- Dont stress! For every problem there exists a solution. Trust me. Find it. It’s there somewhere.
- Read. There is a world hidden amongst words, and sometimes an answer to your questions.
- Make work fun. I have a friend who has to travel 3 hours back and forth, thrice a week. He has a picnic breakfast, en route,with fellow travellers who are now, thick friends.
- Have a drink with your friends. Look them in the eye and say cheers!
- Hear Music. It has the capacity to uplift you , or to stir up your emotions. Catharsis both ways.
- Travel. When you don’t have money. You will see things, you cannot – from fancy hotel rooms.
- Travel. When you have money. You will experience a different side of your destination.
- Cook. It’s an important skill – and – it’s amazingly de stressing.
- Eat healthy. Binge on healthy food, nibble on junk.
- Exercise. Every day. Minimum 5 days a week. Without fail.
- Take Deep Breaths. Conciously. We don’t take in enough oxygen.
- Walk. It’s the best way to see the places you travel to.
- Pray. It helps. It heals.
- Talk to your kids. About everything. Decisions – family matters – grief – loss. Just everything. They are more intelligent than you think.
- Don’t become friends with your kids. Who will be their parents?
- Be polite to those who work for you. I once sat with two men for dinner. The difference between polite and harsh was so vast, it made me rethink what I want to be.
- My friends mom always told her – don’t fight with your spouse and sleep. Resolve the tiff, or then, decide to call peace till next morning.
- Hug people you like.
- Don’t be bullied or black mailed into spending time with people you don’t want to.
- The people you love ? – Hug them extra hard.
- Take naps. Sleep always makes thing better.
- Tough decision to make? Sleep over it. I promise you – the morning will bring clarity.
- Make girl friends. (Women — This is for you!)
- Take girls’ only trips.
- Learn something new every year. Let your self be challenged. Let the brain cells exercise.
- Dance. Even if you have uncoordinated, buckling feet.
- Make your bucket list. Start ticking off your bucket list, earnestly and immediately.
- Hug a small baby.
- Pour out your emotions to a dog. Nothing is more unconditional than that.
- Keep a clean house. Clean office. Clean mind.
- Follow your intuition. Your soul will always guide you.
- Meet your school friends. They have seen you poop in your pants. What more can they judge?
- Stare. At nature. At the sky. At the sea. Into space. When you come out of the reverie a few questions will be answered. Trust me on this!
- Meet your siblings. Have dinner with them. Talk to them. They have shared the womb you came from. The same blood runs in you’ll. What can get closer?
- Walk bare feet. On the sand. On grass…..
- Sleep on grass. On sand. Let your body meet the earth.
- Sit by the sea. Aimlessly. No agenda. The wave more than roars. It whispers. To you – personally.
- Start that hobby – the one you always wanted to. Time waits for no one.
- Laugh! Loudly. Happily. Copiously.
- Sleep in late. Laziness is good – sometimes.
- Take care of your parents. They have lost at least 1000 hours plus of sleep on you – and continue to do so.
- Do something unusual at least once a year. Milk a cow. Bungee Jump. Take up martial arts.
- Don’t let age EVER get in your way. Shrug at them nay sayers and carry on.
- Make your kids skip school once in a while. And take them for a movie or to the park. The bond made that day stays forever.
- Drink loads of water. Loads.
- Eat on time.
- Don’t forget romance.
- Wear what you want to wear. Whats the point of wearing something in fashion and almost having an asthma attack because its so uncomfortable?
- Follow a rainbow. They might not exist. But they sure are pretty. Don’t let your dreams rot! Act!
- LIVE. BREATHE. LOVE. BE HAPPY. SMILE. LAUGH.
dreams
Skill Sets.
I have recently taken up food photography. I read about it. Studied it. I admit to being a bookworm.
The first time I picked up this badly designed instrument from hell, I was looking at it like it’s the inside of blue blooded alien with lemons as eyes. I was turning it around, looking at it and looking like a fool. Had anyone clicked a picture (irony!!) I would have been mistaken as a returnee from the loony bin! I mean, why does a small focal point have a big number? Why play around with the universe? It can strike you down, you know?
So I’m still learning, still struggling and still wondering why tongue – twisting words like shutter speed (say it fast – see what happens!) exist.
I’m on my – so to speak – bucket list. Last year and the year before that I took up DJing (I’ll look up the dictionary. I’m sure it’s a real word). I was the only “aunty” in the group. Till such time I threatened to wash their mouths with Dettol. Then they started calling me Appu. It’s a cool thing I’m doing right? So lets be cool –Call me Appu.
So Appu started learning how to DJ. The kids in my group, picked up really fast. They knew the music, they knew the beats and their young ears accurately picked up the tempo. I only picked up the lingo.
But since it was a childhood dream, I learnt it, through hard work and, a lot of cheating. Let me tell you – I am in love with the person who came up with a digital software for music. It makes all those nuances I missed out, very easy to follow. Now I wow my friends and make a “cool” parent.
I still cheat.
Next I want to take up drumming. This time I am sure I will be the only female in the group. I can just imagine the scene. Ten men, all ducking and running for cover because I tried whirling the drumsticks and its now flying all over the place, threatening to lodge itself into someone’s eye.
I should have studied all this when I was younger. Skills learnt at a younger age is something learnt forever. The photography would be as automatic as brushing my teeth,(though my dentist says I don’t do a good job there), and Djing would feel as comfortable as the commode I pee in. I would have been alternating my happening party nights drumming and playing gigs on the DJ console.
All ye kids, kind enough read my blog, go out there and learn a set of skills a year. Trust me – especially the complicated stuff like cameras. It’s easier for you to believe in an alternate universe.
Scent of a man.
I was in the mall, when the scent drifted towards me. Soft, sensual and all male. A scent I knew as well as I knew myself! I was rooted to the ground, unable to move, unable to think. Someone bumped pass me, and only then did I shake out of the past. I quickly went and hid behind a pillar.
I realized that his smell still held me enthralled. The scent of powder and all male sweat, which always clung to his back. It took me back to the many times we sat holding hands, sitting by the sea, walking on the road, or just lying in bed and watching the birds chirp at the window.
I continued to peek at him. He was busy sorting out some clothes (ties I think) from a huge table. The lower lips pursed up in that typical manner I remembered, when he needed to concentrate. Those thin lips still held that mildly mean look, which when snarled at someone, meant business. I could imagine his tongue. How could this small piece of flesh, with no bone, part my lips and then dive directly into my soul? How could those long lean fingers, gently glide up and down my back and melt my knees? How could another human being hold so much power over me?
It must have been only a few minutes, but all the years came rushing back to me. Unabated memories, swirling in my mind, making me dizzy, making me sweat. For the mind knew now, that these are only memories. And that even when they were a reality, they were also dreams. For we knew each other, but no one knew of us.
Suddenly he moved towards my pillar and I hastily moved to the other side. I could still see him.
His head went up, and he seemed to smell the air. He too had caught a scent.
Was it me? Or the woman he had betrayed me for?
WindOverSeas 