In your face...!

I have realised whatever you are feeling, where ever you are, however the situation at hand, there is always something good in your situation.

Sometimes you have to search long and hard for the good things. Because the bad is blaring at you.

But you find your ways out.

I think finding humour in my bad situations helps me.   

So here's an example how I do it.

I am a very low maintenance girl. On normal days, the only beauty routine I follow is, washing my face. Applying some face cream, if totally in the mood to pamper myself. That's it.

But on this one rare occasion, I really felt my skin was looking listless and pale. I wanted to see some pink in my cheeks. So I thought, these days organic is the mantra. Why not try a homemade beet scrub..!

I used some peel of beetroot to scrub my face. The plan was to wash it off after some time and then hydrate with some moisturiser. Plain and simple. right??!!

Wrong, my logic totally failed. 

The whole day I was looking like a pink faced Japanese monkey (not even close to the 'healthy flushed face' look I aspired for self). I felt bad on my plan failing but there's some good from that situation.

Every time I happened to see a mirror that day, It really made me laugh on my 'in your face' pinkness. Pun intended. I realised I have the ability to humour myself even in not so ideal a situation.

 Statistics say small children laugh on an average 300 times while an adult laughs only 17 times per day. I definitely laughed more than 17 times that day and that's a blessing, right?

P.S:  For those concerned, the pinkness faded the next day and my face was back to being pale! ☺☺

  

Special Birthday!

I am really the person who will remember my loved ones' birthdays and be excited about it more than the person whose birthday it is.

Like for example, If my sissy's birthday is coming up next month, I'll like to start getting ready right away. I'll want to know, if she has a new dress for the occasion. Or if she has something special planned etc. Even if I am not around for the celebrations, I want it to be special for her nonetheless.

In case, it is my bestie's birthday and I have the privilege to be present for it, I would love to have some quality "we" time with the friend.

For me, It's all about ensuring that the person knows that they are cherished and important for me.

But here comes the tiny glitch!

There are times when I will be super excited for a birthday coming in July, right since Jan, which is the start of the year and then forget about it all together on the day itself. 

Such a bummer! 😢

So picture this:

I have a friend whose birthday I will never forget as we have been buddies since more than a decade now. But I forgot his birthday last year and when I remembered it, It was almost one month late! ONE MONTH..! I know, I may be sounding too melodramatic, may be he didn't really mind me forgetting it.

But I was so disappointed in myself. Wait, oh boy! Was I smart? I had a solution.. I had recently learnt digital art then and made him a birthday card (with one of his photo that was sent to me by his wifey, so that he is surprised by my excellence in art work). I poured by heart to him in this card. Telling him how I can never ever forget his birthday as I was excited about it from one month early on. Yada yada yada.

 I wonder if he was angry or something, cause all he had to say in response to my e-card was two words . " Thank You".

Anyhow, to make it up for last time's loss, I wished him thrice this year!

First time, when I thought it was his birthday according to the lunar calendar, which was a few days before his actual date of birth. (Yay, I totally rock!! ✌) He too responded to my wishes with a  "Thank You".

Oooopppps! Tiny error - I later realised, this turned out to be the wrong lunar day after all! It was not his lunar calendar birthday at all... But he was kind enough not to correct me, poor thing!

So second time, I wished him correctly on his actual date of birth. (Thank God!!!!) His response was the same "Thank You". 👍

After a few days from his actual birthday, his 'correct' lunar calendar birthday came up. So to correct my previous mistake, I wished him again the third time!!! 😇

Mind you, I have not wished anyone sooo many times in a year for one birthday. All because of my stupid memory last year.  Also, the stupidity of me wishing on the wrong day of lunar calendar!!!   

Anyway, his response was, Nooo you guessed it wrong! Not his golden words - "Thank You". 

But blank. 

No response. 

That day, I was very tense, did I really over-do the wishing??? 

Next day passed by with no response again, I was getting worried now. Is it possible to lose a friend if you wish him happy birthday multiple times? I really didn't mean to sound hyper crazy..!

But the third day he responded with one word "Thnx". 

Now, should I be bothered, he did not write the whole 2 words "Thank You"????????? 

Guess not, he is just fine, you know, he is a man of few words. 

Minor point to be made, my buddy has not been talking to me much this year, after all my warm birthday wishes!
Do you think, I should call him and specifically explain about my guilt and the reason why I wished him so many times?
Does he think I'm a bit of a madcap and so he is avoiding me?????

This episode has made my learning curve very steep..!

So these days, I have become much more pro-active. 

Whenever it's a birthday of someone special to me, I start wishing them 3 days in advance or at least start dropping subtle hints like "Your birthday is coming in 3 days, what are your plans??!"

This is leaving some proof that I do remember their birthday all round the year, it's just that sometimes I forget to wish them on their big day. 😉

P.S: Sometimes I think, I tend to over-think. Then get soo bogged down with it all, that I don't think straight. Or do I?

I am Persi!

Day 1

Hi!!

 It's the first time I am about to pour my heart out, to the human species on something called a "blog". I understand that it's a common medium of self expression these days. But being just a small house spider, I was not all that aware of this medium. You can't really blame my ignorance.

So anyway, let me introduce myself. I am Persi. Not that my parents named me that.

In fact, we spiders don't really name ourselves. Because we are busy from the moment we are born till we die, very busy. From our very early days we are taught to start building our home and to earn our bread and butter. It loosely translates to a cobweb and insects in the human world, I believe.

So who named me? Good question.

There is this huge human being, Lady, that's her name.  I understand cause I always hear another huge human being who keeps saying things like "Lady, you have to buck up",  "Lady, you are late", "Lady, the food is tasty today" to her.  I am very sharp and intelligent that ways ☺☺✌

So coming back to Lady, She is very very weird that ways. I can confess to you the first time I spotted her, I didn't like her at all. She saw me, screeched at top of her voice "Oh My God!" and ran off. Coming back in just about a minute with a large broomstick and destroying my house for no rhyme or reason.

Anyhow, I nearly escaped death. When she screeched, I got so nervous that I ran off a small distance but kept a watchful eye on her. Really thankful that the total damage was just 10 hrs of my hard work and not  my life. I can produce silk from my abdomen and create a web again. I am supposed to catch some insects tonight for my dinner. This weird Lady has now made me work double shifts tonight to build another web! Life can be tough for us spiders.  You humans won't really get it.

  Day 2

It's a nice sunny day. Last night I restored both my spirits and my cobweb.  Now looking forward to a day of nice food and relaxation.

Oh God, wait! Is that the Lady here again??! WTF?!

Her voice is not screechy today but she still shouts "OMG, you are persi.... (It was quite a long word, didn't get it totally).. Wait till I get you, this time, for the better."

Her warning was enough to get my flying in the distance.

Murder attempt 2 of the Lady failed. Guess I am too smart!

Day 3

She did it again! Destroyed my web but she couldn't do that with my spirit.

Today I had built a bigger and more stronger web. I demanded my abdomen to produce finer quality of silk this time. But the Lady still destroyed it. I really wonder what her problem with life is.

In human world they say, 'Man always gives what they have'.

So does that mean, someone crushed her house and so she is doing that to me?!

In that case, I should really teach her some spirit! Teach her through my actions, that your massive success is the best revenge for your opponent. 
That's why you have this life. You fall down, you get up.

Someone drags you down, you climb 10 notches higher.

Someone tries to destroy your calm, you gather poise like never before and keep doing your own thing!

Day 4

Morning:

It is bright and shiny.

I am proud of my cobweb.   It's the largest and best that I have built till date. I am in fact looking forward to the Lady to come and visit my piece of pride, my home.

 If she destroys it again, I am fine. But at least she will know, she is just making me better with time!

Her usual time to visit is here but she is not to be seen.

 Evening:

Nope, the Lady still didn't visit. But at least some insects got stuck in the web and I had a lovely dinner!

Day 5

Morning:

I know, I am not supposed to feel any concern for humans in my spider life. But the Lady is not to be seen. Also, I am kind of getting restless to move on in life and build newer homes in some other places.

But I also want the Lady to learn her lesson.

Night :

Finally! The Lady and the other human being are here. She is yet to notice my palatial web.

Yayyyyy! She sees it!

She seems to be unusually calm tonight. She just shows the bigger human my handy work and says," I really learn grit from this spider. I think that's the reason, I didn't have the heart to kill it the first time I saw it. I was supposed to learn from it."

She then looked at me intently and said "You, my spider, are really persi.....".

(Again the same big world mentioned above, don't know what it means but I like the sound of it. So I think I'll accept it as my brand new name!)

In Life

There will be times,

When you will stumble and fall,

But please believe it's not the end of all,

You have to pick yourself up,

Take a review of what you have,

With that, you still try!

There will be times,

When things don't go as planned,

Keep calm, His plan is better than yours!

There will be times,

When you have tried it all,

But the results don't show up,

Inevitably it's just some lesson to be learnt,

Learn and move on!

There will be times,

When everything seems just right,

Enjoy it while it lasts,

Knowing when the day ends,

There sure will come night!

  

What is happening?!!

Today when I saw this poster (advert for a famous automobile brand), I really felt a strong urge to use this platform to voice some of my concerns.

So I happened to go through this particular road twice in 2 consecutive days and the first time I saw the advert, I felt it was odd and then forgot about it within a blink of my eye. The second time I saw it, for lack of anything better to muse on, I took a hard look at it and it really didn't make any sense.

There it was: A huge advertisement hoarding appealing to buy a very famous brand of automobile. 

But they had a very weird thing going for their visual appeal. It was that of a very cute baby (may be an year old, max 2 yrs old) on the steering wheel.

Look, I am not an expert in advertisement or marketing but as a trillion dollar company, I would like them to have some other strategy than to appeal to babies!! Like, really?? 

And if your strategy is to say that, Your brand of cars are so easy that even babies can drive them, then think again. The "adult" prospective buyer who is going to pay for it might feel offended. (I can't drive a car smoothly and I sure would be slightly offended to think I can't do something which a year old baby can!). If I am going to have to pay around $17000 on a car, it better be something, which is more special than a kid's toy.

Also, these kind of advertisements can send out a wrong signal to kids in the world. They might start feeling entitled to drive a car rather than wait, till they reach the minimum permissible driving age.  

**ittt! I am super scared thinking of babies driving around. This visual is not helping me.

I should not even get started on describing the panic I feel when I see adults who follow very wrong driving habits like speed driving, driving while having a tilted head and a phone on one ear.

Phew.. I should definitely stop at this point! And go, get some cool water to drink.

P.S: You guys, please, drive carefully and be safe!

You have to be cool...

So picture this guys: Any tiny scrap of work opportunity comes my way, I go like "Wow, maybe I am meant for this job!".

When they ask me about myself, I am naive enough to tell them, I have had a pretty long career break and keen to start work. I would have thought showing my keenness and sincerity towards the job opportunity would open up the interviewer's heart and doors of the company. But hey, they sure can sense desperation.  And rather than being thrilled about an enthusiastic candidate, it so happens that they actually run far away from me.

This happened multiple times in the recent times. Then I got it! I have to 'act' cool. I have to play it chill. And not only 'act' the part but actually believe it too!

Reminds me of my single-hood days. All my friends were getting married or engaged and I was the only one left behind. So you kind of understand how it can affect your morale. After being rejected or rejecting multiple prospective alliances (who just didn't seem right), I came to a point where I accepted my single-hood as a reality. The peace that came with this, became empowering.

I set out to make my life happening by investing in my hobbies and things that made me happy. I learnt dancing, made a lifelong friend in the process. I was just having an awesome time in life. The fact that I was single no more bothered me.

And lo and behold, there came my hubby dearest! Which just happened accidentally. 

Fate! It's quite funny. When you make peace with the fact that, you would not get what you badly want in your life, It just decides to pop up!

Quest for perfection...

8 am: I am on "get things done" mode. Prepare roti, sabji, dal, chawal, salad for husband's lunch tiffin along with the breakfast of the day. These things matter the world to a housewife whose main KRA is to feed her family.

Chop chop chop - vegetables cut.

Suuusshhhh purrs the water in the cooker - wooohooooo. Cooker's whistle right on time.

Knead, roll and twist, roll and twist - The dough for rotis' done.

And so on, you get the gist.

10 am:  Hush, Done for now. Tiffin nicely packed, husband had to wait for 15 mins because I was running late. But that's fine. He will readily forgive me when he eats my tasty meal at lunch ☺☺

Feeling quite smug about it. Say goodbyes for the day and husband is off to office.

10.20 am: Decide I should reward myself a nice steaming cup of coffee. So prepare it and put it in microwave for heating, while I look outside at the pouring rain. It is bliss not having to rush to office in the pouring rains. Thank God !

The humming of the microwave, the coffee aroma is making me excited and I look forward to this day, in my happy bubble state!

10.30 am: I am about to settle down with coffee and a novel when the phone starts ringing.

Hubby calling! My happy bubble fluffs up a bit, "Wow, to say he loves me and to thank me for the Tiffin????!!!!"

"Hello Hubby!"

"Darling, I forgot my tiffin on the couch only. Really sorry!"

Whhhatttt???? Really??!

Someone burst my bubble for sure!

Guess, our quest for perfection is an ongoing journey.

Spurts of happiness...!

1. When I open the window to find 5 pretty pretty roses in my only plant. Oh Boy! It seriously makes you happy, so many roses blooming overnight!

2.  The first coffee of the day, more than the first sip it's the first whiff of that tantalising coffee aroma that makes me look forward to the day.

3. My hubby dearest's  huge ear to ear grin when I see him for the first time in the morning, that's his way of wishing good morning. And it does make my morning brighter and happier!

4. Suddenly knowing that your favourite author has a book coming up. Some people are really gifted, there is no book of her's that has not brightened my day. So the excitement and anticipation of reading the book.

5. Having that piece of soft, hot ball called 'gulab jamun'. Soaked in the sugar pulp and melting in your mouth immediately. Oh, just thinking about it makes me sooo happy!

6. Opening your gift wrap, the anticipation of finding out what your loved one has got for you!

7. Meeting a dear friend after some time and pouring your heart out. Knowing there is no way that your  bestie will judge you. Thank God!

8. Getting that spa after a long time! The knotted muscles slowly getting untangled along with all the tension being released from your body. That's sure refreshing.

9. Seeing small kids on their play ground. I love to do this very much. You invariably see those cuties smile and laugh often. Their unadulterated joy is contagious even from a distance!

10. The poise and calm you feel after a good sitting of meditation. The centered feeling which you get after a truly amazing session is something I wish I could carry with me always.

So these were my list of items which truly make me feel alive and kicking. I thought it was a good idea to pen them down and would propose you to do the same. Because in low times or during some life event which knocks you down, your mental faculties don't really function well.

You need some crutches to get you back to your happy self. This list comes in handy then. Just make yourself do one of listed items. It sure will improve your mood faster than anything else.

Cheers to your spurts of happiness!

In Search for 'that'

Life goes on,

Work, eat, sleep, repeat.

But there is something missing.

Is it just me? Or you feel it too?

On the surface,

Things seem super fine,

But the tiny feeling inside,

At silent hours does pine,

There's more to life,

Only if I knew what,

Hard to describe,

So to routine I subscribe.

Would really want to know,

The secret to 'that',

Will I get an Eureka,

If I wear the magician's hat?

My 21 days of blogging...

Today I suddenly realised that my 21 days of blogging are done with this post.

I felt a tiny sense of achievement because I started this blog page in 2018 with the view of cultivating my writing. But I was never dedicated enough to post regularly. Blogging was done on my whims.

So today I jot down things I learnt in the last 21 days:

1.  There were times when I faced a writer's block.  Blogs like My life as blogger - 1 and My life as blogger - 2 prove the point. It has no great content.

Learning: You do things when you are held accountable. I knew there are people who take out their precious time to read my blogs. So even if I didn't feel like it, I did it because I was committed. You learn to show up, no matter what, if you know there will be at least one person who is rooting for you.

2. Routines can be hard to start but with time, you get hooked to it. Now I really look forward to my ritual of sipping steaming coffee, researching for topics to blog and finally penning down my thoughts. 

Learning:We can use the power of routine to incorporate the things important to us in our daily life.

3. This is just the beginning. The 21 day blogging challenge helped me get into the habit of blogging regularly. It is just a means to an end where I foresee myself as an authentic blogger. As in, I get readers to follow my blog because they like my blog content and not me. Currently my dear ones read them because they like me and not specifically my blogs 😉 

Learning: Do not wait for everything to be perfect to start achieving your goals. Just start and get your act together while on the go.

I would like to end this blog with Aristotle's quote "Quality is not an act, it is a habit."

I am praying these 21 days of blogging lead to more quality blogs in future. Amen!

P.S: I am very thankful to you for taking this journey of reading my blogs. Thank you! 😁