D is for diary!

How many of you had a secret diary as a child. Something you wrote in everyday and kept hidden under lock and key, away from the eyes of pesky siblings! I did! I used my diary to pen down whatever good or bad  happened to me during the day. I also wrote down my aspirations and my fears.

I still maintain a Diary although I don’t write into it regularly. Its filled with interesting incidents that happened to me, quotes or sayings that I might find interesting and sometimes even clippings of articles that I’d like to read again and again.

Word documents and online journals have replaced the actual physical diary to a great extent but I still prefer the experience of writing by hand in a Diary. And I don’t choose just any notebook as my Diary. I choose them with care. They are usually pretty things with designs that catch my eye. Some of them are handcrafted with lovely bright cloth covers and designs. Some of them are sleek and leather bound – very professional looking!

I find writing a diary to be a very cathartic experience. Penning down my thoughts whenever I am upset or confused about something helps a lot. The best way to unravel jumbled up thoughts is to write down whatever comes into your mind without censoring the thoughts. By the time you have poured out all your feelings on that piece of paper believe me you will be feeling a lot better. Reading what you have written also helps to objectively analyze your situation and take a rational decision. 

A lot of times I use my diary as a tool for introspection. Writing a diary is a great way to understand your thoughts and reactions towards a situation or life in general and helps you in becoming a better, more positive person. 

I also use my Diary to write down all my dreams and goals. Believe me Dreams look more tangible and realistic written down. If they are just in our heads, we tend to forget them or take them for granted. Once they are written down, more so with timelines, you are more likely to take some action about them!

My Diaries have also helped me become more creative. I sometimes jot down random ideas and thoughts into a diary and from them are born stories and poems.

The post popular way to use Diaries these days is as Gratitude Journals. I have one too. Every other day, I list down everything that I am grateful for. It could be something as simple as buying a new book or seeing a flower in bloom. Gratitude journals make you realize how much we all have in life. Believe me they are a perfect way to stop cribbing!

But most of all, Diaries form very good memories. Both my grandfathers wrote diaries and now that they are gone, it’s a lovely bittersweet feeling to take out their diaries and read what they wrote so many years ago! Sometimes I take out the diaries I wrote as a kid and go through them. It’s interesting to read about what I thought or did or felt at that time. A lot of my travelogues are in the form of diaries or notes scribbled during my travels. Reading and re reading them takes me back to those wonderful days and reaffirms my need to travel more and more !

C is for Chai !

There is a reason I used "C" for chai and not "T" for Tea. Chai evokes many memories in my mind whereas tea just reminds me of black Tea without milk. Chai to me is the Indian Tea, with milk and spices. (To all my Non-Indian readers, Chai is simply the Hindi word for Tea) 

Nobody takes their Chai as seriously as my parents. For them it’s not just a cup of tea, it’s a sacred ritual. Their morning Chai routine is unwavering. The Tea kettle must be heated to the correct temperature and if its winter the cups must be gently rinsed in warm water. The tea leaves and spices are put in just as the water begins to boil and left to steep for exactly two minutes. (yes yes they do go by the clock)

The tea is poured out and my Dad sniffs at the aroma with the air of a connoisseur. The first sip is taken, A marie biscuit broken into two and reverently eaten with the ambrosial brew. You can almost see the smile of contentment on their faces. They have other cups of tea throughout the day, but nothing is as sacred and important as that first morning cup. 

I usually don’t approach my parents until they have had their morning cup of tea. They are far more amicable after that first cuppa!

My father loves his tea. We went to Palampur last year, all of us looking forward to relaxing amongst the mountains and the lush greenery of the tea gardens. He on the other hand just had one motive - to Drink the Famous Kangra tea. And he drink he did by the gallon, sitting in his hotel balcony overlooking the tea gardens. !

A tea garden near our resrot

I have some wonderful travel memories associated with Tea. My favorite memory is of driving through the Himalayas and stopping at a small road side Dhabha. It was cold and drizzling and we were starved. The owner made us crispy Pakoras and we washed them down with cups of steaming Ginger – Cardamom Tea. We couldn't have asked for anything better on that chilly evening. 

A few months back While trekking along the Pangong lake in Ladakh, we befriended a feisty young girl called Padma. She took us to meet her family and we had delicious cups of Gur Gur Chai (Salty Yak – Butter Tea) sitting on yak fur rugs in her smoky kitchen.

Another memorable cup of tea was with the Indian soldiers at Khardungla Pass.(The highest motorable road in the world) It was bitterly cold and that steaming cup of tea they gave us literally helped in thawing us out. It was a fantastic experience chatting with the Soldiers who have spent so many years in that sub zero temperature.

And since we are on the subject of Tea how can we forget Japan! Incidentally Tea is Japanese is called “Cha” 

I had Green tea for the first time when I went to japan and I have been hooked to it since. For the Japanese serving tea is a ceremony in itself. They have a wide range of Cha to choose from depending on the season and what is being eaten.

Japan is where tea is served both hot and cold and you can buy it in plastic bottles from vending machines. 

I think it’s the only country that uses green tea in cakes and sweets as well. The Haagen Dazs there serves tea flavored ice cream and there are green tea KitKats :p 

B is for Bookworms !

I am not really too fond of worms. Icky crawly things I tell you. The only worms I love are book worms for the simple reason that I am one. 

A book worm is not just someone who loves to pick up an occasional book at times. It’s not that easy to get entry into the prestigious ranks of Bookworms. Being a bookworm is hard! A bookworm eats sleeps and breathes books and reaches the abysmal depths of depression if she should happen to find herself without one! We Bookworms are tormented souls. If we are forced to keep our book down to attend to the unnecessary tasks of eating sleeping or working, our mind remain in turmoil as we wonder what will happen next in the book.

Bookworms are ingenious when it comes to reading. We have the ability to read anywhere. I have read while waiting in queues and while standing in buses being jostled by a 100 odd commuters. I have read books hidden under a blanket with the help of a torch when it was well past my bed time. I have read in the loo when my family thought I was in bed asleep. I have read as I waited for a surgery to happen and I have managed to block out post op pain with the help of a book. I even wanted to carry a book with me in the OT and read but the surgeon squashed that idea by putting me under a general anesthetic!

For a true bookworm books takes precedence over everything. My Nephew, who is just 8 sat through his Birthday Lunch with his nose buried in the book that we had just gifted him for his birthday. Now that is a true bookwork I tell you ! As children my brother I never fought over games but we fought about who will get to read the issue of Readers Digest or Target magazine first.

I remember Gerald Durrell’s my family and Other Animals was one book I simply couldn’t put down. I even took it to school and read it in my economics class hidden under the text book. I can’t tell you much about the Theory of Demand and Supply but I can tell you all you want to know about Gerald Durrell’s adventures In Corfu !

Bookworms become oblivious to everything else while they read. The characters in the book become real to us. We identify with them, live the life they are leading. Everything else is unreal. We get a reality shock when we finish a good book and finally emerge out to realize that a world actually exists beyond the book.

And no bookworm true to his name would never ever prefer a movie over a book. Although movies are a visual experience I feel books are better because when you read a book, unlike a movie you don’t have to stick to the images shown to you. You can bring the characters and situations alive by using your own imagination!

No activity of ours is complete without a book. For us a comfortable couch has no meaning unless we have a book to curl up with. The aroma of steaming coffee is lost on us unless we have a book to read as sip it. We never venture out on a journey without a few books to read. A book is a perfect companion. You can never be alone as long as you have a book with you. 

Books are my solace, my refuge, something I always turn to when I am feeling down. A book is pure happiness, something as essential as the air I breathe! 

A is for Autumn !

I have always associated Autumn with loneliness and a feeling of melancholy. Its actually a joyous time in India because most of the Indian festivals like Diwali and Durga Puja come in Autumn. Autumn is also when the weather gods bestow us with perfect weather. The unbearable heat wave and the sticky humid months of monsoon are gone and the days are pleasant and mild. The air is crisp with just the hint of the coming winter in it.

In Summer the Gulmohars and Amaltas turn North India into a flamboyant red and yellow and that is followed by the lush greenery of the Monsoons. But come Autumn and the trees turn leafless and bare.The brown leaves falling from the branches always remind me of tired souls drifting down at the end of their lives. The sun is not as bright and darkness starts creeping in earlier and earlier. It seems that by Autumn, even Mother Nature becomes a bit tired and slows down !

This is a picture I took a few years back in Autumn. I suppose you can see the desolation of the coming winter in it !

It reminds me of a Haiku by the famous Japanese poet Basho. 

Won't you come

and see loneliness?

Just one leaf on the kiri tree

However Autumn took a whole new meaning for me when I went to Japan and experienced it there for the first time. 

Autumn is a glorious time in Japan. The maple leaves turn the whole country into a medley of colors– rust, orange, red, yellow. The colors of Autumn can be experienced even in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka but the true beauty of it can only be seen in the countryside or in places like Kyoto and Nara. Kyoto and Nara are known for their beautiful shrines. The shrines, specially the Shinto shrines are always surrounded by nature so they are usually an oasis of beauty and tranquility at any time but it is in Autumn that their beauty reaches an altogether new level. The whole countryside turns into a palette of colors making the visit to the shrines truly worthwhile. 

I remember spending all my weekends in November and early December going to various places to see the splendor of Autumn unfold.There is something unmistakably beautiful in seeing the leaves turn first a translucent green, then a flaming red or orange and then fade to a light yellow. 

Here are a few pictures I took about 5 years Back. 

Most of the Haiku poets in Japan celebrate Autumn but their poetry speaks of melancholy and Solitude. 

Here is the translation of one of my favorite Autumn Haiku By Basho.

Along this road

not a single soul 

This autumn night

April promises to be Fun !

Starting tomorrow, I am trying out something totally new and daring. Something that I have tried only once before and failed miserably while doing it. I wasn't planning to get sucked into doing something like this again but then this lovely lady here posted on FB about it and I made the mistake of telling her how tempting it sounded. So very gently, very unobtrusively, without me noticing at all, she managed to entice me into it. And to ensure that I don’t back out, she went ahead and took the pain of making this FB page to encourage and motivate us ! 

As most of you might have guessed, I am talking about the Blogging from A to Z April challenge where you not only blog every day of the month but blog using the alphabet of the day. So basically you blog on 1st April with a letter A and on 2nd with letter B and so on. 

The main reason why I took up this up was because I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to stretch myself fully in exploring my creative as well as time management skills. For April is going to be busy month with travel planned in the last week and almost all weekends devoted to something or the other. Add to that a busy work schedule. But I badly need the discipline of writing regularly to ensure that my creative skills remain in tip top condition. 

Most of us have started planning well in advance for this challenge by scheduling posts and having brain storming sessions on different themes for different alphabets. And now that I have waxed long enough about the importance of time management and using your writing skills regularly, how much planning have I done for this you might ask. 

Well you see I have a secret card up my sleeve. Something that always works like magic to get my creative juices flowing. And that thing is called last minute panic !

Wish me luck !