Balaka Basu's Blog, page 13

Conspiracy Theories-The Funniest One #A-ZChallenge2020

The conspiracy theories regarding Covid19 has kept me on the tenterhooks. I am a huge fan of suspense thrillers and science fiction. Therefore a real-life science conspiracy theory caught my attention. I was spending the whole day reading theories online, listening on YouTube and watching them on Television. China was blaming America and Trump was calling it ‘Chinese Virus’ and our WhatsApp and Facebook were getting flooded with messages/voice messages from random people who claimed they have decoded the ‘conspiracy’.

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Many referred to a book called “The Eyes of Darkness” by Dean Koontz that had predicted the pandemic, some referred to the TEDtalk by Bill Gates and the movie Contagion. By the way, Contagion was actually quite eerie to watch. It was almost a premonition of the current situation. If you have not already watched it then go and watch it. It is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Today, I am going to talk about the theory that I loved the most. No, it was not by any journalist, biological warfare specialist or any special agent. This theory was given by my sister’s house help and this is undoubtedly the best. Before I tell the theory let me acquaint you with Goddess Manasha and Goddess Shitola. They are the goddesses of snakes and contagious diseases respectively.

One morning my sister’s house help came and said: “Boudi (sister-in-law), stop eating Chinese food, you will get cursed.” My sister got curious. The lady went on “Do you know why this Coronavirus is spreading?” My sister nodded. She said, “Because Ma Manasa got angry” This made my sister even more curious. Why would Ma Manasa, the goddess of snakes get angry? The lady understood what my sister was thinking she continued “You know these Chinese people they eat snakes. Sometimes even raw snakes. When Ma Manasa saw that they were eating her pets, she got furious. So she went to Ma Shitola and asked her to curse these people with a contagious disease. So, Ma Shitola spread this new contagious virus. Now see for yourself how these people are suffering.” She took a long breath. My sister now had two questions. Firstly, why did Ma Manasa not curse these people on her own, instead took help from Shitola?. Secondly, if this was meant to curse the Chinese then why the whole world is suffering?

Her madam had quick responses. Ma Manasa couldn’t do this because spreading a  virus is easier than spreading snakes. Second, all those who love Chinese cuisine will suffer. My sister didn’t know how to control her laughter, somehow she managed to keep a straight face and asked ‘what is the solution then?’ the lady replied ‘completely give up eating Chinese food and pray to both the goddesses morning and evening.’

Let me know if you heard any such bizarre theory regarding the Coronavirus. I would love to know.

Boredom Precedes Creativity #A-ZChallenge April 2020

“Boredom always precedes a period of great creativity”- Robert. M.Pirsig

I realized the truth of this quote in the last few days. Ever since the lockdown started, my social media timeline has been flooded with creative works by my friends, family, acquaintances, and their kids. I never knew that there were so many creative people around.  I discover the accountant on my friend’s list is a great harmonica player, the engineer is a great singer, the Vice President of a retail chain is a painter, the Scientist is a good baker and the Business Manager is an amazing sculptor.

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I am especially impressed with the kids. They have got a free run and their creativity is oozing out. The parents are exhausted without maids and work from home. They are having to juggle work from home, along with dusting, sweeping, mopping, cooking, cleaning dishes, laundry, ironing, and home-schooling. They have thus given a ‘ja Simran ja, jee le apni zindagi‘ to the kids and the kids are just loving it. They are doing whatever they want to do. I see young painters, singers, poets, fiction writers, baker, dancer, and chef emerge out of these tiny ones.

There are also a few parents who are consciously using this time to teach the kids something new. Many parents do not get enough time to spend with their kids due to their hectic schedule so now they are trying to compensate that. They are teaching their kids to cook, bake, paint et.al.

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I started teaching my son cooking. He is an outdoor kid and I knew keeping him indoors would be a challenge. Therefore, I started to teach him how to cook. He loves cooking. Then he came up with the idea to shoot the cooking steps. He downloaded an editing app and created his YouTube Cooking Channel. Thankfully, he is no more getting bored, his whole day is spent cooking, shooting, editing and uploading. I must say, he is doing a great job and I am quite impressed with his editing skills. Never knew he had this talent.

All of us always complained that our lives are so hectic and we hardly have time to do anything for ourselves. Universe probably heard it. Boom!! came this virus and now we do not know what to do with our time. So all of us unleashed our creative self and masterpieces are coming out. We are doing things we have always been passionate about but never got the time to pursue due to our job, travel, housework, etc.

A small trivia: It’s long been thought that Shakespeare turned to poetry when the plague closed the theaters in 1593. That’s when he published his popular narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, in which the goddess begs a kiss from a beautiful boy, “to drive infection from the dangerous year,” for, she claims, “the plague is banished by thy breath.” Love poetry, it seems, could be spurred by the plague, and—the seductive fantasy runs—even cure it. But Shapiro suggests that another closure of theaters, in 1606, allowed Shakespeare, an actor, and shareholder in The King’s Men, to get a lot of dramatic writing done, meeting the demand for new plays in a busy holiday season at court. According to Shapiro, he churned out King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra that year.

source: https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2201976/shakespeare-wrote-his-best-works-during-plague

Therefore, take this quarantine period in your stride and do something that you always wanted to do. Finish the book that you always wanted to read, take out the crayons, cook a storm, use YouTube to learn to play an instrument, finish writing the book you wanted to write, sing, dance and after the Lockdown emerge as a better person. And fellow bloggers let us blog to our heart’s content and finish writing those posts that we never had enough time to finish.

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Anxiety, Anger, and Alienation

In the month of December, when the first case of Covid19 was detected in China, I was in Europe, enjoying canal rides, eating waffles, laughing with my Italian colleagues Natalia, Serena, Loredana and flirting with the Dutch-Italian fellow Roberto at the hotel’s reception desk. He resembled the Indian actor Arjun Rampal and was no less than a human encyclopedia who knew about every hotel, pub, and bar in the town. I almost had a tiny crush on him.

Back then, we had no idea that a couple of months down the line, all that would seem surreal. Today, Italians are struggling for their lives and I am amidst a lockdown.

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The memory of a beautiful European trip

In January, many of us were thinking of Covid19 as something that affected only China. In February, my cousin came to India from Singapore. He had to go through thermal screening at the airport. We joked in our family WhatsApp group that we wouldn’t meet him, as he would spread the virus. Covid19 was still more of a joke for us.

Gradually, things started getting a bit closer when a friend had to cancel his Japan trip and was quarantined on his return from the USA. Then, Italian tourists were diagnosed in Rajasthan and Covid19 became a real thing for us because we were scheduled to travel to Rajasthan. Husband asked me to cancel all tickets and hotel bookings. All of us were looking forward to this family trip and were naturally upset. To be honest, both I and my son thought he was overreacting.  Now, when I think in retrospect, I do give credit to my man’s farsight. Had we gone ahead then we wouldn’t have been able to return as the Lockdown would have started.

Things got scary when the son’s school sent an email writing ‘indefinite closure’, his swimming classes also got shut down by the government. Then one fine morning we came to know that an elderly couple from our neighborhood who had returned from Dubai were infected. Suddenly the only dining table discussion we had was ‘coronavirus’. Offices started asking employees to work from home. One afternoon my house help was not allowed to enter our housing society. Soon after we got a message that the society was banning all house-helps and delivery people to enter the society. Many residents even got angry and started abusing the secretary of our society for taking such a drastic step.

In the meantime, we had almost developed OCD of washing hands. I started getting suspicious of every touch and every person. We started using toothpicks and tissue papers to press the elevator buttons. Husband went a step ahead and started climbing the stairs to avoid any touch. I started washing everything in the house with Dettol like a maniac. We kept a big bottle of sanitizer at the entrance. Son was still rebellious and I was losing my mind trying to keep him indoors and make him wash hands.

In between all this, one day, a friend came to visit, she had come back from Hongkong in January. I almost went crazy after she left and literally cursed her in my mind. I washed the sofa where she sat and cleaned the cup and saucer with Dettol. I don’t know if I should feel proud or ashamed of what I did. Then finally the government declared a total lockdown. And the alienation aka #socialdistancing began.

All of a sudden in 2020, people all over the world entered a new ‘world’, a place where staying away from each other is the only mantra to stay safe.

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Theme Reveal for A-Z Challenge 2020

The year 2020 is no wonder out of a Science Fiction. I agree that this year was written by Stephen King. The year so far seems eerie and sinister and I would happily jump on a time machine to go back to 2019, where I made such lovely memories.

I was deliberating on a theme for A-Z Challenge for 2020. Initially, I thought of writing ‘love stories’. I even wrote a few of them. However, my mind is so distracted these days that I am not able to write fiction. Life is now stranger than fiction, therefore, it would be more interesting to write about ‘real-life’. I am sure, one day, I would be telling my grandchildren stories about this time when we were stuck in the house indefinitely.

The theme of my series is “Life in the Time of Corona”. I know, this title has now become a cliche. Everyone is using this title which is a spin-off from the title of a book by my favorite author Gabriel Garcia Marquez called “Love in the Time of Cholera”. However, my mind is so lethargic these days that I couldn’t even think of a better unique title. I would be writing my posts based on the emotions, thought, and experiences we are going through now. The list is a tentative one and subject to last-minute change. Hope to have a great April. All the best to all my fellow bloggers who are taking part in this challenge in 2020.

Alienation, Anxiety, and Anger
Boredom and Creativity
Conspiracy Theories
Depression and Mental Health
Extroverts vs Introverts
Financial Crisis
Gratitude for Small Things
Hoarding
India and Covid19
Junta Curfew
Kind Acts
Lockdown
Minimalistic Living
Netflix and Chill
Oppression of Daily Wagers
Panic, Fake News, and Jokes
Quarantine
Romance during Coronacrisis
Social Distancing
Travel Ban
Untidy and Ugly
Vegan
Work From Home
Xenial
Yearn
Zen

Nurturing the Hobbies of Kids during #lockdown

Most parents are so busy with the studies, curriculum, and activities of kids that they forget to nurture what the kid really loves. This #lockdown is proving to be a blessing in disguise for many kids as they are getting time to nurture their ‘real’ hobbies. In many cases, parents decide what hobby the kid should choose and put them in a ‘hobby class’ accordingly. I mean I see 3-year-old kids going to hobby classes like Karate, Guitar, Painting, Singing, etc. I don’t think a three-year-old can actually know their true hobbies. Parents would argue that unless we expose them to various activities how would they choose. Therefore kids are made to run from one hobby class to another and by the time they finish school, they lose interest in all hobbies.

During this #lockdown most Indian parents are exhausted with cooking, cleaning, working from home, running like Usian Bolt to procure supply and thankfully finding very little time to nag the kid. They have finally gone into a ‘Ja Simran Ja, Jee le Apni Zindagi‘ mode. Thus, the kids are having fun and doing things they really love to do. So they are now painting, writing poems, playing the piano, writing short stories, reading books, dancing, cooking, etc. I am honestly impressed to see my social media timeline overwhelmed with the activities of such amazingly talented kids. I am learning so much from them.

I never knew my nieces could do such beautiful pencil sketches, had no clue that my friend’s son could play the piano so well, a neighbor’s daughter who literally grew up in front of me can write such gripping short stories, another friend’s daughter is a would-be famous poet. I am learning how to make bookmarks from a four-year daughter of a school friend. I am proud to have a talented next generation.

 

Life in the times of Corona #stayhomestaysafe

Today is the first day of the 21-day lockdown and most of India is in a panic mode. People are worried about the disease, the uncertainty, finances and lot many things. Many people are also worried that they would get bored to death staying locked inside the house. Most families in India are also suffering due to the absence of house helps.

Honestly, for me, life has not changed much, other than the fact that the house is full. I have been living in a self-quarantine mode for ages. I work from home, I order everything online, I do not party, I hardly go out for physical shopping, I do not hang out with friends more than once a month, therefore most of the days I am indoors minding my own business (no pun intended). In fact, there are days when I hardly get to speak more than a few sentences in the entire day.  My readers would know how I have days of no conversations where I don’t get to meet anyone.

On the contrary, this #socialdistancing is proving to me like #socilaising because my house is full. I am reading posts of people who are getting bored and have nothing to do whereas I am hardly getting any time. after cleaning, dusting, mopping the floor, cooking thrice, home-schooling the kid, entertaining the kid, trying to keep the kid engaged with activities, meeting deadlines, checking news and panicking. Whoever is feeling they have nothing to do are people whom I am despising at the moment.

There was a time in life where I had run the house without any maid. However, back then I was a newly married girl and a smile was enough to make the husband do the dishes. A small pouty ‘please’ made the husband mop the floors. Thus, the hardest reality this lockdown brought in front of me is that I have grown old and no amount of smile, grin, pout is enough to make the better half move away from his laptop. Every ‘please’ falls to deaf ears and rather bounces back with ‘cha dao‘ (give me tea).

I am kidding. Let me be fair, the son and better half are trying to help me as much as they can. The husband is helping me get groceries, fruits, and vegetables. Trust me, this is no easy work during a lockdown. He is also doing some community service. They have started a community kitchen to serve food to elderly people who live alone and are too fragile to cook on their own. He along with his friends are also taking turns to supervise the entry and exit points of our society so that nobody can come in or go out. The rest of the time he is doing his office work, attending skype calls, etc. Today he also mopped the floor as my knee was hurting badly after doing it for 14 consecutive days. Wondering why 14 days? Because in Mumbai the lockdown started unofficially from 11th March and my maid didn’t turn up ever since.

This was more or less my experience of day one of #lockdown. Let us see how we spend the remaining twenty days. For me it is easy but the extrovert Sagittarian in my house will have a tough time. He already seems restless. Sigh!!!

Let me know how was your day one.

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Zaanse Schans Windmill Tour

The best way to reach Zaanse Schans from Amsterdam is by taking a bus from Amsterdam Centraal Station. The bus number 391 leaves every 10 minutes and it is the shortest, fastest and cheapest way to reach the famous windmill district of Amsterdam. The return bus ticket is 11 euros and can be bought online, from the kiosks and also from the bus driver. Tickets from the bus can be purchased using credit cards only.

The bus took 40 minutes to reach Zaanse Schans. The road to the windmill district passes through some beautiful canals, houses, roads, and villages. The view from the bus was captivating and didn’t let us get bored all through the journey.

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The bus dropped us in front of the Zaanse Schans Museum. The first glimpse of the windmills from the bus stop was enough to mesmerize us.

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The distance from the bus stop to the windmills is a short walk of 10 minutes through a picturesque village with old cottages, clog factories, farms, cheese factories, and a diamond factory. Before we went towards the windmills we went to visit the famous ‘clog’ factory. Holland is famous for the manufacture of clogs or wooden shoes. Clogs were conventionally used by farmers however these days clogs are used to make a fashion statement.

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The village of Zaanse Schans has houses that are 500 years old but they have been maintained in such a way that they seem as if they were built the other day. Exploring those old cottages are also a treat in itself. We spent quite some time gazing at the houses before we went near the windmills.

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Once we reached the threshold of the village we found a small lake and the windmills were standing on the edge of that lake. It was almost sunset time and the reflection of the setting sun on the water in the backdrop of the windmills created a surreal image. This place is undoubtedly a place to attain nirvana.

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There is an option to climb atop the windmills by purchasing tickets worth 5 euros, however, we had to skip it as it was closing time. Nevertheless, the view from the ground was equally satisfying and we have no complaints.

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There are a cheese factory and an adjoining farm that we visited. It gave us an idea about the rustic life of Holland and an idea about how cheese is made. Cheese factory also offers free cheese tasting and there were close to 100 varieties of cheese on display.

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It was getting dark but we still didn’t feel like leaving this beautiful village. This was undoubtedly the highlight of my trip to Amsterdam. Leaving with few more images for the readers to cherish.

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Branches of Faith #Thursday Tree Love

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Kolkata is famous for Kalighat Kali temple, however, my personal favorite is Dakshineswar which is situated in the northern part of the city, on the banks of the Ganges river. Every year. during my annual visits to Kolkata, I visit this temple.

I had taken my then fiance now husband to this temple to seek blessings when we met for the first time. We had an arranged marriage, we met through an online wedding portal. For the first few months, we exchanged emails, yahoo chat messages, and ISD phone calls and then he came to India and we met for the first time at the airport. His cousin and niece had also come. From the airport, all of us went to Dakhshineswar and from there we went to meet my father at my home.

This year, when I visited Dakshineswar, I saw these beautiful branches near to the temple and couldn’t resist clicking them for Parul’s #ThursdayTreeLove

 

Steps to Forgive Others- #MondayMusings

Forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace.—- Buddha

When I was younger, I used to get hurt easily. I used to carry that hurt in my heart for the longest time and suffer. I never realized that by not forgetting or forgiving, the only person whom I was punishing was ME. I used to replay the hurtful incidence again and again in my mind and get hurt all over again. I never took any action and suffered in silence. Thanks to a phenomenon called maturity, I realized that there is no point in keeping grievances and I should learn the art to forgive and forget.

Forgiving is not as easy as the umpteen articles on the internet claim to be. Those articles behave as if ‘forgive and let go’ is as easy as floating a paper boat on the water. It takes time, patience, practice, resilience and perseverance to forgive a person or forget trauma. It is not easy and it never happens overnight but once it happens you realize how relieved you are.

When I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis, my urologist said that one of the psychological reasons was that I have been holding grudges inside me. Therefore, he said that the first step for my healing was to get rid of the grudges.

Did you know holding grudges can actually tighten your pelvic floor muscle and cause numerous diseases? Holding grudges for long time can also lead to mental disorders, various auto-immune diseases, migraine, psoriasis, digestive disorders and even cancer.

It is almost four years since the diagnosis and I am trying to get rid of all the hurt and pain that I was holding within. Gradually, I am becoming a more relaxed person, my anger is going down and I have become calmer and happier. Well, there are still days or months when I feel extremely blue but then there are also days when I feel euphoric. Forgiving others is still a WIP and I am gradually doing better.

Let me list down the things I am doing to forgive others and let go:

Making myself a priority: All my life I have played a second lead or perhaps a junior artist in the movie called ‘my life’. I used to feel that I deserve to be abused. I believed that I don’t deserve love, empathy, kindness or compassion. I always made myself stand in the firing line. However, now I have made myself a priority and I do not let anyone hurt me as easily as they could earlier. I have learnt that if I do not protect myself, nobody else is going to protect me. So, the moment I see something is hurting me or has the potential to hurt me, I remove myself from that situation.

Remove Toxic People: There are few people who are toxic and neither they nor you realize until it is too late. I have started avoiding these toxic people like plague. I have removed these people from my calling list, unfollowed/unfriended/blocked (depending on their level of toxicity) them on social media, stopped meeting them, and all of a sudden I see that the toxicity in my life has reduced drastically. Prevention is better than cure.

List of people who wronged me:  We all have a list of people who hurt us. It can start with parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, classmates, bosses, co-workers, ex-partner, spouse, in-laws, neighbors, government, the system etc. Depending on the person who hurt you the most it is better to make a list in descending order. With the person who hurt the most being on top of the list and the one who hurt least at the bottom.

Putting yourself in the shoes of the other person:  Once you make the list, start with the person who hurt you the least and try to understand why he/she did that. Put yourself in that person’s shoes and try to understand the reason. Then try to empathize and in most cases, you will see a reason behind their particular behavior. Be kind to that person and without extra effort you will be able to forgive. Tick off that person from the list and move on to the next person.

For example I used to have grudge against a teacher who used to call me ‘blacky’ for my dark skin. But now I realize that I was indeed a black girl in a class full of fair Sikkimese kids. That lady did not have the sensitivity to realize that she was being racist. She was doing it in a matter-of-fact way to distinguish me from the others.

Talk to the person who hurt you: Communication is indeed the key. You would be surprised to know that it becomes so much easier once you talk to that person. However, instead of saying ‘you hurt me’ always say ‘I felt hurt when you did…’ trust me in most cases the person would seek forgiveness from you and the toxicity would melt.

For a long time, I had grudge against a cousin, I had never discussed it before but recently during a family gathering I told her, and to my surprise, she said that she had no idea that her behavior hurt me so much. She not only apologized but today we have become extremely close to each other and not a single day goes when we do not talk.

Redeem Yourself: At times the other person hurts us because they had felt hurt by us. Both of you keep on holding grudges for years. In those cases, it is best to discuss and if you have done wrong to them it is best to seek forgiveness honestly.

I felt hurt by a college friend who was extremely nasty towards me, for years we didn’t speak and hated each other. Then a common friend died and we met during the funeral. We spoke to each other after ages and then I realized that she felt equally hurt by me. She was from a village and was not good in English and I was this convent-educated bully who made fun of her English. When I had made fun of her English, I had honestly done it in a light-hearted manner never realizing how much she felt hurt. I felt terribly ashamed and asked her to forgive me. Today, we count each other as BFFs.

Accept that some people are Evil:  Once you start doing the above exercise, you will see that many of them did not hurt you deliberately; many did it under pressure or circumstances. Once you understand their reason it would be easier to forgive. However, there are few people who deliberately hurt you. Some people are EVIL, TOXIC and SADISTS who actually find pleasure in hurting others.  Like the Uncle who touched you inappropriately when you were a kid, or the boyfriend who slept with your best friend, or the husband who thrashed you because you forgot to put salt in the daal, or the mother-in-law who made you work from dawn to dusk or the colleague who stole your presentation, or the boss who screamed at you in front of others for no fault of yours. The list is endless. These people are like tough stains and it is not easy to forgive them easily.

Avoid them: The best thing is to avoid them like a plague. Keep no contact with them and try not to think about them. If you find yourself thinking about them or what they did to you then pinch yourself hard and divert your attention to something else. Once you stop staying in touch, gradually with time the pain would heal and you would be able to forgive them. They wouldn’t matter anymore.

However, thanks to social media and our primitive stalking instincts we often never avoid them and start getting freshly wounded. I used to frequently visit my ex’s profile and get freshly hurt when I used to see him happily married with a child. I was not being able to forget or forgive him. Then I deliberately stopped visiting his profile and almost did a ‘carrot and stick’ thing. Gradually I stopped the desire to stalk him and started feeling good.

Those who hurt others are unhappy souls: If a person is deliberately hurting others then that person is mentally sick. You can never change them. It is best to accept them the way they are. These people are devil’s incarnations and they are here just to hurt others. The best is to protect yourself from them like the way you would protect yourself from a fire. If you can avoid these people good if not then try not to get hurt easily. Ignore them, put earplugs, tell yourself that this person is sick and most importantly try not to retaliate. Draw a boundary and don’t let them cross that. Cry, pour your heart out, write it down, draw, do whatever makes you feel better.  If things get beyond control seek help from police/counselors/friends or family.

Speak Up: It may sound contradictory because above I asked you not to retaliate. Try to control your anger and don’t retaliate when you are also angry but then not speaking up ever is also not good. If you see a wrong, speak up. Be calm when you do this. It may help you release some pent-up emotions.

Pray for them: These people need your prayers. All religion tells us the same. So pray for these people. Be kind and compassionate. Practice empathy. Try and avoid quarrels and conflict as much as possible. Toxic people will instigate you because they thrive on this but try to avoid it. There is no end to blame games.

Let Karma finds its way: Forgiving is the best thing but at times revenge sounds sweet. But don’t try to take revenge yourself. Let Karma find its way. Karma is a bitch and has spared nobody. Trust in Karma and relax.

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“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

 

Gratitude List- October

For any Bengali, anywhere in the world, October is a special month. This is the month when we celebrate our Durga Puja. I am no exception. Apart from Durga Puja we also celebrated Lakshmi puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Bhai Phonta (Bhai Dooj). This year, thanks to the neighborhood kids, we also celebrated Halloween in October. One more festival got added to our already overworked festival calendar. Undoubtedly it was a happy month but festivities also bring about lots of work, so by default a hectic month. Phew!!!

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Durga Puja and my Saree Love: After ages this year I wore three new sarees, as the Bongs would say aankora (never worn before) saree for the three days of Puja. I also brought out all my old sarees from the wardrobe a month before puja started, washed and ironed them and to my own disbelief, I actually managed to wear 10 different sarees during the 5 days of Puja. I literally went on a saree overdrive this year. Previously, I used to keep procrastinating the washing and ironing of sarees till the last day. Eventually, on the day of the puja, I used to have no time and then go out in anything I could put my hands on. However, this year I planned in advance and got everything ready well before time. Therefore, I could do full justice to my sarees and myself.

Global Hair Highlight: I have always been anxious about my hair and never experimented with it. However, now with age, my hair is anyway falling and greying. So now I felt comfortable to experiment with whatever is left of my hair. So, I went to a parlor that was offering a discount on Global Highlights and got it done. Once in a while, it feels good to indulge yourself. Doesn’t it?

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Diwali Cleaning: Decluttering and cleaning the house has become my hobby. I find decluttering an extremely relaxing process. Therefore, Diwali is the favorite time of the year for me when I get to exhaustively clean my house. Until last year I had a maid who used to help me in this cleaning but she left her job and shifted back to her native village after her kids got married. I was skeptical about being able to manage the cleaning on my own, thankfully I managed. However, even after deep cleaning a part of me always feels that it is not clean enough. Sigh!!!!

 

Meeting my Best Friend: My best friend M came down from London with her one-year-old twins. We spent an entire day visiting different places in Mumbai. The traffic and unseasonal rain played truant, nevertheless, it couldn’t dampen our spirit and we enjoyed to the hilt. It was so much fun to meet her sons. It reminded me of those days when my son was a toddler and how stressed I used to get managing him. It was undoubtedly the best day in October for me.

Dad’s death anniversary: 23rd October was Bapi’s third death anniversary. I spent the day alone, I was just trying to relive the moments that I had spent with my Dad. I tried to be thankful for that day. I was blessed to have a father like him and would want him back in my next birth as well.

Diwali: This was a nice day when I felt good watching my son being happy. He was super excited and watching him happy and excited made my day. In the evening I lighted diyas. Unlike previous years, this year I had arranged everything in advance and therefore there was no chaos on the D-day. We also went to the Kali temple for Kali Puja.

Met a Fellow Blogger: I have been extremely fond of Shilpa from Metanoia and always wanted to meet her. On the day of Bhai Dooj we went to the house of my son’s cousin for the occasion. Their house is near to Shilpa’s house and therefore I lapped up the opportunity to meet her. We chatted almost for two hours and not even once it felt that we were meeting for the first time. It was such a beautiful afternoon. Thanks, Shilpa for meeting me.

[image error]Halloween: This was the first time that kids came over to our house doing ‘trick or treat’. I am expecting more kids would come next year. One new festival got added. It was super cute to watch the kids dressed as superheroes.

 

Books and Movies: Finished reading “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah. [image error]Also, read “You Beneath Your Skin” by dear friend Damyanti @dailywrite  I watched couple of nice movies this month. I absolutely loved Modern Love on Amazon. I also enjoyed the Japan season of Queer Eye. I kind of enjoyed watching the Zodiac and Girl Interrupted.