Srishti Kumari

Tag: simple joys

  • Outdoor Walks Have Their Own Place

    In my heart somewhere.

    Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash

    Really, walking outdoors is fun. It’s actually great. And if the weather outside is amazing, then one should take full advantage of it.

    Yesterday evening, after many days, in fact months, I went on the terrace for my evening walk. The weather was great. The air was a bit breezy. And I had a good half an hour walk.

    I enjoyed my walk a lot more than I usually enjoy my regular treadmill walks indoors. And the difference was really something big. I could feel my whole body moving differently and a bit more freely compared to my straight standing posture on the treadmill.

    Sure, I do enjoy my treadmill walks, and I have been continuously walking on a treadmill for the past two months or so, almost every day. It’s great. It helps me to have the proper sweaty walk and great cardio. But the outdoors is also fun.

    And I have decided that now winter has almost ended, so I am going to have a mix of both types of walk in my everyday life. I think it’s going to be more interesting, fun, and beautiful.

    I am excited for my outdoor walks. What about you? Don’t wait too much. Spring is in its full charm right now. Go, have a walk outside. It’s good for your health and longevity. Don’t think too much now. Just put on those shoes and go. You will enjoy it.

    Happy walking. Happy living.

    Take care.

  • Tea Without Sugar

    Not a tasty choice though!

    Photo by panchanok prem on Unsplash

    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!

    Yeah…that was my tea tale.

    Holding onto life. One sip at a time!

    Do share me yours.

  • Write

    Because you need to write.

    Photo by Daniel Álvasd on Unsplash

    Write, because you need to write.

    I know you are writing a lot. I know you are working a lot. You are thinking, ideating, brainstorming, discussing ideas, themes, and topics. You are researching very well for your case studies. You are refining, editing, and proofreading each and every LinkedIn post of yours, your articles, blogs, and that email newsletter – everything is being meticulously checked at least five times before anyone else’s approval.

    You are reading, browsing, scrolling, attending meetings, editing drafts, making new drafts, planning content, and learning from all the available sources you can, hoping it will boost your growth. And you are growing as well.

    Actually, you have grown. You have learnt a lot. You have become much better in your work. Your writing has become versatile. You can write for the CEOs, CxOs, founders, billionaires, and businesses across the industries without compromising the quality. And that’s excellent. Kudos to you!

    I knew you would do this. I knew you would achieve all the professional milestones, all the financial growth and success you had dreamt of. And see, you did it.

    But I need to talk to you. I am seeing that you have stopped doing something. In this business of writing copies, telling stories, building perception, branding, and business development, though you have written a lot, you have come far from writing itself.

    Do you see what I am trying to say? Can’t you see this? Isn’t it bothering you? I mean, it’s great, and it’s really awesome that you have built the fabulous financial security by doing something you love to do. It’s truly a blessing. And I am so, so, so happy for you.

    But I am missing my friend who used to write for herself — just for herself. No personal branding, no thought leadership, no brand integration, no business collaborations, no client work, no agency work, no premium global clients’ work, no emails, no pitches, no proposals, nothing of these sorts.

    I know my friend, each of these things is very important. I get that. But, I just want to remind you that you also need you. Talk to yourself. Talk to your friends. Talk to us. Talk to your diary. Or, just talk to your forgotten blog you once launched with childlike curiosity and eyes full of dreams.

    Those dreams need you too. You need yourself. You need to write for yourself. You need to write to yourself.

    Yes, you do.

    I hope you remember that.

  • Shaam ka Naashta

    Rare no?

    Photo by Raghavendra Mithare on Unsplash

    I remember, back in the school days, when I was in an all-girls residential campus, shaam ka naashta, I mean our evening snack was the more or less regular thing just like our breakfast. It didn’t matter what the snack was, be it a fruit, nuts, rusk, packet bhujiya, or sometimes noodles, dhokla with our sometimes not-so-good tea.

    It was a thing back then. When I shifted to Delhi for my college studies and started living with my parents, mealtime just got too erratic. Of course, college timings and late classes were the obvious reasons. Some days, I used to have my breakfast after 11 am and my lunch after 5 pm. It was bad. But that was it. My college years were far from perfect in any sense. Those years were haphazard throughout.

    So yeah, evening snacking wasn’t a specific thing for me then. And after that, I spent many years at my home doing self-study and exam preparations, coaching, etc., and breakfast, lunch, and dinner were the norm. Evening snack became occasional. And it is still now.

    For the last few days, I was asking Abhi(my partner and hubby) to make a chiwra snack for me. In bihar we call it choora ka bhujja. It is the regionally grown flatrice which is then shallow fried in much less oil until it becomes crispy, and then we add finely chopped onions, chilies, and during winters, also fried peas and groundnuts. It can be made in different variations according to taste and the way you want to relish it. We had everything at home that we needed. Abhi knows very well how to prepare it. But. But but but but but, for this particular thing we had to have a day when we both would be free in the evening, and we will have enough time in our hands. In short, you need evenings for an evening snack.

    Thankfully, today was that day. Abhi came home a bit early, and on my request, we managed to finally have our choora ka bhujja with fried peas, finely chopped onions, chillies, groundnut, and a bit of salt for flavour in our shaam ka naashta. Finally!

    I hope that this occasional snacking or shaam ka naashta remains in our lives. I don’t know why. I just want it to be. Maybe because it still reminds me of my childhood, my hostel days, when I used to look forward to it alongwith my friends. Maybe. I don’t know.

    Well, our naashta was really good. I liked the taste. It could have been crunchier, but it’s so sweet of Abhi to just make it for me within minutes. And I loved it that way.

    Happy Snacking!