Zentangle Inspired Rhinoceros – Post 03

Sunday time pass – Zentangle Inspired Art Animal – Rhinoceros.

Zentangle is really a healing process, it lets you focus and be patient and the best part about Zentangle as an art form is it doesn’t let you use an eraser. So you need to keep drawing or rather patterning or doodling and in case you make a mistake you are supposed to play around it in such a way that it turns out to be a better design.

Happy week ahead potpourriers!!! 🙂 🙂 

Pen used- Sakura Pigma Micron .01mm and Time taken – 3 hours(few small breaks)

QUOTE CHALLENGE – DAY 3/3

Happy Sunday everyone!!! I am a day late to post my Day 3 challenge but i have proper reason for it and that being it was a Saturday yesterday 😀 and its meant to do either too many things or nothing at all. Am not telling which one did i do 😛

To end the 3 Day Quote Challenge nominated by my friend MADdy the theme i have chosen is someones teachings that really inspires me. You can see a big poster of his in my apartment a huge one, you can find his image as my desktop background, so much so that am pretty sure the next tattoo that i do would be definitely related to him and that is Gautama Buddha. 

Just his image brings in so much of peace and solitude within me which i can’t put in words. His life story has so much to teach us besides the enlightenment he showed to people during his sage days. Below are my favorite quotes by Buddha that really inspire me.

The rules are pretty simple and easy to follow:

# Post three consecutive days.
# You can pick one or three quotes per day.
# Challenge three different bloggers per day.

And my nominees for the final day are:

#1. Debra (Cultivating time is all about what you can make of the time you have in this world)

#2. Rochelle (you should not miss out this blog, a blog dedicated to some real bold views and posts)

#3. Noorain (if you are a foodie am sure you ll love this blog so head out to this yummy 😉 blog)

P.S: People who love Writing Challenges check out the A to Z Challenge 2016. This would be my first time and really excited about it. Check out their site and fb page for further details.

Facebook Page : AtoZ Challenge

Website: AtoZ Challenge 2016

QUOTE CHALLENGE – DAY 2/3

Here I am with my Day 2 of the 3 Day Quote Challenge nominated by my dear friend  MADdy. Yesterday as part of the challenge i had posted Quotes by woman who inspire me as a dedication to woman power. And today i am going to post three of my favorite quotes from something which i truly love watching – Movies!!!! 🙂

I have learnt a lot from the movies i believe and lived many lives through the characters and stories. Movies shouldn’t just be an entertainment, i do agree it is in the end a source of entertainment but if one wants to can learn a lot from them.

The rules are pretty simple and easy to follow:

# Post three consecutive days.
# You can pick one or three quotes per day.
# Challenge three different bloggers per day.

And for Day 2, dedicated for the LOVE OF MOVIES  here are few of my top fav quotes

Forrest Gump

Cinderella Story

Titanic

Now for the nominations for Day 2 are some of my lovely blogger friends 🙂

#1. Shivangi

#2. Oba

#3. Supreet

P.S: People who love Writing Challenges check out the A to Z Challenge 2016. This would be my first time and really excited about it. Check out their site and fb page for further details.

Facebook Page : AtoZ Challenge

Website: AtoZ Challenge 2016

Quote Challenge – Day 1/3

One of the interesting fact about blogging that amuses me are the Writing/Blogging Challenges that one gets nominated for by the fellow blogger friends besides their own individual write ups. It not only pushes you to think beyond your comfort zone but also opens up a whole bunch of new blogger friends. 

And so a big shout out to MADdy from MADSoul, and just like the name this blog is for all those people who believe in IMPERFECTION IS BEAUTY, MADNESS IS GENIUS (and is also a part of my fav quote) for nominating for the Three Day Quote Challenge and even more cause i have a huge collection of quotes. Do check out my fav quotes: Quotes that Inspired ME over the years and that i keep visiting every time to boost my morale. 

So here I am with Day 1 of the 3 day challenge, the rules are pretty simple and easy to follow:

# Post three consecutive days.
# You can pick one or three quotes per day.
# Challenge three different bloggers per day.

As part of the challenge am going to try to not include the quotes that i already have in my fav list but would add on to the new ones which i am totally in love with these days. And also from three women who are a true example of  women power. Cheers to woman power!!! 🙂 

 

Following are my three nominations for Day 01 and all of them being woman bloggers. Would love to hear your favorite Quotes 🙂

01. Hookup Cultures ( you need to read this blog, amazing take on dating, relationships,breakup)

02. Pretty Little Blogger (you wana feel like a teen girl again then head out to this blog right away)

03. Surbhi (her poems and stories for children are beautiful)

Until tomorrow of Day 2, Stay Inspired! Stay Blessed! and more than anything Stay Happy!!! ❤

P.S: People who love Writing Challenges check out the A to Z Challenge 2016. This would be my first time and really excited about it. Check out their site and fb page for further details.

Facebook Page : AtoZ Challenge

Website: AtoZ Challenge 2016

 

All i am today i owe it to you MOM

Disclaimer : This is gonna be one emotional blog post for obvious reasons it is surrounded around the most strongest women i have seen in my life or shall ever see again – my mother. And so to cut down words was little tough. I need to work on my editing skills. 😦

As i was going through the “What next to blog” zone i came across the Daily Prompt  about My Favorite  -“What’s the most time you’ve ever spent apart from your favorite person? Tell us about it.” prompt alert. And i knew instantly what am gonna write.

My Mom being my favorite person in literal sense am gonna be apart from her for an entire lifetime now until i go to the grave and join her in heaven(assuming am not kicked to hell cause am no saint and my mother definitely making her place in heaven 🙂 ) So this is to you mother.

All i am today i owe it to you Mom ❤ 🙂

 My mom’s name was HAWAUMMA which means the first woman in someone’s life and hell yeah indeed she was. I don’t really wana talk about her childhood and keep this blog boring; but i do want to tell that she has always been strong since a kid and she made her way through in life. Becoming a Teacher, being a Muslim she fell in love with my dad who is a Hindu they got married on Feb 10th 1980. Their love story is just like any other romantic story – romance, drama, action, conspiracy a complete Bollywood movie set in the 70’s and 80’s. They stood by one another through all the tough times against families and society norms (an inter religion marriage in India back in the 80’s was a big thing) and they lived happily for 31 years of wedded life. I can write it down on a paper anybody back home in Andaman Islands who knows them will definitely have something to tell you about the love these two pure souls shared. They were a symbol of perfect couple who stood by everything that came their way and made a world of their own.

I have seen how my mother used to take care of the entire house besides being a working mom. She was always there for bhaiya, I have an elder brother who is 34 now and married, for my dad for me for all her friends and relatives. She was the most warm person i have ever come across. She knew me and i am sure she is the only person who knew me in and out. She always gave me assurance about how good i am as a daughter, as a person. She always welcomed people in her home with open arms and lots of love in her heart. She always like any other mom would do kept her happiness secondary to everybody else’s in the house. A particular dress i wanted for my dance program or that new gadget my brother wanted or a new furniture piece for the house she always was the one to compromise. 

I remember that day when she first fell crashing on the floor, i was in my 6th std the year 2000 and had just woken up and suddenly i saw her falling down. She was rushed to the hospital and then the tests the reports came she was suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis – a chronic progressive disease causing inflammation in the joints and resulting in painful deformity and immobility, especially in the fingers, wrists, feet, and ankles. This was very new to people back home. And since then till 17th July 2011 when she left us all here alone i have seen her go through immense pain and suffering. Many reasons for that lack of knowledge about the whole disease, trying all possible kinds of healing Allopathy, Ayurveda, Homeopathy even doing all the non scientific stuff cause of the only hope that she would be better one day. 

Mom and Dad’s first portrait pic after their wedding, Mysore trip,dad and mom 25th anniversary pic, my first birthday, another anniversary pic, mom and me random pic(Mom was 45 and preparing for her MA exams, the ultimate wedding pic.

I am happy she is way far from all those suffering and pain and am sure she is having fun up there. I have learnt a million things from her that i carry in my heart every single day. Hundreds of promises that i had made to her that keeps me going strong. And some of them is what i want to share with you all.

#1 – Believe in yourself : She knew exactly what she always wanted to do. When everyone discouraged her she did what she knew was right in her head and her heart. She said believe in yourself and one day the world would believe in you.

#2 – Family is where love begins and ends : No matter how successful you become, how many friends you make, how many people come and go in your life- your family will always be there for you and more specifically your parents. They would scold you, ground you, be rude to you but they would always have good for you in their heart.

#3 – Never say no unless you have tried: I have seen her letting herself experiment with so many medications cause she believed unless u try how would u know its good or bad. Sometimes you would fail and sometimes you would succeed.  I have seen her preparing for her Post Graduation exam at the age of 45yrs and setting an example that age is just a number. The good part is whenever you failed you would know what never to do again or if doing it again how differently you can.

#4 – Value people who stand by you during your bad times: My mom had so many friends and she always valued them and treated them as family. In fact all my moms friends are more like my family than my extended relatives. She was always there for them and so were they for her. Its not in the good times you show friendship but times when everybody leaves you and you still have people backing you up those are the people you should cherish forever.

#5 – Do things that make you happy: My entire childhood i was busy getting trained in classical dance and performing stage shows. And she always stood by me as a support cause she knew that made me happy. And seeing her child happy was what made her happy in return. I know days when it was hard for her to even stand up on her own but she would come all the way in that pain to see me perform on the stage and would just say one thing  – “All my pain just vanishes when i see you on that big stage and people clapping for you. All my pain vanishes when you make me proud”. She always told me to pursue all those hobbies that bring happiness within me. Work is something you have to do to earn your bread, but things that you do to make you happy is what should be always done and never stopped. My dancing, writing everything comes from her.

#6 – Forgive and more importantly Forget: I am the kinds who always forgives easily but its very hard for me to forgive those people and my mom told this to me that what is the point of not letting go. What is the point in forgiving and not forgetting You only harm yourself doing that. One who forgives and one who forgets is much more bigger a person than the one who asks for forgiveness. I have seen so many people do wrong to her and yet she would love them respect them and treat them like her own. She said love can conquer the world and she did mean it. 

#7 – You would know how well you have done as a person on your funeral day: I always laughed at this as a kid cause i would question her how would you know cause you wont be alive right and she would just smile and tell you are a kid now, one day you will. I remember the day when her last rituals were being done and the number of people who had turned up to see her. I felt as if am some celebrity’s daughter for a sec cause i had only seen this in the movies or in the news when some famous person passed. Even weeks after she left there were so many people coming home to give pay condolences. All her students, colleagues in her entire career, every person whose life she touched just by her presence was there to give her a farewell. And that is the day i knew that when i leave this world i would want to go like this with so many people around me. 

#8 – There is never a tomorrow unless there is a today: There were days when i would not talk to her cause i would be caught up with work or be out with friends exploring the new independent life that i had as a career woman. And i would tell in my head i ll call mom tomorrow and then the tomorrow never came. Or the festival i kinda skipped to work those extra hours and was not home to be with mom and dad. And let me tell you this the day when life would hit you hard you would know what mistake you have done and you ll never get a chance to rectify it. I remember when i was leaving for a birthday party celebration it was almost a week now that i had not spoken to her even more cause she was unable to talk during the last days and i would always insist dad its okay i ll talk to her tomorrow. We partied hard came back and crashed into bed, we had a dinner party the next day. I wake up in the morning and i see calls from dad and relatives asking me and my brother who stayed in the same city to come home asap cause mom was in ICU and was critical. That day and the next day that followed  i wish i could just undo from my life. We booked tickets my brother and me flew to Kolkata then stayed overnight at the airport and on Monday we took flight to Port Blair, Andaman.  I remember getting down at the airport waiting for dad to come pick us up and i see many of my relatives and bhaiyas friends. We dint turn towards the hospital road instead we reach home. I remember getting down the car and seeing people all lined up around the corner of our street.Many unknown faces, few familiar ones and as i started taking a step closer to home i see all those eyes with tears, people who were my family there and it hit me that what i see when i enter the house would be something i would not even want to dream. I see her there in the living room lying in peace and eyes closed forever. I knew she was gone forever. And the number of things that came in mind i cant tell you people it still haunts me. All those times when i spoke to her in a louder tone, every time i did something which made her angry or disapointed her, every such incident which gave her pain, all those times when i saw “mom calling” on the mobile screen and i would put it on mute i had lost that chance of rectifying those mistakes. I would never get to tell her how much i loved her and how proud a daughter i was. I would never get a tomorrow. All i had was a today when i should have done things and i didn’t. 

Sometimes we are so involved in our lives that we forget to do those small gestures of love and kindness to our close and loved ones. We forget to tell our parents how much we love them whereas we are never too busy to tell our managers and leads about our project status. We always make time to get into a social gathering with colleagues or a business lunch that we attend but we chose to not attend those festival celebrations with our own siblings with whom we have grown up. We forget to take time to call up our friends and ask them how they have been doing but we make sure we ask our colleagues ‘hey dude how was the weekend?’. If only we realized all this now and not later when people are forever gone from our lives. I have been through breakup but i knew that person exists some where i could get back and say a hello any day i want to but when someone as close as your mom leaves its a void, you can never pickup a call and say a hello ever again. You can never get a chance to hear someones voice once they are gone forever. You can never get a chance to touch the person when they are gone forever. You can never ever once they are gone. 

So this is to all of you and me make time for your loved ones, make that 5 minutes in your life to call up the people who love you so unconditionally. Make it a point to call up your parents and tell them how much you love them and how proud a son or daughter you are. Call up those friends who were with you when even your family didn’t understand you. Call up your sibling who fought for you with parents and stood by you, who was your first friend. And to all those who are still standing by you and loving you value them. I am glad to have a dad who has never let me realize the loss of a mother. He has been my hero and shall forever be. I have learnt from him what it is to love unconditionally beyond physical appearance and looks, to take care of the loved ones first and think about yourself later. My mom’s story is complete if its not my dad who had been with her all those years of pain and suffering and instead just showered her with love,care, trust, faith and hope and the will to be a better person the next day. So call your loved ones now!!!

“If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane.I would walk right up to Heaven and bring you back again. No farewell words were spoken, No time to say “Goodbye”. You were gone before I knew it, and only God knows why. My heart still aches with sadness, and secret tears still flow. What it meant to love you – No one can ever know.”

Mom used to write me letters when she keeping well its one such letter, an album full of my childhood pics which was also the last gift from her after which she was totally bed ridden, that’s one last pic of bhaiya mom and me in one frame.

I love you mom, my life without you shall always be incomplete. I hope you are doing awesome up there and have made friends quickly like you always do. Dad misses you the most. Bhaiya was always close to you and he misses you every single day. And for me, no one can understand the mother-daughter relation ever so you know how much i miss u. We all do like crazily miss you every day of our life. There is never a time when your friends don’t talk about you without a tear in their eyes. Life would have been so much better if you had stayed a little longer! Love u. Muah!!! ❤

Long weekend & Long List of Awards

For those who are not from an IT background, a long weekend (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) means either to head out for a small vacation or get all your pending items in the things to do note list a tick. Its that time when you want to finish off all that you had been procrastinating (this word itself could be a topic of a separate blog post) for a good long time be it as simple as getting that wardrobe organised,that book you have been wanting to read for long, giving your vehicle a wash or even catching up with a friend after a long time.(Gosh i had almost all of that in my to do list 😛 )

What i did on this long weekend finally was – Complete the book “To Kill a Mocking Bird“, organize my wardrobe, clean the aquarium and get another set of gold fish, meet not one but three friends, 🙂  pick my cousin sister from the airport and be a good host to her and yeah a long awaited flea market i would be attending tomorrow….now that’s some achievement with one more day still to go for the long weekend to get over with!!!! Looks like one of my new year resolution to stop procrastinating things is speeding up. yippeee!!!!

So my to do list apart from all the above, had one more major important thing to do, being the blogger i am, i had this list of award nominations that i had been waiting to respond from quiet sometime. Well one more reason for postponing it was, i had to search for nominees to pass on the awards and anybody i wanted to was already nominated more than once or had made their blog award free…so you see i always find a reason for postponing thing 😛 😛 😛 😉

Hence the disclaimer – this is gonna be one long post justifying the subject Long weekend &  Long list of awards 🙂 I guess once in a while a lengthy post can be accepted. 😀 😀 Makes sense right, you write 7 random facts about you multiple times would make the list long, unless i am short of so many facts about myself 😛 😛 😛

The Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you Christina from Stealing Quiet Time In Noisy Disorder for the nomination, excuse the delay but you now know the reasons!! 🙂 This is one blog you wanna check out people, her love story is the kinds you read in books ❤ and you instantly feel “awwww-ed”. 

 

The Dragon’s Loyalty Award 

Shilpa, from iamabloggertoo for the love of God’s own country fellowship we Malayalis are all over the world physical and digital gal!! Thanks a ton for that award, appreciations boost up so much of your confidence 🙂 People now you need to head straight to her blog and read the Story section, specially the suspense ones are gripping and keeps you glued till the end. 

The Word Magician Award

Sam, from The Starlit Octave Band  Thanks a ton for that award, happy new year!!! 🙂 You know what I still remember my fav line from your facts and its written in my diary of fav qoutes

“I would say I’m very much “me” type
The one that is rare
For I love to stay original
Rather than fake my life”

Isn’t it a beauty friends??? I love this line of his and i wish we all inculcated this in our lives and am sure the feeling of insecurity would never knock your door. So go check those magical words Sam spins and leaves you coming back for more and more.

A bunch of Awards from the lovely NJ;)

Yeah, NJ from Ametalk has her own style just like how she showered me with a whole bunch of awards – Versatile Blogger, One Lovely Blog, Seal of Approval Blogger Recognition and Dragon’s Loyalty Awards!!! And i am pretty much sure most of my blog subscribers have NJ’s blog on their subscriber list as well. I really like her writings, she speaks about so many varied topics and the kind of warmth she has for her fellow bloggers is really overwhelming. If all that doesn’t make you go check out her site then what??? !!!!

The WAKAWAFU Award

There is a theory behind the WAKUWAFU Award and you can read more about it on DrowningWings who had nominated me for this encouraging and motivating award specially even more heartwarming as am a new blogger in this amazing blogging community. Thankuu!!! And for the rest of you who are still reading my longgggggg post the name Drowningwings is cause “you don’t need water to feel like your drowning ,your broken dreams will make you feel so” well thats the theory from the author Mansi who hails from a lovely place called Dehradun, India.

Blogger Interview Tag Award

This was the earliest on the long list of awards that i was supposed to respond to so i would want to end it with this one. I am thankful to 4yearoldadult – yeah you read it right, the 4 year old adult. And he has got an amazing range of topics on which he writes and as he says he is weird they are weird in a good way 😛 The Good-Kinda-Weird.

Random Facts About Me

1. My family includes my dad, elder brother , sister in law and me
2. I love doing everything possible in life, i wana learn everything
3. Baking is something that is on my list to learn this year(or the next one)
4. A handicraft/diy store is something i have been thinking of lately
5. Fame is not something that i crave for but i want to be in that position one day where people look upto me and get inspired.
6. I hate cats (many are gonna hate me for this now) as much as i love dogs.
7. The only thing i am scared in life(apart from losing loved ones) are SPIDERS..ehh!!!
8. I am born and brought up in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India – a must visit place.
9. My choice of movie genre would be- Action-SciFi-Horror-Psychopath-Comedy-Romance.
10. As mentioned in one of my posts, i suffer from Periodic Attraction Syndrome(that’s what i named it 😛 ) You can read about it here – IMPERFECTION IS INDIVIDUALITY
11. I got three tattoos and i plan on getting more …shhh!!! m glad my dad doesn’t read my blogs
12. I love playing board games – business,monopoly,battleship,life,scotland yard,chinese checker,cards,uno you name it and i have played them and i still own all of these back home.
13. My mom used to write a lot of poems in Hindi, and i still have that little diary of hers that i read whenever i feel low.
14. I have completed my diploma in Indian classical dance form – Bharatnatyam and Kathak
15. When i was in my 5th std i was in the Nicobar islands for a vacation where my mom was posted as a school teacher and her house happened to be the first one from the port and the sea was jusy 200mts far from the back door,I was taking a stroll in the beach when i see this baby dolphin wounded on the nose at the shore lying and crying. I just went ahead and hugged it tight and was trying to soothe it and figure out what happened and then with no idea as to what to do i went and called mom and gathered other folks around. Soon there was a large crowd and then the fisheries officials came and did the first aid and took it to the sea and left it. But that first 20 mins that i had with just the dolphin and me is still so fresh in my mind. There is something really magical about these creatures. I want that kind of an encounter again but m sure being lucky with a dolphin a second time in an open sea is only possible in dreams now.

What is your goal of blogging today?

To respond to all those amazing people who have nominated me a range of awards which has been like a shower of love and good words from the blogging world. So yup that is the goal today.

What do you love most about blogging?

I think Blogging is like a blank canvas, you can write, paint whatever you have in your head or whatever is there residing in your heart. You can touch peoples lives through your writing, you can get inspired from others! Its a whole different world, you make this world from scratch the way you want it to, the way you want to live in it.

What is your inspiration for your posts?

Its random, i don’t think that this is the only thing i would be writing. Just like my blog name its a potpourri of different things that i want to talk about. Inspiration could be anything!!!

What do you think about rankings?

Honestly i think it doesn’t matter at all. You should not be focusing on whats your rank to determine how happy you are as a blogger unless you are monetarily thinking about it. I do agree its gives that moment of instant pleasure but let it just keep it that way and not let it affect us.

Do you have a plan for your blog?

Maybe!!! There should be at least some planning like a draft version so that it helps you blog.

What would be your dream campaign?

Hmmm..something like post your pic every Sunday and see how you have grown over a year.

What advice would you give to a blogger just starting out?

Just write what you want to, don’t think about anything else. Just have fun and passion in what you do, that should work the rest of everything else.

How did you get into blogging?

I have been wanting to and tried and tested this since my graduation days but finally i took the serious step of not quitting it since August 2015. I decided to do things that i love, like writing.

Huh!!! Now that turned out to be a realllyyyyyy longgggggg posttttttttttt!!! 🙂 And am not sad about it, when you keep things on pending list they eventually become a lot. So yeah the next time i am gonna stop postponing such things and be more responsive!! Thank you all for those amazing awards and appreciation. Have a great year ahead both personally and professionally!!!

Now here i go with my list of Nominees!! Congratulations and have fun while doing this post! 🙂 Please answer the following questions

1. State 7 facts about yourself

2. Answer questions related to blogging

3. One strength and one weakness about you

Hargun Wahi

Vikas Acharya

Mahaa

Jenn

Jean

Priscilla

Soumya

Darshith

Pratyush

Doc2poet

Hasmeet

Gunroswell

Yogesvr

Aniruddh

PS: You are free to accept or reject the award(s). No obligation

Empathy Vs Sympathy – Did you know?

We all must have heard the word Empathy, sounds very similar to Sympathy which we as humans always are good at getting for ourselves and giving it to others around us. But the difference among these words are miles apart from beyond those three alphabets Em to Sym!  🙂

Empathy as per the dictionary definition means, “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” whereas, Sympathy means “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune.” .

To describe the difference beyond words i am gonna share a video today which i happen to come across recently on YouTube. I think there is lot to learn from this big internet gift called YouTube beyond watching videos. You can learn so many things from people all around the world. And similarly sometimes, Blogging is all about sharing stuff not necessarily what one thinks but also what someone else thinks or knows that could help everyone.. isn’t it???

P.S – they also have many such videos and are worth watching

 

2015 in review

I was so excited to see this report of a fellow blogger and tried all possible ways to search how could i get to see my report and finally my friend told me to check my mail and there it was.!!! I was so overwhelmed to see how i have been doing, somehow it felt like the same feeling when you get your results after an examination though in the case of blogging you are everything the teacher the student you learn unlearn and relearn things as and when you get deeper into the blogging world!!! I am glad i could i did pretty okay for a time of four months i hope 2016 is gonna be a roller coaster ride for me and i keep writing and reading!!! Wishing everyone a very HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!! STAY HAPPY STAY BLESSED!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 43 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.