Something About Anything

 I thought of restarting this blog from the new year. But then I planned so many things for the new year that it was just overwhelming. Does it happen with you?  As the year starts approaching December my brain starts thinking about all the things that I wanted to do and didn’t get a chance to do it. So as a custom my brain did exactly that in first week of December. This time I wanted to be a little smart or act smart so I made a digital list of all the things I wanted to do but didn't do, I want to do in 2022 and things that have always been on my mind to do. Obviously the list was long and I was over enthusiastic 🙂. I didn’t want to leave anything for any other year. This is THE year or MY year …. This is what I was feeling.  Come January 1st and everything was just so perfect. I was trying hard to do it all. And feeling happy and exhausted. By 10th of January all of it felt so exhausting that all collapsed. I had seen so many videos about planning and setting routine...

People who know me personally, know it very well that I have always been a foodie. And that is obvious because my Aai makes the ‘bestest’ food preparations. Let it be the simple dal khichadi or multi-layered biryani, she makes it the best. So now I grew up eating this delicious food and loved it. And I grew up to be a ‘healthy’ person. This theory of me being healthy was associated with the fact that I was born a ‘healthy’ baby. Carrying this belief all through my life I never questioned my weight till there came a time when my legs would pain from prolonged standing. I would feel breathless after barely climbing a flight of stairs. When I checked my weight, I was no longer healthy, but an overweight person. At that time I was fortunate to have come across a Zumba class along with a diet program. The Zumba class was fantastic and helped me build my stamina. In the diet program, I was basically asked to stop sugar in all forms including fruits. So I was on a no-sugar, no-fruit, no-wheat...

I have not written this poem, but this poem has been a part of my growing up. We (my brother and me) had this poem in our room. I have believed in this poem when I was growing up and still do. My Daddy started his business when we were very young. So during our growing up years, he was always busy - travelling and working. We never had the connection with him as we have with our Aai (Mom). With our Aai we both can talk about anything and everything on this earth. But with Daddy the topics are always limited. We call up Aai and tell her that we love her, we miss her at times. But with Daddy, words just seem to stop somewhere. So this one’s for my Daddy. Father Father is the one who holds the family close,  And keeps a watch over all. He is the one the family knows,  Will answer when they call.  And though he never seems,  To get the praises that he is due. The world is a better and happier place,  Because your father loves you!!  Love you Daddy, always have ...

Our mind wanders so much. Not that I noticed it today but I wanted to share something with all of you. Something that occured to me when my mind was wandering around. To start with let me tell you how and why the wandering started. Of late I have started reading a lot of nonfiction books. But during this lockdown I didn't want to read any nonfiction but a fictional book. Unfortunately we don't have a huge collection of fiction and whatever we have I have already read it. So I got our Kindle to check if I have something that I wanted to re-read. And then I saw the book - Marley & Me by John Gregon. This is when my mind stopped being grumpy about not having any new fictional book and started travelling back to the time when I had first read this book. In 2008-09 we were in Winnipeg, Canada. The one thing that I still miss from Winnipeg is the huge public library. I read most books during my time in Winnipeg. I read Marley & Me, first time this year. People who know me wo...

I know you have heard this before but I feel it is even more important to disconnect to be connected in uncertain and challenging times like these. We are all locked inside our homes. We are not stepping out. We are not meeting people. We are missing our daily routines. It's not the usual holiday feeling when everyone is together having fun. We all have our work to do, then the household chores, homeschooling, and whatnot. It is really difficult right now balancing everything. But when I look at my daughter who will turn 9 this year, I feel really bad. The kids are stuck indoors with parents working, no play dates, no going out… just stuck indoors with their toys, games or some TV or video time. When the child is looking at this situation, it is no less than a time when every ones home, everyone together - only missing part is the fun that we usually have. I completely understand that we cannot stop working or we cannot stop doing the chores but when you disconnect from your work...

You do remember the comic strip, ‘LoveIs’ that used to come in Times of India or Indian Express. I am not sure where I first saw it. But I started following that comic strip regularly. Then when I went to the US for my higher studies I came across a website that used to publish this comic strip every day. That website was always the first thing to check when I started my laptop in the morning. When I came back to India I kind of lost touch with that habit. I use to remember it and then check the site once in a while. But I never really checked the website every day.  Just yesterday when I was going through my old hard disk, I came across this folder named ‘LoveIs’. It was a folder in which I had saved all the images of the comic strip when I was in the US. And seeing all those images was like remembering the days when I met my husband. I had actually made a card for him compiling different images of LoveIs comic. I know you will laugh at it. Even I do. But I was young then an...