How do you explain death to a three-year old?

The water shimmied, continuing his ballet.

• Get rid of one thing a day for the next 30 days. Choose one needless item each and every day and get rid of it. This one should be easy. Even more so because the annual Bookworm Jumble Sale is coming up on 26 February and they could sure use some of my lovely, unused things.
• Wake up 30 minutes earlier each day. By the time I have wrapped up my computer at night, it is usually nearing 1 am. I wake at 7. That’s enough sleep, isn’t it? I’m not a morning person, I’m really not. I’d rather sleep in ten minutes more and stay up until three instead. The trouble is that M tends to stir soon after I have woken up – it’s some crazy toddler sensor that he has on, no matter how quiet I try to be around the house. I have no assurance that he will sleep through even if I wake earlier. If I did try it though, I’d love to catch up with my reading in the early morning quiet, or do Morning Pages. Maybe I’ll try it to see what happens.
• Ditch 3 bad habits for 30 days: So. For the next 30 days, I’m going to stop eating fast food. I’m going to file all pending papers. I’m going to get ready for tomorrow morning tonight.
• Document everyday with one photograph and one paragraph: Documenting the standout experiences of the day. And yes, every day, no matter how ordinary, has them.

So that’s my ambitious list. How much will I get done? Come back in 30 days and find out!

Read the full list here and choose your own goals (or do all of them!)

• I like my spaces tidy, with clear surfaces. And because this is not always possible, the clutter is a huge source of stress for me.
• I like to read my newspapers from Page 1 (otherwise you might miss something!) and sometimes get a little irritated when I find them folded anyhow.
• Someday I want to have the courage to have hair as short and as glamorous as Judi Dench.
• A lot of my friends are now exclusively online. I sometimes go for days (and days) without talking to anyone but my son, my husband, my mother-in-law and the maid.
• I don’t enjoy driving in general. I hate driving in Goa where no road rules exist.
• In my perfect life, I’d have crisp white linen on my bed, tablecloths for every meal and perfectly-pedicured feet with high-heeled shoes on everyday.
• I could rhyme at the drop of a hat. That skill seems to have gone now.
• I love computers and I would have made an excellent hardware engineer.
• I’m good at sourcing money for charities and other NGOs.
• I prefer the green of the mountains to the blue of the sea.
• Red and navy blue are my absolute favourite colours.
• I miss England more than I have missed anything in my whole life. I’d be happy to go back.

Your turn: What are some of the small, seemingly insignificant details that make you your unique self?

Did she remind him of someone he knew?

Title: Thinner Dinner
Author: Shubhra Krishnan
Publisher: Westland
Price: Rs. 395
Review copy: courtesy Blogadda Book Reviews Programme.

After the excesses of December, Shubhra Krishnan’s Thinner Dinner was a welcome sight. The blurb sets the tone for the book

“Shubhra Krishnan is not a nutritionist. She’s just ravenous!”

The book is the result of her own weight-loss story, a story we can all identify with. Shubhra lost about 20 kilos by just eating better. Her one tip? “Eat light at night.”

The book is a delight. It is funny, yet very informative at the same time. The chapter titles are often puns or just witty. The recipes are your everyday ones- old-fashioned dal, soups, vegetables (she even has a whole section on potatoes. Imagine.), rice, pasta and desserts – but with a healthy twist. Nothing fancy, exotic or elaborate. All ingredients are likely to be at your local subzi-mandi.

Because the food in the book is what one would usually have most Indian homes, the recipes can easily be adapted and included for lunch or dinner. Light and nutritious meals that are quick to make – every hassled woman’s  dream.

Shubhra doesn’t beat you with the diet stick. In fact, her book makes you want to go to the kitchen and try out those deceptively simple dishes right away; yes, even for reluctant cooks like me. I tried the ‘mushrooms on toast’ f(‘Dhania Dhamaka Mushrooms (!)) for breakfast one morning and I’m really looking forward to making one of her dals, as that is one dish that I’ve never been very happy with.

I was delighted with the author’s informal and chatty style. It made the book easy to read and a pleasure to leaf through. The accompanying photographs were average; they could have been crisper and better styled. The illustrations were a welcome touch and added to the informal feeling of the book.

The book is interspersed with little nuggets of good advice, like her 5 pm snacks (which, unlike a lot of other books, doesn’t deny that you have mid-afternoon cravings). Simple things like fruit & cheese or black and white delight (paneer with chaat masala) are wonderful to quieten those rumbles. It has certainly made me look at snacking differently. Could it really be that easy?

I was a bit stumped by the names of a few vegetables like ‘bathua’, ‘tinda’ and ‘tori’. I’m sure these are easy to find, but it means extra work for a reader not familiar with these terms. A glossary would have helped, as would an index of recipes.

I would gladly gift this book to friends who like to eat heartily, but well. The price, though, (Rs. 395) is a bit steep for this slim volume.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com.

You can buy this lovely screen-printed poster at Izabella’s Etsy store (better known as Fifi du Vie). Also available on a tote bag.

It’s at the back of my mind always, this question of where I’m headed and what I want. I know what I don’t want: a life where one day fades into the next, predictably, with assuring monotony. I want fun, and laughter, and wild adventures with my family.

There it was. It hit me smack in the middle of a cool evening that I was spending walking behind M in long loops around the verandah, pretending to be Thomas the Tank Engine.

Ting.

Why didn’t I see it before?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my word for 2012: Adventures.

I want adventures in my writing, where I seek and discover new opportunities for work and excellence. I want adventures in my everyday life where we shake up the way we live a little. Adventures in our meals, our clothes, in the way we organise and store things. I want adventures on the road. I want travel and holidays (I’ll settle for little day trips for now). I want adventures and excitement for Little M. I want adventures in reading.

‘Adventures’ beautifully follows my word for 2011. There is no risk in being safe. Safe is boring. Safe is predictable. I want to wear purple NOW. And not have too much sobriety in my youth.

And I want, oh how I want to laugh. Really. Really. Laugh.

The good thing about choosing ‘adventures’? You never know where it might lead you. And it doesn’t matter if you don’t make it to your destination. The fun is in the journey.

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.

~T.S. Eliot

(Found via my new favourite bookmarked blog Bulls Eye, Baby)

If you’re still looking for a word, I recommend the list for 2011 on Ali’s blog. Lots of choices there. While you’re reading the list, listen to the list being read. Awesome.

Here’s to adventures in 2012. Yours and mine. Happy New Year.

Do you know why many of the wisdom masters and wizened gurus of the world are always laughing? Why their eyes sparkle and they seem to beam out pure love and joy, when they often have almost nothing in terms of worldly possessions, fame or wealth?

It’s because they know the secret. They know when you are fully dialed in to the moment, when you are awake and alive to your body and your life, when all senses are alive and the light illuminates everything to the point of absolute bursting, well, there’s nothing else to want.

From here.