Knock Knock...anybody there?

Knock Knock! Hello, anybody there! 

It seems like ages since I logged into this blog space.  I even forgot how to login into blogger, and what my password is! That's what 2 years of absence in this space has taught me.  Lots of changes, and loads of experiences to share, but very little time.  I know I always seem to whine about not having enough time, but I now have a genuine reason!

Hola Amigos!

It seems as if 2013 has passed just like a wink of an eye, and the new year splashed like a wave on our face.  Even before we could wipe it off and reminisce the gone days, a month is already over.  What is it?  I feel like the days are going faster than supersonic flights! I dug this blog from 100 feet below the ground, dusted it off and have adored a new dress very recently.  So, it wouldn't be fair if I don't leave a scribble or two.  Atleast I wanted to write here before 2014 ends!!

Shoo away Cancer!

There's not a single soul who's not apprehensive about cancer.  The very word has such a power that it brings jitters to your whole body. I am no different here. It isn't actually the fear of What-If-I-Get-It syndrome, but it is some kind of a strange feeling that baffles my mind.  One that is daunting, and leaves me with heavy heart invariably when I hear someone say "Do you know, X is diagnosed with cancer"!! 

One cent more, please?

On continuation of what I had written about the street painters, I have also seen interesting (though sad) street artists performing on the street to attract people. As said that's their only earning.  It is very entertaining for us to see them, but how much will they earn considering the hard work they put in?  

Have you even seen a Statue of liberty in Rome?  Confused??? Here's one, but this statue does not represent Freedom :(  it represents poverty? Unemployment? Hardways of earning? Surving? 

Here's one human sitting decorated for hours and hours together just to earn that attention from people who pass him and earn those tiny cents for his living! 

People get amused seeing them, take pictures, videos and just leave without even leaving some cents for them.  

They even stand near these lovely human beings statues and take pictures. 

  

I will be glad if they are making a good earning out of it, but it is heartwrenching to see someone just standing there not being able to eat anything when they want, or even pee on time!!

I've seen these people in every busy shopping streets of the tiny European towns.   And they change their costumes according to the season!

Disguising oneself to entertain kids is different from this.  Earlier I used to see cartoon characters dressed in the theme parks and beaches.  I enjoyed them THEN.   Even during Christmas when I see 100s of Santas around everywhere I see only fun. 

But when I realize that's the hard work of a sole breadwinner of a family I just feel dreadful.  

Behind this mask there is a man or a woman who wishes to survive for his/her family and wanted to bring a few cents to give his children soup and bread!  

Suprise!!!

I love surprises - only good ones!! Equally I love giving surprises too.  The amount of eagerness and funny reactions we see through the other person's face gives a lovely happiness in its own.   Once while S attempted to surprise me, I was a bit scared and it caused a Hearty attack as well!!  But I enjoy the thrill.

Example of a "Meaningless" post

A hectic day at work - skipped my lunch and ended up crawling into the kitchen after work just to find nothing.  Too busy and too tired today, but managed some simple dinner.  And then I realised "Dammit today is not a Wednesday".  Had it been a Wednesday, I would lousily posted a picture and attempted to write no word on them.  Why there's no Wordless Tuesdays! 

Value of life!

We hardly realise the importance of a person when they are with us.  We neglect to show them the love, affection and care amidst the busy life.  And one unfortunate day, when we realize that the person is no more, we regret and talk about how much we miss them and love them.  I'm not scourging over and say this is wrong. But had we told this when the person is with us, they would have felt really happy isn't' it?

Yeh Dil Maange More!

Yeh Dil Mange more..not the gifts, but love! Not just me, every soul on earth do yearn for love, a cuddle, a smile, little conversation, some attention, a lifetime camaraderie!

IS there anything beautiful/satisfying than sharing the love with the one who loves you so much? If you do think sharing love is THE MOST beautiful thing, then why do we have to wait for a year till this valentine's day to do that? Do we see auspicious time for sharing love?

Many of them (read media) have adulterated the meaning of Love and Valentine's Day. It's not just the day meant for 2 people (a couple who's in love or married). There can't be any discrimination made on this. It's a right to love and to be loved! It's for every single living thing - from animals to birds or insects, to people who live in the streets, to people who work hard to earn the bread, to the one who's been neglected in life, to the one's who've been asked to stay in old age home..I could just go on adding so many! But the point is to share and give love! So give them all the love generously, endlessly!

The world should never be in deficit of love! If that happens, that's the end of world! Long live love!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!

A walk to remember!

Dear S, 
I promise to you
when we grow old and
reminisce about our days of togetherness
the journey we take through 
our memory lane will be 
the best walk to remember!   

Much love,
A

What's your state of mind - An Illustration

I've often co-related state of mind to a water wave!  Probably that's true.  That's why people say "Why your mind is wavering?"  

I thought I will illustrate their relation through photographs of waves!  I know, while my mind was wavering through a topic to write today, this crap was born!!  Enjoy and get enlightened ;)

This is how your mind is when you are in shanti (calm) state

Initial stages of worry and stress cause a bit of shake in your mind

Slight increase in blood pressure, not being able to concentrate, sleepless nights, and nothing-is-happening syndrome arise! And your mind starts raging!

 Increased tension, stress, getting annoyed, yelling at someone, bad moods are common in this phase.

 Verge of frustration, anger, depression, high BP, feel like slapping or kicking someone

And you are all set to explode

The actual explosion of mind happening here!  Often portrayed by the act of yelling, swearing, crying, even attempting to self harm or cause physical harm to others!!

The mind slowly tries to calm down! 

 You kind of realise your act of stupidity in this phase or even wonder why you behaved in such a way!

Getting back to normal stage!

I know what you are thinking just now!  Don't worry.  My mind is still in a shathi state only.  It's just I thought of illustrating the mind set and behavioral patterns in a nice way!  But I understand that it turned out to be a total nonsense :)

Now just erase those insane words, and enjoy those pictures. These lovely wave formations (actually high tide waves) just amazed me so much in my recent trip.  I took 100's of pictures of such rising tide and water splashing on the rock or a building!  And on a good weather condition (read non freezing cold), one can enjoy this sudden showers thrown on you!  Totally.  

The day that went

I know you all are already getting freaked out with my daily posts, but thanks for supporting me in this journey by reading these never so ending nonsense.

Albeit it being Friday, my day hasn't been that great. It's a bit of work pressure, dragging and boring. On top of that I was feeling so sleepy.

Yesterday I uploaded this picture in flickr and thought it was completely meant for this friday. And I completely feel positive about it!! A day should have its little nice things here and there. And its weekend.

And I can get extra hours of sleep tomorrow. Can't wait for that. I think I am kind of rambling over lying on my bed with my half eyes closed. And eventually this is my first post typed from my phone. Thanks to S!!

Yawn yawn!!! I am going now. Good night or have a good day or whatever!!

Today's Special :)

Hope you all had a great Pongal / Sankranthi!  As I said yesterday, it was a silent day, but S got a bit better.  Glad!
Today I did not manage to get up early, so everything turned out to be messy and happened a bit late.  But that said, I did cook all that I had in mind.  S thoroughly enjoyed them!
Here's a quick catch of what I did :)

That's sweet pongal, salt pongal, vada and tomato chutney! 

Randoms on Saturday

Saturday just flew by at the wink of the eye!  I wanted to write something else, but could not manage them. Wanted to do shopping today as tomorrow is Pongal.  But nothing happened.   S is not keeping very well, so had to be a nice wify to take care of him. Prepared pepper and cumin Rasam to keep his throat soothing.  Just sat next to him and we were going through the recent photo albums.  Saw 2 movies in the TV.  And now the time is already 10.45pm.    I had to get up a bit early to prepare Ven Pongal (boiled rice and moong dhal seasoned with pepper,cashew and salt) and Chakkara Pongal (rice and dhal boiled along with Jaggery).  So, I sign off now and let you listen to this melody. 


I'm currently addicted listening to this lovely song from a tamil movie.  It's totally romantic and soothing!  Here's the link to hear the song, if you are interested. 


 Vizhigalil Oru Vaanavil by Deiva

A day in Ilford

Ilford is a large town in London.  Apart from this all I know about Ilford is that it has lot of asian community, 2 temples, and lots of indian restaurants around (south indian to be precise).

Bygone year

The year that went had been a superfast rollercoaster ride isn't it!  It feels like 2011 just now started, but we already welcomed 2012 with a beaming smile.   The year 2011 had been such a memorable year for me - had some accomplishments, bad times, did some silly things, made great friends.

Diwali from Chennai

So much of plan and anticipation on this day is finally completed.  After a long flight journey and continuous jet lag, we went on shopping spree for purchasing diwali clothes.  


The weather in Chennai was awesome, much to my surprise, until yesterday.  It was so cool and for sometime I felt like being in Ooty. But today, it was back to normal!


Hope you all had a fabulous Diwali!  Will write back soon...

Ten on Tuesday - 6

I am bored of speaking about my hibernation every now and then.  Simply thought of catching up with small things that are exciting me these days!

Finally, I got it!

It's a D-Day today! You know why?  I got the results of my work assessments, and I have my job secured! Sounds crazy huh!  Yeah, due to massive change and restructuring, everyone in my company had to go through assessment.  Those who clear this test, can continue on their job.  Rest have to leave the business irrespective of their tenure at the company, or their past good performances!

3 years and still running strong!

He is a cricket fanatic; she nearly hates watching cricket for more than 30 minutes. 

He is patient; she is restless.

He is responsible; every bit of her is irresponsible…err…yes….to some extent….

He takes thoughtful decisions; she’s spontaneous.

He enjoys cooking; she hates that very word.  

She loves reading books, and can even shoo away the sleepy eyes when she reads.  For him, books are good sleeping pills.  The moment he sees the book or touch them, he will fall asleep.

She loves watching cartoon, animated movies, while he snores in the theatre (that too wearing a 3D glass!!)

She worship JK Rowling and Harry potter, while he asks who Hermoine is. 

She loves buying clothes, earring and other accessories, while he loves shopping for accessories for his mobile and laptop and ipad…

She is an impulsive shopper, while he stands behind her to let her not to choose unnecessary things :(

She always wants more clothes, handbags, and never satisfied even she has enviable collection of watches.  He is happy with what he has! 

She is completely immature, while he compensates for this.

She always make unrealistic dreams, while he makes those weird dreams come true.

She builds her castle in air, while he makes sure that castle has strong foundations!

She uses her camera to see the beautiful world, while he sees them thought her eyes!

I can keep writing pages and pages more about both of them and the contrasting taste they have.  But did you hear me saying that this contrast in them made a deep bonding!!  

yes...that day...that year!! (*Blush blush)...3 years had just flew away. It feels wonderful and looks like I’ve lived 1000 years with this man…But I want to live another 1000 more years as happy as these 3 years!

 

Every morning I wake up just to see him sleeping beside me;

And I sleep in the arms that I know will never leave me

I want to love him more and more everyday

Throughout my life, and

Grow old along with him!!

I’ve heard few of my friends saying that our career is lost after marriage, that we are just dumped into the world of responsibilities and house chores!  Well, I wouldn’t accept that!

I did all the housing chores, but that did not stop me from learning every day.  I took a 2 year willing break from work, and they were the best times I should say.  For outsider's eyes, I wasted 2 years by doing farming, planting seeds, feeding my fish, and facebooking and all!!

But I did learn a lot:-

learnt a new language, 

learnt to survive in a non-english speaking country, 

became more effective in using my body language for communication, 

learnt to adjust and appreciate the cultural differences around me, 

learnt a lot of history and geography (again!!), 

learnt cooking, 

mastered googling, 

learnt how to take better photography, 

learnt its tips and tricks, 

learnt using Photoshop and paint.net.

I wouldn't say any melodramatic dialogue like "They say, behind every successful man there is women, but behind me, there is this man"

But yes, in everything I learnt, I had S behind me, supporting me in every step I take and make sure he backs me up, makes sure I don’t fall, make sure I travel in the right direction!  What more can I ask for??  He is simply the best!!

 

On the lighter side, he deserves an award of excellence, an award for being patient, and being able to bear with me for 3 years and for the future years to come, and for bearing my food and experimentations, and for being an unpaid model for my photo-shoots :)

PS: Was on a holiday spree celebrating W-day whole of last week, and less did I realize that I again have to clear up the pile of unread posts!! Please bear patiently until I read your posts and comment on them !!

Ten on Tuesday - 4

It’s time to say bye to winter, and welcome the spring with warm open hands and hug.