Did you hear the birds cry?

This is just a question that popped into my head while returning from the Moomba festival in Melbourne. The four day free community festival started off in Melbourne yesterday.
The fun and frolic at the festival is a welcome break from the horrifying pictures and videos of the earthquake and floods in Japan. It was pleasing to watch people around celebrating. We also got absorbed into the energy of the place and felt joyful enjoying ourselves completely. It was a nice experience. I cant wait to go back and try some carnival rides tomorrow.
The first night of the festival was wrapped up by an array of fireworks. The spectacular fireworks lasted for a  duration of 15 minutes. The fireworks were excellent and a great way to sign off for the day. We throughly enjoyed the show.

Near our apartment we always find a lots of sea gulls. Usually they are playful and a symbol of boarder-less freedom. Every time we find them busy about their own business- eating, fighting, resting.
Today, on our way back home after a great day at the festival, however they seemed disturbed, some of them crying out loud. It made me wonder, what was different today? Maybe its the weather, I thought.
That is when my husbands remarked, all the seagulls from the place of the fireworks might have moved here.
I felt, it could be true - aren't bird scared of the noises from the fireworks?
That is when this thought entered my head. Do we think about these animals and birds when we destroy their habitat or ruin the peace in their life? Did I think about these crying birds when I throughly enjoyed those fireworks? Does concern only spring for life in the same species first? Maybe it is how life on this planet is supposed to be.
Moving back to the images around me. As we fret and worry about human lives and property lost in the quake and tsunami, I cant help but feel that all this was meant to be. Maybe we care a bit more about our species than the other forms of life around us. Maybe this is how balance is to be achieved in this planet.

Life, after all, is composed of different forms of give and take. It depends on what you give and what you take!

The reason for that smile

Simple things that make me smile, in no particular order...

A bar of chocolate

Giggles from a close friend.

A bright sunny day.

A babies face.

The first drops of rain.

A bowl of nice aromatic rice.

Secrets shared with the one I love.

A nice cup of tea anytime any day.
Contentful sleep.

Cool breeze on a nice bright day.

A new dress.

Sweet surprises.

Cuddles cuddles cuddles.

Soft romantic music.

Colorful Objects.

A big bowl of ice cream.
A tickle.
Cozy bed and a warm blanket.

A hello from a long lost friend.

Flowers.
Holidaying.
A word of comfort from mom.
A word of caution from dad.
Silly comments from siblings.

Gifts wrapped in ribbons.

Gifts anyhow any time.

Love. Hugs and Kisses.

.......

Simple things, yet so beautiful :)

Sparkle Sparkle !!

Our rental agent called us last week to book an appointment for routine house inspection. One look around the house and I knew we were in for a tough weekend. To get a good review and also to enable us to extend our contract period, we needed to get the house in sparkling condition before the review.

We decided to do the cleaning on Sunday, so spent my Sunday scrubbing, mopping, dusting and drying. Its quite a tough job when you do not clean your home regularly. Equipped with a mop, a scrub and a variety of cleaning sprays, liquids and gels, my husband and I set to conquer the dust and slime that had inhabited our house.

Cleaning is a daily process,  but there are some aspects I dont spend much time on everyday. Like the shower cabinet, balcony, etc because they get dirty every time we use them and using them is inevitable.

The only happy part of the cleaning was, though I was doing the tough job of getting the tiles in the shower cabinet to sparkle, I could order around and ask my husband to make tea . :) Cleaning a house throughly requires a whole day and its always best to get you food delivered at you door step or prepared early. I just cant imagine cooking after spending hours handling cleaning agents.

It is through experiment that we have found the best products to clean differrent parts of the house. A clean shower requires a shower cleaner that can cut through the soap residue,  whereas a clean kitchen needs something that wil cut through the oil and that is not harmful when consumed in slight traces. Lets face it, if I place a vegetable on the kitchen slab, it can pick up traces of my cleaner.

Another thing is after cleaning , I really dont want our home to smell like bleach, I want a nice pleasant smell. It is always better if my cleaner has a sweet smell than trying to use air freshener afterwards!!

Well after spending a lot of energy scrubbing tile by tile, and cleaning the carpet inch by inch, wiping windows pane by pane,  and getting a few cuts and bruises on our hands we now have a sparkling house.
Its always worth the effort ! :)

Lost but not found!

My situation right now is like hunting a small icon out of the above messy wallpaper.

Ah! This happens so often, that I am fed up searching for things. As you might have guessed, I am very frustrated. More than being frustrated I am disappointed at my incompetence. How is it possible to keep something away and not know where it was kept! Over and over again! Most of the time the things that are kept in some secret place where I feel is the most safest  are the things for which I later raid the house, in search. Ah! how forgetful can I be!! These are the times when I wish, why cant everything be like the mobile phone? Just a ring is all it takes to locate the mobile phone!

Today I am in search of some important documents and I cant seem to find them anywhere! So today, I have decided to sort out everything lying around my house and assign designated storage areas to the different kinds of articles around. Books in one place, documents in another , the important ones in a file and the not so important ones in another. That should help me keep track of things! I also plan to keep a note of where I am keeping my things, lest I should forget again in the future.
All this hunting and searching leaves me with this thought, If I cannot manage my stuff, what good am I?!!

After going through numerous articles in the internet about de-cluttering the clutter, I am inspired to put it in action.
Let me start by sorting things out one by one. After all, until I have searched everywhere I cant say I have lost the documents!

Colour, colour, which colour do you want?

I have noticed that my mood at any point of time is a reflection of the colour of the sky at that moment. A bright sky makes me very happy and cheerful,where as a cloud laden, dark sky pulls my mood down. I am not sure if it is just me or there are people around who feel the same too! Anyhow, a bit of pondering on the topic and a few hours of research with the help of Google, I found out that colours do affect moods.

If I wake up early in the morning to find the sun beginning to rise, the slight strands of red along the horizon, I know that my day is going to be just as beautiful as the view! The early bursts of red give me enough energy to start the day. The red sky teamed with fresh morning green grass, Ah! what a perfect picture of freshness. Red is a energizing colour. It is considered sacred in some cultures where as in others Red signifies Royalty. Red exudes strength and confidence. It is perfectly fitting that the colours of early morning sky are shades of red.

As the day progresses the red gives way to lighter shades of orange and blue finally settling to the shade of sky blue that most people love. Orange is a cheerful colour and is an anti depressant. Blue is also a calming colour and has very relaxing effects. Blue and white both are colours of peace and tranquility. A bright blue sky with a sprinkle of white fluffy clouds set a happy cheerful mood in me. The story is different if it is a rainy day. Dark clouds and a hidden sun, that pulls my mood down. I know of people who love the dark clouds and the rains. There must be a beauty in them that I still have not learned to appreciate.
Evenings are shades of darker blue, red, orange, and sometimes purple. All are colours that bring serenity, strength and helps balance the mind. A wonderful way to wind the day, combating fear and awakening the peace within.
Night skies are always black, mysterious and plain. A perfect way to leave a day behind and get youself a new canvas ready for the colours of the new day.
Nature has everything well planned, even the colours of the sky. Every colour carefully picked to help make a great day!

A heart every Valentines Day.

A day that celebrates love by exchanging candies, flowers and gifts. That is today, 14th of February, Valentines day.  There are many stories that tell the history of Valentines day. The most popular one is the one involving St. Valentine. St. Valentine was a priest in Rome who was put to death  for  performing marriages which was outlawed by the king because the king thought that  single men made better soldiers.
For years I was clouded by the belief that this day is popularized by the greeting card and gift manufacturers to increase sales but now this day has become one to break away from the daily grind, take a few minutes from your busy schedule, to express your love to all those you care about. My husband, mother, father, brother and all those close to me who have warmed my heart and still continue to do so. One special day for all those whom I love.
It feels special to sit with my husband, hold hands and to whisper, 'I love you and will love to grow older with you'. My husband and I, have made it a valentines day ritual to get ourselves a small heart shaped souvenir every year. We do the shopping together and have great fun doing so. While I select the more softer girlie versions, he prefers more innovative stuff. There are many more occasions when you can do things like this together, anniversaries for instance, but those are days we like to surprise each other. Valentines day holds no surprises, only love,warmth and togetherness.

 Happy Valentines Day to the world!

The Lamppost.

Sometimes, I feel I am like a lamppost. There are so many similar lamposts on the street, each one of them imparting some light to conquer the darkness of the streets.That is my purpose and I am glad that I am part of it. That does not mean I am content!
Does anyone remember me being one among the similar many? People come towards my light, some stand in the light for their own needs and once their needs are fulfilled, they walk away towards the next lamppost that lay ahead of them. I continue to stand there, shining my light.
I look only for people approaching me, I care only for people who need my light, I dont think about them who have walked away.


This has happened so often in my life, that I feel it was inevitable that I lose touch with someone or that I forget someone in my life. All through my life, I have changed locations so often and I have made so many friends, but very few have survived all my location changes and are still in touch with me.
Why is it that I dint keep the tape of friendship rolling with all those friends I had made. Well! for one, keeping in touch and maintaining friendship, until recently, was an expensive thing if your friends dint share the same location as you. Now a days thanks to cheaper internet broadband rates, social networking / messaging sites and cheaper calling rates, things have become much easier.  But it is not just that. I think I was being naive and I chose which friends I would keep.
Now as an adult I know, all of them were precious and having them along with me in my life journey would have been fun! Anyways, there is still time and hope to make amends. Now I am frantically searching through all the social networking sites for my precious long lost friends. I am sure I will be successful unless my memory fails me!

My Teddies, My friends!

Being a child is all fun , all play and no work! Wonderful days when you are the master of your will. Though as an adult, it might seem as though all choices children make are guided by their parents, it is not very apparent or obvious to you when you are a kid. If they is something a kid is forced to do , a loud cry from the kid and that solves the problem! Problem solving is also much simpler as a child!

Most children have an imaginary world . A world created by themselves, where all their dolls and toys are their friends and they are the superior ones. I lived in a world of where my dear teddies were my friends and I was the most loved and respected friend of them all. This little imaginary world , is what has shaped me into the person I am today. Of course, I am not taking any credit away from my parents for bringing in me the discipline and sensibility that has made me a responsible human being, but it  is the creative side of me that I am talking about. The me that has an imagination that flies like a free bird . The me that is interested in creating things that would help people.


Well, I have a collection of these cute wonderful little teddies, whom as a grown up , I refer to as 'transporters' from the daily mundane world into a world where I lived a life that I considered perfect! Long animated conversations with these teddies have helped me face problems that in an ordinary world I would have felt cruel and hard to accept. I must say, these teddies have heard a lot from me. If they had a brain that would process all the information I was feeding to them, they might vouch that I am possibly the craziest creature in the world!


I am glad I found respite in these non-breathing creature of stuffed cotton with a smooth fur. I have discovered that they have more life in them than most things around me. So what if I am all grown up and am able to handle day to day life in a more mature manner, I still grab a teddy when I find an adorable one and add on to my ever growing collection! After all growing old is inevitable, whereas growing up is not!

With pain comes a new beginning...

As I watch TV reports regarding the cyclone hit in Queensland, I am left amazed at the uncertainty of events in this world. The suddenness of change and the fury of nature brings back the though that "Never take anythign for granted".
 Is the place I see on TV, the same place my husband and I welcomed 2011 at? Enjoying the beaches and the warm tropical climate, the greenery and of course the coral reefs.
This week North Queensland experienced a severe, category 5 cyclone, Yasi. The last major cyclone to hit this area was a category 4 cyclone Larry in 2006.
When Queenslanders are trying to recover from the floods that occurred about a week ago, Yasi comes with threats of possible flooding in the already flood affected areas.
All precautions were taken and people who felt their homes could not stand the force of this storm, were taken to evacuation centers. There has been structural damage in places where cyclone Yasi hit last night and lot of damage to vegetation too. Property and crops worth millions have been damaged. What ever be the physical damage Yasi had on the place, Yasi has been definitely instrumental in bringing anxiety and a certain amount of insecurity among people.

This gives me memories of all those calamities, natural or man made that I have seen happen around the world and I cannot help thinking about the fear and helplessness that grip people when faced with such situations.

I am also overwhelmed by the number of people turning up to help others in such times. A lot of people personally come over to help. Those who cannot be around in person offer moral or monetary support. Such hard times bring people together. Even if they are strangers, it is always nice to know that there is somebody to share the burden.

With pain comes a new beginning. In the news reports I read about three babies been born in evacuation centers during this cyclone hit :)
There is always hope and thoughts should be of the day and time when this will be over . That day you get a chance to start all over again , to correct what you thought was wrong in life. To begin a new activity or hobby and to help others do the same. Because when years go by and the difficult times are only a memory, these hobbies/ activities will remind you of what you have been through and how it has helped you become a stronger person.

"Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow."
- Anonymous