Category Archives: Life

2015 Week 4: Weekly Update

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Hello there February, why did you come in so early….You could have taken your time…But seriously, is it just me or does anyone else feel that January just went galloping by!

A mixed week in terms of food choices – I made some good and some not-so-good choices while eating. So weight has also been stagnant, no increase, but no reduction either!

Work, like I mentioned last week, the thing that HR sounded me about, came true and the only small consolation is that it has been made clear that it’s an interim solution. So I decided that “If life gives you lemons, let’s make lemonade!” I decided that if I am to work with this person, then I will learn something new from him/her and also showcase what I know about this person’s area of expertise before it ends. So let’s see how this all pans out…

Other than that, life goes on…I really feel I have a really boring life – no excitement, no fun…But then this year is all about GG & BB, once their life post-primary school has been settled to the best of our ability, I’ll feel so much more relieved!

Okie, here’s a funny work video to brighten up your Monday!

2015 Week 3: Weekly Update

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And just like that we’re in the last week of January! The year seems to be zipping by and I’m powerless to slow it down…

My parents went back home yesterday evening and I’m feeling a bit sad! I don’t know when I will meet them next, hopefully they come back to Singapore at the end of the year or we make a trip to Mumbai!

This week has been particularly bad – I made bad food choices, which reflected in my weight and blood sugar readings and then I was sounded out for something by our HR which I am not happy about, which in turn made me eat more bad things! Need to seriously work on this for this next week.

At work, part of my responsibilities include doing admin work. My previous boss was good enough to recognise that this is not what I trained for or what I have experience and so made it a very small part of my job – the other 80 to 90% was stuff I wanted to do and was good at. Now the talk at work seems to be since I do not have a boss (my ex-boss was promoted and moved away to another country and his successor is not in place yet), I should be doing the admin work for someone else. They mentioned it was for an interim period, but I have my doubts. I am not qualified, nor trained for this and so I told the HR lady that – it is not fair on the new person who may be expecting someone who can do this job 100% and by someone who has experience in this. Lets see what the outcome is of this.

I have also decided to bring forward my plans for my career. I was going to wait till around August/September to set things in motion, but will bring that forward by half a year. More on that when I set things in motion and things start falling into place.

Esotericism: Mystical or Mundane?

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“Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon;

How much it can fill your room depends on its windows”

                                                                                Rumi

I’ve always been fascinated by the esoteric, especially the esoteric sciences, be it astrology, palmistry, alternative healing therapies like Reiki or the world of mediums, mystics and spirituality. It’s quite strange actually, since I am also the sort of person who needs to see evidence in front of her to actually believe in all this. But that’s me, eclectic and eccentric, I guess!

What are Esoteric Sciences? According to Wikipedia,  there are different definitions of this term, but what I would go with is “It is the sum total of the different parts of this universe – both visible and invisible, earthly and divine” Esotericism is the metaphysical point of unity where exoteric religions are believed to converge.

Whatever the definition, I am fascinated and intrigued by them. In my younger days, when I had more time, I would go for courses which delved into the unknown – courses like Reiki, Sudarshan Kriya and a Zoroastrian one which I can’t remember the name of. I also dabbled in Palmistry and have had some successes there, though I would say more intuition rather than skill was employed. Tarot is something else I have tried to do, using playing cards though, but can’t say I was very successful. Another thing my friends and me have played at is Planchet, but did we really invite the other-world beings is anyone’s guess!

Now, that I don’t have the time to dabble in anything and refuse to read palms of my loved ones, my fascination for this subject is restricted to what I read – both online and offline.

I also believe in astrology and will probably do more posts on that, Palmistry and perhaps Reiki over the next few weeks. I’ll update this post to add links to those posts when I do that.

2015 Week 2: Weekly Update

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I had meant to do this post yesterday, but somehow weekends just seem to fly by without anything productive actually happening! I really need to work on this…

This is the last week before my parents return back home on Saturday and I am really not feeling good about that – I wonder when I will be able to meet them next, hopefully the year-end holidays?

The past week was bad in terms of food choices and I’ve added more than a kilo to my weight! Gasp!! No can do, need to work real hard this week and not only lose that gained extra kilo, but any additional one too….

Other than that, life is as we say here – sama-sama (same-same) and nothing really happened.

At work, I seem to have lost my mojo, need to dig deep inside and look for it and wake it up! Otherwise this year will be hard for me…

Have been blogging more than my promised three times a week, so feeling good about that.

My Week 1 update is here for anyone interested in reading it!

Festivals of India: Pongal O Pongal

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This week all over India, various communities will be celebrating/would have celebrated their Harvest festivals. In the southern part of India, specifically Tamil Nadu, today is the day that is celebrated as Pongal.

Not to be confused with the yummy sweet and salt Pongal dishes, the festival of Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamil people all over the world around 13-16 January each year. This is a four day festival which is according to the Gregorian calendar, unlike most Hindu festivals, which are based on the lunar calendar and marks the start of the sun’s six-month long journey northwards or Uttarayan as it’s called in Sanskrit. This is also celebrated as Makar Sankranti in other parts of India.

The word Pongal in Tamil means ‘overflowing’ and signifies abundance and prosperity. The celebrations for the four day festival start with ‘Bhogi Pongal’ with the worship of Lord Indra, the ruler of clouds and rains to thank him for a season of good rainfall and to make sure he blesses the farmer with just enough rain to ensure abundant harvest. The next day is ‘Thai Pongal’ which is the main festival day. People wake up before sunrise and bathe and get ready and at the time of sunrise, ritually boil fresh milk and let it overflow the earthern pot it is being boiled in. When the boiling happens, people shout “Pongalo Pongal” which means “Let there be prosperity and abundance everywhere”.  The third day is set aside for the animals in the household called ‘Mattu Pongal‘ to give them thanks for the work they do helping the farmer with his harvest. The farm animals, specifically the bulls and cows are scrubbed up and decorated and treated with goodies. The last day is a time for family reunions, called ‘Kaanum Pongal‘ where brothers give their married sisters special gifts and employers gift their employees. This marks the end of the Pongal festivities for the year.

Other harvest festivals celebrated in India include Bihu in Assam, Lohri in Punjab and Makar Sankranti in Gujarat, my home state of Maharashtra and other states in India

This is basically a festival meant to thank the Sun God  for a good harvest and has been celebrated for more than 1000 years, though some historians say it’s older than that.

Culture is important for a human being. You need to know where you come from, what your values are, so that, as custodians of the next generation, you are able to pass it on. This post is so BB & GG know where they come from and are able to pass it to their children and grand-children!