Winter Musings

  I have been a hopeless romantic my whole life. Well, 27 years isn’t whole life but I did start grasping the concept of romance and love by the time I was 8 or 9 years old. So two decades since, I have read about it, talked about it, thought of it, and yearned for it. It started with Titanic. I watched the movie when I was 8 years old. And since then, the rose-tinted (no pun intended) glasses remain. Now, every time I hear the tune play, my mind is transported back to Jack and Rose and their shenanigans on the ill-fated ship. Be it the ship’s stern scene, the sketching of Heart of the Ocean or Rose’s jumping from rescue ship to be back with Jack and the last grand staircase scene. Its forever etched in my mind.  One thing about reading a lot of books and watching these movies is that, it shapes your perception of such sweet concepts in a positive way that is not compatible with the real world. Especially the Disney movies spoilt me and have forever heightened my expectation...

  I am a huge hoarder of things. Old receipts, tickets, gift wrappers, fancy papers I collect it all. Not for no reason do my parents call me a rat. I store all these things in a corner of my cupboard. One can even find cinema tickets from years ago in that small box. Well, recently I have started decluttering it and have thrown away those scraps of paper but not before using them for writing. This habit of mine extends even to the collecting of makeup and skincare products. Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine and she reminded me of my makeup products collection back when I was in college. I remember there were like a dozen different bottles and tubes in that small rack in the hostel room. Sometimes our room smelled a mixture of rose, lavender, lemon and strawberry, and sea. Sometimes it smelt like a chemist's shop. It was all due to my love for those cosmetic products. Even now when I remember those days I start laughing. I have always loved collecting makeup pro...

  To be a child is to look at the world with starry eyes To be a teenager is to hate the world and To be an adult is to fall in love with the same world  - Miss Ravenclaw, 2026 I have no qualms in sharing that Iam one of the most anti-social animals you will find out there. Though it largely depends on my mood and settings, Iam a fun person only around my friends. Rest of them get my Maleficent version, polished through the years. My friends know that beneath all those layers of ice, lies another ocean of fire and then there’s a river of thorns and then finally when you think you have reached the destination, there’s an active volcano ready to burst at any moment. But there are few adventurers I have met who have not only managed to cross all those roads to hell but also had fun along and are now chilling at my happy place, giving me tips and advices to improve the security measures. And to all these idiot adventurers, Iam grateful from the bottom of my heart. Because ...

  The very first memories of Ganesh chaturthi I have are from a place near my home. A small 1 BHK flat where all the relatives gathered around to celebrate Ganesh utsav. Our home was near this place but I preferred staying in that cramped place because somehow it felt cozier with all people around. After the family worshipped Ganpati was shifted to Mumbai I remember desperately waiting for Ganpati every year so that I could meet all my relatives in one place. I have fond memories of helping (rather disturbing) my most favourite aunty in her kitchen, making modaks and patolyas, sitting and chatting with all aunties and cousins. My most favourite place in the world is my kitchen and hence it’s not surprising that I would prefer keeping all the aunties company in kitchen helping them cook rather than go out and play with others of my age. I loved trying my hands at drawing horrible rangolis (still not good at it) and serving food to all, and prided myself whenever someone called me pe...

  I love winters. The pleasant cold atmosphere mingling with the delicious aroma of hot beverages, tasty soups and cozy nights. The heavenly feel while sitting on a couch, being wrapped in a blanket while reading a novel and listening to old Hindi songs. That’s winter for me. The season brings back some good old memories of school days, college shenanigans and of companionships and life. But it all feels so far away now, as if it took place in a different timeline, a different era. Winter now brings in harsh winds of solitude. Its cold breeze turns the pages of the books lying in dust since decades. It makes me ponder over life and reality, a difficult feat because people say I love my fiction and dreams. There comes a day in many of our lives when we realize that no matter where we go, no matter where we are, where we live, where we have our accomplices, we feel like the misfits. The constant feeling that we don’t belong here, that these places don’t call me, that these people are...

  An old Shiva temple located deep in the forest in a wildlife sanctuary, lush green surroundings, a waterfall nearby and the chirping of birds and suggestions of wildlife around. Doesn’t it sound like a perfect setting for an adventure or mystery movie? This place is real and so is the temple. Nestled deep within the forest and surrounded by nature’s treasures, this temple stands a witness to the Kadamba rule in Goa. Situated in the deep forest clearing at the foothills of scenic Western Ghats, it may have escaped foreign invasions due to its isolated location. I am talking about the Mahadev Temple located in Tambdi Surla. The only existing example of a basalt stone Kadamba temple in Goa, this nirandhara temple has stood tall since the 12th century against a scenic background. It is located at the foothills of Anmod Ghat. The temple gets its name from the area it’s located in, Tambdi meaning the red colour of the soil present and Surla after the Surla River that flows nearby. ...

  I am sure you people must have heard and read stories of how people from small towns moved to cities and dreamt of a certain kind of life, how they fulfilled their big dreams etc. Well, today I am going to express my thoughts on the same. I was contemplating on my next topic when I came across this (to be honest, I was out of topics), so I thought, why not. So, let’s start with my virtual gossip session. I come from a small city. It’s only recently that my city is developing and coming on the map of development. It has some of the finest educational institutions, an airport, a state legislative building, big shopping malls and complexes. And yet, at the heart of it, it’s just another small city, where people know each other and have ‘mutual – mutual’ friends. It’s a place where gossip spreads in one school and reaches the other in hours. There are numerous temples and there are various cafes. Tagged as the ‘Mahabaleshwar of poor people’, this city has the most pleasant climate ...

  Hello all! Your favourite procrastinating lady is back after a short disappearance. I am pretty sure that by now you all are used to my disappearing and appearing scenes. So as promised earlier I am back with a blog on a Shiva temple located in Khidrapur. Fasten your seat belts and pack some snacks as I take you away from the hustle and bustle of this city to a serene village and the sounds of damaru in the background. I had wanted to visit the Kopeshwar Mahadev temple located in Khidrapur for a long time. There are many reasons. First, I like visiting Kolhapur, the place has pleasant weather almost similar to my native place Belgaum and the food is mind-blowing. The second reason was of course the architectural grandeur and beauty of the temple. And the most important reason is that it’s the temple of my favourite deity. I am a thorough and thorough Saivite. This god holds a special place in my heart. Maybe because Shiva feels so relatable. His way of expressing all the emotio...

 I have observed that many of my blogs start with a customary “when I was a kid...” I found it funny and hence I am going to make it some sort of a tradition now onwards. Anyways, when I was a kid I loved playing with my kitchen set. It was a big Barbie-themed pink kitchen set with small utensils, a cylinder, a basin and even a fridge. I would spend hours playing it alone (you see, I am the only child of my parents). Little did I know that my love for playing ‘kitchen – kitchen’ would soon develop into my love for real cooking. Thanks to watching numerous cookery shows sitting beside my mother I developed an interest in it. I used to spend hours sitting on the kitchen platform while my mom cooked. I would help occasionally. There are a lot of photos of mine in which I am helping my mother or at least trying to help.  After a minor fiasco in my 5th std which involved me dropping a vessel of steaming tea on the floor, I swore that I would never enter the kitchen again. Well well...

 In their childhood, many girls loved to drape their mothers sarees and play homemaker or teacher. It's in our genes, I suppose. I remember asking my mother to give me one of her sarees at least once a week so that I could dance around in it. I would feel like a grown person and order her around. Years passed by, and the roles were reserved, but my love for sarees remained the same. Every time we visited our kuldevta's place, I would bring out my blue stitched saree and pack it carefully in the bag. Then, on the temple premises, I would dance around, being very happy with myself. Children are easy to please. Later, it was during school function days when I draped my mother's wonderful sarees and went to the events. I used to walk around carefully and was extra alert as the "borrowed saree" had to be stain- and crease-free. I guess we are all weirdly possessive with our sarees, so I can't actually blame the mothers for this rule. Soon I learnt how to drape a ni...

  I love the sea. That’s it. That’s all I have got to say. Usually, I start every blog with a big introduction part and then write the main body. Can’t help it because that’s how I talk in real. It takes me around an hour to tell an incident that was of merely 15 minutes. See, I started blabbering again. So, I love the sea. I love the beaches, sea shells, the wind that blows near the sea, waves, coconut trees, salt and wind in my hair and that dampness on my face. I love it all. I think my Pisces sun and Aquarius moon are to be blamed for this love of water bodies. No wonder I love the beachside. Everything about the sea makes me happy. While taking long walks on the beach in the evenings and getting tanned being in the sea in the afternoons I contemplate life and everything that is beyond my understanding. I love to just sit down on the beach and stare at the horizon. So, I guess I can say that I am totally a beachy person. People who have read my earlier blogs know about my l...

A Goa trip with friends is a dream of many college-going people and colleagues.   There is something special about going on a trip with friends and spending mad crazy times with them that fascinates every young person. Well, I haven’t gone to Goa with my friends yet but I did get fortunate enough to go on a Mandu trip with my bunch of crazy people whom I call my college wali family. I went on the trip dreaming of happy crazy fun-filled and embarrassing moments filled of times and I wasn’t disappointed. So let me take you, people, along with me on this journey as seen through my happy memories and cringe moments. Here we go. Though our trip covered the cities of Indore, Ujjain and Maheshwar this blog focuses mainly on Mandu because that’s the reason this whole trip was planned. A friend of mine is utterly fascinated by this place and convinced the other friend to plan a trip here. Soon we all were discussing it. Our first stop was Indore wherein we camped for the next 3 days while...