Rise and shine

21st November 2017 to 21st November 2019

2 years' stay in Karlsruhe completed!

How were these two years?

कितना बदल गया इंसान

निकलते तो हैं 

साथ ही एक राह पर

कोई आगे निकल जाते हैं

कोई पिछे छूटकर

एक ही घर में रहकर भी

मूलाकात नहीं होती

काम में इतने डूब गए अब की

आंखों से आंखों की बात नहीं होती

लेपटोप, मोबाइल बन गए हैं

अब अच्छे साथी

इन्सान की इन्सान से

अब जान पहचान ही नहीं होती

कुछ दिनों में शायद

हम बोलना भूल जाएंगे

यंत्रों से बातें करते करते

जिना भूल जाएंगे

तब आएगी याद साथी की

और

इन्सान को इन्सान की किमत

तब ही पता चलेगी

Blog Marathon - Post 31 - Blog Marathon completed!

It's the last day of my blog marathon.

31 days and 31 posts!

I believe it's a personal achievement. I could write on all 31 days as it was a self-imposed discipline. The topics varied from movies, books, T's routine, Hindi poems, seasons, festivals, and whatnot. I usually got the motivation to write from my daily routine life. It's essential to be mindful of what's happening around you. Life throws many impulses at you. It's up to you how you interpret and make use of that impulse. The sun rises and sets daily, but it's up to you to make it beautiful or ugly. One should live each day with zest and energy as if it is the last day on the earth!

Thank you, Ajita, Tejaswini, and my parents, who were literally subjected to read all my blog posts! Thanks to Anju Mavshi, Yashaswini, Anuradha, chb (I still don't know your name!), Anagha Mahajan, who read and commented on a few posts. Also, thanks to all others who stopped by to read a post or two here and there. Thanks to all who commented and even to those who couldn't.

I will be back with a blog marathon in February now. I will definitely write regularly until then. It's my outlet, it's my expression and my space where I am not judged. It's my canvas to fill colors the way I want. I am a free bird here!

So here's wishing you all an enjoyable weekend from cold and rainy Karlsruhe.

Keep dreaming, keep believing, and keep motivating!

Blog Marathon - Post 30 - Tingly

I have always loved soft toys.

I don't really remember when I began to collect them. But the first soft toy that I remember buying was a chubby doll that I had purchased from a store in Mumbai called Akbarallys. It was a departmental store where one could get everything under one roof ranging from food items to clothes. That was a new concept in India in the early '90s, and it was the most sought after departmental store in South Mumbai.  Then I went to Germany in 2002 and bought a stork from Strassburg, France, when we students had gone there on a trip. And then the collection began to grow by leaps and bounds. I had almost every animal in my collection.

Blog Marathon - Post 29 - The winter sets in

As mentioned in the previous post, the temperatures have suddenly plummeted to one digit from Sunday, the atmosphere suddenly feels very heavy and grey. The clock changed on Sunday, where now the time difference between India and Germany is 4.5 hours. Due to the shift in time, it gets dark at around 5-5:15 pm, and suddenly the evening seems too long and dark till it's really time to sleep.

Blog Marathon - Post 28 - Kid's workshop at VHS

Saturday was a bright sunny day. The sun was shining, the skies were blue. People were out enjoying and having ice-cream. But from Sunday, the weather suddenly changed. The sun vanished from the skies, and the temperatures plummeted. We spent the Sunday at home, not realizing how cold it had gotten outside.

Blog Marathon - Post 27 - Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali to one and all.

May this Diwali help you to destroy the negativity in your life.

May you create a better version of your own self.

May you all attain full inner illumination!

May the supreme light of lights enlighten your understanding!

May you all attain the inexhaustible spiritual wealth of the Self!

May you all prosper gloriously on the material as well as spiritual planes!