Wake me up when September ends.
This is not something I want to be saying this month. Though I started the 30 day challenge last month - it wasn't a hit. I did run a lot more than I would have. I did work out a little more regularly, but it is not IN me, as yet #ifyouknowwhatImean.
I know better now how to handle this and plan for this and I'm not going to get disappointed over my failures in August.
1. Moving to hankies - worked great for me. I haven't had a cold since ;) But seriously, I moved to a lot of non-paper things - grocery bags are only cloth now. I walk back without grocery if I don't have a cloth bag on me. I've figured out an optimum time and cycle to use the washing machine. No switch in the house is on all the time, including those for plug points. I'm thrilled, yes.
2. Running and Gymming - This worked partly and didn't work partly. I fell sick in between, I went to my mum's house without preparation and didn't find shoes to run. As an aside, I also moved out 8 years ago and it shows in the fact that no clothes of mine that fit me are in my mum's house. Sigh.
3. Sweep and mop the house - SUCCESS. I did this religiously. There is something therapeutic about domestic chores. Also, the credit for this goes to my inlaws who were visiting :P
4. Learning to say no - On this, I guess I could always do better :) But I'm getting there. This was a success though I sometimes forgot to confirm yes or no! Or, go 'available' or 'busy' on GTalk.
I loved the idea of this 30 day challenge and now I'm doing it again for Sept with the following points of focus.
1. Read Infinite Jest everyday, however slow I read. Again, I'm doing this with Supreeth
2. Running and Gymming since it's not IN me as yet ;)
3. Pedicure at home everyday
4. Eat breakfast everyday, come what may
5. Update food blog every week, at least once
This looks like a long laundry list and mostly like a 'Things to do' list. But these are some things I am struggling with.
This starts from Sep 3 since I'm still on my August challenge. Also, hopefully, I will be more active on Twitter with #my30days update this time around.
What are your challenges?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Shammi Kapoor, RIP
We had only one cassette in our old car. The cassette had only Shammi Kapoor songs. I've listened to those songs from the time I was a year old until I was 17. My dad didn't listen to anything else and we didn't want to listen to anything else. The songs were danced to in the back seat by three girls while the same stories about the Kapoor family were narrated by Amma.
I don't usually write posts on movies or books or celebrities I admire or like. This is a special one. This isn't something I'm going to talk about, or something I expect anyone to read and comment on. This is for me.
This is about Shammi Kapoor. No, I didn't have a crush on him. I wanted to experience the same joy he shows in his cinema. I grew up listening to Bollywood songs. My uncles are the biggest fans of Bollywood and they raved about unknown songs, songs unheard or the not-so-popular songs. It was a matter of pride among us cousins if we could guess the song or the movie ( we had quizzes!) These are the fondest memories I have of many a summer spent in Pati's house eating fruit custard every half hour. And among these memories, Shammi stood out. When we sung his songs, all the competition during Antakshari vanished and everyone'd sing along. We'd sing beyond the first stanza and go on until we'd finished through the list of Shammi songs we knew as kids. One of my uncles disapproves of popular songs and likes only beautiful, but not so popular songs ( we call them ATCs or All Time Classics sarcastically). But with Shammi, he sang every song, including his popular songs. But then, which Shammi Kapoor wasn't popular?
Every song, every movie filled us with joy. In fact, that's the only word that comes to my mind.- joy. Be it the popular 'Tumse Accha Kaun Hai' with Shammi in a sack or the absolutely fantastic 'Aaj Kal tere Mere Pyaar' with Mumtaz. The enthusiasm, the crazy dance steps, the grin, the mischief - no one, not a single person before or after Shammi displayed that kind of attitude. 17 years of Shammi Kapoor and I didn't realize what a fan he had in me. Today, I woke up early thanks to my in laws staying with us and didn't get online as always. AB switched on the TV and casually said, "Oh, Shammi Kapoor is no more." I didn't realize that I had tears in my eyes.
To date, when I sit in the car, I like to start off with his songs. In the interest of keeping my marriage alive, I move on to other songs. Shammi did that to me. I'm a really bad writer when it comes to tributes, even during my journalism days, and today is no better. Shammi Kapoor, in many ways., I dance like you. I tried to be as bindass as you during college. I don't know if it's because of you, but I'd like to think so. Thank you.
I don't usually write posts on movies or books or celebrities I admire or like. This is a special one. This isn't something I'm going to talk about, or something I expect anyone to read and comment on. This is for me.
This is about Shammi Kapoor. No, I didn't have a crush on him. I wanted to experience the same joy he shows in his cinema. I grew up listening to Bollywood songs. My uncles are the biggest fans of Bollywood and they raved about unknown songs, songs unheard or the not-so-popular songs. It was a matter of pride among us cousins if we could guess the song or the movie ( we had quizzes!) These are the fondest memories I have of many a summer spent in Pati's house eating fruit custard every half hour. And among these memories, Shammi stood out. When we sung his songs, all the competition during Antakshari vanished and everyone'd sing along. We'd sing beyond the first stanza and go on until we'd finished through the list of Shammi songs we knew as kids. One of my uncles disapproves of popular songs and likes only beautiful, but not so popular songs ( we call them ATCs or All Time Classics sarcastically). But with Shammi, he sang every song, including his popular songs. But then, which Shammi Kapoor wasn't popular?
Every song, every movie filled us with joy. In fact, that's the only word that comes to my mind.- joy. Be it the popular 'Tumse Accha Kaun Hai' with Shammi in a sack or the absolutely fantastic 'Aaj Kal tere Mere Pyaar' with Mumtaz. The enthusiasm, the crazy dance steps, the grin, the mischief - no one, not a single person before or after Shammi displayed that kind of attitude. 17 years of Shammi Kapoor and I didn't realize what a fan he had in me. Today, I woke up early thanks to my in laws staying with us and didn't get online as always. AB switched on the TV and casually said, "Oh, Shammi Kapoor is no more." I didn't realize that I had tears in my eyes.
To date, when I sit in the car, I like to start off with his songs. In the interest of keeping my marriage alive, I move on to other songs. Shammi did that to me. I'm a really bad writer when it comes to tributes, even during my journalism days, and today is no better. Shammi Kapoor, in many ways., I dance like you. I tried to be as bindass as you during college. I don't know if it's because of you, but I'd like to think so. Thank you.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The 30 day challenge!
I saw Supreeth's post on Twitter and figured I needed a challenge too. You should totally read his post to see what he's taken up as challenges. I have several things to take up including some of my resolutions this year that I haven't even started working on.
I love TED Talks and a lot of them have highly influenced my life. Matt Cutts' TED talk is one of them. However, as lazy as I am, it took a post by Supreeth to get me going. Here are my list of challenges.
1. Like Supreeth, I'd like to move to hankies too.
I actually already did. I went and bought myself a packet (they sell 4 dainty ones - so pretty!) the other day from the 4th Block Jayanagar shopping complex. In the area I live (Whitefield), I'm guessing I will get designer ones or none! However, since I bought them I've been afflicted with the most horrible cold ever. Only, I forgot how bad my colds are. I'm known to have finished an entire tissue box in my Google days thanks to my cold.
So, obviously these dainty hankies are only meant for dainty aunties and not me! I need those large white handkerchiefs used by men. I should raid Appa's cupboard for those.
2. Running
I try to run everyday and so far, it's happening with breaks in between. I want to be able to run continuously for all the 30 days just to make it a habit.
3. Gymming
I go on and off. Now, all the 30 days.
4. Sweep and mop the house 2 days a week myself.
I don't have a maid. I think maids in this area change exorbitantly and extremely rude. While I'm usually generous, their rudeness and 'taking me for granted' ness put me off. So, no maids. I live in an area where dust accumulates at home. I aim to sweep, mop and dust the house every 2-3 days for this month. That makes it twice a week and 8 times a month. I think it's perfectly do-able.
5. Learning to say no.
I kept the most important challenge for the end. You know how people say that while they miss India a lot while living abroad, they'd any day live away from family and all that. That's not true of AB or me. Okay, maybe AB to a certain extent since he's anti social. I'm very social and I came back to India only because I missed India, the noisiness of family around us. Basically, I wanted to meet all my nieces and nephews, all my cousins when they fly in to meet their parents from different parts of the world. And what better place than India!
However, I under-estimated my need for space in India. It's very different when you are single and living with friends. It's almost as if you have permission to have fun and do what you want and skip family gatherings or functions. Life is not the same when you're married. AB and I haven't had a weekend to ourselves. I have myself to blame for that. I have way too many friends, way too many familial obligations and way too many social niceties to adhere to. So, as a couple, we've decided to put our foot down. We will still be active socially (I will die if I don't see anyone but AB) but prioritize us over anything or anyone else. And do more fun stuff. Like use the badminton rackets bought 2 weeks ago for a start.
People who know me or have been following me on this blog know that the last 3 years were rocky for me. For us, sometimes. I went into hiding, literally, with my GTalk. I couldn't have thanked Google enough for creating the option of being 'invisible' on GTalk. I remained invisible for 3 full years choosing who I talk to, and when I talk to them. Some of you may find it stupid. In my defence, I was upset and didn't want to answer any questions, even the innocent, truly concerned ones. A lot of you I have actually chatted with are lucky ;)
So, big decision was that from yesterday, I decided to go visible. No more hiding. If I don't want to talk to you or can't talk to you, I'm going to tell you. As it is. I'm not going to not respond unless I'm not at the computer. And that is going to be the first step in saying no.
What are your challenges for the next 30 days? Tell me in your comments.
P.S. I may just use Twitter(@nandiniv) to update everyone on my progress. The hashtag will be #my30days.
I love TED Talks and a lot of them have highly influenced my life. Matt Cutts' TED talk is one of them. However, as lazy as I am, it took a post by Supreeth to get me going. Here are my list of challenges.
1. Like Supreeth, I'd like to move to hankies too.
I actually already did. I went and bought myself a packet (they sell 4 dainty ones - so pretty!) the other day from the 4th Block Jayanagar shopping complex. In the area I live (Whitefield), I'm guessing I will get designer ones or none! However, since I bought them I've been afflicted with the most horrible cold ever. Only, I forgot how bad my colds are. I'm known to have finished an entire tissue box in my Google days thanks to my cold.
So, obviously these dainty hankies are only meant for dainty aunties and not me! I need those large white handkerchiefs used by men. I should raid Appa's cupboard for those.
2. Running
I try to run everyday and so far, it's happening with breaks in between. I want to be able to run continuously for all the 30 days just to make it a habit.
3. Gymming
I go on and off. Now, all the 30 days.
4. Sweep and mop the house 2 days a week myself.
I don't have a maid. I think maids in this area change exorbitantly and extremely rude. While I'm usually generous, their rudeness and 'taking me for granted' ness put me off. So, no maids. I live in an area where dust accumulates at home. I aim to sweep, mop and dust the house every 2-3 days for this month. That makes it twice a week and 8 times a month. I think it's perfectly do-able.
5. Learning to say no.
I kept the most important challenge for the end. You know how people say that while they miss India a lot while living abroad, they'd any day live away from family and all that. That's not true of AB or me. Okay, maybe AB to a certain extent since he's anti social. I'm very social and I came back to India only because I missed India, the noisiness of family around us. Basically, I wanted to meet all my nieces and nephews, all my cousins when they fly in to meet their parents from different parts of the world. And what better place than India!
However, I under-estimated my need for space in India. It's very different when you are single and living with friends. It's almost as if you have permission to have fun and do what you want and skip family gatherings or functions. Life is not the same when you're married. AB and I haven't had a weekend to ourselves. I have myself to blame for that. I have way too many friends, way too many familial obligations and way too many social niceties to adhere to. So, as a couple, we've decided to put our foot down. We will still be active socially (I will die if I don't see anyone but AB) but prioritize us over anything or anyone else. And do more fun stuff. Like use the badminton rackets bought 2 weeks ago for a start.
People who know me or have been following me on this blog know that the last 3 years were rocky for me. For us, sometimes. I went into hiding, literally, with my GTalk. I couldn't have thanked Google enough for creating the option of being 'invisible' on GTalk. I remained invisible for 3 full years choosing who I talk to, and when I talk to them. Some of you may find it stupid. In my defence, I was upset and didn't want to answer any questions, even the innocent, truly concerned ones. A lot of you I have actually chatted with are lucky ;)
So, big decision was that from yesterday, I decided to go visible. No more hiding. If I don't want to talk to you or can't talk to you, I'm going to tell you. As it is. I'm not going to not respond unless I'm not at the computer. And that is going to be the first step in saying no.
What are your challenges for the next 30 days? Tell me in your comments.
P.S. I may just use Twitter(@nandiniv) to update everyone on my progress. The hashtag will be #my30days.
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