Day 160: For Holiday on a Weekday!

Today, I am thankful for…

1. Having another stretch of a looong sleep. Thanks to the All India bandh today, we had the luxury of staying at home on a weekday. Woo hoo!! :)

2. (I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I am also thankful for…) the yummy custards that my mother has been making every weekend (a whole big pot of it) for the past three weeks. And FYI, even though I have been gorging on the custard almost after every meal, I am not putting on weight!!! :P

3. Finally watching ‘Rock On.’ I know I sound very lame when I say that, but I led a pretty sad life back then (when the movie had released,) shuttling between attending classes, going to office and barely making it home on time that I missed out on loads of stuff. So when all my friends had gone to watch the movie the week it released, I was busy in office (probably verifying expense vouchers or bank statements and their reconciliation). I had time today, I had the DVD, I was in the mood and I watched it! Finally! And I quite liked it.

4. Finishing A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller and starting a new book, Dork by Sidin Vadukut. I’m quite proud of my reading record so far. I hope by the end of the year, the list shows at least 26 books (of course, after excluding the half read books.)

5. A wonderful good night conversation. Simply loved it! :)

Day 159: For a Perfect Sunday

Today, I am thankful for…

1. Being able to wake up later in the morning (it was afternoon by the time I actually woke up! :P)

2. Being invited to a nice lunch at Amit’s place. It was very sweet of his mom to actually prepare separate food for me just because I am a vegetarian and everyone else was having chicken. :)

3. Listening to music over earphones. Mine got ruined about six months ago and I haven’t had enough spare cash to squander over luxuries and I wouldn’t settle for anything but original Nokia earphones. Also, I am too proud to ask my parents for money. So I’m waiting it out and I’ll buy it the day I have some money to spare. So since then, listening to music while traveling has been just a dream. But today, when I was traveling with Vishal, he had his headphones, which I connected to my phone and we listened to music. My ears were thrilled!

4. A great Sunday evening with Sandeep. A little bit of McDonalds with a little bit of window shopping, a little bit of paani puri and kaala khatta gola, a little bit of roaming around and loads of things to talk about, was what my perfect evening was all about.

5. Knowing that even though tomorrow is the first working day of the week, we have a holiday!! Yay!

Day 158: For meeting friends

Today, I am thankful for…

1. Being able to wake up earlier than usual because of which I had to avoid rushing.

2. Being able to spend a extra little time dressing up since I was up earlier than usual.

3. Being able to spend some nice after-office time with my colleagues.

4. Being able to meet Jyothi and the others (although I fell asleep early since I had been up since so long!!!)

5. The awesome sleep for twelve hours that I got after a loooong time… after a whole week actually. :)

Day 157: For Name Calling.. :P

Today, I am thankful for…

1. Finding out that there might be an all India bandh on Monday which means that there’ll be a holiday (2 days at a stretch) and also that I can get up late!!! Whoa!! Awesome!! :)

2. The exchange of e-mails that have replaced phone conversations. Interestingly, today’s e-mail conversation began with (and entirely turned out to be about) witnessing the story of a rat that tried to hide itself inside a carton of toned milk and crows that were waiting for it to come out so that they could attack him. There was also a dog somewhere in the story and the main point of concern was the survival tactic of the rat… or something like that. Not something I would talk about in the beginning of the day, but I must admit I did find it cute and laughed a lot when I read it. I don’t know anyone else who’d express such concern for a street rat!! The whole e-mail reeked of compassion and I re-read it more than once. :)

3. Being called names that sound soooo cute. “Aye ghadhi” literally translated as “Oh donkey” and “tera sarr” meaning “your head” have never ever sounded so cute. And it’s as if I want to be called by these names. They’re not intended to be offensive, obviously. But even if they were, the way he says it, makes me forget that I’m being called an idiot! :P

4. Unexpected phone calls that lead to looong conversations when you realize you haven’t spoken in a really long time. Ashish called me yesterday and we spoke after soooooo long. What made me feel nice was not just the fact that I was speaking to him after a gap of about three months, but also a few things that he told me, that sort of provided encouragement. He said things like, he was happy about the decision that I’d made to follow my heart. He told me how he enjoyed reading what I wrote and that he could visualize what I wanted to convey. It made me feel so nice. Also he said that there were a few common friends who actually took time out of their work schedule to read my blog!!!!!! I couldn’t believe my ears. :) Also we spoke a little bit about both our career plans and gave each other suggestions. Oh… and it’s his birthday today!! So Happy Birthday Ashish!!!! :)

5. The nice and long walk that I took. I am all about being healthy and fit these days but I won’t achieve that by starving myself and looking all worn out. I eat really well but I compensate for that by getting any form of exercise, whether it is jumping and dancing around the house while music is on in the background (which as so far been the most relaxing form) or plainly walking long distances when I’m in the mood. So today, I walked all the way from my office till the railway station (which took almost twenty minutes) and then from Vashi station to class and back – 15 minutes each way (I had to meet Ma’am about something). I was so tired by the time I reached Nerul that I ended up taking an auto. But then the long walk was really good!! :)

Day 156: For Catching a Break...

Today, I am thankful for…

1. The fact that Natasha was at home. It seems like I haven’t seen her in ages even though we live in the same house. Our schedule for the past week has been such that I leave early in the morning while she is still sleeping. She leaves in the afternoon or early evening for her play rehearsals and by the time she is back (which is usually a little late for me) I am off to bed because I have to be up early. Sigh! What a week it has been!!

2. A musical evening. We celebrated the fact that we were both at home, together after a loooooong time by listening to music – very typical of us, really! :)

3. Being back home from office by seven in the evening. For the last two days, since I discovered that there is a bus from office that drops me right outside my house, I have been tempted to travel by it because it means not walking till the station to catch a train and then again not walking from Nerul station to home. But the bus takes more than one and a half hours. I sit in the bus around 6.10 and its past 7.45 by the time I reach home. And with the whole churning-in-my-stomach-as-soon-as-I-sit-in-a-bus that I’ve been experiencing these days, it’s just not worth it! I’d rather walk both ways, thereby getting some exercise and reach be home by 7, than sitting (un)comfortably in one place and reaching home late.

4. Knowing that once the busy season in office is over for someone, we’re going to have a great time!!!! :)

That’s all. Can’t think of for now! :)

Day 155: For Conversations.

Today, I am thankful for…

1. Making it to office on time in spite of waking up 20 minutes late.

2. Having a good day at office.

3. A nice long conversation with Jyothi after a realllly long time. I did most of the talking as usual, but it was still a conversation!

4. Finishing And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer and starting A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller.

5. Being able to say Good Night to each other (over the phone) just before falling asleep.

Day 154: For New Beginnings

Today, I am thankful for…

1. Beginning a new phase of my life by starting off a new career. :)

2. Getting back to the normal schedule of sleeping and waking up like humans as a result of starting work.

3. Early morning conversations that seem to have slipped back into my schedule almost as suddenly as early mornings themselves.

4. Having cool co-workers.. Most of them girls, around my age!! :)

5. Having the best weekend ever… had authentic Arabic food a Bistro Grill Saturday night and an awesome rest of the weekend! 

Day 146: For a Beautiful Start to the Day…

Today, I am thankful for…

1. The beautiful morning that I woke up to. I hope every morning starts the way today’s did. :D :D

2. The wonderful breakfast of Orange juice and Black Forest ice-cream (slurp!) that I had. Very unconventional, I know! That’s what made it all the more fun.

3. Finally starting work on the project I’ve been talking about. Will upload loads of pictures when it’s done by the end of next month. :)

4. Being able to experience the feeling of missing someone so much that it is painful to be away and knowing that the other person feels it too.

5. Annie! It is a beautiful movie. I’m glad that I got to see it!

Day 145: For a Great time with Family

Today, I am thankful for…

1. The family time that we had which translates to a perfect Sunday. My brother, his new bride and his mom were here since Saturday evening, which meant yummy dinner, yummy dessert and awesome conversations. This actually covers almost everything that I did today and doesn’t leave another four things to be thankful for, but I have one more.

2. The wonderful rest of the day that I had. The most beautiful and cozy evening (a little rain would have added to the wonderful setting that the evening was!), a nice and private home cooked dinner and a wonderful sleep. I wish everyday was like this!!!

Day 144: For a beautiful home

Not that I’m bragging but I’m going to do a picture post today because I am totally in awe with how my home looks and I thought I might give you guys a glimpse.

I have a cousin who got married last month. So as a tradition, we invited the newly weds for dinner at our place. And so we got a chance to light all the fancy lights and get the fancy sheets out. So before my brother arrived with his wife and the rest of their family, I clicked a few pictures only because I couldn’t resist! So here goes.

This is the bedroom that my sister and I share. It has Olive green on the pillars, mustard yellow on the beams and off white on the walls, except for the wall behind the dressing table that has textured paint... And that's Natasha's stuffed dog (that she calls Poochi...) on her bed.

This is our bedroom with my bed in the forefront. My mom's office computer is on my bed just for the picture. We have a very old (seven years old to be precise) desktop computer at home (that has a monitor like a very old 17" TV) and I am quite content with it. :)

This is our living room as seen from outside my bedroom door. That's our temple with the glass bricks on the left hand side and our dining table right in front. 

This is a picture of our living room as seen standing next to the temple. To the left, is the door to my bedroom.

This is our kitchen and that's my mom! And today, I'm thankful for both! :) :)

Here's a picture of the temple taken in October last year on Diwali day. Thought I'd give you a glimpse of that too. :)

I love my home!!!!