ABOUT

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS…

This title is taken from my all time favourite track from the movie ‘ Sound of Music’.
Well, let me tell you something about myself; I’m an architect by profession, on a sabatical from architecture for sometime now ..married and settled in Bangalore since 4 years (though it still feels like I just landed yesterday like a lost puppy).

Worked or rather slogged with a few MNCs and got really burnt out by getting into the mad rat race. Called it quits after a lot of soul searching and optimistic as I could be considering ‘a light on the other side of the tunnel’..So here I was, well educated,professional with a good track record, married and jobless by choice..enjoyed the first few weeks of the sabatical, took time to chill, smell the roses as they would say…After a while, due to no persistent deadlines, no pressure , I started missing all these things..I felt that I was losing my sharpness and I started getting edgy..I had to find something to do, to keep me ticking and from going insane…

As someone rightly put it (probably in a phase that I was in) “ End is the beginning”..I guess that’s how it was for me, a beginning of new life, new discoveries, new experiments which all gave rise to new hope and new interests. All of a sudden there was so much time and being a very constructive person, had to do something before I could end up being a psycho.

As everybody experiences the ‘starting problem’ in their lives, so did I.. where do I start from? well, the only friend that I could turn to was my good old colection of books.. I have always been a bookworm, can read anything even if my sabjiwalah wraps onions in a paper, I would take time to read it.. I could read anything and everything under the sun…Earlier I had been through loads of self help trash (all borrowed from friends), but could never think of applying it..I would always make fun of my friends who were hooked on to these books..but now I firmly started believing in “ Everything in life happens for a reason.”taking cues from these books, dawned the idea as many motivational gurus would put it—start by a list of goals…

Believe it or not,it was one of those lazy afternoons , I was not feeling sleepy at all, no good movies on my cable channel and I had nothing better to do..so I started doodling with a piece of paper and pen when ‘lo and galore’ a germ of idea struck me and I decided why not make a list of things that I always wanted to do in my life.. and I actually made a list of all the things …right from driving, swimming, photography, music, continue with my French classes, to something mundane as learn to stick to an exercise routine, learn yoga and baking…the list could go on and on…. I was indeed seeing a light far away on the other side of the tunnel.

To add to this, I firmly believe being in the right place at the right time also helps , therefore settling in a place like Bangalore makes all my goals attainable, which encourages me to be self motivated.. There are avenues, places to seek information etc which can keep you going.

Now I can say that the year 2008 was splendid fruitful year for me as I overcame a lot of self proclaimed barriers..it has been a year of self realization, has increased my self confidence to move forward yet into another year, with a lot more lovely things to do and not to forget to make a new set of goals to attain this year…

Dear friends this blog is a result of all the good things in life that I enjoy. The small things that make my life more enjoyable and interesting and can keep me going. Feel free to share all the good things you enjoy in life so that we all can make our lives enjoyable. I would like to share my thoughts on all the things I enjoy from recipes, books, poetry, music, traveling, photography, television,movies, interior designing etc.

Also in this hour when the world is overshadowed by more negative thoughts and feelings like terrorism, hatred, fear etc, let us gift ourselves with small joys in life by doing things that we thoroughly enjoy . I will end this note with the chorus of my favorite song which goes:

“When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don’t feel so bad.”

Shubhada