Guess who I can't have enough of...?

That's Cutlet 'Joojie' Chauhan (L), Poppins 'Joojie' Chauhan (R) and




Fuzzy Lumpkins 'Joojie' Chauhan, in short, Fuzzy, for you.

Awwwwwww...

And they even keep me company when I watch How I Met Your Mother. :)

???

I think the biggest challenge for people is to figure other people out. That's the ever evasive quest we're all out to seek, in more ways than one. People define our situations, our life, our goals, our everything; as much as we'd like to deny it. Looking at the statistics of things, how often would something other than a person determine things we do? Either in the form of compliance, rebellion or just plain being?

And why it's the ever evasive goal we seek is because human beings define the epitome of enigma, of relativity and of everything that isn't permanent. One time this, the other time that. Emotion A now, emotion D then.

And somewhere, it's not even about what A, B or C thinks, does or feels. It's about what I think, do or feel. And because we're all connected to each other in some weird cosmic twist, or to simply put it as Aristotle did - man is a social being, what A does magically affects me. Or C. Or even Z for that matter.

To try and be "cool" and say I don't care a s*** about what W thinks, is trying to pull a fast one on no one but yourself. Cuz the fact that you mentioned the above shows that somewhere, what W did affected you.

So my eternal question holds fort: Do we need to try and figure other people out to figure ourself out? Is the world that twisted in a weird a 6 degrees of separation sort of way?

I have no answers of course. But I do know that this is a never-ending messed up search because after all, it's us we're dealing with.

The quintessential question will always remain, however.

Get Out

Get out of my face.
Get out of my space.
Get out of my life.


Just get out.

You're done with.

Thank you very much.

:)

I've always loved dressing up and taking the effort to look presentable. It matters to me. A lot.

And off-late, with the wedding season on galore, a lot of time and A LOT of money has been spent in making the effort worth it.





It's a little more to do with feeling like a million bucks over looking it even though you might make a few (or many) heads turn! :)

At the end of the day, all I've got to say is that I LOVE being a woman :) Really.

One of the best reasons for watching movies like

and





are that they remind me of home. Of course they're set in places like UP and Bihar, but that apart, it's the hindi, the way the language is spoken, the expressions and various other quirks that make them such nostalgic films to watch! :)

Things to do:

1) Take time off for myself
2) Bake that perfect cake
3) Exercise
4) Study
5) Plan a party and attend it as well
6) Take a bubble bath.

That should be it for the time being :)

It's been three years.

I hope you're resting in peace.

You do chance upon my mind, occasionally that is.

I feel you around, rarely.

The last was twice in a row during my convocation.

1) when we gold medalists led the march to have proud parents and grandparents waving and taking photographs.

2) when I received my medal and degree.

I felt you in my tears. And a part of them were for you.

For you are family. No matter what.

Personal Space Matters.

The ideal situation.





My current state of mind.




*images from the internet.

It's a time of weddings.
It's a time of reliving old times.
It's a time of meeting friends.
It's a time of catching up with friends from wayyy back.
It's a time of making things work.
It's a time of figuring things, people and myself out.
It's a time of just letting go.
It's a time of classes giving me hell and saying they love me.
It's a time of holding on.
It's a time of disclosure.
It's a time of closure.

These are varied and vibrant times. Getting dressed or being "dolled" up, meeting friends after ages, hanging out with new friends, building deep bonds, holding on to the ones who matter (like *really* *really* matter), taking long walks, reminiscing, guffawing, mulling...

These are indeed varied and vibrant times.

And here's to more.

Firsts....

There are many firsts I would like to talk about. And there are of course many firsts that I will not forget. But one first I want to talk about and will not forget is this:

Today was the first time I felt proud about India's global state of affairs.
Today was the first time I felt nice about India's shame as a country. And why? Because of the Commonwealth Games that are about to ensue.

So yes, we've had our Kalmadis and various other "officials" run the show and we've had our infrastructural zeniths with those innumerable stadiums and villages that suddenly sprung up from nowhere since the entire show began, but that apparently, was just the beginning.

Keeping aside the fact that our government does what it lives for-corruption, the state of affairs this entire show has highlighted is nothing but a complete and utter mess.

Yes, our taxes and the country's loans did get "misappropriated", yes New Delhi is almost on the verge of a massive flood, yes India is under threat from 347689336353820 and counting terrorist outfits, yes the so-called games village has dengue stamped all over it and yes of course the infrastructure has words like "messy" and "dangerous" flash in our mind...but so what? This is how we are. No?

So yesterday, when the bridge at the entrance of the main venue fell down (and injured/killed x number of people, not that anyone's bothered), I chose to feel disgusted first, and then proud. Why might you ask?

I felt proud (we'll leave the disgust out) because for once, I refused to stand up and feel this whole magic we call Indian-ness, covering up people's misdeeds in the process. For once I would like to believe that I have nothing to do with this government even though it is "mine". For once I'm happy that India has no face left to show the world when it comes to sports at least. I am elated.

And I feel elated because karma bit those where it hurt the most. Corrupt officials and our slack government just got what they should've got a long time ago.

Yes, the blame game must've begun even before anything else would've begun, and the wheel keeps turning but that's a jolt in their ride that no one will forget.

I'm still elated. And I will be for sometime at least.

My latest stressbuster!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/


Do give it a read. It's hilarious and absolutely wonderful!

Another staple feature to my every day travel!

Fact # 3456

You know you're old when all the guys you like are younger than you.

*sniff*

Damn you, age!

FML.

Another happy day...

...to keep up with the happiness continuum.

A drive to BIA!
Empty roads.
A speeding car.
A smooth drive.
Great music.
Open windows.
Wind in my hair.
140 kmph.
Glittering lights.
Raindrops.
The whir of the car.
12 inch subs.
A sub challenge.
BIA.
Pilots.
Take-offs.
Sparkling aircraft lights.
A walk around BIA.
A coffee.
A shared brownie.
95 photographs.
Spazzing.
Laughs.
Jokes.
Hugs.





A night well spent!

One more for the road!

And just cuz I'm feeling happy...

I'm featuring "my song" right here!



It's time to get up and grooooooooove! :)

It's a good day when:

- my day at work felt like one of the best ever days I have ever experienced.
- I'm listening to music in my room all alone with the volume up there!
- I'm grooving around in my space with no one to watch me!
- it's thursday which means friday and saturday are not far away. It's good to have those days on the verge of happening!
- I get rewarded for my hard work!
- I know I'm moving towards something even though I don't know where or what that thing is!
- I make people happy. That just automatically makes me happy!
- I know why I'm here!

I haven't felt this happy in a while. And now that I am feeling this happy, I'm gonna do all I can to wallow in this feeling. For as long as I can.

Happiness and happiness wallowing, here I come!

Babushka Chauhan has snapped.

Maybe it's the stress.
Maybe it's the thinking.
Perhaps it's because I'm trying too hard.
Maybe it's because my efforts are going in vain.
Perhaps it's the loneliness.
Maybe it's the future.
Perhaps it's the way I feel.
Perhaps it's the way people make me feel.
Maybe it's the people around me. Or,
maybe it's just me.

I don't know.

All I know is that

Babushka Chauhan has snapped.

Blocked roads. Traffic jams. Blaring music. Deafening noise. Piles of dirt and pollution. Crackers. Complete disrespect for everyone else around. Vandalism. Drunkards. Screeching bands and boisterous trumpets. Absent traffic cops. Sparse public transport.

Oh yeah, and throw in some festivities to keep our so called “tradition” alive.

And that would sum up the celebration of an Indian festival for you.

Disgusting.

Circles.

With every passing moment, thought and/or action, we sometimes make a full circle. For example, me teaching PUC kids completes a circle, me teaching the UG or PG course I studied completes a full circle and so on.

I just realized, that in every process of completing one circle, we start on another one.

So how many circles do we keep making? And consequentially, how many circles do we keep running in, perhaps all our life?

Food for thought till next time!

*drool*worthy

Cooking couldn't get hotter with these *drool*worthy men!



Curtis Stone :)



Gordon Ramsay :)


And of course, the one and only



Anthony Bourdain!


Men who can cook = hot. Hot men who can cook = speechless.

Here are three of the world's hottest (in every sense of the word) chefs! :D


ps> they are not in order of preference ;)


*images sourced from the internet.

And to end today,

I'm closing with this...








I would like to believe that I can draw and engage with art! :D

Here's something I'm proud of and would like you to see!

Keep visiting and commenting as well! :)

Do you know of that achy feeling inside you when you miss someone? Or that overwhelming feeling when you finally meet that someone?

I seem to be feeling that. I've felt so much of that off late that it's time I re-checked the status of my social life.

The other day I met some of my UG friends and it felt so so good to be with them. I'm not someone who misses anyone and everyone. And so when I met my group, I knew instantly that these were the people I ached to spend time with. So much so that something wanted to cry inside of me...the absolute and abundant joy was overwhelming.

Meeting friends who matter after ages is the best thing in the world! The best thing in the world! :)

Social life, here I come! Overwhelming feelings, watchaaout!

A free, painless stress buster...

from an older blog post. Something I unearthed while reading my old posts on my old blog. Here it goes...

My favorite is when-
I’m strolling under the expansive gaze of yellow and red flowering trees
The dimming sun keeping a watchful eye from the west peeping through the rustling of darkening leaves
The canvassed sky painted with a thousand rays
The stray dog sniffing his way by my side
The laughter of a freshly cracked joke
The smell of mouth watering, tongue tingling, steaming chaat wafting all around
The irritation at blaring horns that disturb your moment
The minutes that dragged at home now fly to join Time that was setting for the day
The uncertainty of how time passed and when i've to reach home
The happiness that a long path awaits my footsteps
The relief this moment in time brought me
The contentment I feel for time well spent
And the elation for the joy I feel.

Blissed Out.

It's been an extremely humbling day. A beautiful day at that.

It's amazing how human beings can be. While we always talk about, obsess about and even fear that spectrum of people who are conniving, manipulative and horrible, we often miss to see and enjoy the other end of the line. Perhaps because this world has so many bad and ugly people who turn this world black that whatever colour we have gets overshadowed... I don't exactly know why we fail to look at the other end of the spectrum. I guess we have our own reasons.

However, today was one of those days that will remain. For more reasons than one. After a great time with friends, I was on my way back home with ma only to realize halfway through that I couldn't find my phone. We asked the auto waala to slow down so we could look for it but to no avail. I had given up because finding a phone on silent mode on Commercial Street is something I will leave to your imagination!

But that's when this stream of good started happening - one after the other.

The auto waala actually stopped and asked me to search the entire place. I love that he empathized with me.
Ma called and no one responded.
The auto waala offered to call.
Ma called again and someone finally picked up.
We turned around and were waiting at a signal, on our way to Com Street.
This really pleasant faced beggar limped his way to our auto and just when ma took out some money, the signal turned green. Ma actually stopped the auto at the side and had the auto waala give him the money. The sight of the beggar limping his way on his crutches (for he had no legs) with such a big smile in his eyes and on his face with the auto waala telling him to take it easy, and for the fact that ma stopped the auto made something in me want to cry.
The auto waala began telling us stories about lost and stolen mobiles and how dangerous they can become today (thank you terrorism!!)
We reached, I got my phone and we set off again.
Conversations from Bangalore to actors from Bangalore (Mehmood, Waheeda Rehman etc etc) to Ramzaan to Id to food to life in general spanned our journey back.
Ma and him stopped over at ma's favorite local chai shop for garam chai and samosas. Ma offered to pack some for his 5 kids back home but he humbly declined...
And then we reached home in silence.

I realize that every one has their share of worries. I realize that every one has worries that can tear them apart. I realize that people carry on with their life and still live. They still live in peace and happiness. Because for them, peace and happiness is not always that valued piece of paper. Because for them, money is just a part and parcel of bigger things in life.

And by these people, I don't mean people who zoom past me in their fancy shiny cars with their pretentious idols stuck to the car's dashboard. By these people I mean people who have just about enough to see them through, people who have 5 children who are studying, people who have no money to change their auto meters from Rs. 14 to Rs. 17 because it costs Rs. 1000 and they don't have it, people who have brightness in their eyes for the smallest of things, people who live because they want to live and not because of how they live. People like Moinuddin; people like the auto waala today.

I didn't feel sad or remorseful for having lost my phone for that x amount of time because I wanted a new one. And tomorrow, when I buy that new phone, that's going to be a few thousands I'll never forget, a few thousands that will make me think. Not because I have it and gave it away but because someone else doesn't have it and is somewhere happier than I am.

And that's what I call humility.