Day 13: Mom’s food, shopping and much more

Mama's foodd. !! Even if you are in your deathbed, the best food you have ever tasted will be your mom's food. Mom's signature chicken curry is what I love the most.  Thought of it itself will flood your mouth. A thought which would cross my mind innumerable times would be 'How did she ever learn to cook!! ' Im in my mid twenties, i still have no clue! Two blissful days of good food.

Later in the evening was the mom and daughter shopping time. Ah, lovely! Mom and me are the best shopping pair. She's got this inner eye which would tell you if a dress would look good on me at the first instant. We would flutter from one shop to another. :D It was my sister's birthday. So we ordered a cake, took new dresses for her.(for me too). Gave few clothes for stitching.

And night time was dress rehearsal time when she would let me loot her wardrobe for sarees. Until recently I had no eye for sarees. It is definitely an elegant wear, also a patience tester. So everytime I go home, i pick out one of her exquisite ones, and try wearing them without causing much damage. :) This is what I would call, mummy time :D I love it :D

I'm recharging for the next few stressful weeks.

87 days to go !! 

Day 12 : Travel to home

Home is where you really belong. No matter how bad it is, how insecure it it, how difficult they are, every one has their haven. Some place you can escape to. I'm going home, to recharge, to refill. Ah parents, even if you are in your thirties or forties, they would pamper you as if you were 5. A place you can be your self. a place where you would recognize the musty smell of the tattered bed, a place where you can hear the hollow step in the stairs, where you would blindly know how to tighten that pipe which leaks.

Where you can be your ugly self and yet be loved. Where you can break down in front of them, and yet be considered strong. Where you can blindly count on everyone there without asking for confirmation.

Most of the times, heaven on earth

Day 11: Completed travelogue!!

Its such a feeling of accomplishment when I finish a travelogue. :) I just feel so good. That article needs some more correction but all the same it good to see my efforts come out decent, if not good. Apart from find out a lot of bugs in our new app, the other best thing today is me staying up till midnight and finishing this up!

Kudos to me!

More places to see, more to discover.

Day 10: Yaaay!! Love the mechanical noise

What a morning to wake up to! :D I had a box beside me when I woke up!!. Canon 650D!! At last. Its a wishlist striking month!. Feels awesome to hold it in my hand. The pics looks like it is sponged off from the reality!. I need to find time to fiddle with it. :) My hands are full for the next few months :D 

I love my hands full of things that I would love to do!. 

Day 9: Conferences!

Meeting people is something I started loving recently.. Usually I meet people and tend forgetting their names in 10 mins. But since some time, I have been trying to remembering them. I mean, I would really love when someone remembers my name :) Definitely everyone would. :)

Today my day was at Lalit Ashok Hotel, a Microsoft conference. Purely technical. Usually for every meet I take a position somewhere behind. But this time, I reluctantly chose somewhere close by the speaker. I have a problem in speaking in front of the crowd too. But this time, may be because I am sitting right in front, I seemed to be relaxed, and at my ease. Came in the spot light few times. And I liked it too :)

Secondly, My camera is reaching tomorrow. After a very long wait. :D :D This month is total excitement ! :D

Day 8 : Twin joys!

I'm back with athena :D So yeah, from today I have a new companion. The machine feels chic :). I mean, I rather spend a little than the normal, for something which is powerful yet looks ultra modern and sexy. I was little apprehensive about the 14 inch. But this more than enough! 

And I'm in love with the keyboard! :) I'll post a review about the machine after a week. Only then I would be able to comment about the performance. Now that I have a laptop I need to focus of effective time management so as to find time to do the things I love. And finally, get a decent laptop bag :) 

The next lovely news is that my camera has been received by Akash. Ahhh.. That is one dream that I have been carrying for more than a year. Looks like this year is a year for gadgets for me. :) I loved gadgets from time immemorial. Loved eveything from walkmans, tvs, ipods, computers, laptops, cameras. Its strange for a lady to be a gadget geek, but it so happens I am one. :)

Life isnt all that unruly , is it? :)

Day 7: Bundle of joy

Its after years I'm seeing a new born. Anna Isabel; my niece. Only big as your forehand, with tiny wisps of black hair, her cheeks softer than the cotton candy, her fingers so fragile, cocooned within her blanket, she sleeps peacefully...

I felt a rush of emotion when I saw her first. It overwhelming to see a life so pure, so delicate, born into this beautiful world... I see why you call a baby bundle of joy. :) She blinked open her eyes, traced our movements with her pebble black eyes.. Wonder how much does she understand. It must be a quite a shocker for her to come out of the womb into a cacophony and grasp all thats going on around her. After about 20 minutes, she decides to fall back to sleep. After all its people standing around her cradle and blabbering something which she can make no sense of.

I had taken work at home today as I was baby sitting my elder nephew. Being around a 5 year old is a definitely a stress remover. We watched tv for a while, played house where I would "cook" for her dolls and go to imaginary markets to buy groceries. We should learn a thing or two from these little ones, like how they dont worry about anything else, how they let their imagination run wild, how they would patiently build legos. I learnt a thing or two from her today. :) Re-learning few things.

I'm getting Athena tomorrow. :)

A week has gone past since I started blogging regularly. :) One happy thing a day! So that itself is pleasing!

93 days to go! :)

Day 6 : Familiar faces

Just as Athena came, she left. :( There was a small issue with the keypad and had to be sent for replacement. It left me wondering is happiness short lived??? I mean these days, I just fall into a black hole, struggling to come out to daylight. I started this blog so as to help me cope with the tough times. I am trying to help myself find one good thing to keep me going. To keep my spirits high and not breathe fire or become the weeping willow. What I'm going through right now, perhaps I'll blog about it later. And no, I dont have disease. Its just life getting unruly with me.  But I guess, when life gets difficult, you need to fight to stay alive.

Find the tiniest bit of hope and hold on to it. Keep fighting for your life and your love.

So coming back to what brought a tiny smile to my face is meeting a familiar face on road. I was walking briskly to the bus stop. The cold wind ruffled my hair, as though teasing me to ease up. But I wasn't in mood to play with the wind, my day grumpy, I had quite a lot of things to worry about. As I was re-running the events which occurred during the day, suddenly I see two people getting out from a rick. That curly hair is so familiar. I turn around , and stare at him, Ha! Ashwin Aryan! :D I smile,  more than a smile, I nearly yell. 

Well you might be thinking that he's my best friend. Well no, we were batch-mates while in college. We were not in the same class nor were we best of friends but seeing a familiar face on road did lighten my mood. We spoke for few mins, since I had to rush home. I bid him goodbye and left. It was pleasant to meet an old friend. An old friend from college will indeed take you back to those days. When life was at its epitome, all bright and colorful. Memories scattered over my mind like the shells which washed up on shore. The pranks, the laughter, the fights and the patch ups. Though those days have gone by, it has given me a lifetime of memories. 

Even in the toughest day, you are given one opportunity to smile.

Day 5: Athena arrives

After much of anticipation, Athena arrives. Sleek, smart and sexy. I got her by evening. The day seemed longer in the wait. Voila! I have my partner in creation in all things beautiful. After years of patience and perseverance I have her. My beautiful lady.

She made my day. Weeks of exploration! :)

Life isn’t that bad after all :)

Day 4: Fingers crossed

All excited. Fingers crossed. Tomorrow is day when my Athena arrives. Goddess of intelligence, skill, strategy; my portal to the wide wide world. After months of relentless searching, re-searching, asking opinions, changing options, I finally decided on a laptop. My own laptop. Samsung Ultrabook. I have been wanting a laptop for more than a year. Finally, I have enough money to get one. And strike off one item from my wishlist. :D(Striking off is more exciting). Its always a moment of pride when you buy something from your hard earned money.

Its been 3 years since I started working, and every time I make an invest in a gadget, there is this shiver down my spine. When the first time 15000 was swiped from my card for my point and shoot camera, I felt my blood drain with it. :D My mother always used to say, "You will know the value of hard earned money only when you start earning" , and yes, as always, your mother is always right. :)

Tomorrow I make the payment and bring her home. :) And yes, even though it was a exhausting day, I feel good. Its always good to look forward to the arrival of something or someone.

 This year is a year of parting with most of my close and loved friends moving to different places. Goodbyes are always harder. With two years of absolute fun, hanging out, night outs, partying, time had come when we all had to go in separate ways. But we always look forward to the "next time". Today was one of the days when my best friend (yeah seven years maketh a best friend) told me that he's gonna be in town on Sept 29th. I nearly squealed out aloud when I saw the message. :D 

I have a something and a someone to look forward to!! :D

Day 3: Listening to the heart

One question I often hear is "Why did you resign your bank job?" People still roll their eyes when I say to them "Glad I did". I have had a troubled arithmetic childhood which continued all through college. And it was nothing but irony when I got a bank job! I was not wired to sit in a cubicle and count bank notes. Do heavy lifting mathematics(Yes counting is included in heavy lifting). Though the amount of calculations you do is minimal in modern banks, I found it stressful. Stressful is an understatement. :)

On the other hand, I always had something for computers. It used to be pure amazement when I see a PC boot up. To see the screen flicker and come to life. I love the fonts, the calculations, the colors. the cursor, things it could do. May be, it was my first love. I could handle most of the tasks from spreadsheet calculations for my father's college related work, word functions, even setting up a dial up internet connection when I was 10 years old. I still remember opening up the CPU to fix something, it was like the insides of some living thing, the faint rumbling of the processor, wires running all over, leds, chipset. I did not know any of the weird little parts which made up my love, yet the machinery swept me off my feet. I knew these lifeless things would definitely a part of my life.

I did not have a confusion about what stream I want to choose in 10th grade or for my under graduation. But after my graduations, life did give me one of its signature hammer blows. I got a bank job. Though recession was almost over, and the economic state was definitely better, companies did not come for campus placements that year. The only MNC which came was TCS, who apparently chucked me out after 4 rounds. The next one which came was none other than Federal Bank. I have nothing against the bank or bsankers. I just did not want a bank job. All the 4 years of hardwork in computer engineering would go down the drain if I were to join bank. And yet, to have some job was better than having no job. So I attempted the test, and to my utter dismay, I cleared all rounds. Within no time I got my offer letter and joining date. My parents were proud, over joyed, relatives and family friends applauded. I tried to convince everybody that it was not my piece of cake, my efforts were wasted.  And I was morose, nearly dead.

Before all my batchmates who got into IT companies started their work, I packed my bag to leave for my bank which was in the rural area of trivandrum. It was followed by months of agony, despair, frustration. I regretted every minute, if only I did what I want, if only I followed my heart. I did learn a lot of new things. Things I would not have learnt if I had not joined a bank. My heart always went back to the advertisement for a software engineer.

And yes, one day. I put up my papers. After 8 long months, I submitted my resignation with no second job in hand. Almighty was merciful, before notice period ended, I found my job. The one which I was meant for me. :D Rest is history. So to all of you who are struggling there, listen to your heart. Most often your heart knows more than you think it know. Everyone seem to know whats best for you, but the truth is, after some time, its just you, your life and decisions.

What motivated me to write about this, is an article about working in a start up which I saw on Facebook. It just brought back memories. Memories of my tough times, of the new people I met while in bank, new things I learnt, and finally memories of my good times which followed.

So everytime I feel deadbeat, like today, I whisper to my self  "This too shall pass, Good times will follow" :)
So yes, today too is happy day. Happiness revived!

Day 2 : Family and shopping!

Two things that can make you happy any day - family and shopping. Being around people who knows you, values you, is something that we all needs to cherish, something we all need to make time for.  I'm a person who happens to be in hot water often for not keeping in touch, visiting, or making calls. Its not that I do it on purpose. But these things tend to slip off in between all the daily activities, drown in loads of procrastination and excuses. But today, I decided take time, and visit my cousins, aunts and uncles. A small family get together. And it was definitely worth the time I made. Lots of chitter chatter, merry making and fooling around. Catching up. Hearing out complaints. Ah :)

After all, its the conversations, the laughter shared which matter at the end. 

After spending six-seven hours, I started my journey home. On the way decided to drop at Bellandur-Central. As I was trying to save up some money, I had put a check on my expenses. And more over, these days, I tend to not find clothes that I truly like. So most of the time, I walk out empty handed. Last year, I had made up my mind to buy clothes that perfectly fits me and that I really liked so as to not end up buying over-sized things which are not all that fabulous. Now, this is one of the best fashion decisions that I took! It has kept my wardrobe clutter free, and just the things I wear. No baggy tops or pants that I wore only once, or jackets that looked good on the mannequin and not on me! 

As I walking through an endless ocean of clothes, a mustard yellow top caught my eye. The moment I saw it, I knew that it was perfect. And it was indeed right color and right size. I managed to find one more top of my liking and that too at off. At the cash counter, I found out that I had loyalty points that I could exchange. Ah :D The best feeling when one could buy stuff from the loyalty points :D

What more could i ask for in a day !! Lovely end to a weekend :D

Day 1: My very first post

Isn't it a little weird, we often spend a lot of time, quite a lot of time of our lives, (atleast I do) cribbing, feeling disappointed, tattered and in a miserable position. Days when your hope fades and promises break, when pain gnaws your heart, or a word chews your brain, when truth tastes bitter and lies tastes stale, you feel the walls closing in on you. And you look around for that feeble ray of hope, a string of laughter, a kind deed, a loving note, warm hug, a handshake or a happy thought. Tugging along with one happy moment you swim across your grief, and yes, at the end of the day you are happy again. :)

I guess, all it takes is an ounce of introspection, a little time for ourselves when we can inspect, arrange, rearrange, discard thoughts. And probably at the end of the day when you snuggle under your blanket, you have something to smile about. One happy thought that saves your day, makes your moment. :)

And I'm attempting to log 100 happy days of mine starting from today, where I can write about one little incident/thought/word or deed that saved me, made me happy. Conscious effort to count my every day and not merely pass. Atleast I would have lived 100 days.. 100 happy days :)

Yes I am happy today, of having to make this decision. I have a bucket list of 50 things and one among that is to write 100 blogposts. Well, I wrote it, but no conscious effort was taken. I guess I just did it today! :) Hoping to strike off all of them soon....

99 days to go :)