As life goes on, don't you find that all you need is about two real friends, a regular supply of books, and a Peke?

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These days thanks to not being well I’ve had the luxury of surfing, connecting to my pals, reading a good book, and spending some time with my pets. If you take a careful look at it life, one would notice life always takes care of you, even if you don’t. Be it being the eye of a storm, being in a soup or something as simple as not looking after your health. Life steps in to care. When illness swamps up on you and binds you down; it, pulls you away from your crazy schedules and makes you focus on your core and TLC from people who care works as much as the medicines to help you get better and feel better. Also it makes you count your blessings, the friends who pitch in to help you. The kindness of the people who care for you to ensure you aren’t stressed about anything, and striving to make you the most comfortable you can be given the circumstances. If we examine carefully it is clear that our spells of ill-health brings you closer to the people who are truly important in life, and also helps re-connect to inner selves. Like they say every cloud has a silver lining.

Now in my convalescence phase I didn’t really stay put so much, I hate being idle, I tried to squeeze in as many hours in the office whenever I could, I love my work. Being ill seems even worse when you are forced to abandon something you love, to a restless mind itching to get back to work the convalescence period seems dreadful, suddenly the aches and pains that you never noticed, which were playing a minor insignificant role to work, balloon up and take over the stage as the leading character. Staying at home I experienced more pain than I’d noticed before, however, it gave me some time off, read up on the books that I’d not been able to spend time with, finally settled down with Wodehouse. There is nothing better than a Wodehouse tale as a pick me up. No matter how awful a day can be Wodehouse can have you bubbling over with delight and merriment with one of his tales. A hilarious tale like ‘Money for Nothing’ is designed specifically to restore one’s good spirits.

And another comforting factor during this phase has been Gucci, the little darling stuck by my side closer than a shadow, offering all the soothing and sense of peace I’d need to heal faster. She is truly a wonderful pet, every time I’m unwell she’ll be there to sooth, offer her comforting paw and never leaving my side until I’m up. The way she takes care of me is something, only a pet owner with a deep bond can understand. But truly as the wise Wodehouse said, all you really need in life, are a few good friends, books and a dog.

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Hectic Pace...... So much to do!

This is Nov 15th blog I'm loading it late......

The launch is finally here, so many things are still be done, retouched and updated to give the place the best look we possibly can. The store has come out better than I imagined, thanks to the help and inputs of good friends. The support I’ve had from both good old and new friends has been overwhelming. It feels great to have so many well-wishers helping you with your dream. Even the team of assistants has been a wonderful batch, each of them hard working, perfectionists who want the best for the shop. I’m blessed to have such a great team behind me helping me transform my vision into reality.

The place looks great and has a positive zing to it and finally I have an office where I can get my pet along! I love my work space, it is the most charged up energetic restful zone and the best place to be. The joy of this work space is unparalleled by the cheerful, enthusiastic staff. This dream has started off on such a fantastic note, with customers coming in even before we put up our boards and expressing their delight at having discovered this store. The feedback from the customers has been great they love the space and I’m delighted to see all the efforts and the thought behind the store being appreciated so much.

I can’t wait for tomorrow to come and announce my dream to the world!

Update

Hello, It's been ages since I've had the time to blog about anything. Life is now on a real fun lane. I'm possibly on the most exciting phase of my life. It is funny how some random thought that once flitted through your mind can become an obsession at a later date. Never in a million years I'd ever have thought I'd be opening my own pet store in the heart of the city. Of the many career choices I'd consciously made this has to be the most unlikely thing ever but I'm having a blast working on this dream like never before.

It has taken a good 6 months of devotion to get the things on track, and thanks to Bhai, it has been quiet an adventure. It has in all honesty the most emotionally charged phase of my life, I plumbed depths of depression, swam through frustration, floated on hope, tasted success and finally I'm at my destination. The most wonderful part of this whole project is the amount of amazing people we've met. I've has the support of good friends and family always but to see complete strangers pitch in their all for my dream has been a humbling experience.

Today everything has finally come together and the store is all set for its opening on the 16th! I'm so excited about the launch, we've already had a very positive response to the store, even before our soft launch we've had customers walking in, everyone has had a positive feedback for the store and it feels great to start on such a great note :) Well that's the update from my side more on the next blog. Ciao

Hello

Hello, I’m back, after ages my fingers are getting better and my keystroke controls are getting to the point where I can start hoping again to start off with long mails, and I can think about getting back to blogging. Ah! The joy of being connected to the people I care about!

Now that I got that bit underway I wonder what do I write about………? Happens to me all the time, I get so focussed in getting somewhere that once I reach my destination I wonder why did I want to get there? Early signs of Alzheimer’s, you reckon? Nah! Just me being delusional, fanciful and dreadful. Ah! Dreadful... dreads…. dreadlocks hmmm….. I think I’ve found my topic. Dreads got me thinking about hair and my hair truly merits a blog.

The weather is great here. Though a trifle too humid for my happiness but nothing so terrible that the AC can’t fix once I’m home, in fact I’ve been enjoying this odd spell of summer this year, very selfish I know considering the trouble this pleasant weather shall spell for so many farmers, however, I’m loving this weather. The humidity factor though manageable with all the thoughts of home and my cool room, when I’m out still gets to me on a different score which I can’t seem to beat it on. Humid weather + my hair = Miss Frizz in a tizz.

Now generally I’ve been able to deal with the frizz factor but this year the only thought that comes to me when I see my reflection is Medusa the Gorgon, I honestly feel as if I’ve got snakes instead of hair.

The first time I noticed, it was a shock to see my reflection. For a moment I think my spirit jumped out of my body startled, the shock of it was enough to send me diving to my shelf and digging out my anti-frizz products, and trying to fix it. I’m not really vain but I do have OCD and nothing sets me off as much as things not being well put together, and that includes me. I’m obsessed about neatness being neatly put together. However, my disorder notwithstanding my hair decided it has a mind of its own and the strands have decided there is strength in unity and most of them have aligned themselves with other strands whose political ideology and views of life are similar and the entire top of my head is divided in to locks which have decided to look outside and grow for their spiritual growth. Since the different ideologies are governed essentially by the fact whether they are left-wing or right, there all branching outside in left and right, like swaying snakes and what is life without non-conformists? So we have the independent thinkers in the centre.

Now as the days went by I found all attempts to curb the frizz-factor, a lost battle, I’ve settled to fortifying myself before looking at the mirror, so that my spirit doesn’t reel under the impact of my reflection and instead of taking a customary leap out of shock, decide to abandon me totally. True, the condemnation of being associated with a Gorgon-like creature must be taking a toll on it but thankfully I reckon it is also enjoying the pleasant weather immensely to ignore this ‘dreadful’ phase as a temporary blot and wait for the humidity factor to come down.

I do try to find something good in every situation; however, I must confess I’m totally at a loss in trying to locate even a single positive in this ‘Medusa’ phase. Now, I’ve relegated the attempts to understand the good of this situation to ‘Confounding Mysteries of the Universe’ and decided to just make the most of this rather unusual weather pattern by spending more time outside after all where would the mystery of life be if there weren’t unsolvable episodes or some hair-raising stories!

Our favourite park

The last couple of days we have had wonderful weather, and taking advantage of it we have been having some lovely picnics with the pets at one of our favourite parks close home. This park has actually a pretty gruesome history. Till a couple of years ago, it was just a huge chunk of land where the vegetation had gone wild. It was almost like a jungle, and over the years a couple of dead bodies were discovered, all of them murder victims. Rumour has it that when the last dead body was discovered the State Government decided to clean up the space, do a bit of landscaping and covert it into a real work of art. Of course as things go, work here takes time up but it is a fantastic place now.

Though landscaping work is still in progress, but it is a huge place so I guess it is expected however it shall be over by this winter. Our favourite spots when we are with Gucci are normally places where there are a lot of trees, flowers. Gucci has to say ‘Hello’ to every tree that comes her way; she truly is like a little dogmatix who loves trees. Flowers, Ducks, Butterflies, Deer, Rabbits nothing can distract her. All she loves in the park are trees and squirrels, she is happy as long as trees are there and scents are there for her to explore.

She can walk a good 2 hours non-stop if you just let her, and she is excited as if she is in paradise. I love her happiness, her sparkling eyes; happy smile when she is there you can see she feels the magic of the place, the beauty of the nature and her love for trees. We love walking her, it is a huge park and she can go non-stop in its exploration. Strangely even I don’t feel tired when I walk with her, I can’t imagine walking this length of time without a break, but when I’m with her the miles never show.

With Bambi it is a different tale, she is quite a monster once she is out, quite territorial, and she doesn’t like the strays that wander around, her predatory instinct surface if she spots a bird on the ground and she doesn’t like people invading her space. So it a part nightmare, and part fun; she loves to play fetch in the park but we have to be on guard every second and keep a look out for any strays or people approaching us, so normally with Bambi we settle in a pretty secluded area, so the odds of people coming there are less, and she can have a good time, instead of barking her head off feeling territorial. We generally end up settling where the landscaping work is still in progress.

Taking both of them together has been bit of an ordeal with Gucci wanting to wander, explore and Bambi wanting to play but refusing to have Gucci out of sight. So generally Gucci ends up feeling like a chained bird, we took them out twice together but then decided to take just one of them and have a great time rather than taking both of them and Gucci, always being short changed. Though she is a sweetheart and doesn’t complain but you know she hasn’t had a great time when her eyes don’t sparkle with joy and merriment. One of her favourite spots in near the garden boundary extending to the Lotus temple, she loves a spot of rocks and flowers there.

We love taking them out, picnicking at one particular spot, the view is great there.

On one side it is just green, another side it is a riot of colours with all the flowers in full bloom announcing their spring glory and another side it is the tall buildings of the real world. It is a delightful place to picnic and Gucci is underfoot roaming in the grass and just having a great time checking out the place, this is one spot where doesn’t care if you are feasting on chicken, she won’t even beg for it, after all how can a mere chicken compete to the zillion scents that call out to her?!

For all of us this park, is a favourite, for it means feeling relaxed, unwinding after a long day and just having a good time, enjoying nature, the long walk, the uphill climb and the steep descent, the contrasting feel of the place in total harmony with compelling unique beauty.

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Squash and the saga continues........

Sports and I have had a long-standing relationship of being extremely unflattering on each other. I’m a total disgrace to any sport and probably the only saving grace is that I try my best. I remember in school I was a nightmare to my Coaches I could shoot baskets in basket ball pretty well but was pathetic in dribbling and any semblances of ball control, in Cricket I was a total source of exasperation for everyone as I couldn’t ever connect the bat and ball, Volleyball I’d connect but couldn’t ever get the concept of aiming shots, same goes for Carom, Table Tennis and Badminton. Baseball wasn’t so bad because of the rule three strikes you are out and of course that is where I was. The most distressing thing about all this was that I wasn’t one of those girls who’d stand out the class and gossip I’d love to play so I was always in the field much to the nightmare of everyone, team-mates, coaches, opposite teams. The only game I was good in was Throwball where the area of error is very little, sadly no one ever wanted to play it.

Later on I moved on to play pool which again I wasn’t too good at, tried learning to swim but fear of water caused my coaches a tough time, finally I learnt only the back-stroke properly, which I guess everyone knows is no great feat. Now I’m learning to play squash and once more history is repeating itself, to say I’m a bad shot is an understatement but I love the game and the coach is in for a harrowing time once more! I love the game but I wish the squash ball was the size of tennis ball, and then I might get my shots in right. On our trial practice with the coach I was such a bad shot that he was quite amazed at the fact that in front of him stood a completely uncoordinated idiot, who refused to stop playing even when she couldn’t connect a single shot. After 10 minutes of trying to coach me he gave up and decided to coach Bhai, and needless to say Bhai was good at returning shots and the coach was happy. At the end he was all smiles for Bhai and quite pained at the thought that we were a bundled package.

As usual I decided to be a real pest and learn to play this game the best I can, since the coaching is only on the weekends I decided to go pull all stops during the weekday practice sessions. I must say that I quite surprised myself by finally getting the shots connected! But it was quite a tedious process and very entertaining one for Bhaiyya. Initially, he didn’t even need to play to win all he needed to do was serve. I’m trying to do the best I can say but he has a whale of a time teasing me that I should enter Club Squash championship, if not anything else I’d be great for my opponents ego or I might even end up winning as people will just abandon matches knowing they are up against me and maybe I’d be banned from the courts.

Well, I’m glad he is amused but I haven’t seen the coach after that session, the following two weekends he’s been missing and the next two we were busy. I’d like to think it is just a coincidence however Bhai is going on like 'maybe you scared him off'. Last couple of days I’ve been a tad too preoccupied to hit the courts but I’m dying to get back, this has been the only sport my determination has actually translated into some semblance of improvement I’d like to see finally if practice can make it perfect. Here’s hoping it does happen.

The Gandhian Philosophy Almost A Century Later.

There are many excellent ideologies which can be so wonderfully interpreted that you’d find yourself mystified trying to figure out the way the human mind works. Now most of you know about Gandhi and his philosophy of non-violence. One of the stellar chapters of Indian History is the civil disobedience movement and the non-cooperation movement. Now they were great concepts, about making a point, or rather punching home a point without violence. They contributed greatly to the Independent India.

Now almost a century later, how is this theory applied in daily life? Well, on close observation the theory has been wonderfully stripped to its basics, which is, ‘If You Are A Pain In The Neck, People Will Just Leave You Alone, To Do Your Own Thing’ I don’t know if Gandhi visualised it the same way but the essence of the concept is this. Now my brother practices it rather well, tell him to do something, he doesn’t like, he’ll never say No. No protest, no complaints, no grumbling. Just the plain ol’ Gandhian philosophy at work, he’ll do such an awful job of it that you’ll get a headache seeing the end result. The work done shall be perfect, but the area where he worked would be a comprehensive mess.

Tell him to get something, he won’t say no, he’ll go there, look for it and say it isn’t there; even if you give precise location like, “look in the refrigerator, middle shelf, blue packaging, right behind the box of strawberries” still he’ll return back empty handed and say it isn’t there. Of course it shall be there. Remove it from there and show it to him, waving it like a conclusive proof of his crime, he’d shrug his shoulders and say it wasn’t there when I looked. While you battle between exasperation and having a stomping fit, he’d leave and you know he’s mentally whistling a nice tune.

Of course, I gradually learnt to not call on him for any help, over the years I struggled to get him to help but once I cracked his Gandhian code, there has been no looking back, he wasn’t just resisting my attempts of get him to work, he was cleverly training me to not assign him a task he’d rather not care to do. Before you think he’s mean, let me clarify, he’s the best brother. He’s amazingly helpful, forever ready to take care, there for me in an instant if I’m blue, he’d even cook my favourites to get me out of the blues, but try to push him to anything he doesn’t care for and you have the recipe for disaster. He’ll be such a pain, that the next time you won’t even consider him for the task, in fact you’ll wince with pain at the remembered memory, if anyone suggests him.

The more I think about it, I realise more people have figured the essence of the Gandhian code, I swear in my last office, there were a couple of workers who’d never be assigned pretty much any additional responsibility for the boss would be sure of their messing it up. These guys definitely weren’t ambitious blokes; they never were fired with the vision of achieving the organisational goal. They just wanted to do their assigned work, not one thing more; leave at the close of official hours, not a minute later than 6 you’d find them around, and they’d never do one thing more than necessary, they’d figured they were just hired for so much; and rewards etc cut no ice with them, it just never motivated them, they were happy with the regular salary. No starry dreams of heading the department etc, for them. You try your best to motivate them and eventually you throw up your hands and just learn not to consider them for the extra bit.

They were happy in their word and you learn to let them live there. This of course brings me to my profiling the employees idea but I’ll take it up later, I’ll stick to just interpretation of the Gandhian Ideology. This trick is employed by peaceful souls, who abhor violence, and disagreements, so they settle issues before they become disputes. Now I’ve also managed to incorporate the Gandhian philosophy in my life. Instead of throwing in the towel, I have figured how to be a greater pain by making my brother clean-up, the mess, while I supervise, and it works like a charm. Off-late he’s stopped messing up stuff. Gandhi rocks I must say!

Specimens and Species...........

Well since I blogged in yesterday, I’ve decided to do it more often, our daily life is filled with more humour than we really register. This day forward I’ve decided to actively seek the humour around me. The weather is great again today, I’m over yesterday’s deluge, and Bhai and I are best buddies again, so my world is picture perfect.

Today, I was at the bank, one of the charms of my country is the complete and utter disregard for rules, I was waiting in the line, it was quiet a big queue and slow moving, the skills of the teller were….well let’s say they were not stellar. Now though I’m not big on patience, weather like this has songs running through my head so somewhere in mind gets confused and forgets to be impatient and I really don’t mind the delay much, I was mentally karaokeing and just waiting my turn. Now the lady behind me was a restless soul, constantly twitching and shuffling her feet, her restlessness quite grated on my harmony, but I decided to ignore it.

This went on till the gentleman in front of me got his turn. Now there is a clear sign that says ‘Only One Person Beyond This’. Plain simple English shouldn’t be complicated for anyone, so I stayed on the other side of the line whilst this gentleman was doing his transaction. Now as I was waiting this restless two feet behind me started feeling envious of the wide gulf between. She decided it didn’t go along with the pattern of the line and started nudging me, I decided to ignore it first, then came the jab, now usually I’m a pretty tolerant kind of soul, but this jab pushed the song from my head, and I turned to give her a lethal Icy stare to quell that rebellion.

But I was rattled, this seasoned Icy-stare gatherer was left unmoved and she gestured me to step ahead, a part of my mind was grappling as to how to deal with this new specie on whom my much practiced stare was the like the water off a duck’s back. As I tried to conjure a fitting response, the gentleman in front of me was done. So I had to move ahead. Now as I did she did to as if we were the Siamese twins. As I gave in my slip, I was just about to introduce her to the concept of privacy, when the slow moving teller, displaying a mental agility I didn’t associate with her, pointed out a detail I’d left blank, so I took the deposit slip back from her and stepped aside so that I wasn’t holding up the queue.

As I put in my John Hancock, this lady had a withdrawal to make and she had to put her signature too at the back of her cheque, she didn’t have a pen on her, so what does this Emily Post flunker do? She just thrusts her hand forward to me, no please, no would you, no could you? Just a very communicative hand, I thought it would be very mean-spirited to ignore her so I gave her my pen, she put her signature and thrust the pen back as if she was contaminated! Now, suddenly she seemed interesting specie worthy of a study to me. So I observed her, mind you no ‘thank you’ was even at the fartherest recess of her mind. And I watched her fascinated, her transaction done she stood there and counted the cash, while I deposited mine. We both finished at the same time, so as we turned to leave, I thought I’d acknowledge her with a smile.

I don’t know if I over did my enthusiasm, but she looked at me as if I’d sprouted horns. Now, I know they are there but I take great care to keep them hidden, and out of sight, well she then just quickly mentally concluded I was some sort of psycho and moved away hurriedly. A part of me was wanting to go behind and observe this new puzzling animal in its natural setting but I thought I’d truly frighten her, if my simple smile could have such a reaction, no telling what a follow up would do, so I let it be and as I left I stumbled upon another wondrous specie, the ‘checkered’ idiot with a ‘striped friend’, they were quite a couple. But you’ll hear more about this new element in my tomorrow’s post. I invite everyone to contribute the amazing specimens they have come across. Till then keep the good cheer and seek the humour. Lol.

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Catharsis

I’m quite annoyed today and I’ve suddenly realised the merits on ranting and raving, which is precisely what I’m going to do. As of now I’m warm and toast but I’m spewing inside from what happened today and this blog is going to be the catharsis.

There are days when you just don’t know what is round the corner; it keeps you on your toes for sure. Just yesterday when it rained I was happy, happy that the winter that was packing her bags and going was gonna stay a couple of days longer and keep me company. I truly enjoy the mild winters, the days seem so dreamy, I, am dreamy, and the world seems to appeal to my mind as never before. Though yesterday I had a mild case of tripping and knocking my knee out real bad, oscillating between crepe bandage and knee support, still the rain was enough to make my world all right.

Well that was yesterday, today it rained again, I was ready to face the day in a real good mood, I was so happy that I decided to break the rule of wearing Churidar Kurta only once a year and accessorising also traditionally, most of you know that I keep this wonderful attire for weddings, and mom’s birthday only, Ma was quite delighted that I made an aberration an wore it, I wear it only on her birthday and it is the best birthday gift for her as far as she is concerned, of course she was gushing that I looked beautiful, my maid went a step further and said I was stunning, well I know that but I hate wearing these girlie stuff . Anyway, I just brushed it aside, and left for my daily grind.

I’d had a great day, when the weather itself is a shade of romance, it takes a disaster to get me out of good humour. I loved this day and for a change I felt totally alive and alert past noon, too. I got back home and Bhai was home, I was absolutely delighted and asked him if we could just hang out and have a chillax time doing nothing, he said OK, and collected his stuff and we guys headed out to Nehru Place, walked around there and chatted. It was a fine weather to hang out and of course as usual we ended up at a book store, the shop had second-hand stuff on discount, so obviously we guys went berserk, of course it wasn’t all great books but we did manage to pick up a few Agatha Christie’s and a David Baldacci. It was sheer fun while we were at it, then came the trouble, it started raining, normally it would’ve added to my delight if I was equipped to handle it or it was summers, now this was a rather unwelcome turn of events.

It started with a drizzle, and boy did it get worse and we had to be home in time to walk the dogs so we had to leave in the rain. Generally I wouldn’t have had any complaints, but it just so happened while I was stranded without any protective gear, Bhai had a raincoat. Picture this, no umbrella, no raincoat, already half unwell with a damaged knee and you have a raincoat what would you do? I think most of you would’ve have offered me the raincoat, (unless of course you decided to avenge some past life misdeed) but my brother….? Hell, no. He said, since you are already unwell you can afford to be totally bedridden!! I’ve raised a monster I feel.

Anyway I knew I couldn’t argue with him when he got on the ‘if you do the crime you do the time’ mode, the crime being not prepared for the rain when it has been a rainy day. So as we headed back apart from generally being in a murderous mood, I was wondering why spectacles are not equipped with wipers. Why did I wear glasses instead of the contacts? Why the roads are dirty? Why did I wear white? Why did I wear the traditional leather slippers? Why did I ask this idiot out? As I was seething inside I was also, chilled to my bone by the time we got home. Now I’ve changed and I’m toasting myself, and plotting revenge!