Thursday Ten

 10 fun facts...Obviously about me, its my blog afterall

1) I am a very restless person. I can't sit straight for a minute, I keep turning, moving shifting. So far I have not achieved that perfect posture to sit! Maybe some day...

2) I love talking, and Raghu talks only when poked! If both talk who will listen, so it balances out :)

3) I was born a left hander, but used to write everything as a mirror image. Imagine ABCD as seen in mirror. My teacher said 'she writes everything correct but ulta, how am i supposed to give marks to her?' Therefore, I was taught to write correctly but with right hand. Result being I do everything with left hand apart from writing. And I have a personal liking for left handers :)

4) When I was a kid, (in those times of transistors) whenever an Amitabh song used to play on the FM, I used to peep from the speaker holes thinking he is sitting inside....hahhaa, I still find this so funny!

5) I am accident prone + I keep dropping things (which you already know) = A deadly combination.

6)  I am addicted to tea, anytime is good time for a cup of chai! and crazy for golgappe (pani puri) so if you want to get some work done...hint :)

7)  I am allergic to fake people, being around them makes me uncomfortable.

8) I find it hard to understand when friends or couples address each other as honey, darling, babe, baby, dude! I am too old fashioned I guess.

9) I am very choosy & indecisive when it comes to shopping, a perfect combination of style + color + size + price is difficult to find and please don't assume I am over sized!! I am not, its just typical me.

10) I have had many crazy & awkward nicknames till now. You don't expect me to list them out...

I can go on and on, but neither its December 2012 nor am I running away, somethings can be put off till tomorrow!

Mom knows it

I found this on pinterest, and could relate to it so much!  It's funny but every time I see these while buying clothes, cushion covers or upholstery, the first thing that comes to my mind, Gosh! I will decipher this later when I have to wash them...

The New Look

Hello friends,
I have made the blog more cleaner with the tabs added on the top and re-designed the header.
Hope you guys like the new look :)

Some 'Do It Yourself'

I had these lying unused with me, I wanted to use the rose in it, instead of just filling the potpourri stuff in something as a showpiece. So why not combine them!

A beautiful rose in a potpourri packet

Small bits of paper which were tied on the potpourri

A showpiece that can have tea candles (any candles), pebbles, shells, flower arrangements or even for money plant, just fill in water!

From the Dusty Corner

I found my old book of poems which was lying in some corner of my cupboard. Mostly in Hindi. But very few, just 4 or 5, this is one of them. These poems were written during the initial days of my struggling career. Now when I read them after 5-6 years I wonder did I really write them, can I write again? I don't think so. Have a read, I hope it doesn't sound too kiddish!

तलाश

तलाश, खुले आसमान की

तलाश, अपने से एक कोने की

तलाश, उस जैसा बन्ने की

तलाश, खुदसा बने रहने की

तलाश, बस कंही खो जाने की

तलाश, बस खुदी  को पाने की

तलाश, अधूरे जवाबो की

तलाश, नए सवालों की

तलाश, बेरोकटोक चलते जाने की

तलाश, पुराने दिनों में लौटने की

तलाश, बस हर सपने में खुद ही को पाने की.

For the umpteenth time!

I said to myself, NOT AGAIN! Today while cleaning my house and just when I was struggling with what to blog about, the bedside table lamp slipped and broke into pieces! This is not the first time, I am know for dropping things breaking them and even getting hurt at times. If I start listing down what,where and how many times, it would be quite embarrassing! Better not. Very disappointed. 

However, I had to come up with some reasons to come over it and not feel guily. Like, it was not getting used, how many times did I switch on that lamp? Did I actually on it and read a book to not disturb my husband sleeping beside me (like you see in the movies and serials)? The Answer is NO. I had not spent a bomb on it. So many reasons to not feel guilty :) And to top it my husband said its Ok. (Poor him, what else can he say! hes got used to this now)

The question is How do I stop dropping and breaking things? Please don't tell me 'Be careful' if I could....But alas!

Back to Basics

Paper, pencil and drawing! I always felt the need to get back to the drawing board but never got the time or chance. Secondly I was never very good at drawing! and it requires regular practice. But in these times of Mac & Adobe it was left far behind!

This was the right time and I joined the drawing classes. Unbelievably the artist read my mind! the first thing she said was NEVER to think about what OTHERS are thinking about your drawing (you). For a minute I felt embarrassed I thought she was talking to me, first meeting and how does she know me so well? My biggest weakness,which has kept my mind busy 24hrs many times! I think its reduced now, but I am still overcoming it. I guess, starting my own blog and sharing my thoughts was a step somewhere in this direction too!

Anyways, yesterday was my first class, and it felt good to be in a studio with easel and canvas around! Reminded me of my graduation days! The best part was holding a pencil for 3 hours and not a mouse! I hope it becomes a regular practice and than I would love to share something here too. :)

An emotional basket

14th Sept - Raghu's bday. What do you struggle with most when you have a close ones birthday? The perfect gift! and the real task comes in when you don't want to spend much and still give the best. I wanted to do something different yet funny.

I wont tell you right away what was the final gift, I will tell you the whole process and you will figure out the gift for yourself by the end. First I went looking for the correct basket, the kind you get with florist but I wanted an empty one, and the price in which they sell an empty basket I could have gifted him a basket with flowers! Anyways, I found a decent empty basket in Lulu Supermarket. Next I had a small list of things that would go into the basket! So the real shopping began.

Green chillies/Red chillies - A dish without them is not worth a try!
One Broccoli - A pasta can have less pasta in it but Broccoli is a must

Dates - If he craves something sweet, this is his savior these days

Chocolates - He loves them

Dark chocolates - He hates them but this is what he gets when he craves for chocolate

Rasagulla - He likes every sweet, but any one is enough for the basket

Mushroom soup - There's no restaurant where he won't order soup, to the extent that he can even ask for a soup in Sarvana Bhawan!

A box of Plum cake - He would have preferred a chocolate cake, there's already enough amount of sweet happening in the basket so this is it

Nando's Peri Peri sauce - If he goes grocery shopping with me, this is what he buys

Tabasco sauce - Same as Peri Peri

Hugo Boss Perfume - He loves perfumes and I don't knw whats with this particular brand, but his bday after all.....so he gets it

Three ties - Just to remind him, how much ever he hates wearing them he has to :)

There are 50 other things he loves, but sorry my small basket takes in only these many! Next I bought a few ribbons to decorate the basket and two little cards to go in it. I reached home and hid the basket. Mission was 80% successful!

Next day on 13th, I started decorating it with ribbons and red and green chilies around the basket. I arranged the items inside, in a way that everything is visible. Took a small printout of two of us together which went into that tiny card with the message and stuck the card on the basket. Phew! Finally all done but the surprise part was still left. And yes, I had been pretending with some or the other excuse since past few days that I did not buy anything for him, did not even bake a cake....and obviously he would very understandingly say, you don't need to and blah blah! So, very clearly he was not expecting anything the next day.

13th night, I waited for him to sleep so that I could get up and put the basket near the bed, and he sees it first thing in the morning. I got up, kept the basket on his side of the bed on the floor. Put the 2nd card (musical one) over his phone beside the bed. All was set, but I could not sleep the whole night keeping an eye on him, every turn he would make I would think now he would look at the basket, but it was dark. Anyways morning 6:00 am, he opens his eyes sleepily....stretches his hand towards the mobile, obviously expecting birthday wishes! I pretend I am sleeping, but I was half awake. Just to add here whatever little time I took a nap I had a dream that he skipped looking at the basket and started off the morning chores! Anyways, back to where I was He sees the tiny musical card, looks at me wonders how I am awake....and smilingly looks at me again. That tiny cute musical card itself made him so happy & emotional that he did not notice the big basket lying there, I pointed towards the basket and said look there. He was wondering what is this basket with a big broccoli in it!

Well, I can't express in words. I have never seen him more happier than this, he literally had tears in his eyes. An emotional kid at heart! The funny gift with broccoli and chilly effect, turned out be an emotional one! He was surprised the way the basket was done with all the things he loved. I think the effort that went into putting all of it together was visible & touched his heart. I knew he would love the gift, but his reaction was beyond my expectation so I was super happy! I managed clicking some decent pics of the basket from my phone.

Images © Prachee Kapoor & Squeaky Corner

Maheshwaram

Maheshwaram means Lord of The Universe. Lord Ganesha. This is one of the many names given to Him. Yesterday when I finished my post, I was already thinking about what would be my next post about! Then I cam across the Ganapati Visarjan news on television, what's better than talking about my favouritest of all the Gods, Lord Ganesha! Not that I don't respect other Gods & Goddesses, and before you start thinking that I am going to start preaching something here, this post is not going to be preachy.  Neither I am the kind of person to do so, nor I am the Enlightened one!

Not a very religious person, but I like & respect Lord Ganesha as a character in all its forms. He is considered to be the Lord of Beginnings and the remover of all obstacles. And thats why Lord Ganesha is worshiped in the beginning of any religious ceremony or any new venture. ॐ गणेशाय नमः Lord Ganesha has the kind of mass following with no other Deities have. It just amazes me, how a half human half elephant body can be drawn, painted, molded, carved, in thousands of different ways without loosing the fundamental character and still look beautiful and cute (if I am permitted to say so)! Each part of his body has its own significance. I feel the way we are getting modernized and stylish in our appearances to keep pace with the changing times, Ganesha's Idols (and only Lord Ganesha) have got stylized too.

For example, I have a Ganesha idol with a laptop in His hand, my sister in law gave it to me on my last trip to Bangalore. I won't be surprised if in next few months I come across Ganesha idol with Iphone/Blackberry in His hand (maybe its already there in the market)! The best one would be Lord Ganesha wearing a facebook tee! I would be the first one to buy it :). Please note that I am not being disrespectful here, I love Lord Ganesha in each and every way else this post would not have been here. Apart from the traditional looking Ganesha idols I have two very cute ones, one is the laptop one which i mentioned above and the other is with me since years which i bought from The Bombay Store, cute little one. Have a look at the pictures.

Images © Prachee Kapoor & Squeaky Corner

Images © Prachee Kapoor & Squeaky Corner

That lady in Nauvari

An incident that happened around 5 years back still etched in my heart and will always stay with me. I had penned it down a few years back, sharing it here today.

Mumbai....yes, a city much hyped for its 'UNDYING SPIRIT'. It was the place to be, when I started my career. I decided to work here for obvious reasons, Mumbai was and is the centre of Media & Advertising industry and secondly, I had been there before as part of a college project and just loved the city. The people, the fast pace, the crowd, the slang, the local trains…..everything. I think I liked it more then my birthplace.

This is about one such day, can't exactly remember why but I was at the Dadar station, its a huge one that stretches far and wide. I usually don't travel from Dadar and I was kinda lost, did'nt know which platform to take the Borivali train from, I had to get down at Andheri (I stayed here). But based on my past experience with this city I knew it for a fact that if I ask somebody, they would surely help and not mislead me. I trusted Mumbaikars.

Walking on one of those walking bridges which runs over the railway tracks, I stopped a fellow walker, a local lady. She was around 55 and looked like a typical Maharashtrian dressed in Nauvari (Maharashtrian sari) and the way she spoke. She seemed to be a roadside vendor or something similar. Once she explained me the way in a Mumbaiya hindi mixed with marathi and directed me through her hand gestures, I said thanks and continued walking. She started walking in front of me. I got down from the bridge to the platform, she got down too. I thought maybe has to go the same way. Before I could go ahead on the platform and search where the ladies compartment would come, the lady stopped and pointed towards one side of the platform and the particular spot where the ladies compartment stoped and said, the train would come here. I nodded and thanked but then I was so moved with what I saw. The lady started walking back the same way we came and climbing back those steps. I was left wondering, did she come all the way walking and then climbed down those stairs just to show me the way? that too considering how old she was!

I thought to myself, Do you really find such people in this world who go that extra mile to help out a stranger who is in no way related to them??  Most importantly, Would I have ever done something like that? Ummmm...I don’t think so. Such people don't exist anymore!

Colors of Joy!

Purple, Red, Yellow, Pink, Green, White...

I have them all! :)

I think I am obsessed with them these days! A normal day starts with them and ends with them. In the morning before I run to the bathroom or even brush or make tea, first task is to go and have a look at them. Everyday there's something new happening in this Colors family. The best part, they constantly change and adapt without complaining or even 'squeaking' about it. They promise 24/7 companionship, which nobody can. Obviously minor terms & conditions apply, nobody does anything for free in this world, so a tiny amount of give and take goes here, which is completely acceptable.

Well, I am talking about the beautiful flowers that bloom in my balcony everyday. We bought a few plants to start with 2,3 months ago and I am nurturing them since then, not a difficult task though. Easy to manage and in-expensive. They flower throughout the year and are commonly seen on the roadsides too. A welcome break to the eyes from the desert and the artificial towering city we stay in.

They are waiting for me, its time for me to water them. Till then have a look at the pictures I have shared here! Obviously, courtesy ME! :)

Images © Prachee Kapoor & Squeaky Corner

Aren't they beautiful!

Images © Prachee Kapoor & Squeaky Corner

Perfect place to sit with a cup of tea and see the world go by...

Images © Prachee Kapoor & Squeaky Corner

 

The first step

I love reading blogs and always wanted to have one but struggled with what should it talk about and how to be regular at it. I have still not figured it out completely. Recently a friend Sangeeta took it up as a 30 day challenge and is pretty successful at it, which motivated me to take the plunge too. Thanks to her. The first step's taken, now lets see how it goes. 
Being an internet freak + talkative + love anything related to design/art/photography/travel/food/books.(Well the list is endless!) I think this is the hobby to have! My husband says, if he leaves me on an island with just Internet and maybe a phone because (remember, i talk a lot), I would survive!

I am an art director/graphic designer by profession living here in Dubai with my husband Raghavendra(Raghu). Currently a homemaker trying my hands on blogging. I like writing, and I used to write (not much though) till 3 years back. A few snippets about my experiences with random people, few poems in hindi during the initial days of my career in Mumbai. They are still lying somewhere in my cupboard, will look for it and share. Till then, keep writing and keep sharing.... :)