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#Issue2 – Catching up with…
I’ve apparently been watching a lot of drama involving the medical fraternity. Descendants of the Sun, Doctor John, Hospital Playlist, It’s Okay Not To Be Okay – four of the dramas I watched recently revolve around doctors, psychiatrists and men in the military. And the one thing that all these dramas had in common – other than the above mentioned – had emotional triggers. What are the emotional triggers? To put it simply, an emotional trigger is a topic that makes you uncomfortable, that reminds you of aspects in life that frustrate, disappoint or are associated with uncomfortable memories. And one of the most horrifying memories that were revived was…
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Understanding the basics of mindfulness
What is mindfulness? If you look up the word ‘mindfulness’ in the dictionary, you’ll find it defined as the state or quality of being mindful or aware of something. And under the subtext Psychology, it is defined as a technique in which one focuses one’s full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings, and sensations but not judging them; the mental state maintained by the use of this technique. In current times, mindfulness is also a term that a lot of you would have stumbled across while browsing the internet. And that is probably because mindfulness is said to be an effective tool or strategy to manage anxiety and…
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Half a year later: The Work From Home experience
The global WFH phenomenon has been a cause of changes in dynamics at the personal and professional level, which, in turn, have caused a domino effect on various parts of lives.As most organisations continue to encourage employees to WFH, with some even declaring 2020 as being the year of WFH, the situation has put us in this state of haze – the struggle to balance work-and-home while working from home is a harsh reality!As someone who’s been working from home for more than a year now, I am well aware of how little it takes to send that precariously balanced routine tumbling. And trying to find that space to focus…
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#Issue1 – Catching up…
I want to, but I can’t write off 2020 yet. After all, August was the month when I found myself hobbling back to reading for fun and giving the concept of ‘binge watching’ another shot! This is something I may have mentioned before and perhaps will repeat in the near future. Because you’ll be the one taken for a ride when I’m delighted with something I’ve read/watched and want to write about! In the past month (and a little before), I’ve been using Asian dramas and romance novels to escape the sameness and stress of these pandemic times. There’s something extremely endearing, familiar and fascinatingly different about Asian dramas. Korean…
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Oats Vermicelli Pudding
Do you know those times when you set out to make something, stumble and screw up, work around it and then come out with something nicer? Yup! That’s how this Oats Vermicelli Pudding came about. The story of this pudding is similar to that of a movie that lost its plot but manages to end on a decent note. In this case, I’d say it ended on a tasty spoonful. The recipe came about during the lockdown, when our meal times and menus went haywire because we don’t really have a set routine, despite numerous attempts. The three of us (the parents and me) ate when we were hungry –…
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Panch Ratni Dal | Five Mixed Dals
“Do you know what I had for dinner? Dal! Just dal & rice!” my neighbour said, looking at me in amused horror probably hoping this fellow foodie would empathise. I couldn’t. Dal is one of my favourite foods. So much so, that the parents start worrying about my health when I say no to a meal that has dal on the menu. And every time the extended family has a potluck, the person in charge of dal makes sure a takeaway bowl filled to the brim with this lentil goodness is hidden away for… yours truly. And why not!? All these mothers are experts when it comes to turning the…
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Things to remember when you plan a blog
A blogger need not be a ‘writer’ or an ‘expert’. Because while people do like to know what an expert has to say, a first-hand encounter or experience shared by someone they identify with is more credible. That said, blogging regularly and over a period of time is a step towards becoming a better writer and more knowledgeable about the topic(s) you are blogging about. And that, people, is a pretty good reason to stop procrastinating and start working on that blog! The thought of starting a blog can seem intimidating and time consuming. It was both of these, and certain other reasons, that led to an 8-year wait before…
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Spicy Toor Dal
My computer is like a labyrinth, an intricate and complex set of things where I keep losing documents. Only to recover them after weeks or in some cases, months. This recipe and photographs are an example! It was part of a ‘dal series’ I’d planned to post on the blog and it had been kept ready sometime in April – I found it a few days ago. That’s like a lost-and-found case of three months. There are a few more missing recipes and I’m hoping I’ll recover them in a similar manner and share them with you. Today’s Spicy Toor Dal recipe is inspired by a Haryanvi dal recipe I’d…
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Tips to make journaling helpful & fun
When we think about ‘journal’ or ‘journaling’, most of us think about those hefty biology/physics/chemistry journals we laboured over as schoolkids or writing a daily ‘diary’. The task of writing a daily diary or even writing a diary may seem tedious at a time when we seem to be more stressed than ever! But have you ever thought there may be more than one way to ‘journal’ or there may be more things to ‘journal’ about other than travel or the traditional ‘things that happened to me today’? More than one way to journal I was a daily diary writer as a child, in fact, up until my early 20s.…
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Hacks to make phone photography a breeze
We live in a visual world. Look at your social media accounts and you’ll realise they are pictorial journals – especially about food and travel. But with the pandemic curtailing movement, the reservoir of places and foods that can be photographed seems to have dried up. Or perhaps not. The lockdown has seen several of us pick up older passions or find new hobbies, some of them translating into business opportunities too! And in all of these cases, photographs and/or photography is a shining star! Photography has been used to chronicle the lockdown, share the stellar food that was whipped in the kitchen and draw the attention of potential clients…
