Catching up with you..

As blogged before, N started playschool last month. There were tears as expected but after two weeks, she has mellowed down and has got adjusted to the water like a fish. Just that she cries or rather shivers a bit when she touches the cold water initially.

Last week, after one whole month, they gave us the uniforms. Initially, I was thinking it would be too much for a two-year old to wear uniforms, but now after one month of struggling to find what to make her wear in the morning, the uniforms are a boon, atleast for the three days of the week when they are to be worn.

As far as my childhood memories goes, I do not remember a single thing except for one scene. I am lying on mats for afternoon naps, with half eyes closed. Some teachers were commanding us to close your eyes and sleep. That’s it.

Another scene which I remember is of the Class 1. My mom and her colleague is trying to put on uniforms on me, while I am making a fuss and crying a lot. I also remember the class, as if taken from an art movie scene, where I am standing outside the class, actually not me, but my silhouette. Not sure, whether it was after mom leaving me there, or some other instance while studying that year.

On other hand, since this gives me some free time, I have been reading blogs lately. There is a blog marathon by Preeti Shenoy, who always have some positive vibes to cheer you up daily. And one of the other blogs I frequently read are the email blog posts by Indian Homemaker, which is shared by the readers of the blog. This gives an insight to the plight of Indian women, and some men too, who are trapped in abused relationships of all sorts, say love, marriage, sex, etc..  This actually makes me think of the big picture and the stark reality of the world we live in, and helps me forget the small silly disappointments I have in my life.

In parallel, the home decor craziness is not leaving me, even after I did some interiors of the home using a designer. Though the experience is mixed, I would still recommend going through an interior designer for doing up your home,  especially because of the value for money service. And since I have some plywood pieces left over at home, I am seriously reading up woodworking blog by Woodooz to plunge myself in.

And then, there are some things which I have always wanted to do when I get the free time. Like reading a book, going out independently, driving alone, working for my satisfaction etc. Lets see where the time takes me..

Thinking of blog title

By November this year, the domain subscription for archanaonline.com is going to terminate. After long thought, I have decided  not to renew it. Its tough to maintain a blog, keeping it updated frequently and I do not want to bother maintaining a domain name redirected to wordpress.com. Sometimes I tend to forget renewing it. Sometimes, the redirection does not work and I have to sent mails to people who are already busy with their lives. And I am not that professional blogger who is planning to use ads or enter the race for SEO page ranking and all those. Hence I plan to drop it.

The problem now is, what to rename the blog title. Till now, I have been using Archanaonline.com as the blog title and to prepare for the upcoming de-linking, I thought of updating it all now itself. My mail signature, gravatar, online profiles and lastly the blog title.

Any ideas /suggestions for the blog title?

musings.. thoughts.. rambles by Archana.. archonline.. or how about melange?

Entering the second toddler year

N is turning 2 next week. And this June we are enrolling her in playschool too. All these are making me confused and emotional. Whenever I do retrospect her birth, there are so many situations playing back to back, scene by scene, which we came across. No wonder they say pregnancy and childbirth changes your life. At the end I would say its just a mixed bag of emotions. Continue reading →

Inspiration from Preeti Shenoy

For the past two weeks,  I am on high keeping Preeti Shenoy as an inspiration. I love her blog, and more than that, I love the positive attitude and the thinking. And since I liked her blog posts, I ended up buying all the four books by her.

I do admire her as a writer, considering the fact that she started just like any other Indian woman, being a wife and mother, and coping with grief and ups and downs, and using her blog to vent her feelings. And now, she is the author of four novels. I have even heard her TED Talks where she talks of positivity and creative growth.  And when she says through her blog to live every day, just get up and do it and in such simple words, it really sticks onto my mind.

All the plots in the novels look ordinary, but what I liked in all of them, is the way she portray the feelings. The book I liked the most was the third one, “Tea for two and a piece of cake”. It was so  flowing and natural. The second one, “Life is what you make it” requires special mention, because of the way how she narrates the mental illness. Creating an imaginary story woven around familiar characters in life would have been easier for sure than imagining what goes through the mind of a patient with a crazy mental disorder. And especially when it was the first full length novel she wrote. The first book, “34 bubblegums and candies” would be the most simple and real book since it comprises mostly of  her blog post snippets and conveys so many things in such simple words.

I would really loved to have another similar book with selected blog posts on life , positive attitude, time management, etc which could easily be a best self-help book by an Indian author. And her smile is so infectious. Do catch her glimpse through her website

Kai Po Che – the movie

When Pavitra Rishta started, it was just another TV serial for me. The stars were new, and as like any new drama serial, I was hooked for the initial months not just because of the story, but because of the chemistry between the lead actors. I have noticed that all the hero-heroines of serials by Ekta Kapoor have been a great pair and most of them has got on-screen jodi awards.

So when Kai Po Che was released with my favourite actor, Sushant Singh Rajput in the main role, I just dreamt of watching him for two hours. His smile is so attractive, and the blunt, careless look adds to the charm. Though I have read all the books by Chetan Bhagat except for Revolution 2020, I disliked this one most. The riots and the tragedies was not what I expected from his stories. Especially after the Five Point Someone. His books had that “Happily ever after” cliche which lured readers like me to read many more.

It was a surprise, when my otherwise reluctant husband wanted to watch a movie in theater for weekend relaxation, and it was the perfect weekend. There were in-laws visiting us this month, which made babysitting N not a task. And then there was this film.Continue reading →

Challenge adaptation

Not even two days are over, and I am already missing Facebook. But the good thing is, its not the notifications, comments, photos and statuses, but I miss the communities, the knowledge passed between people, the virtual conversations happening in them, and the Pages through only which some stores operate. Atleast I found out what is the advantage of being in Facebook.

So now, I am adapting the challenge to limit myself, access to Facebook only when required, and if required, not more than half hour a day. Let me get the timer of the mobile phone into action, which has been unused till now..