get up early morning, don’t you think? Yes, you get a hell lot of time to do your work and stuff but what’s more enticing is the fresh air and the feel-good factor that comes with it! Don’t you feel proud of yourself, especially when you’re not a morning person? I sure feel fantastic. Opening those twitched eyes is literally a war. Like literally. And then your brain is always ready with those super creative excuses for not going for the walk that perfectly lures you... I slept late last night... I need to complete my sleep, or else I’ll feel drowsy all day... Just 5 more minutes... Have worked out 4 days in a row, one break is fine... I’ll compensate on a Sunday this time... It’s okay... ok din miss karne se kuch ni hota (missing one day won’t matter)... and so on. And you know there is no end to it, right?

Yes! It's this foggy in the morning.

One moment of weakness in the morning will make you feel guilty all day. But if you’re a brave heart and are able to fight this demon inside you, get up from your warm cozy bed and wash your face in this chilling winter, let me tell you, you’ve already won half the battle. Yes, it is a battle to get to up every day for a person who is not so fond of this ritual.

And just when you think that you are so sincere with your fitness goals and punctual about reaching, you witness dozens of people there already, before you, who’re now almost done with their workout... that is when realization strikes, where you feel you’re way behind. There are people who come no matter how cold it is, how foggy it is, if it is raining or not, or if it’s too hot and so on. The revelation that it requires much more dedication and will power than you will ever have.

But then, reaching there always leaves you inspired for the next day.

Also, as long as you are working out, it’s perfectly alright if you’re a little late.

For the fresh air amongst the serene greenery around you, those foggy mornings that refreshes your soul, the small steps that you make, feeling the pain in your muscles with every stride you take and yet you know how excellently it is healing your soul in the process. Those moments of breathlessness, and the will to make your body move till the point where it’s completely exhausted and ready to give up, and the happiness to see that you’re all in one piece, without being broken into bits and pieces. Sheer bliss.

That's my friend, all geared up in her morning armor,
because of whom, my morning walks are possible!

Did you see, how determined she is!

And for mornings like these, I am willing to struggle and fight the battle... with myself.

How are your mornings? Are you like the kind who get up at the hunch of one alarm and wake up all fresh? Or like the ones who create all the drama in the morning, like me?

Tell me more.

Linking my post to #ChattyBlogs

Cheers

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Moment of Warmth

I was in a rush. I had to take the class and I was late already. And I hate that. I don’t like being late. But that day was different. After finishing the chores, I was all set to rush for my class and there he was, my husband, standing in the way, asking me not to go.

‘You know we have to be there in an hour’

‘And you know I have a class. I can’t miss that’

‘But that function is important. You know we can’t afford to miss that one’

‘And you know there are students waiting. I can’t cancel at this moment’

‘But you won’t be free early. How long will you take to get free?’

‘After class, I have to visit the doc. That pain on my ankle is really creating a problem. I can’t bear with it anymore. And then I’ll have to buy some medicines prescribed by the doctor. It will take time’

‘Can’t you visit the doctor, tomorrow?’

‘Are you kidding me? You’ve been with me and witnessed all the sleepless nights of agony! How can you even ask me this? I have to go today.’

‘I know it’s serious, but that is also important’

‘And this, is this not important enough for you? Instead of taking me to the doctor, you are asking me to cancel it? You know how difficult it is to get Doc. S’s appointment. I’ve been waiting for weeks and finally, I've got one! And you want me to let it go?!  Sorry, Mister. Not possible’

‘Fine! Do what you want! I’ll go alone... without you!’, exclaimed A.

‘Fine!!’, as I rammed the door and left.

I was furious at that moment. In spite of understanding and being with me at the moment, he’s mad about the fact that I’m not coming with him!

Visiting a doctor is a hassle. Sure I have the appointment but the patients have to wait for hours to have their turn. It sometimes really is a test of my patience levels.

I took the class and visited the doctor. A few tests and few medicines and I was set to go home after spending 4 hours in this entire process.

I was exhausted. And angry at him. And my phone was vibrating. It was him. Why is he calling now?

‘Where are you?’

‘I’m home. What happened?’

‘Did you go to the doctor?’

‘Yes’, of course, I did. Why else does he think we were having that argument?

‘What did he say?’, as if he cares?!

‘Nothing. He has asked to get the x-ray done. I’ve got it done. Bought the medicines as well. It’s a sprain. Nothing major’

‘Oo.. okay. Everyone was asking for you here. I told them you’ll be able to come in a while. But I think you should stay at home. Take rest. That is more important. This, I’ll handle.’

‘Are you sure?’, I’m sure he’s kidding. I know how important these functions are for him!

‘Ya... ya... I’ll be home in a while. See you then. Bye’

‘Bye’

And so effortlessly, my anger was gone. One single phone call from him that says he cares had melted my heart away. There was so much of warmth in that minute long call. And just like this, I was spilled in love, all over again!

And guess what, he was home early and sat by me all evening. Now, this is what I call happiness.

Tell me what melts your heart away? Tell me about your moments of joy filled with all the warmth and love.

Cheers

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“I’m blogging about my #MagicOfWarmth moment at BlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed Hot Oil”

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8 Things 2016 taught me

2016 had mostly been a rough year for many of us. For me, it was good in a lot of aspects, yet was quite sluggish towards the end. The joy 2015 on the writing front was nullified in 2016 :P. There were some great travel stories, fun, surprises and a few lessons which I would want to take forward. Sure I am going to share them here on myspace. C'mon, now let's explore them.

1. Your family is the one only who truly loves you the way you are. Everyone else will always do/say things against you at one point in life.

2. No one really cares about things they say they do. 

3. Your work always speaks for you, more than ever you can say for yourself. Love doing it. 

4. Commitment is important. It will always make you a better person. A better version of you. 

5. No one but you can help yourself. Love yourself and discover the power within you. 

6. Try to limit your words. Yes, it's coming from me (:P). This year, I shall be looking towards the art of speaking less. 

7. Observe people around. Watch out their actions. Be more vigilant. This is something, I really really need to learn. Being gullible hasn't been a very positive thing for me. I just believe what people say or show. But there's always more to it. Which I fail to understand or simply just ignore. 

8. Fight for your dreams. At the end of the day, they'll be the ones that will give you peace of mind. 

Writing sure is therapeutic.

I feel happy after writing. And I shall be doing it more often now. Enough of going into the space of not writing!

Looking forward to a lot of things in terms of writing in 2017, which I couldn't do last year. Happy New Year.

What were your lessons from the year gone? Anything you wanna share? 

Happy Reading

Cheers 

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Climb

Linking with Haiku Horizons

Cheers

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Haiku is a traditional form of a Japanese poetry that consists of 3 lines, following a 5-7-5 syllable rule (first and third line 5 syllables, middle line 7 syllables). They don’t necessarily have to rhyme.

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