Dear Reader, what do you think is the perfect way to spend time when you are at home? Well apart from the obvious like spending an inordinate amount of time in front of the TV.....

I have a confession I am one of those really boring people who reread old novels. Yes! Even the salacious kind!! ;) Right now though I am being a typical girl and spending time 'beautifying myself ' (my father says that).

I was also thinking that cleaning my room would be a good idea but for some odd reason I became lethargic....So, my mother was on this marathon bout of sunday cleaning and she found an old doll that belonged to me (or was it my sisters?) Anyway I don't really remember...We used to call her the ice cream doll  and I don't know why( I had a teddy bear named teddy bear!!). Still, the sight of her battered body brought back so many memories.

Do you go through moments when the sight, smell or taste of something brings back some bittersweet memory? The ice cream doll brought back a whole lot of pleasant ones from my childhood most of them revolving around my sister. We shared almost everything..one moment we were the best of friends and just five minutes later we could have been bitter enemies, yet we still liked spending time together. The worst punishment for us was being separated and sometimes the adults did just that....confining us to separate rooms just to keep us out of mischief. 

We could never have imagined that we would live in two separate continents back then. Today, when the world is just a click away and all we have to do is pick up our cellphones to call our loved ones, is physical presence necessary to express love?

For me, nothing can make up for the warmth of my sister's hug or the play of expression on her face when I say something cheeky :) In many ways I do love our long winded telephone conversations (that cost the earth) yet, I miss the gossip imparted in hushed whispers in the middle of the night.

Although...I'll probably never admit it in front of her but the next time we meet, I'll give her an extra special hug for all the ones that I've missed. Still, do we ever want to admit to anything remotely nice about our irritatingly perfect siblings...especially if we are the naughty ones?    

Mornings....serene beauty and music

 Dear Reader, it's a little over 5 am on a lovely october morning and there is a nip in the air. My only companions are my morning cup of coffee and the melodious music that I am listening to. As I glance out of the window, I can see the sky turning an interesting mix of grey, blue and orange which tells me that the sun is not far behind.

I just couldn't sleep any longer...for no specific reason and thought that it might be a change to start my day  a couple of hours earlier than usual.There is curious tranquility that one can find only in the morning. In short it is very peaceful in the streets, just before people actually begin to wake up.

Now before you make any assumptions, I have to clarify one important thing: I am no morning person!...to be fair I am also not a nightbird.... I think that I am something of an evening gal. I like evenings, when the tedious part of the day gets over and the fun and relaxation part starts. Yet today, as I occasionally glance out of the window waiting for the sun to rise, I can't help but admire this particular time of the day. Everything is fresh and new and I can see dew drops on the leaves of the tree outside my bedroom which are shining like gemstones in the morning light.


For most of our generation mornings have lost all their charm. When was the last time you came across a morning person? They are indeed a rare breed. :) Most of us begin our days by hating mornings and rushing through it, in a tearing hurry to start our days during the week and the weekends are for lazy mornings, when we prefer not to get up until we absolutely have to!

So what is so special about mornings anyway? Well as an Indian I have to say that for me it has to do with music. Traditionally, a lot of great musicians practice during the mornings. In Indian classical music most of the upbeat ragas or symphonies are composed to be sung in the morning. In the old days people actually got up early just to sing and compose! :)

I believe that it is but natural for people to begin their day on a high note. If we actually think about it most of us begin our day with music. I listened to music everyday on my way to university in England and people listening to music on the train and bus was a fairly common sight.

However, today my eyes have opened to the quiet, serenity of mornings in my hometown. Like a beautiful painting that one sees everyday and gets used to only to really look one day and discover it's captivating beauty anew.

The sun has just risen and it's my cue to sign off. I am off for a run in the cool fresh air....until the next post dear reader....

'Enchanted October'

Summer is all about hot, sultry evenings when most of us want to sit in cool rooms, have refreshingly cold drinks and chill out with friends, winters are for snuggling up in cosy rooms with hot chocolate preferably with a loved one or a good book. Monsoons are for letting that inner child out and spring is the season of fresh flowers, walking in gardens and new possibilities.

Autumn on the other hand is about being festive and unpredictable holidays (at least in jolly old India). You must be wondering about the latter part are you not? Well, here's my explanation....Dear Reader, if you are in India in the month of October, it will be very hard for you to miss the various festivals in different parts of the country. Since most of the traditional festivals follow the lunar calendar, they fall on different dates(in october) every year; hence the unpredictable pattern of holidays.

I saw a film called 'Enchanted April' some time ago; it was about taking the time to find a new facet in ourselves or our lives, basically taking an unexpected holiday to find contentment in our lives. The month of  October this year for me is an ' Enchanted October' as I am content being home with my parents and it is an unexpected boon. 

The generally festive air and good humour amongst people who are all gearing up for the week without work/school etc is therapeutic. We live in an age where people are increasingly leading lonely lives because no one has the time to really live life. We breathe in and breathe out but do we really live? 

So my dear reader, take some time out this October and spend it living. Do what you love most, spend time with the one you love most basically just take some time out and have a Blast!!! All of us need to take a moment in our busy lives and just appreciate it, appreciate ourselves. In my opinion we spend a lot of time hating everything especially ourselves so, perhaps it's time to love ourselves and be happy at the little pleasures in life. So this ' Enchanted October' , have a great time and enjoy life in general, even if you aren't in India for the festivals! :)

An image from the Durga Puja Festival 

 

October.....

Dear Reader, I woke up today and realised something..it's October!!! I know it might seem like delayed reaction but better late than never eh? It's October...it's October and I am still home ( that could totally be a song ).

Now let me explain about October in Indiyeah (that sounds cool) and this might be a cliché but I love my country...especially in October. Why?? Well it's festival season and also autumn which means winter is not far behind. 

This year is special because I am home. I have a confession...I have been behaving like a five year old for the past couple of days. :) I can't stop hugging my parents which is uncharacteristic because I am generally not the touchy- feely sort but my mom especially is super amazing to hug (that is grammatically incorrect but who cares!)

So, have you ever had the recurring impulse to hug someone? I realise that this sort of behaviour is not like me at all, but I cannot help but remember all those times in England when I was home sick and just wanted a warm hug. 

Yes, you've guessed it...beneath my porcupine exterior, I am total mush, especially when it comes to my parents. It's not like I get on with them all the time; we have these amazingly inconsequential fights. Yet, I still remember missing them so much it hurt physically and am just glad to be within touching distance in case I need hugs :)

Plus I had forgotten how cool it is to go shopping without having to worry about money. Yes! my mother took me shopping yesterday and bought me a ton of clothes! Yay! :D

So now you know the source of my joy!

to be continued....

Epiphanies

Dear Reader, the fact that you have a smile on your face and are eagerly perusing your computer screen should be proof....I'm back!!! After the unnaturally quiet September I hope to be back to regular blogging from now. Honestly, I have been a bit down in the dumps lately and I didn't care to rant about my general views about the world at the time :P

Now, on to something that has been a constant in my life for many years, "sudden epiphanies". An 'epiphany'  (I love this word) is an experience of sudden and striking realisation; and I have been experiencing these regularly for a long time. I also get these amazing ideas about books, and plays and even movie plots. 

While all this brain activity is great, it is the moment that they appear that are most inconvenient, I mean what could be a genius idea if implemented, is forgotten and lost because of the inconvenient timing. I am in a way moderately clever( if I say so myself ), yet my tragedy is that all my ideas make an appearance in the middle of the night, or amidst important conversations, in fact the other day I had an idea about a play in the middle of an argument!!! Which I promptly forgot because I was too peeved to remember it by the time I was done frothing at the mouth! (Yes, I was that angry)

I just wish that all my lessons from life and all the ideas I generally have appeared when I had the chance to sit and contemplate. I wish that I could follow through some of them. I just wish that I could share some of my epiphanies with someone before they got relegated at the back of my mind.

Still, here's a thought for you dear reader, "If all our Ideas and realisations came to us at the right time, we would all be Aristotle's, Shakespeare's and Newton's".

If only they were this convenient!! :)