New city! (Day 58 - Project 366)

So finally I have done it.. taken my foot forward and here I am in this new city! The morning started with jogging with Alisha for the last time and the rest of the time was spent in bidding goodbyes to my friends & neighbours. I did feel a bit jittery while boarding the flight to Hyderabad with mom (she's spending a couple of days here) but I managed to hold myself together and ignored the feeling as much as I could.

I don't think it's going to be so bad. Yes, I am going to miss  my city. Yes, I am going to miss my dear ones. But this is also giving me a chance to explore myself .. and to see if I can really live alone ;)

As I write this, I am half trying to convince myself why I am here!

This might take time..but I am going to be stronggg!!! :)

P.S: I personally don't like posting too many posts at one go.. but I just couldn't help it this time. There was a whole lot of packing to do and I was pressed for time! :(

Last day at the Bay! (Day 57 - Project 366)

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go..

I am moving out of the city tomorrow and fortunately I am not feeling AS BAD as I did about it .. yay!! So I guess someone's virtual hug really helped me the other day! Thank you, whoever it was! ;)

Caught up with my friends Aditi & Reeti for a few hours before I could start packing my bags..

And then Alisha came to spend the night with me. She made me the cutest card (and an envelope too) and a pot to drink tea in everyday :) The pot has my short name on it too and it was painted all by herself!! :)

Thanks so much Alisha!! :)

I am going to miss my friends!!! :'(

New Laptop! (Day 56 - Project 366)

Finally got a new laptop today after a lot of hunting around..

Dell Inspiron N5050
HDD: 320GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
Processor: B960 2nd generation 2.2 Ghz
Graphic: 1GB Intel HD

The screen is 15.6 inches diagonally but this looks smaller than 15.6 somehow - but it's just like I wanted it to be! I didn't want a very big screen or even a tiny one :)

It does not have a numeric keypad but that's okay, right?

So what do you think? ;)

Fun! (Day 55 - Project 366)

Remember a contest I had conducted on my art blog? I finally met the winner today as I had gone to give him his prize! :) I had forgotten to carry my camera along :( We had a really nice and long conversation but not enough time. I have noticed he is one more person I can talk to and tend to run short of time while doing so. Such meets are always pleasant :) My friends joined us too in a while as we had to go to a restaurant/pub from there.

Had fun at Volare. It's a pub in Colaba. The food was good, the alcohol rates were a little on the heavier side but it was Ladies night and most of us were girls :) So we just had to pay a small fee and could avail  unlimited number of drinks from the four cocktails that they had specified. I was not very satisfied with Sangria. It is a drink that is made up of wine, small fruit pieces, sweetener etc. The drink I had didn't taste like wine at all. It didn't have any fruit pieces either and was more on the bitter side than sweet! The mojitos were pretty decent. I liked the pastas & pizzas.

The place didn't have much of a crowd for a Friday night strangely. It added to our advantage, as we got the dance floor to ourselves! :D

It was great fun swinging to techno as well as Bollywood numbers like "Chikni Chameli" and "Ooh La La" :P

Three of my friends came to spend the night at home.. and we were up till 4:30 a.m. drinking tea, playing UNO and having a superrrrrrrr time! :)

Thoughts ~ (Day 54 - Project 366)

I've listed a few things to do before I move out of the city (yes, I am moving out on Monday) :( and these days, I follow this list and I plan my days as per when I'll do what.

So today, I went to get my laptop fixed at mom's office. She works in a school and the computer lab engineer had offered to help. After a lot of trying to get the laptop work and taking pictures of the school with Chinky (it was my school till 4th grade while she spent her entire school life there), we met our old teachers, laughed and smiled at the kids, had lunch in the canteen and came back home. I might just buy a new laptop :P

I had a hair appointment in the afternoon. How I love to get myself pampered at the parlour! It was 2 hours of pure bliss.

I went to meet a friend from my old workplace post that. Had a really nice time talking to him. Also had kulfi after very long :P

Next I went to my cousin's place who stays in the same area. Spoke to my aunt for quite sometime over tea. My journey back home was amazing. It was around 10:30pm when I got into the train and there was just one other lady in the compartment. She too got down at Santacruz and I had the entire compartment to myself! :D

This is how I sat all the while :D

I've been reading this book called "Love in a headscarf":

I love the cover. It's one of the reasons I decided to read the book :P It even shines when you hold it at a certain angle. So, anyway, this book is about a Muslim girl brought up in London, in search of "The One". I haven't finished reading the book yet but so far, she has narrated her experience of the whole process. She decides to go ahead with finding her man the "arranged marriage" way and is constantly in search of "the feeling" in each one of her meets. No one really understands her except her mom and people keep telling her to be flexible about her demands saying she'll end up alone otherwise.

It's funny how I've started reading this book at the right time.. Just two days ago, someone from the extended family asked me if I was ready for marriage or to start looking for suitors. After I said "no", she went on to say that this process usually takes a lot of time. "Even if we start looking now, it will take another 2-3 years. You can start by just looking at profiles.", she said. I didn't know how to react to that. Right from the time I was seven, I dreamt of a relationship- holding hands, picnic baskets, handmade cards & gifts, once-in-a-while date in a restaurant with slow music, open air star gazing etc. Cute and perfect. This concept of an arranged marriage never appealed to me. I wanted things to be magical. I wanted my boyfriend to magically appear in front of me. "Things are not always like they are in the books or movies", people say. But for me, the "click" or "the perfect feeling" is important. I have spent a lot of time in quest of this "click" and sometimes, I do feel insecure. Silly as it may sound, this insecurity has even led me to force myself to generate that "click" with certain people that I have thought to be good matches and who have liked me. Trust me, that doesn't work.

At times when I am stable and happy, I really don't need anyone. I don't know if I want to marry. I do not think I am ready for marriage and I don't want to "settle" for someone. I still want to wait for "the feeling". But things like "you might end up alone" do scare me at times when I am feeling low. So, though I was against the concept and though I am not mentally prepared for marriage, I was tempted. I still said "no" in the end but I don't like the pressure that's building up. Even though I know that I am happy with myself most of the time, I am scared that I might start wanting someone in the future and by then it'll be too late and what they say might turn out to be true. So I am scared I will settle even though I don't want to. Get it?

I am curious to know who Shelina (the character in the book) ends up with and what she decides to do. Can't wait to finish the book! Won't blog about it just in case someone plans on reading the book. Wouldn't want to spoil it for them.

Right now, I have a lot of things on my plate to think in that direction. Moving out of the city is one. Also, I want to travel more, read more, create more, explore more!

By the way, this thought of moving out of the city has been eating me up. Everytime I think of it, my stomach rolls up and I divert my mind somehow. I don't even know if I am doing the right thing but I don't want to run away this time. I have to face it.

*cribs*.. I am in such an age where there are just decisions to make all the time.. decisions about career, relationship, life! I do not know what I really want to do or be, I am not in the "perfect relationship" that I always wanted and no clue about where my life is headed. It was all okay about a couple of years ago till I was in college. I was a confused person but I was quite okay with that. No one else cared about it either. But as I am growing up now, it's like- everyone is expecting something. They expect you to be responsible and to know what you want in every aspect of life. It is pressurising. Sometimes everything is so clear and sometimes it is so confusing that you just want to go hide yourself under a blanket for as long as you can so that you don't have to face the world.

Need a hug! Anyone?

Benetton! (Day 53 - Project 366)

Shopped at United Colors of Benetton today!! :) There is always a "upto 70% off" sale at their factory outlet in Parel, but hardly anything worth purchasing. Since the last couple of weeks however, things have changed!! They have new stuff on sale and I felt like buying everything they had today.. but had to be happy with just one top. Chinky however bought a pair of black heels, a belt and denims! And we are planning to visit the store again this week! :)

Feels great after getting a good deal !! :D

I am back :P (Day 52 - Project 366)

...so guess who's back??! I am really really sorry this project had to suffer a break :( I tried hard to keep this going but something came up on Day 41, and I had to go out of town immediately. The next 4-6 days kept me so busy that I had no time to breathe. Post that, there were so many events to go to that posting everyday became difficult. I did click pictures whenever I could, but posting was the hard part. I admit I also got lazy to return to my blog after the 6 day break! A lot of people asked me why I wasn't doing Project366 anymore and it sure did feel good to know people followed the series! Even though there has been a break, I still want to continue with Day 52. I will try my best to keep up with this!! :)

To give y'all an update, a lot of things have taken place. Barcamp Mumbai was back for the eighth time this Sunday (19th of February). For those who do not know what Barcamp is, you should read up this: http://barcampmumbai.org/index.php/Main_Page#What_is_Barcamp.3F. This is the link to the wiki page for Barcamp Mumbai. Though I could not be present all day unlike last time, I took a session for the first time! :) And people actually listened and asked questions too! :D I was nervous while presenting a mock session to someone but was surprisingly cool & calm during the main presentation! :) Sharing some pictures of the Barcamp clicked by Ankit Daftery :

This is the wiki board where people, wanting to take a session, can stick post-its in the available time slots. The columns stand for the rooms. So there are multiple sessions happening simultaneously in different rooms, and it gets really hard to choose one over another! The topic can be anything! It can range from art, cooking, history, education, to even psychology, technology and medicine!

I missed having these :( This is what happens when you arrive too late!

Random pics from the sessions :

And this was one interactive session that made you dance, workout and laugh - all at the same time:

You can find his whole album here : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151314043695112.811748.676005111&type=3

Looks like fun, doesn't it? To know of future barcamps, you can follow @BarcampMumbai on Twitter or join the group on Facebook. These Barcamps also happen in other cities all over India. You might want to keep a track of those here: http://barcamp.in/index.php/Main_Page

I might upload a video of my session if I like it. Still have to view it myself! :)

--- x ---

Played badminton and skipped after really long last evening:

I've played badminton a lot but I think I skipped after years!!! Don't even remember when I did it last. I might have been eleven.. no wonder I am so short :P

--- x ---

Today was quite unlike any other day.. After a long time, I woke up at 6:30 and went for a jog. Mornings are so pleasant!

Post that, I did yoga for an hour, got ready and went to shoot random pictures & videos with friends (Chinky, Alisha, Ashu).

It was real fun shooting videos and photos all morning..

After having some chai at my regular chaiwallah, I spotted two cats sitting back to back, one cat facing the back of another. They had been sitting that way for a long time and people were stopping & looking at them as they passed by. We took shots of these cats, and I mailed them to a friend a while back who frequents the place. He already knew about them and told me he looks at them everyday whenever he's around that area- right from afternoon to evening! They just keep sitting that way, he said!

I first thought they were.. ahem.. "humping"..*cough*.. but they were sitting quite apart for something like that to be possible :P That made me wonder how cats do "it" anyway. :S :P

I saw them today in the morning. So maybe they sit like that all day.. my friend happens to be there only post lunch to see them in that time slot. Peculiar behaviour, don't you think? I really wonder what could be the reason behind it. Don't they get bored sitting in one spot all day in the same position? They don't even move when you're clicking them!!

The rest of the day was spent at home trying to fix my laptop and working on something. My childhood bestie Chinky surprised me by gifting me these lovely pair of earrings that she made herself:

The stars have a different kind of shine to it.. I can't recall what this material is called!

Pretty, aren't they? :)

She keeps doing a lot of this stuff and you can check her other creations here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150519826238678.401955.516218677&type=3

I think she deserves an exclusive post on my art blog! :)

That's it for today I guess. But do keep checking back! I do not plan to give up on this one, though I may have skipped a few days. :) Adios!

Untangling.. (Day 40 - Project 366)

Today was yet another day full of work, the only good thing being the chocolate cake I had in the evening. I was so busy relishing it that I forgot to capture it. :P

From the events that took place today, I can only say that life is unpredictable and it is useless to keep planning everything. So much needs to be done right now that I'm stressing out over when I'll do what!!

Writing everything down one by one helped me calm myself down..

I managed to untangle some of the things in my head, by making a to-do list in order of what has to be finished off quickest. Right now, I am just confused over whether I am going the right way, doing the right thing. Whether what I am doing now will contribute to the big picture in some way. I don't even know what the big picture is :S and that is very scary! Also thinking about what fits and what doesn't, and what steps to take in either case. Needless to say,  I don't even know what steps to take.

On the health front, my cough worsened so I am on medication again. :(

About to hit the bed now while wishing hard that everything will make sense when I open my eyes tomorrow. Night all of you.

Work!! (Day 39 - Project 366)

Today was all about work, work and work. The only time I stepped out of my house was to meet my neighbour and best friend Chinky. And surprisingly, it didn't tire me out at all. I actually had fun working at a stretch and finishing small tasks.

My cold is better but I am beginning to cough a little.

I didn't really capture anything today. :-|

KGAF (Day 38 - Project 366)

Today was a quick and short trip to KGAF..

Just looked around a bit and sat for a Sufi play which bored us.. We got up and left 20 minutes into the play. As I mentioned in my last post, I am sick & my cold medication was already making me sleepy. The slow play was adding to it. Tom Alter was the lead performer. He is a pretty good actor but I didn't like the pace of the play. Or maybe the genre wasn't for me.

The Old Man & The Sea (A Sufi Fable)

So we just looked around at the stalls and the visual art work. Some of them were really interesting:

These were the bins where we could drop our doubts, fears and sadness.. It's called the 'pool of shit'. Pretty good way of dumping all that waste, eh?

Board of compassion by the kids. These are the compassionate acts done by them. :)

This reminded me of the Art Umbrella for obvious reasons! :D

Free hug :P

Portrait painting..

Check this dude making music with his nose:

Isn't he cool?

Bisleri bottles put to use..

Bottles used for decorating the tree.. made for a good Facebook & Google+ profile picture! :P

That's a 3D pyramid made of cutting chai glasses.. tons of pictures clicked here! :)

That is all for now.. it was just a quick trip. I'll be visiting again for a longer time on Saturday. For those interested, the festival is on till the 12th of February i.e. next Sunday and you can view/download the schedule here. :)

No Picture Day :P (Day 37 - Project 366)

I totally forgot to take a picture on this day, for this day!! It was a plain old day really, except for the fact that it was my last freestyle dancing class.. I was pretty pumped up when Chinky, Gaurang (my neighbour) and I went shopping for Gaurang's slippers after my class. After looking in every one of the brand factory outlets, he finally picked a pair from Nike.

Was feeling tired and uneasy all day. Just as I had thought, I got sick in the night. I soooo hate being sick!!

Anyway, no picture here. I couldn't keep upto the Project 366 vow I guess. But, no worries, I will still continue to post & write about happy moments. :)

So stay tuned.. tada :)

Recycled Crafts Workshop (Day 36 - Project 366)

Today was a tiresome yet fulfilling day at the Nature Bazaar by Earthoholics. Detailed info here: http://artsy-me.blogspot.in/2012/02/recycled-paper-craft-workshop.html :)

Had fun taking a 'recycled crafts' workshop with the kids (and a few adults)!

Here's Falak & me making a gift box out of newspapers & magazine papers...

It was real fun teaching the kids to cut, tie knots, fold and collectively make objects out of scrap! :)

Friends, Laugher & Craft (Day 35 - Project 366)

So today, after our freestyle dancing session, Chinky, Seema & I met up with Nimit and had a fantastic time!!! Laughing hard on silly jokes, revisiting the old memories and roaming the streets of Matunga was fun.. I wish I'd have captured those moments :(

It's always fun with Nimit. I know I'll have a good laugh & a great time! :)

I'm also getting ready for my workshop tomorrow. Click here to know how you can make stuff like this:

Isn't it cool? :)