Across the Seven Seas

Well well well. Well, I do not enjoy starting my sentences with a 'Well'! or with a 'So', or with and an 'And'! 

But (or with a 'but'...) I do that many times. 

I'd say that today I am in a mood to talk, I have wasted half of the day binge-watching streaming series, eating (and not enjoying it), contemplating whether to step out to the beach and face the wrath of a heatwave warning, here in Toronto! Yes, in Canada, we have heat waves leading to heat strokes. And (haha, you got me!) not to mention, being a redhead how terrible a sunburn I anticipate! 

Summers are beautiful here, and winters are dreamy. 

Rains? Well, Delhi scores better on rains.

Its been a little over two years that I moved to Canada for good. Being a Delhite, Toronto resonated most with me. It is not so much of this city, or an idea of a whole new world but what I have been able to do better while I choose to move across the seven seas! 

These are weird times we live in, I am sure you have read it, resonated with this idea umpteen times. As if the ending of 2019 was not dramatic enough for us activists, that we are in the midst of a pandemic. How being indoors makes us ponder?  Personally, I do not enjoy being idle. I like time off for sure and there is a hell of a difference between being idle and taking time off!

To begin with, I did not know what was ahead. It did scare me but it did not stop me. Perhaps it was something I wanted to do always and that's why it did not make me way too scared. But the struggles have been real. Right from understanding cultural sophistication to crossing the road - the first couple of months were exhausting. So much so that being 30 minutes outside would make my body demand a nap.

Overall in Canada, I have found good samaritans - many of them and sending you lots of love if you are reading this. Friends who are so far away that we catch up on a call - hope we meet soon. And to those who I have lost touch with, I wish you well. 

Author's Note: I know I slacked, the last few years I questioned myself whether I lost my flair for writing? I think it was so much going on that I could not focus much on writing. I did not plan this post, just on a lazy day, I picked up a book, was enjoying reading it and hope that I pass on a similar enjoyment to someone who hopped on this piece on the internet. 

Do drop in a word, it'd make me smile.

Photos (c) Shine Kapoor

A-to-Z Challenge [April 2016]

Hello peeps, treat this as my formal announcement for third attempt at the seventh edition of A-to-Z Challenge [April 2016]. Yes yes yes, it is happening, however this is the first time that I am so full of self doubt!

After such such busy days, and exhausting times, I finally found time to sit and write it. Well it is just about quarter past eleven and I am writing my announcement post after a wrap up of my organization's quarter ending meeting! Sounds busy eh #SlySmile...

My mind talk continues - Whether I will complete it, I have too much work and too much to do... Will I find time to pour my heart out of one of my most cherished possession, my blog in case you could not infer! My heart reassures me - I fared well in the earlier ones, and I do not have any reason to not participate in it this year. I won the last two - hang on, no trophy, just that I stuck through it till the end!!!

Here is a recap of my earlier participation:
A-to-Z Challenge 2015 - Reflections themed Random
A-to-Z Challenge 2014 - Reflections themed Emotions and Expressions

Here's the batch of participation:

I need good wishes, I want to get back to blogging big time and what else could be a better motivation than the A to Z Challenge?

Here's to the fellow bloggers who will sail in the same!
Here's a special mention of my special blogger friends - Shesha Chaturvedi and Christopher Roger D'souza! Just feeding your links here!

All the best to everyone who took on the challenge, may we all reach the end, and celebrate, discuss, cherish and laugh over this accomplishment in the coming times. Love you all my fellow bloggers!

As I publish, I am impressed. I turned it around pretty fast, in less than fifteen minutes! Please overlook the errors. #StraightFace

Facebook Lessons (F on Day 6 of A to Z Challenge 2015).

Times of being busy
Being really really busy
Busy doing nothing
Busy killing time
Are the times to loathe.
So we make time to be on Facebook.

Source: Google Search

Debating, fighting trolls, bullies, cyber harassers while attempting hard to make sense out of our point. Perhaps trying to make people understand our point.

That's when I learnt a few things through Facebook, and here they are:

1. Tolerance while facing disagreements from friends. No two people think alike, how can friends? It is important to respect each other's opinions, not to get into a trail of updates that faintly demean your friends.

2. Standing up-to cyber harassers and bullies. Well yes, this is big one and I did stand up to one quite recently.

3. Satire while dealing with the trolls. When logic does not make sense, satire does!

4. Understanding what I just do not want to be. I live and let live, so I do not want to be a bigot, extremist and someone with an orthodox mindset.

5. Clarifying when being misunderstood. Not everyone will read what you meant with your words, in-fact they will dissect each of your words and come up with conspiracy theories. Arghh moments they are.

Author's Note: With Facebook and social media interactions, our ideas of life, philosophies and the way we view world is out in the open. Some of us are against this concept, I am not. I can put myself out there with my thoughts and things I truly believe in.

And yes, from time to time I do feel that there is an overdoes. I switch off, thanks to the deactivate Facebook account option!

P.S. Facebook Lessons for F - April 7, 2015. My sixth post for the A to Z April Challenge.

Attracting Abundance (A on Day 1 of A to Z Challenge 2015)

Do you see abundance
Of things immaterial
Of feelings & tiny gestures
Abundance of times

Source: Google Image Search

That head for love
enthusiasm and vulnerabilities
Those moments that
Stretch your lips wide
And widen your eyelids
Abundance of Music
Than makes you dance
Or takes you to a dream land
Abundance of sound of waves
As you lay on the shores
Of running waters with closed eyes
Or gazing a deep blue sky
With glaring moonlight
Shooting star amidst twinkling ones
And abundance of gazing fireflies
Or listening to chirping of birds at dawn

Author's Note: We attract abundance of things that make us feel special. Those moments are right in our view, and it is for us to open up to them.

Let abundance of brief beautiful moments consume us!

P.S. A for Abundance on April 1, 2015. My first post for the A to Z April Challenge. 

A-to-Z Challenge [April 2015]

Last year A-to-Z Challenge [April 2014] happened and I came out of it a winner. Hang on, no trophy, just that I stuck through it till the end.

Here is a recap of last year>>
A-to-Z Challenge - Reflections

Treat this as a formal announcement of participation. My blog - Titled Speeding Light is listed on the

A TO Z CHALLENGE SIGN UP/LIST [2015]

Last year I followed a theme Emotions and Expressions, this year I will stick with Random topics.

Tomorrow it is! And it is Letter 'A'

A-to-Z Challenge - Reflections

First of all I would like to extend a heartfelt thank to Shesha Chaturvedi to bring the challenge to my notice and help me at each step of it. Without this information I would have not been a recipient of get well soon wishes.Many of the fellow bloggers visited my blog and the comments from them kept me going despite being sick. I am much better today, although still not in shape to move out, but too better while recovering from Enteric Fever. It was arrested in the initial stage and did not convert into typhoid.

On thinking back, I learnt a lot about the world of blogging - and the mantra - visit other bloggers, comment if you feel like, do not be rude to a blogger ever (it hurts), be a positive critic, and network on social platforms.

More than anything, I learnt a lot about myself. So here are some things that I learnt about myself:

1. I can put together a case on short deadline, but not while I am having a headache
2. Blogging does not need all the time, but the time when you can just write
3.It may appear monotonous to the writer, but when one goes back to see all write-ups are different.
4. Post around fiction and/or humour works best
5. I managed to follow the theme of Emotions and Expressions.

To read all posts of A-to-Z April Challenge, Click here>>

• Attitude: A-to-Z Challenge [1 April 2014]
• Bucolic: A-to-Z Challenge [2 April 2014]
• CRY: A-to-Z Challenge [3 April 2014]
• Dumbfound: A-to-Z Challenge [4 April 2014]
• Emotions: A-to-Z Challenge [5 April 2014]
• Feelings: A-to-Z Challenge [7 April 2014]
• Guilt: A-to-Z Challenge [8 April 2014]
• Highway or Her Way: A-to-Z Challenge [9 April 2014...
• Introspect what makes you cry: A-to-Z Challenge [1...
• Judgements: A-to-Z Challenge [11 April 2014]
• Kaleidoscope: A-to-Z Challenge [12 April 2014]
• Love Amidst Lust: A-to-Z Challenge [14 April 2014]...
• Morals forbid us: A-to-Z Challenge [15 April 2014]...
• Narcissist: A-to-Z Challenge [16 April 2014]
• Other Woman: A-to-Z Challenge [17 April 2014]
• Pretentious: A-to-Z Challenge [18 April 2014]
• Queer: A-to-Z Challenge [19 April 2014]
• Right Age: A-to-Z Challenge [21 April 2014]
• Stalked: A-to-Z Challenge [22 April 2014]
• Thinking Cap: A-to-Z Challenge [23 April 2014]
• Unsaid: A-to-Z Challenge [24 April 2014]
• Vamp: A-to-Z Challenge [25 April 2014]
• Winner: A-to-Z Challenge [26 April 2014]
• Xerox: A-to-Z Challenge [28 April 2014]
• Yummy Factor: A-to-Z Challenge [29 April 2014]
• Zeal: A-to-Z Challenge [30 April 2014]

Author's Note: This was my first participation to such a long challenge, and I totally enjoyed it! A special thanks to the A-to-Z April Challenge secret Facebook group.

Badge : A-to-Z April Challenge [2014] Survivor

P.S.: I made new blog-friends! Including Danny Simon, Beloo Mehra, Nisha, Prasanna Rao, Kathy Combs, Conlee Ricketts, Vishal Bheeroo, Jayanta, Nabanita, Ananya, A Wrter, Tulika, Natasha Borah Khan, Sunday Visitor, Shiva, and many more...


P.P.S: I tried to further this chain by introducing the challenge to Garima Om. I was glad that she also participated in the challenge, on such a short notice :).

Jack and Me!

'All work and no play made jack a dull boy'

Now!

All work and no blogging , seemingly had been doing the same to me!

Apologies to those who have been waiting for my blog-posts. Its easier to convey sorry to my followers than dealing with my psyche which keep cursing me for not been able to follow my passion!

As Shesha reaffirmed that one get to come across more blog ideas when you are neck deep into work. I am sailing the same boat. I plan to write often and maintain steady streams of posts on all my blogs. I have to find the way out. 

Ideas

This post is dedicated to all the fellow and aspiring blogger. Through this post I attempt to share how I reach to the blog post ideas. Its not rare that I get up in the middle of night just to scribble a few thoughts that can make an interesting read. Sometimes I post it on my blog and sometimes I do not (perhaps not when it reveals some deepest darkest secrets)...  

What are ideas? Especially for a communications personnel, we have to come up with innovative ideas. Adding to this is a blogger's zeal to sound interested to the dedicated stream of readers. Most of the followers/readers of my blog ask how do I come to think of these blog post ideas? This is one of the second most toughest question I come across, the first one is when people ask me to define myself. 

I believe that a blogger has to be creative, with an understanding about the concepts. And most importantly have an opinion, biased or unbiased... I as a blogger try to be as objective as possible, but the universal truth remains, each one of us live with spectrum of our own biases, steming from preconceived notions, psychological setup, concerns etc. Opinion develops from thinking. So a blogger has to think, and develop an opinion about the topic. 

Moreover, reading helps a lot. It not only helps in developing an instinct for catching ideas but also in understanding the flow of writing. No two people can write the same, the way of expression differs. A blogger should stick to her/his own writing style, rather than copying styles from others... However one should improvise on their own writing style, with newer ideas and way of expressions. Its something like those people who keep changing their attitude to mimic the the group they hang out with or people they wish as their ideal. So while writing a person should stay original and simple. That's what being classic is all about! I believe that anyone can write, its simply putting in words what you really feel :)

Author's Note: This is one of my midnight scribble post~

PS: I dont think I have to upload a picture to each of my blog post.. Reaffirming this belief is the state of mind which reads, I am being lazy! 

Blabber! Oops Blogger~

Although I never felt like putting my everyday chorus on this blog, (by now all the dedicated followers of my blog know I have a personal blog for that ;P), but today I wish to try my hands at it.

I herewith plan to feature a usual day of an unusual blabber! Oops Blogger~~

This stared with an early morning day, packed with meeting over coffee, luncheon briefings(read in the pantry with ofcourse Nish)! I get up after one hour of snoozing alarm, on both the cell phones! As I need to catch-up with the beauty packed sleep. Rush to brush, bathe, get ready and sip into whatever is available to break the night-long fast.

The moment I step out of home, there is an awakening of a feminist inside me. A contradiction of ideologies over reaching office in time or should I fight with that moron, well whatever that is... Now all you guys know why am I mostly late for office.

Well, after a grilling day in office come a mirror-showing moment. Your beloved blogger still manage to look stunning! Well the proof for this come as people sharing contact details by reciting their phone number 9177 ~~ something louder than they ideally would have. Wish I noted his number and put it here!

It was fine to acknowledge my good looks, but that stingy A** got a bad stare, and a clear signal to brush off otherwise the feminist will take on. Besides such sweet acts just make my day!

Author's Note: This post is dedicated to all the blabbers out there! Brush up your skills people, Blabbering is flourishing the creative industry today~