Grey Shades

Warning 1: I will be doing a series of posts on pregnancy and childbirth. There’s going to be what some may consider shameful or embarrassing details during the course of pregnancy and childbirth. As for me, I don’t find them embarrassing or shameful anymore. Only those who are mature enough to understand the significance and beauty of nature need continue reading the post. Perverts and immature people may stop reading further. Those with a weak heart, those scared of childbirth, those who are not ready (mentally, physically, emotionally) about childbirth, and those who believe “ignorance is bliss” please do not read further. As they say in movie reviews: Contains spoilers! ;) Warning 2: The following write up is compiled from my experience and those of friends and family who shared their pregnancy/childbirth stories with me. Every human being is different, so what worked for me may not work for you and vice versa. Please follow caution. Remember I am NOT a doctor. Consult your do...

Its been so long since I posted anything. I was on stealth mode, so to say. I wasn’t suffering from writer’s block and in fact I have quite a few posts in my draft ready to be posted…but I did not choose to post. Wanted some alone time with myself, with family and close friends before the roller coaster ride started. Yes, I understand there is a certain responsibility and discipline in maintaining a blog and I am aware I haven’t been fulfilling it. But try as I might, I am not feeling guilty about it. It was a conscious decision and I am not apologizing for it. Warning: Long post. Verbal diarrhea follows ;) So coming straight to the point. I went into stealth mode, for some time even from my gtalk and facebook. I cooped into my shell. I was quite normal with my daily gang though. If you are wondering why, its like the darkness before dawn kinda situation :) And our dawn is the coming of our baby… Barely three weeks to go, unless the baby decides otherwise :) The whole time since...

I’m back… for now. I was feeling lazy and uninterested the past few weeks. Did not feel like writing or reading or working… All I could do and did was laze around. Having mom over for a month did not help things. Or rather, it helped a lot more in making me lazy ;) After a month long of pampering, fattening and resting, it took me a couple of weeks to get back to normal during which time I was obsessed with finishing the 1000+ paged Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Finished reading it. Needed a quick fix thriller so read up two of JD Robb books and and here I am. :) There were great things, good things and not-so-good things that happened over the course of the last couple of months and it won’t be a lie if I said its been a roller coaster ride.  This post isn’t about those things. This post is about the first love of my life – books. “Why do I read books?” This question has been popped by everyone in my family and friends circles who have seen my insanity/obsession with books since ...

Some may call it a sign of weakness and some, a sign of cowardice. A few others may call it a weapon or yet others, a show of drama. My views differ from every one of them. When someone laughs in public people rarely label such people with the terms above. Why, then, should those who shed a few tears be called anything? Of course those who laugh for no reason are labeled mad in this already mad world. But isn’t it an assumption that you are making that the person is laughing without reason? Isn’t it the same when someone is crying too? Why should it be called bad manners or bad behavior, cowardice or weakness, or anything else? I have tried to understand these time and again. I am yet to find any answers. (Source: Google) I have been one of those people who rarely holds back my emotions. Be it anger, tears, frustration, relief or excitement. That said, I am not a whining creature. If I have to cry, I cry and get over it. I don’t dwell on the negative aspects of the situation fo...

This post is dedicated to all my very dear friends for being in my life and making the ride absolutely worthwhile. And to all my ex-friends for the show-and-tell bumps and twists which helped me value true friends so much more. There is a saying that goes – Do not burn bridges behind you for you don't know when you may need to use them again. But somehow I haven’t been always able to adhere to it. I can be quite unforgiving about the lies and betrayals “friends” have done to me. I give them second chances, and a third. But when I am repeatedly being lied to and betrayed again and again, that is the time I have to decide – to let go. (Image Source: Google) Yes it is hard… Hard, when situations like these come up… when the person you trusted with a secret goes around spreading it, a person with whom you shared you biggest fear makes fun of you for it, when that person simply cleans up the corner of the heart where you thought you lived, without thinking about your feelings,...

When I was in school, we had the school assembly every Monday and Friday. The entire school assembled on the ground in neat rows, wearing full uniform (uniform + white socks + black shoes). The prayer would be sung by the group that sang the prayer everyday. Each week, a student from a different class gave the thought-for-the-day, someone from the same class read the newspaper headlines. The HM/teachers would make some important announcements and then everyone dispersed to their respective classes. It was one such dreadful assembly that had me red with embarrassment in front of the whole school. That week it was our class which had to give the thought and read the news headlines. Someone had already prepared the thought, and the person who was supposed to read the newspaper was absent. It was chaos in the class as another girl and I went around the class asking everyone if they would read the headlines. We got various excuses - “I did last time” “I am doing next time” “I am not d...

I caught this group taking bath on a neighboring terrace. Look who’s bathing ;) PS: This neighbor of ours has a very bad habit of leaving the water tank overflowing. Although he got quite a few curses from us, it must all have been overridden by the blessings of these creatures ;)