Twenty- five Seven

Clouds in my Mumbai sky #SkywatchFriday

March 10, 2017

Waking up this morning I was surprised to see a smattering of grey clouds in my Mumbai sky.For moment I was struck by the beauty of a pale blue early morning sky with dashes of grey , the twinkling city lights and the sun trying to break through.

[Tweet “Do grey clouds in March mean less mangoes in May?”]

Clouds are rather unusual for March and doesn’t augur very well for the Mangoes that I intend eating later in April.

After a very short winter we Mumbaikars are experiencing a rather warm March. Suddenly the afternoons have become oppressively hot , reminiscent of summer .

I used to scoff at the old people who used to say that the weather has changed since they were children but now, becoming older myself, I find myself repeating those very same words!

Is it really global warming? Or have my perceptions changed?

Sharing my post with other skywatchers on #SkywatchFriday.
When strength becomes weakness#FridayReflections

March 9, 2017

A strength I didn’t know I had

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

This has been my all time favourite quote and I’ve just found out why.

Always a sucker for psychological tests, I quickly jumped to the VIA character survey to find out my hidden strengths.

But I was hardly prepared for the result:

Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence

Your top strength is Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence which means you are able to see beauty around you and appreciate when things are done with excellence. You are in awe of things that others may take for granted. You admire great art and science, such as what may be seen in music, movies, and drama, and jobs done to high standards.

Really?

I always thought my strength lay in my ability to see the humour in everything!

Obviously I don’t know myself very well.

It also explains why everything has to be just so .

And I am beginning to understand why I do certain things like :

The Samsung present

According to my children, I have the knack of wrapping up a gift so beautifully that oftentimes it overshadows the gift itself . Like a Samsung TV that is packed in an oversized box!

Themes and memes

Whenever I entertain, I go into details like table settings, suitable dinnerware and putting together ‘wow’ moments. Ask me for some biscuits and I will make sure that they are served stylishly.

No patience with slow learners

In fact it puts into perspective my disapproval of sloppy work and my impatience with fools.

But I still have to figure how this will help me in my life.

For instance I should use this strength to achieve a perfect body size and weight.

I should exploit this characteristic to have the best blog on the block!

When strength becomes a weakness

On the other hand, striving for perfection and excellence can lead to dissatisfaction and disappointment. After all, things can’t be beautiful all the time can they?

Perhaps this personality trait is making me dissatisfied with the many imperfections in my life and I should learn to tone down expectations and accept things for what they are warts and all.

Which leads me to believe that this strength can actually be a weakness as every coin has two sides.

Do you find your strengths working for or against you?

Linking this up with #FridayReflections hosted by Corinne and Sanch Vee
And you remain invincible #FridayFotoFiction

March 7, 2017

I’ve often wondered what it was about you that inspired men to wage bloody wars. Were you made of metal so precious that made human life worthless?

Over the centuries you watched several fierce battles waged to possess you . Battles fought with bows and arrows and fire power.

Men said that owning you would protect their the low lying lands from marauding tribesmen who came year after year with the melting snow.

But did you really protect those who fought for you?

Ultimately though, you had the last laugh. You remained still, firm, unchanging , invincible and unconquerable for all eternity.

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I’m linking this with Tina Basu’s #FridayFotoFiction