Konkan in monsoon

After so many years of visiting Konkan on summers, this time I got a chance for a brisk short weekend trip to our beautiful little village 'Anjarle' in monsoon. And it was mesmerizing to meet the awesomeness of rains.

The road was scenic. Konkan is kind of evergreen, with trees braving the hot summers without losing their green crowns. But the freshness added to the whole nature by rains is  unparalleled. I anyways am attracted to the fluorescent green colour brought to us by rains, it was a treat for my eyes to see miles and miles spread around painted in this green colour. The hills, the grass on the land, the happy farms all green and full of life everywhere. The cloudy sky, the drizzle, the vegetables planted in backyard and the farmers working on planting rice crops just made it a perfect pretty picture.



My village Anjarle is blessed to have countryside, hillside and of course seaside beauty combined all in one. The hills, the forest and the wild grass and plants all around add a rustiness to the moment. The hilltop presents an awesome view of the green landscape laced with white bubbly waves of the sea to give it a fabulous border.


Getting into the sea was also different with the water being cold, sea mixing with the sky erasing the boundaries. The clouds took away the sense of time as well for now there was no way to tell if the sun is still high in the sky, setting or set already. We returned home drenched in that wonderful experience. We, specially my kids also got our hands dirty in planting some flowering plants, and watering those.

I have saved all those visuals in my mind in the happy memories section. Those are to be pulled out to upbeat my mood when I feel low.

Knowing is not everything...

Today we all are in services economy as against the agricultural or industry economy of yesteryear. More so the services economy is knowledge-centric. I have been a knowledge worker in an organization that thrives on acquired knowledge. Knowledge management is extremely essential in the professional services organization like mine, and even my customers. Adding to that I worked on the knowledge management IT portfolio for several years. Overdose of knowledge everywhere! All the time all of us in the team are thinking of how to build world class systems that bring out the best and most relevant knowledge at fingertips at lightning speed.



One day it got me thinking is it really enough to simply get all the information all the time. Shouldn't we also care about what we are doing with all this information! All the knowledge that we are getting all the time, literally at finger tips or taps, are we really doing anything to use it for any benefit or changes to ourselves. One famous saying from a Marathi poet goes as "What's the use of the knowledge if it is not used for something good".

Here are some of my musings on this topic in the form of a poetry...

I often realize
Knowing is not everything
Knowing is good for us
But it's just the beginning

We are swamped with it all
On Twitters, what apps and Facebooks
Each and everyone of us today
Is on the social hooks

Newspapers, channels and websites
Keep harping the current affairs
We see and read and talk and forget
Well... Who really cares

Knowledge is all around us
All the time fast paced
But good only if we apply a bit
Or else it's all going waste

Swaccha Bharat, civic sense
Isn't that something we know
But still that wrapper of the chips packet
On the roads we throw

We know the power of yoga
Exercise and healthy food
But till we don't practice it
it does us no good

So till we understand and value
And actually do something
I believe and would like to say
Knowing is not everything

Clean desk, Jammed drawers

Scene 1 - In my office we have a clean desk policy. It's basically about ensuring information security. Ensure that important confidential documents do not just lie around the desk causing a breach. People like me who are lazy to sort of document classification resort to an easier option, periodically (or more when you about an audit approaching) dump all the documents in the drawers, lock those and keep the desk clean. The drawers also are to be cleaned, but that can wait for a lighter day, or may be forever!



Scene 2 - at home all ladies of the house feel this moral responsibility to keep the house neat and clean. An easy option, if you don't have time to sort things and keep at proper place, just dump those in drawers, cupboards or wherever u can find place. The drawers get jammed but the house looks clean. Extremely useful when you hear an unexpected visitor dropping in next 10 minutes. I do this very often, and make little bit time to clean the jammed drawers on weekends. But that's a small effort. My major cleaning of drawers ( and giving away things, throwing off stuff, etc) happens in summer. Kids have vacation and I also can make ample time. What a pleasant surprise it is to find some old photos buried deep inside! My son felt like a treasure hunt won when I found a bag full of balls from a cupboard.



Scene 3 - the same thing is applicable even for our thoughts, ideas and plans. In our daily rush, there are so many of important things we simply put in closed drawers to be looked at later and just forget about it. That later never really arrives or it turns into too late sometimes. I think it's probably a good idea to find that summer break to scan through our mind's jammed drawers to see what should be pulled out and made a part of our clean desk.

I always thought that I will go for morning walk in national park when I retire, I am such a busy bee, who does not have the time now, but Fit4Life shook up that thought and made me a regular walker.

I had almost forgotten that I enjoyed writing essays and poems in school. But got that joy back now through my blogging, making my travel time back home as my writing time



So friends, while it's important to have a clean desk, that may result into jammed drawers, it's worthwhile cleaning the drawers also once in a while. Who knows what treasure you may have hidden in there while cleaning your desk in a hurry!

Fluorescent Green - A poem dedicated to Monsoon

What's your favourite colour
When someone asked
In front of my eyes
Fluorescent green flashed

The colour of grass
plants, trees and leaves
The colour that converts
those in a green velvet piece



The seeds beat the summer heat
And not let the spirit die
Waiting for the rains
On the ground they lie

With the showers that fall
Straight from the heaven
Those rejoice and come alive
Out of the hot earth's oven

It's the freshness, the life
The new beginnings
The colour reminds me of
So many things

The green hills and farms
I saw from crowded trains
The lovely green fields
Dancing in the rains



The refreshed National Park
The roads to Pune all green
All set in my memory
As if just now seen

Yeah I love all bright colours
The fall colours of flame
But fluorescent green is the one
Etched in my mind's frame

May the blessings of rain
Bring this colour to life
Each year each monsoon
To rid me off stress and strife

The Art of Quilling...

Those Little tiny paper strips come in great different colors and widths. When they go round and round the needle, they transform into beautiful little thingies. Mono colour, two coloured, multi coloured. Round, leaf shaped, eye shaped, flowers. The raw material that helps the art of quilling are those tiny little things. The patterns, shapes, scenes, the kind of things that can be created using those is simply enormous, only limited to our imagination.



I have tried many things since childhood as a craft hobby, I still remember churning out those woolen flowers using pencil to complete the curtain, trying ceramic things on flower vase, painting, emboss painting, thread work embroidery to create frames, what and what not.

Stumbled upon quilling by accident, attended a class by a colleague Geeta Pahalajani for our CSR fund raising, and have got hooked on since then. The creations I have been able to make out of the quilling really makes me fall in love with it again and again.

This is by far the most time consuming form of craft that I have tried, but it's very interesting and rewarding to see the final thing I could create through the tiny shapes.

As a working mom of 2 bright kids, time is the one I always race against, but quilling has still managed to extract hours out of me, just shows the kind of fun and creative satisfaction it brings to the art lover.








I have really enjoyed my experiments with quilling and you can see some of those in the blog, but I know I haven't even scratched the surface. The kind of creations people have achieved through quilling is mind blowing, specially the 3D ones.

I really hope to continue my experiments with quilling. Things that I have on agenda are the floating rangoli designs on foam paper that can double up as decoration around eating plates or wall hanging or decoration during festivals. Would post another blog if I can really ship it out soon. Till then happy quilling!

Empty mind is devil's workshop... really?

"Empty mind is devil's workshop" We all have heard this in early childhood, and have been making many attempts to keep ourselves busy in something or the other all the time.

I am sure the proverb must have been coined by either some helpless parents of hyper active and naughty Denise the Menaces or may be by unfortunate victims of crimes that arose out of some empty and devilish minds.



For an average person like you and me, is an empty mind really a bad thing? I see everyone hooked on to their smartphones while travelling or listening to music while walking or running, or surfing TV when they supposedly have nothing else to do. For my kids I myself have been worried about their free time and planned for activities do that they do something rather than nothing.

I have also observed that this sounds more like an urban phenomenon when people want to do something all the time, even when that something may not be as value adding. In rural places, I have seen people enjoying free time, for there is only so much they can do anyways.



I have personally started enjoying free time or time when my mind is empty. I stay away from my smartphone while travelling, from music while walking and love to spend that time without any agenda. For kids I have found the free time is really de-stressing and so it is for me.



It allows new thoughts to enter into the mind that is "empty" at that point, it allows some freshness in already cluttered mind, it allows time to reflect back on some things or even think strategically for some of my work.

It allows me to "see" what's going around, hear and relate to other people' conversations. Be it in the bus, or at airport or in office, the quiet time or the empty mind with no agenda turns it into a workshop indeed. To churn out something good, new that may not be possible with a busy and occupied mind.

First rain of the season, Always special

Yeah, so many years in Mumbai and still fascinated by the first good spell of the monsoon :)

It's been raining quite a bit since morning, and I have to reach a conference at thane by 9:00. No luxury of my usual bus I set out for the venture. I had chosen a nice white kurtha for today, doesn't seem like a good idea now! The new sandals with heels that I bought and the shop keeper promised as "all season hai madam", have to appear their first test today, finally managed to get into a bus, but the conductor declares this would directly go to thane station, no stops in between.

I get down and manage to get an auto convincing him that the place is on main road itself! The auto stops every 5 minutes and the guy needs to restart, "wire me paani Gaya hai madam, waise to koi problem nahi hai", he assures. I can only pray that the auto can survive till thane. Is this how the software users must be feeling when they need restart the app or browsers every now while using our buggy software ;) But the Ghodbunder road is so scenic to ignore this little problem, more beautiful after the first rain.

Whatever be the case, I love the Mumbai monsoon. The big respite it brings after the hot summer and the freshness it brings to everything washing off all the dust and dullness is simply awesome. It brings hope, adds fun to the otherwise dull and sweaty routine and gives us different things to worry about for 3-4 months.



Here is one for the First Rains!!

Dear rain welcome back
We had been waiting for you so much
For you will add spice to life
And coolness freshness as such

Though the roads flood and get muddy
And cars love to splash on us
Though we get drenched all the way
Till we get that auto or bus

We all love you for the life you bring
With our wide open arms
Please Shake up every boring thing
As usual through your charms

So please keep coming on time, again and again. We will fall in love with you every year!!