Waffles and Wisecracks

Comic art - TheAwkwardYeti.com I have made a different type of task list in my head. Daily tasks. I will count what makes me smile, instead of what causes fear and uncertainty. 1. We have 3 full meals daily at home. The house has daily food and water needs filled. 2. We have a home. 3. We woke up today morning, hale and hearty. 4. All our senses and limbs are fully functioning and healthy. 5. We have people around us who genuinely care. They are few, but they are the best humans we ever met. 6. We laugh, sing, celebrate small wins at home. 7. We have each other to lean on. Come pandemic or unemployment. We are in it together and we survived it all. 8. We know love. 9. We are happy. 10. God is with us. That's my 10 point gratitude for every day. It is enough. Thank you. What more could I wish for! 🙏 May God bless us all 🙏

  Today, an old memory has flashed across my eyes and decided to stay. I don't even want it to go away because it is so joyful! A lazy stroll on Marine Drive, late afternoon sunshine, cool and salty and tangy sea breeze. People walking about without a care in the world - for it was a glorious summer Sunday! Groups, couples, families, single brisk walkers. Locals and tourists and visitors and residents. All and sundry just passing each other by. I sat on the wide parapet, facing the waves. Tuning out the world and its buzzing, hearing only the ocean song. Reveling in nothing but that single moment. This day was pre-cellphone, pre-Worli sea link, pre-Mumbai Metro -- when we were still in good ol' Bombay. A song crept slowly into my mind and stayed there. That day, that moment, that particular song - stamped forever as a happy, innocent, glorious memory! "I see trees of green Red roses too I see them bloom For me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world I see skie...

We all were brought up by our parents to always stay away from fake friends. They also told us that when we go through trying times, many people abandon us because they were just pretending to be our friends. Time shows us their true nature. How many of us actually face it in reality? Not always. Not upto the extent of being abandoned by almost everyone in our life. Life is currently putting us all through some very difficult tests. We are all going through experiences which make us question a lot of our choices. It is also testing our relationships with family, neighbours, relatives, friends, and colleagues/peers. People losing livelihoods, losing homes, losing money and investments - so much loss all around. This also eventually leads to losing people. Friends, just avoiding you because you are going through rough times and they aren't. These fair weather friends are not really causing much damage, if you look at it closely and logically. This is the time to look at those who are...

Wish for something with so much conviction that it has no choice, but to manifest for you. This is a conviction which keeps me going these days. Keeps me motivated and get up and brush off anything which is pulling me down. Every person has something which pulls them down, as well as something which gets them out of the depths. There is no shame in being low. There is however, a strength of character in overcoming all and coming up again in the light and breeze. There are situations where all seems to be lost. Including hope. And yet, even in the bleakest gloom, there is one single thought, or person, or hobby, or interest - that one something - which keeps us grounded to our true nature. That keeps burning inside our hearts like a flame of hope and joy, and doesn't allow us to fall prey to overwhelming sadness. Keep that glimmer awake and burning. Keep that interest or hobby going, no matter how dim the light of joy is. Don't let it completely flicker out. Ult...

Each of us have a personal method of healing from hurt and pain. If that is taken away, life becomes a misery. My healers are my words. What I feel and emote, I do through writing. Composing sentences and quotes. Paragraphs and entire blog posts. Expressing emotions through short stories and direct blogs. Sometimes though, there comes a time when life throws you such a painful googly, that your healing powers bite dust. My words just vanish sometimes. I might be in deep depths of depression, and there is nobody to keep me company. Nobody to get me out of the bottomless blackhole. People, yes. They keep me hanging in there, so I don't get totally lost into the mire. Other than these dark phases, all other times, my writing keeps me constant company. It is like a mild summer day, with fluffy clouds of thoughts forming inside my brain. Then the words appear like wings and carry me away on a journey. Stories happen anywhere. Something I read or watch, or something comes in ...

Some of us don't have the good fortune to say; " goodbye, I love you, I will always miss you, please forgive me." Some of us don't get closures. When a loved one passes away, all we have is memories, regrets and loads of guilt. Survivors' guilt. Why am I talking of death? Hear me out. It is depressing, but necessary to say this all. Let's deal with this article point by point. What has pushed me to this edge, what has happened? It isn't just one incident. Domestic violence. We all are locked in with families. We all assumed that we are these woke people who no longer believe in gender differences. Spouses both work, maids do the washing, cleaning, etc. We have cooks. We have day care or similar services, schools, colleges, Life to take care of. One virus stops this well-turning wheel of routine. Maids and cooks are not allowed to come to our homes. Offices, schools, colleges, day care, all closed. Spouses and their children and rest of the extended family ...