I can view, gaze, stare, hummm, sing, talk ( with the constant reminder from him to keep my mouth shut so he can focus on driving….and blah blah), and sleep as well. What a privilege!
Really, what a privilege it is to be someone’s passenger princess and sit comfortably right (actually left!) beside your partner, who is taking care of everything. Literally everything!
The GPS, the route, the road, the bumps, the traffic, the twists and turns, and oh my god…the important calls in between, along with pretending his best that he is absolutely fine, absolutely zen with me being me – the forever wonderful me!
Thank you, God! Thanks for this blessing.
I know driving is an important skill. And I have to learn it as well. It is very important and, in a way, empowering to drive your way on the roads, and in life.
In life, it’s pretty much 50-50. I think of the destination, and the universe shows me the path ahead. I stick to my north compass; the universe takes care of the twists and turns.
But on the roads in this three-dimensional world, right now, it’s 100 percent, my driver(you know who, right?). And I am enjoying it fully.
Till the day I finally learn to drive, happy driving to him, and happy living, gazing, viewing, staring, and talking to me!
Take care, folks.
And don’t miss out on being the passenger princes, or prince if you get the chance to be one!
I know it sounds different from what you have heard, but I genuinely think about this sometimes.
People say that time is the greatest healer. That time heals everything. But, is it really so? Does time really heal everything? Today, I feel it’s not the complete truth. I feel it’s not only about time, but it’s more about us. It’s more about us with time.
Time can only heal us if we are ready to accept in the first place that we are wounded and we need to heal our wounds. That we can’t carry the trauma of our past wounds to our future selves.
The acknowledgement of pain, the acceptance of prolonged sadness, and the decision to break the vicious cycle of ruminating over our past, coupled with a good amount of time, surely can heal us. Time alone can’t do much, I feel. The onus is also on us. On you and me.
I have seen people in their thirties and forties having grudges against their parents. Yes, their emotions can be valid. But for how long are we adults going to behave like giant children and complain about all the bad and terrible experiences we have had with our parents and in our families? For how long? Till the 50s? Till the 60s? Till the 70s? or till 100? Because time alone won’t heal us unless we are ready to forgive and let go of the baggage we have been carrying for years.
We are not going to become the enlightened ones in our 60s or 70s one day. No, it’s not gonna happen. I have seen even people in their late sixties who still have a few unresolved fights in their hearts with their late parents, and somehow, they never got the chance to heal themselves.
It’s unfortunate, but true! Are we going to repeat the same cycle? Or will we break this cycle? The decision is ours. Sure, time is with us today to help us. But we can’t get away without doing our part.
We have to take the responsibility to heal ourselves. Time can only help us a lot, not heal us on its own.
Well, this is what I think sometimes. What do you think?
“Tenacity is a quality that we could all do with; that is, the ability to continue to do something for longer than might be expected. In other words, don’t give up easily. Finish that project. Complete that task. Finish that race even if you are coming in last. Stick with your ambitions; work towards them. Hold on to life, to that steep mountain slope. There’s always something you can do.”
A few days back, I picked up this beautiful, cute little book to re-read. The first time I read it was a few years back. I picked it up and started reading this beautiful piece by one of India’s most-loved authors, which opens with a letter from the author himself.
The colourful pages, beautiful fonts, amazing illustrations, and creative designs make the reading far more joyful and immersive.
Ruskin Bond has shared nuggets of wisdom in this book. It truly feels like a letter from your grandpa on how to live your life. It has the warmth, love, practical advice, and inspiration to dream big and live your life fully as long as you are alive here.
Among all those beautiful pages filled with tips, lessons, and advice, this one particularly resonated with me the most this time. It happens. As they say, we read a book for the first time every time we read it again. This time, it felt like I was reading this particular page for the first time. I read it slowly. I paused. I re-read it multiple times. I thought about it. And then I knew it was meant to come across. I needed this. I needed this reminder.
Tenacity. Just a little more push. A little more showing up. A little more faith in your journey to keep going towards your dreams, your truth, every day.
I enjoyed rereading this amazing piece this time, and I know I will reread it again someday for sure. Till then, I am holding onto tenacity. I am holding on to life, beautifully.
What is that one book you read or reread recently that talked to you like mine did? Share your stories, please.
Hot milk tea with just the right amount of sugar, with my morning breakfast, has been my favourite for so long now that compromising on that feels really bad. And despite all the love in this world for that morning tea, I have not had it for the past 15 days. Thankfully, tomorrow is the last day of my “tea without sugar” or no tea at all phase.
Suddenly, I had to stop sugar, rice, potatoes, maida, bread, and packaged food from my diet because of one of the medicines I am taking for my nerve pain. Rice is not a very big thing for me, and I don’t need it to eat every day. Potatoes I can do without for a few days, and maida and processed food are not in my everyday staple diet, so it was fine.
But my morning tea! The tea I am used to having for the past many years with my morning breakfast, sometimes infused with the grated ginger and crushed cardamoms in the regular milk tea with sugar, and more recently with brown sugar instead of white sugar. But no sugar at all? I can do without all those sweets, laddoos, rasgullas, even my favourite chocolates for a few days, but chai…I am honestly telling you it was difficult. And I am so, so, so happy that tomorrow is the last day of my “tea without sugar” phase.
You know, when I was younger, and someone used to say that they can’t do their work unless they have had their tea, or they feel tired and have a headache if they don’t have their tea, I didn’t understand. Though I don’t understand the real correlation between these things till today, one thing I’m sure of – tea is an emotion. We chai lovers love to have our chai, like we have it, every single day. Period.
Maybe chai is the one thing that gives us the feeling of “some things don’t change, and they don’t need to change” every day, amidst the ever-changing seasons of life. I don’t remember exactly when I started to hold onto my morning tea, but I guess it’s fantastic. Because sometimes I have to hold onto life with that cup of tea in my hands – one sip at a time!
I am noticing one thing. As I am growing older, I am more and more inclined towards home-cooked meals. For me, now, the Ghar ka khana is ultimate heaven.
Although since childhood I have been that kid who used to eat home-cooked meals only, and chips, biscuits, icecreams, or samosas were the things of the weekend. I was never that kid with a junk food habit.
But there was one more thing. I was also not the one who used to eat ghar ka khana happily. Actually, till age 8, I can remember I was the kid whose parents really struggled to feed her. I was very thin, usually sick, and an underweight kid then. Mummy papa tried many things, but it just didn’t work. I hated eating veggies and used to throw them in the dustbin. I had no liking for any fruit as such. Daal I didn’t like, roti, and rice I used to eat with a little oil and salt. Yeah, that was me. And bread? I used to like bread, jam, or bread with ghar ki malai then.
Mumma papa got me a few medicinal syrups so that I can feel hungry and eat proper meals, but that wasn’t very helpful either. Yes, samosa, maggie, noodles, icecream, chocolates, chips were all my occasional friends then. Occasionally means once a week or every two weeks here.
I was 8 when I got admitted to my hostel in Banasthali in the 4th standard. It was the year 2005.
There, things started changing. We had fixed meal times, and we had to reach our mess on time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. We used to take our plates, and our wardens used to serve us the meals. There, I started eating healthily. I don’t know what it was! Was that the effect of community, because we used to go together for our meals, sit with each other, eat and talk, and sometimes talk a lot and eat while we talked? I don’t know!
I kind of started eating like a healthy kid. The hatred for veggies took a bit of time to go, and it had to go because there I couldn’t throw my food in the dustbin so easily. I had to finish my food properly. And then, the variety of food, the taste, the menu was fortunately very good in my hostel. Sure, the hostel food goes through its own share of downs, but those few days were nothing compared to the tasty meals we had and enjoyed during our hostel days.
I developed my liking for eating healthy and normal ghar ka khana because of my hostel days. I know it might sound ironic to many of you, but it’s true in my case. My health got better. I went from an underweight kid to a healthy BMI girl over time, and it stayed very well during all those years there.
Then, after coming to Delhi for my college studies, I naturally became inclined towards ghar ka khana as I started living with my parents. And then, I kind of started admiring and loving Mumma’s specialities more and more. I remember those were the days when I used to think that I had missed a lot of my mumma’s food, and now I am going to make up for all those years. Yes, I used to eat in my college canteen as well, and that was the time when I fell in love with momos, but ghar ka khana had become the ultimate satisfaction by then.
Today, I am not living in my hostel or with my mom permanently, but one thing I am grateful for is that I have fairly developed the taste and a lot more liking for ghar ka healthy and tasty khana. And honestly, I am grateful for this liking.
Yes, I do have my KFC chicken burger, momos, and chocolates, and cakes, but I have intentionally brought them to a few cheat meals or day outs in a month. They are occasional. Ghar ka khana is the regular thing for me.
I hope more and more people start including more home-cooked meals in their lives. I know it’s not easy every time. Especially when you are not good at cooking, it is difficult. And many times, you have a time crunch as well. However, taking a step towards making this happen is a hundred percent worth your time. I have no doubt about it.
Srishti Kumari 