Share Your World

Thank you Cee.

Would you prefer a reading nook or an art, craft, photography studio? Since I don’t have a creative bone in my body, I wouldn’t know what to do with an art and craft studio. I like taking pictures but not sure if I like it enough to want to have a photography studio. But I love love reading nooks. That was one of my top wishes in our renovation project. We have several windows in our house now, I just need to find a way to make them into a reading nook.

Tell how you are feeling today in the form of a weather report. (For example, partly cloudy, sunny with a chance for showers, etc.) Partly sunny with intermittent clouds, temperature in mid 60s. The intermittent clouds is a reflection of the blues that recovering from a long weekend entails.

If you could witness or physically attend any event past, present or future, what would it be? I would have liked to be physically present for both my grandparents’ sadabhishekam (grandpas’ 80th b’day).

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. Tim Ferris podcast Tribe of Mentors inspired me this past week. In particular, I liked the talk called Busy is a decision. The crux is if something is a priority, we would make the time for it. If we do not make time for it, it just means that it is not a priority.

Soulful Sunday

Another Thanksgiving break has come to an end. This was an unusual one for us. Normally, we either have family or friends visiting us or we are out traveling. This time we just stayed home. I will admit, as someone who likes to take on more, it was hard slowing down and my restless mind was craving for something else. But the universe has a way of giving us what we need the most.  And what we desperately needed was some decluttering and leisure, which I am glad we managed to get in plenty over the long weekend.

I have been listening to some great podcasts over the weekend. I listened to Eckhart Tolle and Shonda Rhimes. I listened to some tips on how to say NO. I also listened to how two little girls chose between girls and boys scouts. These talks brighten my day like no other. I am so very thankful that I get to enjoy the company of great thinkers at the click of a finger.

Meanie

“You were a meanie today.” said Ram as he inched closer to me at bedtime. “And you can’t keep making the same mistake again and again.”  I was hungry and in a moment of weakness, I yelled at his tiniest infraction. So I was guilty as charged. Apparently, the child is keeping count and according to him, I had yelled at him last week. Sigh!

This conversation aside, I am thankful to my family for being forgiving of my temper tantrums and meltdowns. As a person letting out the steam, it is therapeutic for me. But as folks at the receiving end of the unpleasantness,  it must be traumatic for them. This is not lost on me. I try and intend to try harder to exercise control and hold myself back instead of unleashing a torrent of words. 

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s about 9:20 P.M. I open the kitchen cabinets, one by one, and smile to myself with satisfaction. Since the time I woke up this morning, I poured myself into micro cleaning the kitchen and the dining room. A place for everything and everything in its place, a statement from my 11th standard commerce book comes to mind. It was a statement meant to explain one of the management principles. I think today I earned the right to say that my kitchen and dining room bear some semblance of order. It feels good. It feels like home.

I would like to think that we have been dealing with renovation related disruption gracefully, understanding for the most part that this temporary inconvenience and disruption is the price we pay for living in a house that we are renovating. However, there have been days, especially this month when we have felt disoriented from having to scramble around for essentials. Luckily, we see the end of the tunnel plus everyday the progress made is tangible.  So even when it feels like we are in a rudderless boat, there is a sense of calmness in seeing the shore is within our eyesight.. If temporary disruptions that is expected to have a happy ending can be this challenging, I can’t imagine what it must be to not have a guaranteed home to come to.

This Thanksgiving, I am deeply grateful for the roof over our head and for our cosy little nest. I am thankful that we were able to take the renovation project on and run with it. I am thankful that we are working with someone we quite like. I am thankful that the kids were troopers, accommodating the multiple trips to the tile store and not letting this project come in the way of their learning. I am thankful that Da and I spent a ton of time together figuring out the nitty gritties. Much gratitude indeed!

Happy Thanksgiving from ours to yours.

The newly minted teenager

“Can you believe it amma, I am a teenager!” the child posed a rhetorical question as he chomped his cheese filled crispy dosai on his special morning. We exchanged a knowing glance, as if acknowledging the enormity of it all,  but mostly to check how many dosais were left on the plate. A little voice in my head whispered, “No and Yes”

No, I can’t believe you are a teenager!  I can’t believe it because, it just feels like yesterday that I held your tiny body in my arms for the very first time. I can’t because even when you are strong enough to lift me, you will always be small enough for me to coddle you. I can’t because all I said was skip, hop and jump, and here you are nearly as tall as me. I can’t because I fight my impulse to protect you before I can let you learn from your mistakes. I can’t because I think of you as my darling darling baby in my head and can’t hold myself from smothering you with my loud noisy kisses.

Yes, yes and yes, you are so a teenager! I can believe it because of the way your eyes twinkle and your lips smack as we talk about chocolate pancakes, cheesy ravioli, bean burritos and masala pooris. I can believe it because I have seen you grow inch by inch right under our noses. I can because we are shoe shopping in adult aisles for you. I can because no topic is taboo or off limits for us.  I can because when you make a mistake you are mature enough to come up to us and confess. I can because you take ownership and responsibility to get your tasks done. I can because we have thoughtful conversations around how we can support each other, be it fitness or staying organized.  I can because even when it’s hard to accept, you understand our values and who we are as a family.  I can because when I hug and kiss you, I hold you a second longer knowing that it’s only a question of time before your smooth buttery cheeks give way to tiny buds of facial hair.  I can because I can count on my fingers the number of years that are left before you spread your wings and fly from our cosy little nest.

Happiest of birthdays to the newly minted teenager in our home. You are such a fun, kind, wise, and witty dude. We love you from the depths of our hearts and are profoundly grateful for your presence in our lives. Be kind. Be brave. Work hard. Make a difference. Be YOU. XOXO. 

The blogging medium

I open “Thoughts Unlimited 4” google doc and scroll down to the 90th page, the page that I am typing on now.  I tend to type my posts on google document before posting it here on my online journal. This is my fourth file, and I have written more than 350 pages over a span of 11 years.

Within my circle of friends, I know of many people who have felt compelled to write all their life. I am not one of them. Growing up, I never felt the itch to write in a diary or a journal. The closest I can say I started writing was after I left high school. I felt the urge to put pen to paper out of wanting to be in touch with my high school friends. I used to write long descriptive letters to my friends and for a while had the pleasure of receiving equally long descriptive replies. But once the business of adulting took over, the practice dwindled. I adapted. I wrote less. I shared less.

Thankfully, a friend introduced me to blogging and very soon it became a platform that allowed me to write, articulate, and share without any dependencies. A place where I could explore my writing side and discover my voice. I am not exaggerating when I say that without blogging, there would have been no writing for me. So I am utterly grateful for this medium for igniting that dormant spark of writing in me. It has truly been a pleasure!

Share Your World

Thank you Cee for these thought provoking questions. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

If you were having difficulty on an important test and could safely cheat by looking at someone else’s paper, would you do so? I would like to think that I would choose to have a clear conscience instead of writhing in guilt from cheating. I would rather fail and cut my losses than qualify for something that I am not ready for. But hey, hypothetical problems are easier to solve on paper than when they strike you in reality. So who knows? I just hope I have the courage to hear the little voice in my head and do the right thing.

What things in nature do you find most beautiful? Sunrise, sunset, fall colors, foggy mornings, flowers in full bloom, spider webs with due drops, sunny skies, verdant leaves, lush green fields, sun rays filtering through trees, rainbows, nests, sea shells, snow capped mountains, brooks and streams, water falls, and more!

Complete this sentence: When I travel I love to…. people watch, be a passerby and soak in the world around me.

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week? I appreciated my home and my family after traveling on business in the first half of the week last week. I found joy in the most mundane of tasks – loading and unloading dishwasher, after a couple of days of not having access to my kitchen. I appreciated feeding simple home cooked dhal rice for my children after having them on a diet of processed and packaged food. As much as I detest a trip to the beauty parlor, I appreciated the outcome – clean eyebrows and hair colored with henna.  I was inspired by the quotes in Hari’s classroom. Wonder inspired and awed me!

Thank You

Today, at work, someone I interact with sent a very thoughtful and heartwarming thanksgiving mail . When I wrote back to her, she said, “You give me credibility more than you know. Thank you…!”

As much as I would like to think that I derive fulfillment from the intrinsic value that my job gives me, I felt much appreciated with that personal note and external validation.  It made me feel that what I do matters and that it’s important to do my job to the best of my abilities.

I am thankful for the much needed reminder that a small thank you goes a long way. When someone has made a difference, it is important to take the time and effort to express genuine appreciation.