Twenty- five Seven

Welcome A breath of fresh air – Say Goodbye to Household Odours

June 22, 2015

“Oh no!” I thought looking up at the sky last Friday. ” It looks like rain!”

Alas! It was more than just rain – it was a veritable deluge with the rain getting heavier with each passing minute. On normal days I love the rain as it gives me a chance to stay indoors, listen to some music, curl up with a book and gorge on some onion bhajiyas but somehow, the grey clouds on Friday cast more than a pall of gloom – they also spelled DOOM because I was going to entertain some really important people on Sunday – the Board of Directors coming down specially to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our company’s opening an office in Mumbai – an important milestone in our lives. It was a party which had to be more than perfect and a rainy day wasn’t going to help!

Ordinarily a wet day means unwashed clothes which if left unwashed emit a strange smell . Yet strangely, if washed and left drying, they also emit a strange smell. A wet day also means that kitchen smells remain indoors and what normally smells aromatic and tempting only smells foul and annoying. Imagine welcoming guests to smells of frying bhajiyas, chicken tandooring and the overbearing odour of onion and garlic? And things don’t get any better when these smells mingle with French perfume and deodorants…………

“You’ve got to do something,” Hubby Dear said to me when he found that the hand towel he wiped his hands on had a faint smell of garlic. “You can’t have the house smelling like this!”

“What can I do!” I wailed. If I put on the agarbattis you complain that you begin wheezing and I can’t go out and get any flowers – the roads are flooded and I’m sure there won’t be any flower sellers today!”

“Oh well I’m sure you’ll think of something,” he challenged, expecting me to work miracles (as I normally do)

I looked around the linen cupboard and found some aromatic candles. ” These should do the trick,” I said smugly to myself and proceeded to light them all over the house. But, funnily enough, Deep Fried Oily + Damp and wet clothes + Overpowering Garlic Ginger+ Aromatic Garam Masala+ Freshly cooking Basmati Rice+ Shallow Frying Fish + Tandoori Chicken + Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps + Davidoff’s Cool Water + Vanilla of the scented candles only served to make things worse.

“This is not going to work,” said Hubby Dear stating the obvious. “Put them out!”

I was at my wits’ end. There were already too many smells and I could already imagine the already offended olfactory nerves getting further offended with additional smells of wet umbrellas and muddy shoes adding to the profusion of fragrances, perfumes, odours and malodours. With ten more men coming in, there would be a fresh onslaught of After Shaves and colognes adding to the mishmash of smells. There was no way I could open any windows in the living room without having the table cloth flying out of the window taking my meal along with it. And there was no other way I could let the smells out.

“Well, just lump it,” I said, half-heartedly admitting defeat ” There’s nothing really I can do unless I pass along the clothes pegs.”

I could see that Hubby Dear was not even mildly amused.

Just then, I found a cannister of AmbiPur Air effects peeping out from behind my computer.

“AHA,” I thought, help is at hand.

“Stop!” yelled out Hubby Dear. “What’s that? I don’t want you spraying something that will have the house smell like pesticide.”

“Well, pesticide is better than foul smell isn’t it? ” I countered, not wanting to give up on my last resource even before the first puff. ” And if this doesn’t work nothing really will! ” I added boldly, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t be proved wrong.

Saying a quick prayer, I aimed the nozzle away from my face and pressed the trigger. Within two puffs the air was transformed. The foul smells were gone and a gentle smell of clean took their place instead. Emboldened by success, I sprayed AIR effects throughout the house and sat back relaxed waiting for the bell to ring and the dinner guests to arrive.

Thank You ! AmbiPur for turning my House from Smelly to Smiley! I say to myself as I hear the door bell go

Ding Dong !

“Welcome home! Welcome home!” says my husband shaking hands with our guests as I silently whisper “GoodBye” to household Odours.

P.S. AmbiPur is easy to use – the trigger is smooth, the spray doesn’t make the eyes smart or irritate and has a gentle pleasant fragrance that is long lasting and masks all unpleasant household smells.

I am blogging for #SmellyToSmiley at BlogAdda in association with Ambi Pur.”
#Monday Musings – Taking Notes

June 22, 2015

Yesterday was yet another wet Mumbai day but that didn’t stop me from attending a talk by Rujuta Diwekar ( you can read all about it here). Half way through the talk Rujuta asked the audience to stop recording her or even taking down notes but to pay attention to what she said. Yes, it’s true we Indians are obsessed with taking notes. If we visit a doctor, we take down notes; if we visit an astrologer we take down notes; if we read a book we like we take down notes – in fact almost always we take down notes. How useful is note taking? Is it really an aide memoire or is it a lazy brain’s way of learning?

I remember in class all of us kept track of what the teacher was saying while we furiously captured what she was saying – all except Mrs. Karat our Geography teacher who insisted that we just looked at her during the entire class and only wrote down what we remembered in the last five minutes before the bell rang. This was a very effective way of learning and till today I still remember what I learnt in her class – actually hearing her voice in my head explaining the workings of the South West Monsoon or what is the difference between Kharif and Rabi crops only because she absolutely forbade Note taking in her class.

Why do we take notes? Why can’t we remember what is being said or at least try to remember what is being said? I do agree with Rujuta that taking notes is ensuring that your are not completely in the moment.

A friend of mine took me with her to a satsang which she thought I’d enjoy. All through the lecture, she was scribbling down words while I just listened to the master. On the way home we began discussing the class and she was shocked to find that I had absorbed certain points that she had missed. And what was worse – her handwriting was a meaningless scribble which she could barely make out. Since that day, she stopped taking notes but actually started taking note of what was being said.

Do you like to take notes? Or do you prefer to take note?
Simple, seasonal and sensible – Busting the myths associated with Yoga

June 21, 2015

With the whole country getting into the groove of Yoga, my neighbourhood bookstore CROSSWORD decided to hold a Yoga Open Day with Rujuta Diwekar, well-known fitness expert and dietician, addressing a crowd hungry for information on Yoga and Diet. In a wonderfully stimulating and interesting 1 1/2 hour session, Rujuta busted many myths associated with Yoga.

The true meaning of Yoga

It seems almost strange but this morning while I was trying to do a decent Marichasan, I was wondering how many body twisting poses I’d have to do before the bulging stomach was streamlined and lo and behold I got the answer to this question almost at the beginning of the session! We all do Yoga with the hope that it will make us slim and sexy but as explained how many of us really do Yoga? For many of us it is a physical exercise like weight training, pilates Zumba or any other regimen that we follow for mere fitness and weight loss. Yoga in its truest sense is one where thought, word and deed are in sync. Consider this :

In my mind I am slim and fit

When I see a chocolate I tell myself that I’m on a diet

But I still reach out and stuff my face with it.

This is what we do all the time – there is a complete mismatch between our thoughts, words and deeds. It is only when we practice all three that we are actually doing yoga and that is when the exercise that is associated with the word YOGA will be truly beneficial.

The talk which was scheduled to begin at 11.30 DID BEGIN at 11.30 despite the heavily overcast sky and a city still limping back to normalcy after the deluge that struck us on Friday. How many of us do Yoga? And how many of us do a headstand in the middle of the room? Strangely enough very few hands went up for the first question and none went up for the second. Rujuta wasn’t in the least bit surprised because as she said, we Indians have the habit of only recognising the worth of a heritage sari after it has been praised/validated in the West. Yoga Day is being celebrated in India today only because it is a big deal internationally – it won’t be long she said before we celebrated Daal Chawal Day or Ghee Day, after the benefits of these are discovered in the West. And may be there will be another record of so many million tonnes of ghee being made on Rajpath or by the Bay! Similarly, she said that the inability to do a headstand in the centre of the room reflects largely on the Indian woman’s conditioning to comply rather than

Similarly, she said that she wasn’t surprised that most of the people couldn’t do a headstand in the middle of the room that because Indian women are conditioned to comply rather than question (most of the audience comprised women). Consequently, she said that Indian women are great at doing forward bends (some even managing to go beyond their feet!) while western women find it hard to do so.

Does Yoga mean you have to be vegetarian?

Not at all, says Ruyjuta. In fact the greatest Yoga exponents have been Non-Vegetarian. And for that matter, you don’t even have to be a teetotaller.

Food has to be simple ( heritage food as she calls it – food that your grandmother can recognise), sensible ( eaten at the right time and in the right proportion) and seasonal ( food that is eaten out of season or out of region is totally counter productive.)

Our food habits have to be sustainable – being on a permanent diet is not only undesirable but also impossible. So eat what our grannies used to eat. Eat in moderation and don’t deny yourself any foods for denial causes cravings and binge eating. And above all eat seasonal. There’s no point in eating mango in winter because that food is not fresh and lacks the nutrition it has when in season. Similarly, she says eat local – when in Spain eat as Spaniards do – don’t travel with your daal dhokli or aaloo paratha. Conversely don’t eat Olives in India – eat them in Jordan or Italy!

What is healthy and wholesome food?

Food that is freshly cooked. Food that is home made. Food that is cooked in the morning can be eaten at night – and it can be re-heated but NOT in the Microwave. SImilarly, she said there is no real benefit in eating copious amounts of vegetables and sacrificing the carbs. Nor is there any point in avoiding pickles and chutneys and relishes as they all have their place in our regular food. We should recognise their importance and eat them accordingly. Relish the ladoos and don’t eat the flax seeds as diet food but enjoy them as Alshi chutney!

Are supplements useful?

There is no point in eating roasted papad or chapati without ghee and eating Cod Liver Oil tablets. It is far better to eat naturally rather than eating supplements.

Give up the guilt

Ultimately it is we who are responsible for our own self image. We have been conditioned to feel good only if we are miserable about ourselves. Break this myth, she says, be happy with yourself and don’t feel guilty about being who you are. So go out there and be happy. Do Yoga. Eat Sensibly and Be Fit. Follow yama, so Yama won’t follow you!

Learn to stand on your head in the middle of the room

Happy Yoga Day

I’m also posting this on Write Tribe Pro Blogger challenge where you can find posts written by some amazing bloggers.