good old email

i miss email. whatsapp has replaced most of my personal email communication. so, i wrote three lengthy (okay, they were not lengthy compared to the three page letters i used to write friends and family before the existence of email, but they are definitely lengthy compared to the three sentence whatsapp messages that are now the norm!!!) emails this morning to recapture that lost era.

long emails from my best friends while at uni were what kept me going.. my courtship with H largely took place over email and text messages. while the texts have long disappeared, the emails are still there..

whatsapp is great. it's quick, and immediate. it's great for sharing pictures and even voice messages. but all the angst and feeling that i could put into an email, is not there in a whatsapp message. even with all the fancy emoticons! ;)

so, i resolve to write at least a couple of emails a week again. my inbox needs to have more than just work stuff in it!

#microblog mondays

colours

at lunch the other day, someone said they 'don't experiment when it comes to ridas, as colors other than blue or pink may not suit' them. i found this quite unusual- the idea of wearing only two colours, because others don't 'suit' you. i like colors. lots of colors. and i like ridas because they almost always have at least four colors in them. i have favourite colours sure, and a lot of time, by default, my wardrobe turns all green or blue. but i don't do this intentionally. i have never worn or not worn a color because of its suitability. i do this with make up (but again, do i not wear pink lipstick because i don't like pink, or because it really doesn't suit me?) but not anything else.. colors are there to make me feel better.. i wear my grey and pink rida when i am happy, when i want to be slightly dressed up, i wear my blue one when i have little energy to think about clothes, my red one is RED, and so forth.

on a separate note, i have heard this several times in india, that bright colours like yellow or red don't suit dark skinned complexions. similarly, white should also only be worn by the fairer complexioned. this is totally the opposite of what i grew up understanding about colours in hong kong -that fair skin looks good in darker shades, while darker skin is brightened by brighter colours. 

what's your take on colours?

#microblog mondays

the importance of girlfriends

i have read several blog posts and essays about the importance of girlfriends in a woman's life, but this one made me cry. probably because of the story of emily and her husband joe. and the line, 'how many women had friends who could write their husband's obituary?'

the article also noted that 'having great friends is largely a matter of being a great friend'. true. i am failing there methinks. i used to be a good friend. but now, my friends are too far away for me to do anything for them. and i am too tired and bogged down in my small little world. (which leads me to wonder upon the reason i have not been able to make a lot of new friends here..)

sigh. i have awesome friends around the world though, for which i am very very thankful. that they are not right here, totally sucks. but i am still glad they are there. that at one point in time, we were together.

#microblog mondays

when books don't fit

i finally started reading purple hibiscus by chimamanda adichie last night, after three days of waffling over what to read. i HATE it when that happens. it does not happen very often (alhumdolillah!), but when i can't figure out what i want to read, when no books appeal to me, when nothing seems to fit, then i am very very upset. upset for two reasons i guess -first, because i have nothing to read, and second, because nothing is speaking to me, everything is making me feel blah!

this is like when i cannot figure out what to wear -again, i don't have this problem very frequently, as i am quite a decisive person. or, maybe decisive is not the word. i just know what i like, and i know when i feel like wearing it. i don't keep clothes that i don't like, and the stuff i have, i've had for a while! but when those days come along, when no rida speaks to me, when they all seem blah and ugh, then i am a miserable person.

clearly, not wanting to read any book or wear any of my ridas is a symptom of my mood. it is not that there aren't awesome books and clothes available.. this can apply to food as well, although not much.. but how interesting that this occurs.. i should pay more attention to whether such moods leak into other areas of my life..

#microblog mondays

great start to the year of the monkey

today is the first day of the lunar new year 2016, which is the year of the monkey. that's me! so, here's hoping for an awesome year, filled with love, health, prosperity and peace :)

i have three days off from work (working for a hk based ngo). that is awesome in itself, but what makes it truly awesome, is that these three days are only MINE -not being indian holidays, the twins have school, and hubby has work (can you imagine the enormous grin on my face?!). i have PLANS for these three days. some cleaning, baking, shopping and visiting. some time to breathe. ohhh :)

i'm off to start my holidays! 

circus!

my introduction to the circus as a child came with enid blyton's 'come to the circus' -fenella, aunt lou, bobo and pretty much all the characters were interesting/intriguing. the 'big top', the caravans, the animals and their trainers; it was a whole new world full of adventure and magic that i loved losing myself in.

then came the great moscow circus in hong kong, when i was slightly older (but i have no recollection of age to be honest). we went to see this awesome performance for several years, and i was in love. the trapeze artists were my absolute favorite (and still are). the gorgeous costumes, the glitter, the anticipation before each incredible act; i carry all these with me until today.

for some years after, i forgot about the circus. while at university, i read john irving's 'a son of the circus', which was much darker than my childhood circus fantasies. i recently read sara gruen's 'water for elephants', which was less dark, and a great read. next on my list of circus novels is erin morgenstern's 'the night circus', which is meant to be some kind of fantasy novel, and sounds intriguing.

last week, there was a local circus showing nearby, which we took the twins to. they enjoyed some of the acts (those with animals), but were far from thrilled with the idea of the circus. it was a let down for me as well, after my awesome memories of the great moscow circus, as well as the circus books that i so enjoyed. next time i plan my trip to hong kong, i must look in to the moscow circus -they now have a 'circus on ice' show as well!

the circus world is one that surely draws in all children.. and many adults. i can't wait to introduce the kids to blyton's 'come to the circus', and other novels, and read more circus novels myself :)

#microblog mondays
 

music, poetry, tv

i heard celine dion's 'my heart will go on' last night at the circus (no, it wasn't really fitting, but hey, 'this is mumbai my friend'!!) and i found myself automatically singing along. i cannot remember the last time i sung along to a song.. probably because i have totally stopped listening to english music here. hindi/bollywood songs just don't do anything for me, so i generally don't listen to any music anymore. which is quite sad. i enjoyed tracy chapman, dido, travis, beck, jason mraz.. i should make more of an effort to play this stuff here, even if it is not readily available on tv/radio.. i want my kids to be exposed to stuff other than bollywood 'item numbers'!

the lack of music in my life these days also reminds me that i have stopped reading poetry and watching tv shows (house, cis, the good wife, big bang theory).. there must be so many new shows out now, and i just don't have a clue! this will be harder to remedy than listening to music.. but i should try. the only reason i have given up on all this, is that they are not readily available here. i should just pick one show, and i am sure i can either find it on tv or online.. it all seems like such a headache, and i am happy to just read on my kindle.. but when i randomly hear some music, or listen to people talking about such and such show, i feel a pang for everything that i gave up..

#microblog mondays