A.C.C.E.P.T.A.N.C.E.

Of the person you are and what makes you, Y.O.U.

Of shortcomings that you have tried many a time to change. Of baggage that weighs you down.

Of fears, flaws and failures. And of awareness of those debacles.

Of understanding the puzzles of the jigsaw, trying to see the bigger picture.

Of knowing that some paths may not always lead you down the road you want. 

Of the middle road that you embark on trying to strike a balance.

Of the journey that has been, the one that is prevailing and the one that is yet to originate.

Of learning when to hold on and when to let go.

Of knowing that sometimes you have to put yourself first, and sometimes you can’t always fix what’s wrong.

Of trudging along picking up the pieces, stringing them together in the coloured shards of your life. 

Of insights that what you start may not be finished, of intuitions that what you create may not see the light.

And so, as always, here we are, in the last month of this year.  

A time for reflection, review and to look back on what this year has brought, what to be thankful for and what to learn from …

Happy December Y’All..  

Dragon Slayer :-) :-) - Day 14 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

You know what the toughest things about doing challenges like these are! :-)

It’s very very hard to be happy every day. And by that I mean, not just being happy, but finding out what makes you happy every day. Discovering what ticks you off and then also observing what turns your mood right up!!

It was such a bad day today. Not bad in terms of work. I got quite a bit of work done. It was just hectic. So HECTIC that all I had for lunch was a packet of chips and a coffee. I had so much to do and so little time that I was exhausted by the end of it. Usually if I am busy at work, I am quite happy. I like that all-important feeling of being busy and sitting and finishing something up. But today was just bad. The energy meter was down and out running in the negatives and I was simply zoned out by evening. Add to it, it is THAT TIME of the month and you know how cranky we folks are around this time!

I was super cranky, touchy and irritable, pissed off at everything … and I didn't find someone to vent it out on. And I had this waxing appointment to keep. Yes prettification of the human body and all that!!  S yeah.. where was I? Waxing.. do you know how painful that is? Extremely! And when you are touchy and irritable like I was, make it EXTREMELY x 100 times. I was wincing and ooohhing all through the appointment and in the middle of all that, to distract myself, I started pinging this friend of mine. And venting out to him. Yes. Go ahead. Call him the scapegoat. Either-ways, I told him I was super-pissed and cranky. And somehow the conversation veered to smiling and stuff, and I asked him to give me something to be happy about. I actually challenged him!! And he got onto it. :) :)

Did I tell you this guy is an awesome artist… I didn’t? Ok! Here’s a sample…

This one’s just for me... but you can ask him to make you smile too ;-) :-)

“Fairy tales are more than true:

Not because they tell us that dragons exist,

But because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

― Neil Gaiman

Thank you so much for making me smile when I said that I was down and out... 

Thank you so much for making my day loads better when I challenged you to give me something to be happy about ... :-) :-) 

Little things like these hold so much more meaning than all the treasures in the world ... !! :-) :-) 

MINION Surprise :) :) - Day 13 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :) :)

I had a MINION Surprise today morning! :D  This friend of mine at work – Ananya – she gifted me this cute lil’ fellow and now he holds pride of place on my workspace… :D So much fun to receive surprises I tell you! They are one of the things that make me go all “awww and you shouldn’t have and all that” but deep inside I am jumping all over the place in joy because someone had me in their thoughts and that counts a lot! :-) Tell me if it doesn’t!! I bet you can’t…!!! :-) :-)

Once I got this little fellow, I wanted to find out which one he was… I am no great shakes on information about these fellas and so googled it as usual. And I found this who’s who of minions… Now my fellow has only one eye, so he could be Stuart, Phil, Kevin, Bob or Jon! I asked Ananya and she said she thought it was Stuart… So I decided to go with Stuart :D :D  This is what the blurb says about STUART ….

Stuart, a one eyed minion, is a playful and funny minion. He loves playing video games with his best friend Dave.

Ok!! I already like him a looooottt…. :D :D :D 

Look at him here… :D :D Made my today a good one because every time I looked at him and saw him grinning at me, I smiled too … 

So thank you Ananya… for making my mid-week so-so day a pretty darn good one! :-) :-)

Ganapati Bappa Morya! :) :) - Day 8 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge! :) :)

It was such a lousy day today.. So so lousy that if just one more thing had to go wrong, I would have blown my top. People were tipping me off all along right from morning, and it just got worse all through the day!! I was in such a pissed off mood when I reached home today evening. All I wanted to do was throw something, break something else and drive a fist through the wall! Yes, I was that pissed!! :-/

And then I saw this fellow. Sitting peacefully, reclining against a bolster, serene expression as though there wasn’t a care in the world! :D Instant smile on my face! Instant sense of calm!

This very precious painting was gifted to me by a very dear friend. He painted this. He had put it up on Facebook. I saw it. I loved it. I wanted it. I shamelessly told him so. And he made arrangements to send it to me through a friend who was coming all the way from the place he was to the place I am in. He told me this was in the image of his dad. I must say, it fits that to a T. Not just his dad. It reminds me of my granddad as well, grand and regal, relaxed and composed. :-) :-) All in all, a picture of serenity!! :-) :-)

There is a sense of immediate calmness that envelopes me, when I see this painting. In a lot of ways, I am indebted to this friend. He has always been a strong pillar of support and someone whom I gel with very well. And this painting, especially, is a depiction of one of my favorite Gods.

So!! Folks!! Today’s Happiness Quotient brought to you by our very own Pillayarappa… :-) :-)

Ganapati Bappa Morya! :D :D

 Mangalamurthi Morya! :D :D 

Peace to all! :D :D 

Shot of Caffeine!! - Day 7 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge :-) :-)

I come from a family of strict filter-coffee drinkers… none of that instant coffee for us!! So much so that if we miss our morning shot of caffeine, you can be sure to find a grouchy lot in us!! Doomed are those days when the milk-man fails to deliver the packets of milk!!!

But however, here in Singapore, I am an avid tea-drinker. The lack of good coffee powder (in the ratio of 70:30 or 80:20 the 30/20 being chicory) and the sad thing that gets churned out in the name of filter kaapi has turned me into a staunch tea-loyalist. If I am at home for the entire day, I end up drinking at least 3-4 cups during the day! But the story is different if I am out roaming about somewhere. In that case I prefer a good cappuccino with no sugar! Yep! I am quite choosy when it comes to beverages… I don’t like my coffee with sugar, I prefer the bitter after-taste and I only like authentic Indian chai made with milk and very less of sugar. Added advantage if its Masala Chai and even better when it is raining outside… :D :D

So then you may have figured out by now that I have ended up tasting the ‘cappuccino’ from all possible coffee chains. Some make it strong, some make it light, some have too much froth and very less coffee and the others are just plain shoddy. And then this friend introduced me to BLACK – a coffee chain in Singapore that hands down makes the best coffee ever! I loved their cappuccino. It was just PERFECT for me. I was so happy. And I even took my friends along to introduce them to the finest coffee that SG had… until the chain closed down! :-/ Imagine my consternation!! Yeah! I know you think that I am being over-dramatic and all that, but I reiterate, I am very particular when it comes to my beverages! :P :P And there’s a point to this verbose I am subjecting you to, I promise!! :D 

So where was I??  Yeah! BLACK closed down and I then found another shop close to my new office, called JAMAICA BLUE which served pretty good cappuccinos. So there, I was ok, for the time being! :P Until, on one of my evening jaunts through the CBD here, I saw this outlet of BLACK.. :D :D  Yippee!! Familiar signboard! Familiar taste! Saved I thought, and then fate steps in again and they move my office location to one of the suburbs here… :-( !!! It was almost like I wasn’t meant to have BLACK’s coffee!! :-/ :-/ I found a coffee place at the new location and was beginning to be content with it, snatching one-off cups of BLACK whenever I came to CBD area… And that’s when it happened today morning!! I was at CBD for an early morning meeting and I was simply salivating at the prospect of enjoying that delicious coffee served at BLACK’s and what do I see?? That outlet has shut down too… leaving me all sad and down! I was moping around looking for another alternative (I needed my morning shot of caffeine!!), when I came across this outlet or Oriole tucked away in the lobby of the building. With not much hope, I went in and picked up a cappuccino to go. I really needed my morning shot of caffeine as I was en route becoming a grumpy soul!!! :-s

Must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was no BLACK, but it was darn good. In fact, it was way better than I expected it to be. Savored the flavorsome aromas!! Enjoyed every sip of it and basked in the essences of it!! Coffee bean smell is something that gives me quite a kick!! :D :D Delightful!!

Here’s a shot for you! :-) :-)

“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”

― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

PS: I was so dumb that i deleted this post by mistake and had to repost this.. :( :( Stoopid Me! :-/

Evening Twilight - Day 6 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

Happiness quotient for day 6 is provided by the picture of evening twilight below.

That’s how the Singapore sky looks at twilight. This pic is shot from my office building, in the evening, when I was taking a short break from the report that I was preparing! :-)

Such vivid colors… I know the pic is not all that great because it was shot through glass and therefore you see a bit of a haze in there… But why am I now talking about the trivialities of this photo that I shot… I have no idea how those things work… I do want to learn someday but for now, I am content taking half-baked pictures just to capture the memory!! :D :D Ah! The good thing about having a smart phone with a good enough camera…

There’s something really mystical about this time called twilight. It represents neither night nor day. It’s neither here nor there. But the beauty of it is incomparable.

It signifies that in-between space of the ending of the day and the beginning of the night and also the ending of the night and the beginning of the day. That time between dawn and sunrise – morning twilight and the time between sunset and dusk – the evening twilight. I will stop sounding like wikipedia now!! :-)

I love twilight for a lot of reasons…

It’s almost magical. In those few minutes that it is there, before the sun sets or before it rises…the sky scape that looks like someone has just thrown a splash of colors on it – blue, red, orange and grey!! 

Bewitching… that’s what it is! :-) :-)

You can see how I am rambling here…Will stop now!! 

For the moment enjoy the pic…

If Laughter is day and Sobriety is night;

A smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both,

More bewitching than either one of those!

-Anon

Cuddle, Snuggle, Nuzzle and Huddle - Day 5 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

I am running late on my post for Day 5 people…

This has been such a long day and its only Tuesday…

It has been a very hectic day so far and all I really really want to do is just to go home and curl up on my bed with a good book and one of my trusted companions…

Unfortunately, you can’t take your pick from the lot below, but I can and that’s the good part… the best part is that this is only half my stash and the other half is at India, at my room… under my stern instructions and mom’s watchful care!! :-) :-)

And also, this is where you go awww…. :-D :-D

Because nothing else according to me screams Cute, Adorable, Fluffy and Cuddly all at the same time… :-) :-)

Yep! Welcome to my other world…

Happiness to me is snuggling up against one of them; burrowing my head into their squishy-squashy fur and imagining that I am back home, with the family… this is what happens when I start missing my folks too much… ;-) ;-)

And before I end up sounding all maudlin and mushy…

Meet my troopers, my security blankets, my warmth-giving companions and the receivers of my endless hugs!! :-) :-)

"In a world where everyone seems to be larger and louder than yourself,

it is very comforting to have a small, quiet companion."

-Peter Gray

Cuddly and warm, these calming creatures reassure me in the days;

When fears fly before reason and the world loom bleak instead of beautiful.

The Teddy Bear, all things to all ages... symbol that all is right with the world if one only believes.

-Anonymous

Enthusiasm is Contagious!! Very much so! :) :)

Like most days, I took a cab to office today. Now, me and cabs we share a love-hate relationship. Much like Murphy’s Law! When I want one, I don’t get one! But me and cab drivers... now there’s something interesting there. I have met my fair share of all sorts of cab drivers. The grumpy ones, the chatter-boxes, the presumptuous ones, the polite ones and the couple of them who actually asked me out (Yes! That happened too! Some other time folks, some other time! Sigh!). … More or less the entire gamut. And more often than not, I chitchat with some of them since I love talking, making random conversation and finding out about their life and such. I am very curious like that! ;) Some of them are mostly in a mood to talk, considering they just go up and down Singapore’s roads. And I enjoy most of these snippets of conversation. :) :)

So coming back to today, I booked a cab well in advance … I did not want Mr. Murphy to take advantage of the timing, it being peak hour. My cabbie for the day was an Indonesian man, easily in his late sixties. He came to pick me up and soon started chatting with me on how I did the wise thing by booking a cab and that there were loads of people waiting for one all along the way. I was in a mood to talk as well (nothing new there!) and soon we started chatting.

I must tell you, the man was a chatter-box. But what was more endearing was the way he kept the conversation flowing. In the span of the 10-15 minutes that was the drive, we discussed umpteen topics. And what a variety of topics. :)

I learnt that he was a retiree, he was from West Sumatra, and he wants to settle down with his wife in India and that too in Coimbatore because he was tired of the city life. Coimbatore of all places! Can you believe that! :) What a coincidence!!! :D :D He said that he has half a million savings in Singapore that he wants to invest in a house in Coimbatore, grow a vegetable patch with Karuveppilai, Murungakkai, and also have Tulsi plants. :-). Yes he used the Tamil words for them. He made it a point to mention that he did not want to outshine his neighbors and all he wanted was a simple house where he can spend his time occupied with gardening and walks. He complimented me on my very famous name (Sigh!) and asked me where in India I was from. He told me about Indonesia and how people were very religious there and how similar the customs are to Indian customs. I asked him his name and he said it was Kamal, just Kamal and not Kamal Hassan :). His wife’s name was Rohini and his brothers were Surya and Rustam! He said that his elder brothers were very handsome. He said that they were all teachers and that his subject was History. He mentioned how much he likes Indian food, especially murungakka sambar, dosa and chutney. He told me that he was a good cook and that he loves making thengai chutney and the murungakka sambar. :) He even threw in a bit about how he went to Anandha Bhavan for dinner yesterday and had Rava Masala Onion Dosa as that was his fave. He asked me if I cook and told me that whenever he makes sambar he always adds perungayam and that it is the most important ingredient :P. We discussed Indian movies, and he said that his favorite Tamil movie is Mouna Raagam and that the heroines these days are all only show-offs and nothing to beat the legends like Savitri and the like. He spoke all the Tamil words in a very cute mixed accent. :) Yes! He spoke Tamil. He said that he watches Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalee movies :P

And the highlight was, when I was about to pay and get down, he said that whenever he gets bored, he strums the guitar and that his favorite song was “Baar Baar Dekho – China Town” which we both sang with full gusto for a full 2 mins inside that cab!! … :-) I sang a song with this man, whom I did not even know until today morning. :-) :-) Beat that! Such fun it was! :) We were both laughing at the end of it.

He wished me all the luck and blessed me and told me to have a good life and then we parted ways.

He left me with a smile on my face, an upbeat mood and a spring in my step. I can only admire the zest the man has for life and the amazing quality of keeping people entertained in a way that doesn’t encroach into their personal space. :) Loved the start to the day today! Such a sweet man!

Whoever said enthusiasm was contagious was right! :) Wanna borrow some from me? ;)  I got a truckload of it today ;) ;) :) :)