A Tribute!!

I wrote this post two weeks back sitting all by myself at a Barista, posting it now. I hope I can be regular with my entries henceforth. 

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I have been wanting to update my blog since the longest time ever. But I have armed myself with a ready list of excuses which I kept giving myself sub-consciously every time I found some time to write or a thought crossed my mind. 

So here you go, the list of excuses some silly, some even lame (I am not proud of!!)

• My chipped nails screamed for a manicure & pedicure
• Some emails which managed to get my attention but never made it to my sent box, I replied.
• Cooking
• Sleep
• Marathon calls back home
• Reality TV Melodrama 
• Dirty dishes 
• Reading
• Socializing
• Laziness
• Work 

I did distract myself by reading up on books. Some interesting ones are "The F-Word", before you get any ideas, the 'F' stands for food. It is written by Mita Kapur. She combines delicious everyday recipes along with the passed down from generations culinary delights with witty everyday drama that unfolds in a big household which has many mouths to feed and different palates to please.

Then there was Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid and I had left "Inside Apple" mid-way. I resumed reading it again just before the crucial iPhone5 launch.

The past few months have been taxing work wise and stressful personally. Whenever I starting writing a post it took me back to my previous post about my grandpa. I dedicated the posts to him and here I am writing him as a tribute. Now he is no more , not a part of the world I am so used to. I still find it hard to cope up with his loss. I did not mourn his death as much I would have. I flew back home to be with him at his death bed for a week. 

Hopeful that he will fight back and be hale and hearty as I am used to seeing him all my life. Every moment is well cherished and will remain etched in my sub-concious forever. What broke me was the look on my grandma's face, those eyes had a million things to say. I think I was strong just for her sake. She is a strong lady, put up a brave face for her companion of 74 years. 

Yes!! that's the number of years they spent with which other. In this day and age where Kim K's marriage could not sustain even that many number of days. My grandma gave me reason enough not to mourn his death but celebrate grandpa's life. He lead such a disciplined, principally righteous and happy life.

He was a gentleman in the true sense of the word. Kind eyes, warm fleshly hands, fair pale complexion, lean man with a well built frame. As a kid, he used to give us pocket money whenever we asked him for. It was supposed to be on a weekly basis but he relented. I think Mohit, my brother seduced him with his puppy face and he used to shell out more than he wanted to. A soft reprimanding line was the after word in situations like these but a playful smile used to be a constant as well. Deep inside he knew that's not going to change us.

Never, ever have a seen him raise his voice on women and kids. A perfect and doting husband. Girls usually want to have someone like their dads as their life partner, they usually look for that kind of qualities (that's what Linda Goodman says about Tauren women and I'm one!!) But I looked unto my grandpa for the same.

I think today I am finally letting him go because I know I still can feel him around me like my guardian angel looking at me from the skies up above and bestowing me with his blessings. When I had important days at school, college, work or just when I was scared and needed a reassurance. I used to just go hug him and he used to caress my  head, that's used to take off the weight off me. I miss that touch and his warm hands.

My only consolation is have his the photo frame I sent him on his birthday now adorns my drawing room. It faces the entrance and as soon as I enter or leave the house I see him. I feel his presence around me.

This is a man whose life should be celebrated and cherished and not mourned. So I fight back my tears and let him go. I Love you Dadaji.

Instincts

Sometimes in life, you try and try and then try again, but it’s not enough. ow do you face stoned silence ? A cold touch, a feeble stroke, an icy glance and silence.

That’s when you need to pause for a while and evaluate the situation at hand , decide what’s the next best probable alternative. Try again , you might face inner conflict but it’s worth trying instead of not trying at all.

Remember the time which led you to choose this path in the first place. What was the turning point which lead you to this juncture ? How did your heart convince your mind to take this up? Remember that and follow your heart this time around as well. Your instincts have brought you this far, they won’t betray you now when you are mid-way in the path it made you choose.

Don’t be fooled by options and opportunities which you had to give up in the way along. There were bound to be some more had you decided on them in the first place. Life is short, there shouldn’t be any regrets. Wait, Am I regretting ? No, that’s too strong a word. I am just contemplating on what is and what could have been. That’s being human. We always doubt our instincts, decisions. I always look back even when someone calls for someone else’s name which does not remotely sound like mine. Just to be sure that I’m not missing on a long lost friend struggling to remember my name. I know, you may find it weird but when did I say I’m not weird.

A Basket Well Delivered :B

Here are the pictures for Dadaji's birthday surprise. They pleasantly exceeded my expectations.

The basket was customised and I made sure it included his favorites. Enclosed below is the list :

Jalebi with pistas sprinkled on them (he eats them in lieu of the cake)

A bunch of yellow flowers 
Sweet and Sour candies (the ones you get locally in lemon and orange flavours)
A picture of both my handsome grandfather in an elegant frame
A Glucon D orange flavour box
Raisins
Mishri

Assorted Fruits

All this was managed by Giftthebasket.com, here's what they do best :

Occasions like :Birthday, Anniversary, House Warming, Baby Birth, Baby Birth Announcements, Thank you, Love you and a lot more

Products they have : Flowers, Brownies, Chocolates, Designer Cakes, Women Accessories, Photo Frames, and Other Gift Item

Delivery : At your Doorstep

Weddings : Mehendi give aways, Room Hampers, Milni Gifts, Trousseau Packing, Return Gifts and a lot more.

Most popular : Cup Cake bouquets, Wine Hampers, Baby Birth Announcement, Theme Parties - Customized., Floral Arrangements.

They are currently based in Mumbai and Goa. 

http://giftthebasket.com/

Find them on facebook http://www.facebook.com/giftthebasket or just follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/giftthebasketc

Trust me the detailing was amazing and painstakingly perrrrfectt !!!

A sincere thanks to the great team at http://giftthebasket.com/ and keep up the good work.

Childhood Nostalgia

There are many things which slip into the back recesses of our mind, brought forth through events in our lives - photographs, old friends, discussions, events, word, specific food…anything that triggers nostalgia. Memories of yore. The sweet memories of days gone by. The days when the world was brimming with happiness out of every petty moment. When the world was yet naïve. When chitter-chatter, chuckles and laughter were the only noise pollution. When every little dream was a big idea. When little luxuries were the biggest luxuries. When everything was slow-paced, so as to cherish each moment.

The older and wiser we get, the fonder and sillier our memories become. We tend to remember our past to bring back the learnings of our life. To bring upon a smile on our face. To follow the dictums. To outdo ourselves from the past accolades. To tell the never-ending tales, memoirs and stories – the embarrassments, achievements, anxieties, praises, wisdoms, mistakes, relations, anticipations, results, etc

One such sweet memory is one of grandfather I remember him taking me in his arms when I was young. I used to hate sleeping in the afternoons. My grandfather's used to take his afternoon sietsa in a study we had in our old house. I used to sneak in from my mum's room and make a dash to the study to watch him. Magically he used to wake up the minute I used to tiptoe in his room. He used to lovingly pick me up and craddle me back and forth, playing with me silly games and telling me stories of the years gone by. His childhood stories were very inspiring. He had lost both his parents when he was a toddler and was taken care of by his elder sisters. He struggled a lot to provide for himself and then his family and emerged victorious. The values he has given us are the bestest gift we'd ever have.

Tomorrow is his bithday, he has a very unique way of celebrating his b'day, he likes to have pistachio jalebis instead of cake. This is the first time I am not home to celebrate his b'day but does this mean he misses on the jalebis. No !!!

I am getting him a basket full of his favourite goodies via this amazing website www.giftthebasket.com . Go check out, it is owned by a very talented and beautiful lady.

This post is dedicated to my sweetest Dadaji, I love him and miss him so bad !!!

Making Sense of all things Tech

I recently joined an e-commerce enterprise. It combines both my love for shopping and client delivery together. Only problem is that, I now work for a very tech-savvy company. All my co-workers are like data mines of all things technology and I have not been an avid fan of gadgets so far. 

So how do I manage? I spend most of my time these days on tech blogs and review sections on tech websites, try and keep myself updated on the new products which are making way in the market. It’s like a new fascinating world is opening up, I literally take this opportunity to thank all the tech bloggers and people who make an effort to post Youtube videos to share their knowledge about best selling products and their reviews. Just to let them know I care about your videos and articles seriously !!!

Some of my favourite amongst them are listed below :

http://reviews.cnet.com/

http://www.engadget.com/

http://www.apple.com/support/

 Keep up the good work !!

Gatecrashing Blogging Space !!!

Why do I want to blog ?

Do I have ample time to kill ?

Do I need a creative way to kill time ? Am I done watching the re-runs of my favourite talk shows, have I made all the calls to family, friends, co-workers and exhausted the calling card limit ?

Am I done with my reading list ?

Am I done listing the endless places I want to travel but have instead watched the videos for the same on travel sites and Youtube.

No, I need this blog to share my little joys and cribs (chipped nails included :P) as I tread this path of being a woman from a girl. Learning and unlearning in the process of being a new housewife in an alien country.

I need to look back at this space for a walk down memory lane. Memories, I love to restore them treasure them,  nuture the feeling the way I felt it the first time always.

I am an emotional fool and I am not apologetic about the same. I still hold on to b'day cards and friendship day cards received from friends when I was in school and college. I may not be in touch with those friends but these little things remind me of how they touched my life at some point of time.

I still have the rose my husband then just a friend gave me and yes needless to say, i have all the roses he gave me till date. I even buy treasure boxes to preserve them. Some incentive to the poor retailer who has set shop to sell this stuff.

Do you still need reasons as to why I need to blog ? Well to put it across honestly, this is something I am doing for myself, to connect the dots within and share my thoughts and vent out my feelings.