Amateur's pride...

Recent pictures of the Afghan Church from my digicam. A beautiful day put to the most fantastic use.

A sight for sore eyes
Standing tall for 400 years

The steeple. Check out the bird atop.
Sprinkled sunlight... Almost looks haunted, doesn't it?
Come one and all...
Some girl... :-)
Arches that remind me of college...


A Saint rests...

If only inspiration struck every Sunday...

Diwali snapshots

I like Diwali, but i also feel it's quite boring for anyone over the age of 12. In fact, for the last few years I have been an active Diwali-disliker. Oh never mind the reasons... there's never a dearth of them.

Anyway, this year i decided to use the camera and take pictures through the day and evaluate later how the day had been. Here are the pics... you decide.

Diwali or no Diwali... the day starts with cha. Ma, me, sis - like our mugs heavy and blue. Pa - prefers the ungainly white

My beautiful neighbourhood. Afghan Church - as gorgeous and graceful as ever. Always a delight to behold

Rangoli is mandatory on Diwali, but honestly it's no fun anymore since sis and I no longer fight over it. Guess who did this one... :-)

Another mandatory Diwali-thing... colored lights in the balcony. Everyone seems to have them. And in spite of the lack of coordination/ rhythm, it's all pretty

Another tradition. Like millions of home everywhere, diyas light up ours too. A fire hazard? Yes, but we're brave Indians, remember?

By the evening, one needs to get out of home. So with a few basics, sis and I set out to check out the sights and sounds around Colaba

What did we ever do before cell phones? People say i'm married to mine. I wonder what makes them think like that. I think i'm married to the Internet :-)

And what did we do before coffee shops? The big levelers, the bringer-togethers, the quasi-homes. Seen here - sis (3rd from left, in maroon kurta), and three other strangers. In the foreground - the strap of my beloved green silk potli bag (see prev pic)

* * *

Anyway, so that was what my Diwali was like... a bit of the old, a bit of the new. Overall, an ok Diwali. In spite of being quite tired of the entire rigmarole, I did my bit towards spreading the warmth and love.

Everyone did, i suppose...

Love me, love my dog

I'd this really scary dream last night.. There was this violent war, and everyone was hiding from someone and snooping on someone else and holding guns and there was firing and bombing and all that. And everyone who was warring was known to me, though I have no idea what the fighting was about.

What I do know that I was really terrified for me and for tasha. I think i was crying in my sleep. Around 5 am then I sort of half-woke up and instinctively reached my arm under the bed where she was sleeping. Reassured and thankful she was there (and safe), I gently squeezed her paw. She whined a bit and moved her face to rest it on my hand. I have no idea what she was dreaming of, but i think she knew it was me and was glad about it too.

And then we both fell asleep like that – me with my arm dangling and holding her paw, and she with her face on my hand

Blissfully unrushed

A light day workwise, and surprisingly few phone calls from team/ clients. Started the day with words of appreciation from a client i like (not like romantically...but generally. yaknowatimean), and ended by uploadnig some more nice pics on Orkut.

Been humming Tere Bin since morning (not the new film song... this one is a poppish number from like 6-7 yrs ago)...

Copied all of anjie's files to my comp, and cleaned out my comp of the several redundant old files. Spring cleaning fever with Diwali lurking around the corner.

Paid the mess guy his money for three months.. and it didn't pinch at all coz 1. there's not been a lot of eating in office and the bills were an all-time low, and 2. i love my new Hidesign wallet :-)

Got my revenge on K. Woke him up twice with no sympathy whatsoever for his bodily surender to jetlag.

Met S for coffee and chatted about random stuff. Made him feel terrible for uninviting me to his birthday party. Reasons for uninviting... not on the Happiness Journal. :-)

Welcome back K...

K's back in town for 2 months.

Arrived last night and woke me with a call this morning. He's the only guy in the world i know who can (and does) get away with apologetically yelling into my ear at 7.30 am - WAKE UP BIAATCH!! I"M BACK TO MAKE YOUR LIFE HELL!!!

:-)) Asshole!

And the 1st thought in my mind- oh no no no no!!! Why? Why? Why? Why now? Why now when I'm gonna be snowed under with work... all the way till december!

Counter thought - yipeeeeeeeeee!!! Something to look forward to! I'll make time somehow. With K here - life's gonna be a wild rollercoaster ride! Just strap up and hold on tight!!

Anyway, so he came over at 10 and meet me, mom and the dog. Made me drive him around to the Club and then to the Nofra market where he ate South indian food like it was going out of fashion. :-) I collapsed laughing! And then we drove to Inox where he wanted to check out the Versace showroom (where he looked every bit the US returned wealthy Parsi boy, and I - every bit the designerwear-uninitiated working-girl with definitely no money to buy even a V-sock).

On the way and back, he ranted non-stop about all things Indians, raved about every thing American (and about his apparently-Goddessy-looking-girlfriend) and yelled road instructions in my ear.

By the end of that 1 hr I was ready to hit him. The 2 yrs that I hadn't seen him had simply melted away and it felt like he'd been here all along here.

Why Happiness Journal?

I'm sure the name Happiness Journal is self explanatory. This is where i write about things small or big, that make me happy. The idea is to write frequently... daily if possible, about anything nice that made me/ makes me happy.

It is a concept I had read about long ago in a Readers' Digest, though for some reason the inspiration to actually start took years. I think somewhere, a realization that negativity seemed to be pouring out of me through my words, actions and body language - spurred me into trying and correcting it. Step 1 therefore - identify daily reasons to be happy. And that's how and that's why - the Happiness Journal.

It is my log of reasons to smile and feel blessed. My savings for a rainy day when the blues strike. And hopefully I would have saved enough to see me smile through those rocky times.

And I'm going to start right away...