Life is easy kya karein

I have lived in  hostels for fourteen years of my life. Every year, your room would be changed.When we were in college, after the first year, you were given an option to choose your roommates. It was a big political exercise. Each hostelite was given a form. You had to write your preference of room mates you want in the order of 1,2 and 3. The number of room mates would be 4, 3 or 2, depending on which year of college you were in. We filled this form with lot of secrecy if we were unsure who our real friends were. Some times, there was a lot of clarity that we four want to be together and then all of us would fill the form and put the same sequence and same set of friends. The hostel Warden was the ultimate decision making authority. You never came to know till you came back for the new academic year, who your roommates would be. If you reached the hostel before your friends, you got to choose your bed, desk and cupboard. Whether you got the bed near the window, sticking to the wal...

I am dealing with some metaphysical questions in my life. Should I or Shouldn't I ? Can I or Can I not? Is it for the higher good? Will it benefit all? Am I thinking only of my good with this? Should I talk to the concerned people or should I talk to strangers? Will the situation persist or do I have the power in my hands to change the situation? What if this continues? Where do we go from here? Am I scared of hard work? Why can't I make this work? Am I reading too much into this? Is it causing a lot of stress? Is Social Media adding to my woes? Am I being plain lazy and stupid? Why can't I learn to adjust? Will it be fair to all concerned? What am I resisting at this point in my life? The eternal question is to be or not to be.  And with lot of internal churning I have got the real area I am dealing with in my life. It is whether to have a live-in house help. In these times, my existing staff's residential areas are in containment zone. Strange but in the new parlance,...

With the onset of monsoon, the sun and the sea are are doing 'athkheliyaan' together. One side of the house sees dark clouds and the other part shows the bright sun. Children are constantly telling us to look out. In our house, one doesn't have to walk to the window to look out as there are windows everywhere but one definitely has to lift their head and turn the neck in both directions. The gadgets sometimes take over and we miss a few sunsets. This Lockdown makes one want to experience all things and not miss out on even one sunset. To think that living in this house for the last ten years and have taken the spectacular view so much for granted.  Today, just before sunset, the sun was bright and it was raining and huge dark clouds around the sun could not take the brightness away. We used to call this phenomena as a fox/ Siyaar/ Lomdi getting married. As children, this was the most exciting thing. I knew about fox and wolf and not the difference only through the story o...

Rains have arrived in Mumbai and how. The Monday started with heavy rains, Tuesday was the wait for the winds to churn us up a little more. My Cook, Eat, Clean and Sleep playlist which has been running on a loop, got some fancy music. Rains were soothing. Mother Earth was not too keen on releasing its 'Saundhi khusbhu' of the first showers. Do not blame her as this time our senses were ready for the Nisargh attack. Body is working on high alert with all systems firing but no where to go. Keeping yourself safe is a strange phenomena. Does it mean believing that I am invincible? Does it mean that it will come due to herd spread any which ways? Does it mean that pray and hope for the best? Really what are we thinking right now? How come I am not convinced that more people are impacted by the common cold? All those desires to learn new things, try new stuff in the kitchen, paint new masterpieces etc. have they all faded? Most people living in buildings and societies are havin...

In the Lockdown, some men have their hair grown long and some have gone bald. Women have started cutting their hair on their own at home. Some of them have cut hair for their family members . For Hair Colour, people usually used to go to the Salon or get the 'Parlour Waali' home. Now those things will be avoided for some time. My nails are cut short and then chipped. The finger tips have lot of cuts from the knives and other sharp kitchen equipment. Kitchen is all about mindfulness. A moment of your attention going else where and you can mess up with the hands or the food.My hands are totally dry and raw with the innumerable times washing with soap. I used to have very soft hands for years. Mom used to say it is because you never had to do any hard work. Hard work according to Mom is doing dishes, cleaning the house and cooking. My Nutribullet which is my sole source of Nutrition, is not working now. The machine works well and the jar is fine.  It is just a small little piece...

I am oscillating between should I make my Will or should I teach my children to cook? Do I keep a bag ready, as I did during pregnancy with all baby clothes washed a couple of times? I remember not buying Baby clothes in advance, as we consider that inauspicious. Where was the time to do all that? I was working as the Director of Sales for a Five Star Hotel. We were in the pre launch stages and there was tons of work to be done. I used to come home, cook dinner and get ready for the next day. There was no time to go shopping for clothes, mine or for the Baby who was yet to be born. We believe better not to put new clothes for the baby. The New Born should have soft fabrics which are well worn. I remember going to Matunga Central with a dear friend from the hostel. Inside the vegetable market, there was a shop which sold baby clothes. The shopkeeper knew what all I will need and kept showing stuff. We both with no experience of a New born played safe and bought very little. Mom was go...

There is a pressure on time even in the Lockdown. Actually, the timings have gone all haphazard at home plus my efficiency levels are not at the optimum. New levels of patience with timings are needed. We have all gone into the slow zone mode. Mood swings are a norm now. I am not able to multi task. I am not even in Yoga zone. Slow life is where I am but not consciously. Not enjoying it as I become harsh on myself. My friend told me, you have to let somethings go. I am letting a lot go in terms of how I want my house to be. But I guess, there is more I need to let go. Here, when I am meditating with Sri Sri everyday and he keeps saying Let go. Even letting go of my breath is not easy. I am thinking of some clothes which I had kept to be given for dry-cleaning. There is a bag full of Sarees for fall and beeding and Saree blouses to be stitched . I am concerned about do I stitch them and wear them for Ganpati. How will Ganpati be this year in Maharashtra? How will we have Bappa at home...