My new found hobby

I hardly remember the last time I developed a new hobby. I neither had the time nor the interest. With books around me, I never had a thought to spend my time in another way.

A month back, when I met my son's teacher, she advised me to teach my son to draw little things like car, apple and so on. With a pathetic drawing skill, how can I teach my son to draw? I don't even know to draw a straight line, straight.

A rare "Buddha-under-bodhi-tree" kind of day enlightened me to try out drawing. And the result is what you see below. I, initially hesitated to share these,thinking, if it is worth sharing. Later, I gathered courage and posting it. With prior apologies to all the wonderful artists who had created these arts, I'm sharing here, my amateur work. I tried to just reciprocate the drawings which I found in Google. Any kind of comments are utmost welcome!

In Hindu religion, any new work is started with a prayer to our first God - Lord Ganesha. No wonder, this is my first try

If there is one reason for all the good happening to me, it is none other than Lord Sai Baba. How can I not try drawing him?

This little girl is fascinated by the view of the moon through the window, just like me. 

The wait under the umbrella 

She must, definitely be a cheer leader

P.S : All these pictures, have been googled and I try reciprocating the same. I don't owe any of these pictures. My respect and regards to all the talented artists who created these work.

From depressed to determined

Those days when I got low grades at my school
Those days when my seminar failed at my college
Those days when I roamed jobless
Those days when my appraisal didn't go well at work
Those days when I had a dispute with my loved ones
Those days when I had temper tantrums

"Frustration", "Depression","Emotional outburst", "Feel-low", "Stay aloof" - all these words and phrases would turn BOLD,Italics and underlined in my dictionary of life, at those times. Everyone would have gone through similar kind of phases. After all, life is not a cake walk and the tides won't always be up. The way, how we handle those hard phases and come out, is what makes us all strong.

At times,anything or anyone can bring you down and make you feel low, but it can be one and only you who can make yourself stronger in spite of of all the circumstances. As we age, things might never get easier, we must get better instead. There can be no defined step-by-step process that can be practiced to overcome our frustrations. It's all up to an individual how to face it. Yet, here I list the things what I will do when I feel low. If you think, that any of these might suit you as well, my job here is done.

~ A long prayer

The first thing I do, when tears start rolling down my cheeks out of frustration or depression is to go for a long prayer. I strongly believe that the almighty is the only one before whom we can place all our emotions at our hard times. I sit in my prayer room,prepare for a soulful connect with God and pour out all my hard feelings. I have never, ever asked "Why me?" instead, I will ask for help to face my hard times and to make me stronger. After a long session of such soulful connect, I come out with my heart lighter and mind stronger.


~ Count the blessings

You know, one of the worst consequences of being frustrated is to come up with the list of all the things that went wrong, worry about it and getting depressed more. This was the biggest fault I use to make often. I had arrived to a point of realization as how bad it was and now , I start to list up my blessings instead. If my blessings can  make me happier, my hardships have the power to make me stronger.


~ Start the work now

This is nothing but a "Disaster Recovery". Though my long prayer and my "counting-the-blessings"  would help me feel better, if not, I start the work, my jump over my frustrations is just half--way through.  Start the work to clear either the cause or the consequence of the depression. Either way, if it isn't worked up, it will stay stagnant.

Pic Courtesy : Quote Addicts

Let us develop an attitude to see our hardships as opportunities to build a stronger-self. When life throws you the things labelled "Get frustrated out of this", make the things up and throw the same back, with the label as "I became stronger out of this". Triumph doesn't lie in being undefeated, the real triumph lies in , being defeated and raising back again more stronger. So, if something turns up wrong, be strong!

5 motivational quotes which inspire me always

I'm a "cup-half-full" kinda person!

I'm addicted to the positive vibes lingering around me...

This positivism is what drives me, even in my blue days...

It's nothing less than a bliss to dwell in something,be it a place or relationship, that diffuse positive vibes. A pinch of positive, good vibes in our daily "EAT-WORK-SLEEP" schedule, will help to keep our souls alive and energetic. Every morning, I would love to start my day by reading those motivational and positive quotes flooded in my Instagram and Twitter news feeds. Here are some of my favorite "boost-up" quotes, which inspired me the most.

5. Whenever my flabby, sluggish body bothers me, the below saying makes me feel that, "How I look is not who I actually am"

4. Be it work-related or workout-related, the below quote suits well.

3. That moment, when you feel like giving up, think of all who is waiting to see you give up. Then , you will work to prove them wrong.

2. This is the "master stroke". Whenever my mind turns evil and start comparing as "How successful/happy I am" versus "How happy/successful others are", it totally turns me down. The first time, I came across this quote, this has pinned strongly in mind and from then, I'm bothered about how green my grass is than looking at other's grass.

1. This is my most favorite. Whenever, I'm best at killing time, this quote runs before my eyes in "marquee" and I quickly, get upright to work on the next thing in my bucket list.

We, all need such extra push, in form of quotes, which help us to pull up our socks and keep running, whenever we feel tired or about to give up. Only a novice would see such quotes, to stimulate their work towards - "How can I be successful", "how can I be fit" , "how can I be richer". It's not a fault but it's their perspective. If you are not a novice, you might know that the ultimate purpose behind such motivational quotes, is to keep you, stay positive. Don't just read and pass through, instead try sticking it in one of your brain nerves. You, sure, won't regret.

Be positive, spread good vibes!

P.S: Images shared in this post are from sources like google, Instagram  and Twitter pages. I could not find the source in specific and so, couldn't mention the picture courtesy. So, I declare that, I owe no ownership for the images shared in this post.

How to control holiday weight gain?

It takes every ounce of my self-control to just see and not buy those yummy-looking cupcakes during this holiday season. Even when I type "SELF-CONTROL", I can hear my inner-me laughing like "Self-control? You? Hahahahaha!!!". "Screw you, my inner-me!".

I know, when it comes to food,I totally lack self-control. That too with the holiday seasons nearing in U.S and the Indian festive mood not yet gone, I have turned my stomach literally into a piñata of food. I'm not blessed with some super-human will power to turn my heads away from those cakes,instead I just console myself saying, "It's holiday season,Babe. Don't count the calories!" .

Either, the cake factories should stop baking yummy cakes or I should stop my cravings, until then my swan-diving into the cream and the cake will never stop. Thus, the "Fall" season has literally turned into a "Food" season and holiday weight gain is inescapable but to keep it under threshold is one thing we can plan for.

1.Gulp H2O in bulk

Whenever that "evil" tummy craves and asks  for any food, take a minute to drink a glassful of water before reaching for that food. This will dead sure control the portion size of the intake. When H2O hydrates the body, there's a likelihood for less or even no cravings.

2.Weigh yourself often

This will just to build a guilty feeling which will then make you have a second thought when you grab for a delicious oil-fried,whipped-cream-on-top,gluten-full kinda food.


3. Follow Inverted food pyramid

With this approach, you don't need to kick your cravings, just check the time when you fulfill your food cravings. Push in your inner-will-power a little, to say a strict "NO" to all cravings that happen on late evenings.

Pic Courtesy: inmotiontraining.com.au

4. Don't skip workouts

Easy to say, but I know how hard it is to pursue workout with the festive mood on. If not that hour-long, bath-in-sweat workouts, try 20-25 minutes workouts. Minimum, it should be 20 minutes, because that's the time taken for your body to react to your workout.

I was keen about naming this blog post as "How to control holiday weight gain?" instead of "How to avoid holiday weight gain?". Because, I know that the holiday weight gain is inevitable (in particular, for foodies like me) and what's life without enjoying those delicious food out there during the season of celebrations. Don't concern about people calling you "foodie", fat" and telling that "you had put on weight".  After all, what's a new year without a "weight-loss" resolution? So, we will take care of our weight-loss stuff,later! Until then, eat some yummy cakes and enjoy the holiday spree.

Branches may be anywhere but...

Don't know about others, but I have a blank space.

A blank space created in myself.
A blank space that grows bigger and bigger whenever I miss my home.
A blank space which can never be filled by anything.

This blank space hurts more on special occasions and mine did hurt more on Diwali - one of the biggest festivals in India, commonly known as "Festival of lights". Diwali celebrations in my childhood were the most joyous moments. Thanks for the non-existence of social media otherwise it would have been just-another posting pics in Facebook with "happily celebrating Diwali" status and counting on the likes.

The celebration starts the previous day evening, where we anticipate the last bell in school and rush to get back home.Mom would be busy preparing snacks and Dad settles the fight for crackers among us, siblings. More than "Please give good marks" prayers, the Hindu gods would have heard "Please no rain on Diwali" prayers. Those were the days where the "green-diwali" or "stop-noise-pollution" or "dont-scare-animals" slogans were not much happening and we never worried about polluting the environment as much as we can, by bursting crackers. There would be a silent "Who bursts more crackers?" competition going on between with the neighbors.

On Diwali day, we never needed alarms or mom waking us up. Hearing the crackers sound outside, we jump out of the bed. By the time, all of us finish taking oil bath, Mom would finish preparing the yummy food and Dad would be ready placing the new dresses in the prayer room for pooja, Again, what else would be our prayer as a kid, rather than "Please no rain today". Wearing the new dress after pooja, eating till the  tummy says "I'm going to burst", the cracker-bursting starts again and goes till night. In the midst of all these, family gatherings happen with the exchange of food and love.

Now, all these scenes run as a dream and I have to pinch myself to realize that, it had actually happened once. The love lingering in the family gatherings, the essence of native celebrations, the aroma of home food and many such endless "blah-blah-blah", Phew, I miss it, I totally miss it!

Isn't this the state-of-mind for all who live far away from their family and motherland, in an urge to pursue the dreams,yet have a permanent blank space left in them? Try partying, do potlucks, go outings, fly to Disney or NewYork and again there you see the blank space still BLANK.

One side,missing the native celebrations, the other side, I have to plan for a Halloween costume for my son. Huh! I really don't know what for they have Halloween and I have to celebrate it!!!

Branches may be anywhere but my roots are still at India! Everybody who live faraway yet miss their home and native festivals, still have their roots at motherland. Having our roots firm is not enough, its our obligation to have our sons and daughters rooted as we are!

4 easy ways to fight Monday blues

The day is almost passed and if you are still in off-mood, Congratulations! You are definitely a member of "I Hate Monday" club. Considering all the jokes,memes and motivational messages, made solely for Mondays, it's clear that there's a huge population out there, who are not Monday persons...

After two days on weekend, without morning alarms, the Monday alarm will sound like a bell from the hell. Carrying the weekend sloth, everything seem to fall apart and add up to the Monday bitterness. The morning alarm,tooth paste falling off tooth brush, running out of toilet tissues, oven timer, missing the other socks, all these seem to add up to the Monday bitterness. If at all,this had happened on Friday, it would have been a not-a-matter thing.

I'm definitely not an exception. I strive to be a "Monday person", I'm still not there yet. I reap the bad outcome of the inertia spreading throughout the week, just because of one "badly planned Monday". When I decided to stop this ripple action, I came up with the below ways and habituating it.


1. Do nothing on late Sunday

This is a small yet powerful tip which, sure shot, helps. After all your Friday and Saturday night-outs, try to just hibernate on late Sunday. Consider it as a prep-time for the next day. There's nothing more needed to make the Monday more stressful than a tight Sunday evening. Doing nothing on just one Sunday evening will aid to do more things on the forthcoming whole week.

2. Have a good "Sunday night sleep"

Easy to say, hard to practice. If we people, ever had had a sound sleep on Sunday night, we would have never been endowed with the "Monday blues". That rested-feel which you get after a good sleep will never make you Mondays sluggish.

3. Schedule "new thing" for Monday

Are you about to try a new thing? Like trying a new out fit, new shoe, new hairstyle, new bag, meeting a new person or anything of that sort? Please try having it on Mondays. That small thrill or pleasure about experimenting a new, fresh thing will help you, not get annoyed of the morning alarm.

4. Greet your fellow mates

When Friday evenings are filled with cheerful "happy weekend" greetings, the poor Monday mornings are filled with just fake "good mornings". Nurture a habit to wish a "happy new week ahead" to your fellow mates, No doubt, it spreads such a positive vibes to your sphere.

Let's not just spread the Monday jokes and live with it, lets also spread some positive vibes and help ourselves and our mates to face Monday. Don't let the Monday's second name, sink you. Don't lack but pack the passion and motivation. Blow those blues and bloom in the gloom :)

Experimenting 21/90

I'm definitely not a "Math person" and look out for a calculator even for simple additions. So, you ought not worry, if this post is something related to Math. Having said, its not about "Math", I can say that it's about kind of a "Myth"... A myth which turns into reality for the people who believes it... Without further ado, here I disclose what's this 21/90...

           "It takes 21 days to create a habit. It takes 90 days to create a lifestyle"

Such a simple "myth formula" to raise the standard of our life. But, beyond doubt,it is hard to pursue. The resolutions written in the new year diary, the year-long gym subscription, the no-more-smoking promises can indeed materialize, if 21/90 is put into use. 

Lately, I pushed myself, to practice few itty-bitty things, which I was having in my "new-year-resolution-list", every year.. Quoting two of those, just in glimpse...

* H2O-obsessive

I was one of that desert-creature-kind who barely drinks water and regret for being so. Every time I suffer from dehydration, I tend to drink more water but then, the desert-creature in me  pops up again. In an endeavor to pursue a healthy lifestyle, I started to be more of a human than a desert-creature and attempt to drink more water. May sound silly, but it is little hard to break the line and travel from being-dehydrated to being-hydrated. 8 cups of water a day was not a joke for me, but with 21/90 rule, it is quite-achievable. Now that it has become my habit, I'm in a half way through to adapt it as my lifestyle :)

* Smart-phone-non-obsessive

Can't deny the fact that smart phones have become a sixth finger for many of us now. But, if it is costing our real life, to live in such a virtual world is the thing, we need to self-audit every now and then. In such a moment-of-truth, I discovered that I was a little close to become obsessed to my smart phone. I felt it was a high-time to convince and convert. With 21/90 in hand,guess who has now, lost the urge to check the phone often now?? It's ME!!!! The crux is not seeing my phone once I wake up or before I fall asleep.I admit that my books give me a good sleep which was robbed by my Facebook news feed. 

Now that, I have reaped the benefits of  21/90, I dust off all my old resolutions and tend to tick-off  one-by-one using this myth formula.  Every time, when I give a shoulder-tap to myself, on habituating a new-good-thing, I feel the push to explore more.You have no idea how such teeny-weeny habits will aid to unveil a "good-new-you" until you experience it.If you are ever in a thought to cultivate a new habit or to abandon a habit, I strongly recommend 21/90. All that is needed is your check-list and a little perseverance. When 21/90 is a thumb, everything is a triumph!