F is for friendship

Growing up, I think I was a little bit of a tomboy, in the sense that I did not 'dig' what girls my age talked about or indulged in.My best friends in each of the million schools that I attended were more or less the same.I never had 'girly' girl friends.Dicussions about things like jewellery, clothes, nail polish, waxing and all the items which engage a feminine mind were tabboo and we avoided such girls like the plague.Needless to say, we were never popular with the gals and considered cool amongst the guys.The drawback to this was that basically after a certain age, when all our contemporaries were hormone crazed, we were neither here nor there.:-)Guys were too busy chasing after other girls and the girls were too busy preening, leaving me and my friends with nothing better to do but to wonder as to what was wrong with us.

Thankfully that phase has passed and now I have a great group of girlfriends and man do I cherish them!As I have grown older, I have realized that there's a huge difference in how men and women connect with their friends.It is impossible for me to understand how guys can remain the best of friends throughout their lives but never move beyond cricket scores and general non interesting, non personal conversartions.I may be generalizing, but you have to agree that there is a grain of truth in this.I have seen it with my husband,my brother, my dad, so I have every right to generalize.

With girl friends its so much lovelier.I am ever so grateful to have friends with whom I can discuss my innermost thoughts and imagined worries and always be sure that they will listen to me, lend a shoulder to cry on and not judge me.It is so gratifying to know that when you talk to your girl friends they instantly 'get' what you are saying.They do not try to analyse and provide solutions instantly.They just listen, empathise and most often than not add  a story or two of their own to make you feel that you are not alone in thinking what you are thinking.It is amazing how easy it is to communicate with them.Don't mistake me, my husband is my best friend and it's not that he does not listen to my crap, but you have to agree it's different with women.I am not atriculate enough to put it into words, but I would say that when you indulge in a heart to heart with a girlfriend, it's truly heart to heart.There is true sharing of emotions and not just venting out of feelings.Don't you agree?

I think I will stop here.I clearly suck at writing.Found a nice poem on Friendship.Enjoy that instead.

Oh! think not my spirits are always as light,

And as free from a pang as they seem to you now,
Nor expect that the heart-beaming smile of to-night
Will return with to-morrow to brighten my brow.


No: -- life is a waste of wearisome hours,
Which seldom the rose of enjoyment adorns;
And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers,
Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.


But send round the bowl, and be happy awhile --
May we never meet worse, in our pilgrimage here,
Than the tear that enjoyment may gild with a smile,
And the smile that compassion can turn to a tear.

The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows
If it were not with friendship and love intertwined;
And I care not how soon I may sink to repose,
When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind.


But they who have loved the fondest, the purest,
Too often have wept o'er the dream they believed;
And the heart that has slumber'd in friendship securest
Is happy indeed if 'twas never deceived.


But send round the bowl; while a relic of truth
Is in man or in woman, this prayer shall be mine, --
That the sunshine of love may illumine our youth,
And the moonlight of friendship console our decline.

Thomas Moore

I am writing all this just to participate in Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Party.The letter this time is F, so here is my entry.


Cheers
Sumi

Nothing noteworthy to say

Wow.I have been missing for a month!No reason in particular, just life throwing its usual curveballs and of course, total lack of inspiration or drive to do anything.Does that happen with anybody else?Times when nothing is of interest and trudging through each day becomes a chore in itself.That is what I have been like lately, but not too worrying since I generally come out of it all inspired and raring to go.Generally.....

This time it has not happened... yet, but I am trying, trying real hard to not let the ennui of daily rotuines take over and turn me into an automaton.

The prospect of getting 10 days off for Diwali is also a major motivator.:-).10 free days to use as I like.Can you imagine how exciting it is?

By the way I have been writing for sometime on this blog, but writing as if I am actually talking to a real person is funny to me every single time I post something.I think I am qualified to be a radio jockey now.If I can do it here, pretty sure can be done in a studio too.Right?

This post is totally inane, I know, but some wise man said  and I quote " Something is better than nothing", so there you go.

Thanks a million Gagan for checking up on me.I had made up my mind to revisit my blog and check all the other blogs out today and I got your message.Awesome timing.:-).As usual, means a lot.I need to catch up on all your posts too!

See ya
Sumi

A is for being an Adult

When I was a kid, my favourite entertainment was playing house.I remember going to my grandparents' place every summer and getting together with all my cousins, all girls of course.There were 6 girls and just one unfortunate boy (my brother) and we would always play house.I always wanted to play the self sacrificing mother or the incredibly responsible eldest sister.If I played the eldest sister,I of course conveniently got rid of the parents in the story,because I was to be the caretaker and the presence of a pesky parent would take away my glory.

I would imagine myself  with qualities reminiscent of Florence Nightingale combined with Mother Teresa.An angel of goodness for all practical purposes.;-)

I would be the one to get up the first thing in the morning,make healthy breakfast (imaginary of course) for my irresponsible but lovable children/siblings,get them dressed,send them to school with lots of kisses and hugs, get ready to go to work (I was always a working woman in these stories, wonder why?) . I would sit on my grandma's never used exercycle and pretend to ride to work.I would pass on nuggets of wisdom to my children as and when I felt they needed them.Be patient and judicious when they were being naughty.I would always make some sibling sick in the story so that I,all loving, giving , nurturuing sister could bring back that person back from the jaws of death.;-).The story never ended amicably though.After a while my cousins would be onto me and would demand to change roles which was very annoying, to say the least.

Why am I writing this? No reason really.I just realized that all through my childhood I just could not wait to be an Adult and now that I am there, it's not so much fun.I don't like the fact that people my age or older think that because I have reached a certain age,I would automatically be mature and sensible.

I resent that people my age think that I am really interested in talking about pension plans and saving strategies and discussing my career moves.I don't like the fact that people tell me to 'GROW UP ' when I am throwing a tantrum with my husband and really would like to lie down on the floor and hold my breath till I turn blue.Instead because I am an Adult ,I have to resort to 'Silent Treatment' which is equally effective but no fun.

Believe me I don't mind being an adult, gives me a lot of privileges,being an adult does,but I don't really dig the "Responsible" part of it.;-)

So what about you,do you like playing an adult?


This totally random and disjointed entry was for Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday Party.The letter this time was A so A for Adult is my entry.:-)




Cheers
Sumi

Sigh...

art work by Mary Ann Boysen via

I have wanted to have a house of my own since I was a little girl.My dream had always been to live in a bungalow/cottage with a cute little garden and a shingled roof.My imagination did not go any further on this and I was not really picky, but having lived more than half my life in spacious houses (all courtesy of the Indian Army), I was totally unprepared for Apartment Living.

Not having a 'chatt'(terrace) where my family could sit during summers and have long long chats under the moonlight is heartbreaking.Not having a garden where I could potter around during weekends (not that I really would have) is disappointing.I wanted a tree in my garden with a swing for my non existent kids.I wanted my dogs (again,non existent) to have free rein over my backyard.I want to have the opportunity to sit in my verandah and curse my dogs when they become extra playful and dig up my garden which of course, would be verdant and a little wild.I want picket fences and a wooden gate.

I know that it's not impossible to have it, just not at this time, when I want all this the most.I know that I shouldn't whine and be thankful for what I have got, but indulging in self pity is good once in a while, isn't it?

What about you? Do you like where you live?Are you living my dream? and if you are, then I want you to get up now and go hug the tree in your backyard and roll in the grass.

Sigh....

Melodramatic Sumi

Project # 2 : Decoupaged Coasters

Hey there,

Here I am again.Project # 2 is also Mod-Podge so I am not really following the true spirit of '52 projects', but as long as I am making something, I am happy and satisfied.

This time I decided to do a mini makeover of sorts on some plain boring coasters I had.It was plain wood and cork and I think they sorely needed a makeover.Here's how those looked :

Project #1 - Mod Podged Tray

This does not really qualify as my first project since I made it before I decided to do my "20 projects", but what the heck.I make the rules around here and my rule says, anything counts.;-)

Okay, so I had this ugly looking tray which I am not sure why I ever bought.I mean it's not very ugly but I hate the plywood/laminate thingy on it and wanted to change it.Let's take a look at the 'project victim' first, shall we?

Yes, I didn't clean it up before taking a pic.Why bother! is also my current philosophy in matters which require unnecessary effort.

The first step was to spray paint the heck out of it.I had only white paint handy, so that's what I used.This is after one coat.I think it's already looking better.

While that was drying, I googled "Moroccan tiles" on google images.Saved a copyright free image and used a photo editing software to replicate the image on a single sheet of matte photo paper.I was originally planning to create a tiled, mosaic-ey sort of design but I suck at photo editing and husband was not in a mood to oblige.It was way past midnight folks, so I forgave him and went with whatever I could handle myself.

After that it was just cutting the image and Mod-Podging the paper on to the tray and sealing it with varnish (which I have still not done).I did have trouble arranging the '"tiles" so if you pay attention you will see that some areas do not align with each other and are a bit different, but the image is so busy I reckon it does not really make a difference.

So here it is,the project output.How do you like it?I don't love love it but I think it is better than what it was earlier.(Expert comment from kid brother : Wrong choice of paper.aargh)

So finally here's a before after shot :

Thoughts, comments? Good or bad, both welcome.

Cheers

Sumi

52 Projects

Have you heard of 52 projects?Originally a book by Jeffrey Yamaguchi, it is a brilliant idea to push ordinary people like you and me to explore our creative sides.The idea is to create 52 projects (or more) in a year.This could be any medium,any area.All you need is enthusiasm, imagination and a keen interest in unleashing your creative genius.See more here

So, I have been very inspired and have decided that I will attempt to do something like this here too.Well it is not exactly going to be '52' projects but maybe 20 projects and that too, I must tell you, is overreaching for somebody like me.I have a crazy busy work life right now, but I will try.I am going to merge my recently acquired 'start small' philosophy with this idea and make some stuff and I do not plan to stick to just one thing.The whole purpose is to learn something new, so maybe one day I might just bake a cupcake and call it done.No, I don't know how to make cupcakes.Surprised?

Anyway, I am pretty excited and hope that I do not lose interest in this like I do with other resolutions.Wish me lucky luck and if you do actually read this, tell me what I should call this project.20 projects is just so blah!

Creative Genius in the making ;-)
Sumi