My Life As A Pie #WYHO

January 31, 2016
Two days ago I read a very interesting post on Corinne’s Blog which inspired me to write this post. For those of you who are following her blogs regularly, this was the second in her series where she inspires you to find your ‘write’ voice.

So I decided to follow one of the exercises she had suggested this week which was to map out your life as a pie and find which areas need working on.

Life Pie
Divide a circle into six parts. Label them – spirituality, exercise, romance, play, work, friends and family.
Place a dot in each section at the level to which you are fulfilled in that area — out on the rim if you’re very pleased with that part of your life, toward the center if you are less fulfilled. Connect the dots. You will soon see the areas that need focus. Choose one and work on it this week.

This very interesting exercise helped me in more ways than just one
1. It helped me understand how to work with Piktochart. This in fact is my very first Infographic. I’ve been trying to work with Infographics but have not really bothered to pursue them simply because I didn’t know what to do? What Information can I show graphically?
2. This activity also helped me make my blog post different from what it is. all blog advisers say that in order a blog remains interesting and engaging, you should vary the content. So hopefully with this first infographic, I will have varied the format from the usual text and photo which I am so familiar with.
3. With this post taking up more time than usual. it has helped me fulfil coming closer to one of my goals of being ME ( paint on Sundays). While a infographic doesn’t exactly qualify as a Sunday painting, graphic designing is a form of creativity that is artistic and challenging.
4. Finally, having put things down as a pie chart, I can see how exactly my life is divvied up.
Obviously, the most part of my day is taken up by my work, the next part with my friends and family ( F & F). Now for those who haven’t figured it out, I am a SAHM and my work involves my friends and family.

Spirituality and Play take 2 % which is frankly OK with me as I’m not very spiritually inclined (I don’t even take more than a drink a month at best!) and play? Well most of my work is play as I spend a large part of my day with my three grandchildren so I don’t really need to spend any more time “playing” do I?

Which brings me to the last part Exercise. Bringing up babies is hard work – bending over, lifting them, bathing them, looking under beds for toys that can’t be found, horsing around with them and even pushing them around in a pram for a half hour can get you a bad back, a tennis elbow and a sticky knee which professional athletes spend hours acquiring. To avoid all these injuries that sportsmen are prone to, I try and fix in some Yoga.

Which brings me to the conclusion

I AM DOING EXACTLY WHAT I WANT.

However, following the prompt for this week’s #WYHO

What do you need to allow to take more time or space in your life?

I, perhaps, need to find time to have more play – more time to read, more time to be creative and more time to relax and more time to be inspired.

Work is a given . We need some meaningful activity and gainful employment to feel a sense of worth. Yet it should not consume us. We all need to find a few moments of quietude in our busy days to take some time off to smell the coffee and savour its flavour ; time to take a deep breath and feel the moment.

I’d like to end with the more famous lines of WH Davies that I’ve quoted from allpoetry.com

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Hope you get time to smell the coffee!

I’m linking this to #WYHO

Sky with the Setting Moon and Rising Sun

January 29, 2016

Very rarely can one see the sun rising and the sun setting in the very same sky from the very same spot at the very same time. I know this happens every day, but it’s not often that I’m awake and free to capture this phenomenon .

This Saturday past (23rd) we had a full moon. I looked up eastwards in the morning sky and captured the orange orb lighting up a golden sky.

On the other side of the house, the sky was different – pink an blue with the full moon saying good bye .

That night I captured the full moon staring at the city lights below

Now wasn’t that a glorious sight to wish the world a very good night?

Yesterday we had the most horrific haze enveloping our city in its deathly embrace. The unusual cold weather and the increasing levels of pollution made Mumbai’s air quality the 2nd worst in the world. This is what SAFAR, the Ministry of Earth Science’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research has to say :

Air Quality Forecast (1-3 days): Levels in µgm-3

MUMBAI

Pollutants	Today	Advisory	Tomorrow’s Forecast	Advisory	After 3 days	Advisory
PM10 (µgm-3)	217.8	Moderate	213.9	Moderate	212.85	Moderate
PM2.5 (µgm-3)	153.1	Very Poor	152.5	Very Poor	151.5	Very Poor

We only have our politicians to thank for this sorry state of affairs. And of course the activists who don’t want to change a thing and the builders who want to grab land and the auto manufacturers who want to sell more.

It’s not EARTH that’s suffering but US, the regular man on the street who is slowly choking in the mess he helped create .

I am linking this to SKYWATCH FRIDAY which you should visit for more cheery pictures of skies from around the world.

Also posting this to Blog Commenting Tribe hosted by Corinne.

Happy Weekend all! May you enjoy two days of well deserved relaxation and peace.

Joining the dots #Gratitude Circle

January 28, 2016

Seemingly random events make up the picture of our lives. Slowly but surely all the dots get joined up. This thought occurred to me while watching the Republic Day parade. Seeing our military might march down Raj Path, I remembered my own childhood which was spent in different Cantonment towns . That’s when I thought : I wouldn’t be where I am now were it not for a series of events that are slowly being connected to each other.

If I were to trace back to the beginning of the beginning, I would say it was a remark made by Dr. C, a Registrar at the hospital where my father was doing his Houseman’s post, suggesting that he join the Navy, rather than continue working as a doctor in civvie street. This literally changed the course of my father’s life and ensured that his family lived the life of privilege accorded to very few in this world.

I am grateful to have grown up in my bubble – a world of uniforms and parades,discipline and order. To those on the outside looking in, we lived in a time warp of sorts- with Clubs and Balls and a lifestyle that still clung to traditions of the Raj, far removed from the reality outside the Cantonment limits.

But however anachronistic it may be, a life style that involved frequent changes of house, school and city, which forced us to interact with varied people only made us more resilient, adaptable and confident of taking on the world anywhere.

So Dr C, I am grateful to you!

Then as one dot connected with the next, so many opportunities opened up for me, schooling in the best of schools, studying in the best of colleges and getting to meet people I would normally not have been able to meet. The latest in the series of dots was an interview with a remarkable person Dr. Mithu Alur who turned a personal problem into a life changing experience for her and hundreds of others. This charming, soft spoken and extremely compassionate lady is made of steel. Working tirelessly for over 3 decades, she has managed to get the Government of India to change its policy towards differently abled people! Her efforts have helped thousands achieve a life of inclusion rather than isolation and despair. Meeting her has been personally very inspiring and I am eternally grateful for this chance.

On a micro level, I am grateful for the local banya who has re-opened shop once again. Thank you Bhimshi Vershi for coming back into my grocery life.

And as always, I am grateful for the domestic help I have. Looking after three babies is not always easy and when I feel the twinge in my lower back, I remember Divya and her cheery countenance. If she can “grin and bear it”after sweeping and swabbing four houses every day, I have no reason to feel sorry for myself. I am grateful to you Divya, for reminding me how much I have to be thankful for!

I’m linking this to Vidya Sury’s Gratitude Circle.

Don’t you like her new badge?

My Life As A Pie #WYHO

What do you need to allow to take more time or space in your life?

Leisure

Sky with the Setting Moon and Rising Sun

Joining the dots #Gratitude Circle