The Big Bright Moon

The brightest of 2010!

Book Fair

I spent a wonderful day at the New Delhi Book Fair 2010. I bought some books and I didn't buy some. No regrets with respect to the ones I did buy. Oodles of regret about the ones I didn't buy. But, in all, a day well spent!

Happiness

...comes in every colour and size. The array of sweets at the Adyar Ananda Bhavan. Ananda means happiness and it usually knows no bounds when I enter this store.

Avatar

This bar of Pears soap has been in our guest bathroom for about a month. And it is slowly transforming into another being.

Hide and Seek

The moon and the clouds played hide and seek with us.

Dilemma

Life isn’t always fair or rosy or any of those things we believe it is. It is often a test. I’ve learnt that the same holds for friendship too. Every relationship goes through its share of ups and downs. I have some of the best friends anyone can ever hope to have. We’ve grown up together, giving each other shoulders to cry on, taking calls at the crack of dawn to share good news. Some things will never change. There is comfort in this knowledge.


I’ve found myself change over the years though, from being very judgmental to becoming reflective; from speaking my mind out and expecting them to understand just because they are my closest friends to understanding that we may be friends, but we are individuals first. I realized only today that this was the new me. The new me doesn’t say “I told you so” when things go exactly as she predicted. In fact, the new me has been around for a few years now, I just didn’t realize it.


Life is full of choices. My friends are free to make theirs. If I have reservations about those, I can make a choice to keep my reservations to myself. I got a jolt this morning. I happened to reflect on how differently I might have reacted to the same event about 5 years ago. I thought about why I chose to keep mum, when in another avatar I may have jumped out with bucket loads of unsolicited advice. And then I saw this Facebook status message of someone very close to me:


Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.


Life has brought me to the cross roads and I made a choice today. What do you do when you are in a fix? If you knew that your friend is about to make the biggest mistake of his/her life, would you watch him/her do it or would you speak your mind? Would you watch them go through the fire and wait for them at the other end? Or would you plead with them to listen to you because you "simply know" better?

Republic Day Parade on TV

We're watching the R-Day Parade on TV. Ten years ago, I was at Rajpath with my parents watching the parade in person. An unforgettable experience.

Happy Republic Day! Happy Birthday Appa!

Splash of Colour

A little rainbow inside the cupboard. The Welhome sale is on and we picked up almost everything the store offered. The colours present a welcome change from our original stash of white and blue.

Look Ma, I can tell the time!

We bought this antique style clock in Mussoorie and S got to work over the weekend and fixed it on the wall. I really love the clock and the fact that we can see it from most parts of the house that we actually use.

Cup of Joy

The sun is out today. I spent a good bit of the afternoon out on the balcony. With a book and a cup of hot peach tea.

Bridge on the River Yamuna

The dense fog over the the DND flyway that connects Delhi and NOIDA over the Yamuna.

Rainbow

I dress as colourfully as I can in the winter. There can be rainbows even without the sun. A random click in the cab to work.

Goodies

Goodies that Amma sent to me through a friend. The package included a couple of lids, a Telugu cookbook by Malathi Chendur, a T-shirt that my friend brought for me from Dubai and 2 kilos of filter coffee. That last item in the list ... Nirvana!

Stairway to Heaven

The heavy fog on a cold winter night. The scene right in front of our building.

Colours on a Dull Day!

I don't see the point of this "mud carrying" exercise.

Five-a-day!

A local fruit and vegetable market. Sector 14, Gurgaon. This was the biggest market when I first moved to Gurgaon in the 90s. Now, it is just one of the many markets.

Zorbing

This experience defined my day! I went Zorbing for the first time in my life. After three years of rock climbing, rappelling, rafting and trekking with folks from work, it was fun to be inside an orb with S.

A welcome sight

on an otherwise lonely road!

Unexpected Visitors

These little fellas dropped by this afternoon just as we were getting ready for our Pongal feast.

Darkness and Light

Heavy fog on Lohri! The view from our balcony.

Monstrosity

This building in red and white is by far the most horrendous building I have seen in recent years.

Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway

The road I take to work everyday.

Beauty and the Beast

In this case, the beast is the garbage!

Winter bounty

Fruits, roasted peanuts, gajak, revdi and chhole kulchey!

Darkness

Light

Kitchen Garden

Curry Leaves and Tulsi.

Dream On...

I'm trying to imagine how my Indian and International "Cousins" will taste! Missed eating at this place in Mussoorie. Well, there's always a next time.

All in a Day's Work

Touch the sky

Serenity

A new sunrise

2010: A new beginning!

Chronicling my year, a picture a day. Project 365.