Grey does happen to be one of my favorite colors, but I prefer life in myriad shades. Sometimes, do you just sit back and let random thoughts flow through your head? And feel kind of good afterwards? I do. In fact, I always sit with pen and paper - why lose a master piece for want of writing implements?
By the way, last week, curiosity got the better of me seeing the world a-buzz with the latest phenomenon on the block - Fifty Shades Of Grey. Now, I haven't read any of the Twilight-series books. When a blogger I admire and enjoy reading -Lynn of All Fooked Up - blogged about it - not Twilight - Fifty Shades - I got, as Lewis Carroll would say, curiouser and curiouser.
Then, Kim of My Inner Chick mentioned it too in one of her posts. I figured I'd read the book, eventually. You see, when everyone raves about a movie, I am the sort that waits until they air it on TV. Yeah. They do, you know. So anyway - I did read the book - and must admit it is not really my cuppa tea (or coffee). I hated Mills & Boon when I was twenty, so this one did not do it for me. Rather poorly written and repetitive, I found the female lead quite annoying most of the time. It was boring and I felt compelled to speed read it. I only finished the book because I don't like to ditch anything half way.
What I did enjoy was this post criticizing the book - it was hilarious. Cassandra Parkin nitpicks the heck out of Fifty Shades in her book "Lighter Shades of Grey", which is a very critical reader's guide to Fifty Shades. Still, no matter what is being said, no matter who loves / hates the book, E L James is definitely laughing in fifty ways, all the way to the bank with her trilogy, soon to be made into a movie.
So - anyway - I just got a little side-tracked there. Urrgh!
I really meant to share my own random fifty shades of life...
- Love how the fragrance of my coffee truly gets my day off to a wonderful start. Thankful for my routine.
- Gratified when I think of someone and they call on the phone.
- The thought of sipping mango juice with Vidur after he returns from school and catching up, joking together makes me smile…no, grin.
- Overeating a sinfully expensive chocolate-y gooey cake. And I say I am not fond of sweets.
- Discovering a fantastic blog and wanting to read its entire archive in one day
- Feeling upset that my Thatha is not in his usual spot and worrying to death about it, only to find him on the other side of the road.
- My flower lady scolding me for not buying flowers for my Mom's photo every day. And then asking if I am doing okay. After all, it is a week since she saw me.
- My regular condiments store guy spotting me park my bike outside his shop and before my helmet is off and I step in, he's got my staples ready on the counter and waiting for me to add more
- Vidur making his favorite faces at me hoping I'll laugh when he sees me looking serious or worried
- Receiving a T-shirt from my friend in my happiest shade of pink
- Someone I barely know sees a long-ago wish list and offers to send an item from it to me, all the way from another country.
- I sleep worrying about something. I wake up with a solution
- Wandering into the supermarket. Feeling disgusted because I forgot my list. And then the store girl brings the exact two items I need asking if I meant those. AND there’s a great deal on the product. Yay!
- Unexpectedly finding cash in my Mom’s book. Hey, this has been happening for two years now. I won’t be surprised if there’s cash in each one of her books – I still have several to go through. She had a master’s degree in literature and education, after all.
- Dreaming of my Mom and remembering it vividly in the morning
16. Noticing every tree along the road, every vendor, every street dweller and garbage collector and being able to smile at them. Yeah, the trees too! Each one has a unique bark. Yeah, the people too
17. Feeling overloaded with work and wondering how to fit in clearing up the kitchen, making lunch and hanging out the clothes to dry – and an hour later when I set out to do these things, Vidur and Sury have already tackled it. Bliss.
18. Hugs from Vidur - positive experiences! 19. Picking up bread from the store and having it snatched away – I look shocked and turn to see who did it – it is the bread delivery guy who replaces the pack in my hand with a fresh one.Then he goes on to ask me if I’ve had breakfast and coffee and tells me what he had for bf. I ought to have coffee with him one of these days. 20. Remembering my friend’s Mom and crying, she was so fond of me, as I was of her 21. Watching the skies in the evening on the terrace, and remembering all my blogging friends, thinking, wow, they’re under the same sky. 22. Reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Rohinton Mistry, and feeling oh-so-satisfied 23. Unable to get a tune I heard decades ago, out of my head – thrilled there’s YouTube to search, and realizing I don’t know the title, artist or the lyrics. And making my own lyrics and setting them to the tune because it is so catchy! 24. Cherishing the comments on my blog, and the love I see
25. Holding the virtual connections I've made close to my heart and hoping I’ll meet ‘em someday. I will, at least some of them.
26. Visiting the girls’ orphanage to feed them – there are around 110 girls there now, in the age range of 5 to 17 years. My heart melts when they smile at me.
27. The pigeons on my verandah make me mad because I have to scrape their poo at least once a week, then one day, I don’t hear their sounds and worry. I realize I don’t hate them.
28. Discovering I love to cook!
29. An email almost every day from readers of my blog, saying how much they love it. Happiness
30. Someone called me, saying that a mutual friend told them they’d feel better after talking to me. And they did.
31. Getting excited about a blog post I read.
32. Going through old videos of Vidur singing
33. Delaying something, to discover I did the right thing
34. Feeling guilty about not replying to blog comments the same day… because I believe we can all make the time for anything we truly want to do – and guiltier because I DO want to reply right away, except I am on a tight time schedule
35. As I pray for my friends every morning when I light my lamp…I am not very surprised that God’s voice is my Mother’s
36. Losing myself in nostalgia when I listen to a song I haven’t heard for decades – and enjoying the memories. Love how each song reminds me of someone
37. ….which makes me think, if when I write fiction, I will definitely have music in the background, a carefully compiled playlist
38. Watching the first graders I met ten years ago…grow into smart young ladies and gentlemen…..and smiling at them every day with a “hi”
39. Fantasizing about taking a week off – and smirking at myself when I realize I will spend it spring cleaning! Too used to a busman’s holiday!
40. Used to think bananas are the best fruit with corn flakes. But mangoes are now competing for the position
41. Getting advice from Vidur about time management. Love it – because it works
Vishnu Vardhan
42. Fondly recalling holding an 8-month old baby, 24 years ago…..and reveling in the glory of the thought that he is representing India in the Men’s Doubles, Tennis at the London Olympics 2012. 43. Contemplating an eclectic list to post on my local freecycle.org group to give away 44. Thinking of painting a wall red at home - I want change! 45. Got a set of fabric markers. Not sure why. But I am planning to sketch some of Vidur’s favorite stuff on some plain T-shirts. 46. Want to get my sewing machine serviced – so I can sew something – inspired after I read about someone’s creations. 47. Still working up my guts to get a short haircut. I don’t think I will. Although I might look alright, going by old photos 48. Wondering when I will get around to reading all the books I've amassed. At least a majority of these are digital. Saves on the dusting 49. Eager to see “Phantom of the opera” again. 50. Hankering for an OTG to try some stupendous baking recipes. Maybe I’ll get one for my birthdayOkay, folks. There ends my “stream of consciousness” style musings. Oh! The art of happiness!
Do share one or three of your own shades of life in the comments.
Go on. Enrich my life!
