Getting perfect in poses

Okay, I am super thrilled on my minor accomplishment of 45 classes in this year. It was not a huge hurdle and involved loads of breaks weekends on the way. When I walked into a gym an year ago, there was a board with challenges on, people would complete and tick off. In that moment, an easy wish surfaced, if only I did something worth challenging to be on the board. Then appeared the yoga challenge. It just fueled my spirit.

In my short yoga journey, there are a few tricks that helped me grow in a lot of poses. Some of them are down here.

Number one is for all the standing poses. The base of a standing pose is focus and your firm leg. Now push your knee back and all your toes hold on to ground like they are clinging on effortlessly. For more details, see description of bikram knee to head pose. Lock your knee, its like a click. This helps with all the standing poses. Once you nail it down, you can do dancers to tree pose. Once your leg is firm and stable like a tree, then shift your focus.

Number two is definitely the one that troubles me. The cobra pose and all the spine strengthening series needs a cobra tail. So when you lift your legs, they are like someone glued them together and there is no way they could separate. It takes enormous core and sucking in glutes together to get perfect bikram locust pose. Never ever start without legs fixed together even if it takes months to get that lift.

Number three is back rounding. We all know spine is the base of body and yoga poses. Unless, your instructor says specifically to round it, keep it straight. Even though you might be going for a backbend, feel full spine arched up. Its like the bow. Rounding up can be unhealthy if done in wrong pose. In standing separate leg stretching, don't go down unless back comes naturally. Give it time and effort, it will happen. Feel your spine lengthening in poses like you are just one from head to spine to hips.

Number four is for all the yang practitioners. If you don't feel the strength in arms even a bit, give it time. Keep taking classes till your core and back is strong. While some people can just kick into headstands, others like me take a lot of confidence to even warm up to the feeling of getting legs up. You can be at any stage. Never push beyond limits, you might injure yourself.

Number five is the hands. So when we do triangle or warrior 2, hands are never idle. In any of the yoga poses, hands are always stretched. My yoga teacher says feel like you are getting pulled in the direction of hands like you are tied to a rope. Your hand can't be just hanging around. Feel energy emanating from one hand to another. It doesn't come naturally to me. I have to focus to do it. In bikram half tortoise pose, hands are stretching forward feeling like there is a single line till hips. In balancing stick too, they are important. If they are hanging, you will never get the hang of a pose ;)

Next and last one today is neck and chin. Keep your chin up, keep you chin up. Hehe archi keep your chin up. Yeah this is the cue everyone throws at me. My natural posture is not great, its mostly a little chin down. So when you are doing the half moon pose, you should be able to see your neck like full long neck. I forget it all the time. As soon as you do chin up, your shoulders take right stance too. Try and tell me if it works.

In my last class, I was kind of tired so that gave in to the experiment. How much do I miss on without pushing myself , it wasn't even an inch. It just means my mind was more worked up than my body. When it was decided to shut up and let body flow, same results came. So just calm your mind and yoga on. Less stress, more breathing.

Thanks,
Namaste

We are all average hamsters

When I decided to look up something to add on humans or hamsters, guess what popped up. This

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxk7_xW4P9E

Click on link and you see two girls acting dancing like hamsters. Then there were videos on how to make cute shortcakes for hamsters. Ohhh well just a youtube search proves my status.

Its our mandatory super average existence that provokes me into writing this. None of us have individuality to do anything original out of the loop. Even when you try to quit loop, your parents call you to be in the circle. All their friends and kids are in this hamster cult. Raise kids, money, houses, parents blah blah. No no don't add extras. You will taint your averageness.

When we are in love, we like taylor swift. When we break up, we still like her. When we feel angry, we like harsh leaders. When we are happy, we like bruno mars. Ohhh when we feel political, we like Narendra modi. When we are feminists, we like its all about my bass. Basically, we are given options on which emotion to feed on from where.

All of us were born equal with same intelligence and body. Why do we have to look at others to make our life happier? Its like some alien race visited us, gave us the codes to live by. Then some moron changed it with his under average script and we were all doomed. Everyone has dogs, cats, kids. Do you think all of them raise them the same? Well, average people do. We raise average kids who do average things. Somehow, even dogs cats can be raised average.

Average humans ruined it all for us. Now even those who could be best nurturers are scared of going down that road seeing the worst decline of humanity. What scares me this is the downward spiral.

Art, culture has all degraded. Lyrics of songs make no sense. Drink and dance is all you get. I mean seriously just look at the comments section of katy perry's song chained to the rhythm. Its enough to know what kind of pit we are in.

How can a lifestyle be endorsed? How can you review, recommend ? We are all in this happiness bubble where game of thrones makes more sense than Earthlings. Its disappointing saddening to core.  Is there a way out of all of this?

Everyone is buying a home so you do that. Everyone is getting a car so you do that. Insurance, Emis, loan sharks make sure we are trapped. These are all mere attachments that add complexities to a much simpler life we could have.

I don't know but one day we will be out of this hamster loop. At least we will try.

Fight for your personality. Make your own decisions. Do what you like. Why are you so stuck up with what the world does. Don't listen to your parents. Unlearn that shit.

Our generation was smarter. We never had to look outside. We grew up looking inside. Never forget to look inside. Somehow, when you look outside looking for who you are, it will always tell you what do you want, who do you want to be, you have to know what you are to know what you want. To know that, you don't need anybody else, you need to look inside. Love respect be the ultimate human you can be. Be inspired but stay on your journey of finding and becoming who you are.

Everybody's unique. We are somehow always told by everyone else this is the time to get married. This is the time to have babies. This is the right age to retire. Take life at your own clock. Rise above what is normal.

Chained to the rhythm

Moment we heard katy perry's song, we were like oh this seems like a stoned conversation we always have. One day if some dude posts a video on youtube saying this is all rigged, we are all hamsters, uploader wouldn't even have to look around for evidence. Its all right here, all the proofs of our chained existence. In a way, its all sim city.

Hamsters watching hamsters running on tv instead of living their own life. We are fed all this useless information on economy. When was the last time you went zoo? Did you feel bad for animals and zoochosis? Did it ever occur to you we are doing the same thing in our 680 sqft apartments with ikea and classy dinner sets? There is a schedule, we wake up, we get dressed, we show up to earn virtual money that goes in our online accounts. If a hacker decided to wipe it all off, it would be all for nothing. Still its all for nothing. Humans are chained in all the possible ways.

We live our lives through lens. Try visiting any restaurant, trail , monument, proposal, dance concert. All people do is take camera and capture it. Its not just this generation, our parents were way worse. There are Tbs of photos videos you never go back to check. Photos that consumed your time on possibly the most relaxing places. Only way you see it all is through panaromic shots when your eyes are the best way to look at the huge beautiful world.

Real issues that actually matter, the wars raging on, homicides, the whole clueless generation coming up, kardashians being role models are swept under the mat. Isn't it troublesome that world is being led by most volatile leaders ever in history? All we think of is money, jobs which is significant if you care about your food and clothing. Its a vicious circle that hamster runs in. Its never enough. You run till you die while someone feeds on your power. Third world countries are just puppets. People are mere ants. No one would care if whole of a country disappeared. We hate ourselves so much we deny global warming.

Human race has killed all the other races. Nazi era never ended for other species living with us. We are culprits. We all will pay some day.

Chase that ball will you.

Stumbling around like a wasted zombie.

Thanks

Proud returning NRIs: Over Hype or not

Blog sharing is pretty common on facebook now. As much as I hate facebook, it educates me on people's beliefs, lives blah blah kids. This one post got my attention. Obviously it did because we are NRIs who love it abroad. In the article, the woman describes her life in US as somehow incomplete without friends, maids, food inspite of the best luxury, safety, equality, job, fitness.

We all want different things in life so if she really wanted to go back, she should have. What bugged me more were comments on the post and immense likes. Again, there can be a huge community of people who do adore indian life way more than american way of living.

I grew up in India, spend almost 30 years of my life growing up. What those 30 years taught me needed so many upgrades. Even the wealthiest smartest people in metropolitan cities don't have the kind of lifestyle a normal american has. We never feel the need to add certain aspects to our daily living. Keeping the emotional angle of loving our country, living closer to our relatives family is kind of valid unless you are kind of detached like us.

In my 18 months of short stay here, it feels like we are still not there. From raising kids to fitness standards, everything is just touched on a very basic level. We love our kids so much we stop their development by snatching the basic freedom of doing things on their own. Its not chores, its like when a kid goes on trail with parents, they tell them to look after themselves. Even four year olds walk 3.5 mile uphill trails while indians are panting their way to parking. Its because we were not raised athletic at all. Sports was not a shining thing in middle class. Let alone teach responsibility over pampering.

As a woman, the kind of respect you get here would never be expected in india. The freedom of speech, the fact that no one bothers you ever on street, no matter how you dress up you are never stared at speaks a lot about this country. You can drink, walk home back, take buses trains and its all safe. My yoga instructors are so strong businesswomen. They don't care about it. Its like its a general trend. That to me is so motivational. We can't get over milind soman in india when there are people like modern tarzan up here. Check his instagram account. Check street workouts. Its all so inspirational. We can't stop talking about ramdev, shilpa shetty but honestly they are just on beginner levels. Ambitions find new ambitions here.

Then there is customer service standards. Have you seen this video where an indian is arguing with a cop on driving and cop is so utterly patient with this guy? Do watch it. They are studying humans, they are not disrespectful at all even though you might be completely out of line. My last encounter with an indian cop involved me spending an hour in sun which wasn't even required. Licensing office, insurance policies are so clear cut. I know India is changing but to reach this level of professionalism, it might take another decade.

Do I miss my friends and the big pool of people I could fish them from? Yes absolutely but not working has kind of restricted my circle. Maid issue doesn't even arise, you got vaccum cleaners, dish washers, washer dryers. To me life is way more convenient and practical here. I hated dealing with maids being sick or demanding. Do what you really want but never judge other people's life.

People who return can have several reasons from loneliness to family issues. Even though you go back, appreciate your stay here. Learn what you can in your stay. If you are just here for money, own it. I do see a future where all of us will be kicked out. So absorb the goods of this society while you still can.

Love your country but not so much you stop seeing the bad parts of it. Worse are those who try to bring country  here, cross roads without walk signs on, litter, break lines. That to me is downright wastage of a good opportunity to be civilized.  Don't condemn those who don't want to come back. You are not a hero if you went back. Life is flowing and it was just a decision.

Thanks.

How to soak more yoga in ?

Hmm everytime I step out of class, there is just one question in my mind. How much am I doing right? How much of it is in the muscles now? After weeks of curiosity, finally my instructors were involved and answer was 55%. So again, what should I do to improve? What what what hehe. Then started percentage assignments on my postures which trust me was an eye opener. While my warrior 2 got 90%, my posture transition 10%. I even got demotions on some of those from 70 to 30 straight down. My spine strength was all wrong, there was no cobra tail just a split leg.

How to soak more yoga in? Yes, we can, its not just about practice and focus all the way. Its also about paying attention more than efforts. Here are some of my suggestions to absorb more and get more of practice.

Don't be tired : There was this 45 day challenge that would sometimes compel me to go straight day after day or even 2 classes in a row. For advanced practitioners its practically nothing. For beginners like me, it takes a toll. Hot room, fatigue, tired muscles just won't let me practice to my full capability. So instead of going everyday, go alternate days if your body tells you.

Listen to cues: While bikram is big on saying cues all the time, sometimes we slip on power yoga cues. Listen to your power yoga instructors when they tell you to keep spine straight or legs joined. I did one bikram pose wrong for 6 months because I wasn't paying attention. Now its so difficult to rebuilld the strength to do it the right way. If you are resting, breathe and pay even more attention to cues, yoga postures. It helps a lot.

Don't compete : I used to thrive on jealousy and competition and to some extent it did help me in pushing myself. It wears off after some months. You don't get anything by looking at other people. Your inner strength is more utilized efficiently if you just look at your own drishti. It took me almost 6 months to know this.

Never stop smiling : It does not help when you feel super pissed off on not getting that leg straight or head to knee. Just smile,breathe. Next time this would be the memory of pose instead of all that grumbling howling sweat.

Don't struggle : Yeah, the more I struggle, more it takes me backwards. We can't hurry this process, teenagers will always do better with fresher bodies. People like me in 30s will always have to clean rust before body acquires it. If we create more struggle in body, it would not support us. It would just give up or get sore. Yoga should not do that to you. Go to the point where you can normally breathe.

Stop looking at pinterest : Pinterest Instagram is full of advanced yogis which is a great help when you need steps to a pose. At the same time, it can be disheartening some days to not be there. There are lots of yoga clothing brands that use these pins to sell products. With nothing on how to do it properly, its just a pic. Only follow pins that are for your level right now. I have been addicted to downloading all these flows poses every morning and trust me none of them ever helped.  Try finding pose tutorials on youtube.

Eat well Drink well : If we do yoga and eat fries burger, it just doesn't add up. Right food helps in practice. When you feel cleaner inside outside, it definitely makes you feel lighter with your body. Try this, have salads one day sleep well drink loads of water and next day in yoga class you will be flying through perfect poses.

Tie up hair : Hair can be so distracting. This day in yang class, there was a girl with hair till hips and she just made a ponytail. No wonder, she did nothing but sit and manage her long luscious hair. Well, don't underestimate the practice for everyone else too. I am so gonna get buzz cut after april. Short hair is for all the lazy yogis out there. Less distraction, more soaking.

Wear right clothes : Okay so I started with full leggings and switched to capris in a while. It did make a difference at least to me. In some time, it would be shorts and sports bra. But yeah take your time to warm up and wear for comfort. No one really looks at anyone.

Get a good yoga mat, towel : Without both of these, you will be mostly slipping around trying to grab on to ground. In yoga, you need to hold tight so you can be firm in the poses. One more issue off your mind, it will be easier to be in flow of it.

Thats all I got right now. Who knows in next few months I might say this is all rubbish. Till then, yoga on.

NAMASTE

Valentines day facebook

As you scroll through facebook on 15th feb, its full of love posts dedicated to husbands, wives,sons. I mean its that one day its just so overwhelming. Facebook has become a love portal for all of us. Its really sweet when you see all these cheesy declarations of affection. Don't get me wrong, its cheesy but its love. Love is cheesy.

While growing up, could you have imagined an open platform where our fathers would be posting pictures of moms saying how much they appreciate and love them. Its kind of great for everyone. Why not? People like me find comfort in making fun of all this valentine stuff. We  get a thousand ways to say how it is just for the heck of the day or race to post picture in the most popular facebook frame.

What remains evident is it yields a happier crowd. A hormone that gets pumped up when you get facebook likes comments ,it gets you going. If facebook didn't exist, some of us would go through existential crisis. Well, some people might not even go restaurants or vacations because there would be no place to brag about it. I know I know its just sharing happiness. Seriously though, as you age, posts age too. Once on orkut chatting amongst us teenagers discussing our crushes, now all we wake up to is either pre wedding shoots of people in 30s or worse kids winning awards in nursery. Yeah, it sucks. We use it to show how much we love animals or dresses or beaches or even political agendas. On indian festivals, you just finish pooja on seeing all the posts by these religious morons.

You are what your facebook posts are. You might pose in a raunchy bikini and all you will get at the end of day is nice pic bhabhi didi chachi mami. Its only small town teenagers catching up on facebook who leave no occasion to remind you of your marital age. Real city teenagers have moved on to some other cool tagging app.  Hehe its not that bad. Just saying. The society we grew up in, the friends we had, our family members everyone is there moving along with us. In good or bad, you are connected somehow.

I tried to quit facebook so many times but all those funny posts of badly dressed confident people keep pulling me back. Guilty pleasure. To run away, I went on instagram and facebook kindly brought all the mess there too. Connect all your accounts so we can annoy you everywhere. Well, one of these days it will be full unplug mode.

My point is its good to have this online way of expressing our feelings as long as you mean it in person too. Don't be the person who is constantly snapping pictures of food and dress without exchanging a meaningful heart to heart conversation with your valentine. Love for real too, don't get lost in virtual aura.

Salads soups to start with :)

Being a hardcore indian, the only kind of salad came with carrot, cucumber, beetroot cut in a plate. Other vegetables came in form of curries. When my chinese friend started inviting me for lunches, initially it was difficult for me to even like her food. It was bland, it was mostly veggies. Then came the appreciation of taste for raw vegetables. There are a few recipes that can give you a good start in salads section.

Some of my favorites are:

First one which is the most recent one is sweet potato salad. I love this recipe. Its got everything. Its super easy.

http://minimalistbaker.com/roasted-sweet-potato-chickpea-salad/

Second one is the one my friend made for me. Sesame cold noodles salad. There are lots of recipes of this one. Google it. It asks for tahini sauce which you can easily make at home. Add peanuts and green onion.

Next salad is pasta salad. Just boil pasta with brocolli corn. In olive oil, add zucchini and capsicum. Stir them a bit, add boiled pasta brocolli corn for like 2 minutes and remove. Top it with lettuce, romaine one, walnuts, pinenuts, cheese. For dresssing, use olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard sauce, tabasco, sea salt, ranch dressing, brown sugar or honey. And its amazing.

Fourth one is my kind of sweet salad. Kale cranberry salad. To start with, get one of those kits from safeway or wholefoods then experiment with your dressing. After a while, you will buy your own ingredients and make it. Leave it with dresssing for some time so kale becomes a little softer. You can add pickled beets to any salad.

There are lots of soups out there. I find manchow soup really healthy and easy. It takes 10 minutes to make it.

Try noodle bowls too like ramen noodles. If you eat eggs, whisk eggs add to oil till they get an almost bhurji consistency then add water, carrot, zucchini. After 5 minutes, add diced tomatoes, corriander, spinach, salt pepper, boil sphagetti separately. Mix them up and serve with peanuts, green onion.

There is this sweet potato salad where you mash sweet potatoes and add onion, tomatoes, corriander, lemon, ranch dressing with some tomato sauce , honey and salt. It tastes awesome too.


Of course, we indians have our own versions of healthy soups in sambhar, rasam, dal, thoran, pineapple pulissery. So don't leave indian cuisine.

I just tried this sella rice, its worth buying too. It makes amazing rice bowls. Its best for pineapple fried rice and some kind of rice my husband makes with hoisin sauce and peanut butter.

If you are vegan ,try tofu scramble with zucchini spinach capsicum cilantro with indian spices. Its yummy.

When we travelled from seattle to portland in train, they had these oats which were so simple. Just make oats, heat up milk, serve with brown sugar and dry fruits. Warm food on cold days.

All of these recipes are on google. Do try them. They bring a change to life.

Yoga aha moments

What does yoga teach you the most? For me, its been patience, silent observance and focus. Life turned around with yoga. If someone asked me my one of the biggest regrets, it would be not starting yoga early in life.

My 7 month practice has reached at a point where at least my legs are straight with my head on them in standing head to knee. Like everyone, it started with a shivering bent knee now its my morning stretch. Its so important to enjoy and appreciate your practice. If you don't, you will be just running to achieve those instagram photos.

Last night, curiosity took me to a lot of instagram yogi accounts. Besides giving goals, it also gave me kind of restlessness, my impatience, fear of failure didn't let me sleep through the night or it could be my heater. Anyways on waking up, my instant reaction was it sucks to be left behind. But the point is I never started with those yogis. Their journey is completely different. No one can steal or cheat on yoga. It comes with time and loads of tons of patience.

If someone took my advice, it would be take pictures of you doing yoga every 2 months and then put them up in  a collage. The difference is amazingly clear. To our hungry mind, nothing will ever be satisfactory. Being content  would mean stopping the pace of practice. Ohh, if only there was a shortcut. So everyday when I enter yoga room now, instead of competing or looking around, I will just focus on my practice in my zone. My instructors pick on me a lot which also helps in improving my poses. See some of us need that extra push extra attention now and then. We can't be left at home to just follow youtube videos. I kind of got the hang of bakasana and side crow too.

I stumbled upon this awesome instagram yogi and turns out she was practicing right in the back row. I always thought how is she so good at it. She is an acro yoga teacher. Another one who just nailed every pose was a dancer. Nothing extraordinary is going to pop out without efforts. Body needs to be trained, there is no miracle happening around.

So just yoga can't be carried anymore, more cardio more strength based training is up for me. I will start with tabata, move on to beachbody and then hit convicts conditioning book. Sideways, yin yang classes will go on too. Ohh, street workout is so motivational. Have you checked modern tarzan on instagram? Do that right now. Yoga is more like a relaxing practice from all the haul we do. Its time to bring in the haul.

Have fun with yoga. Its just yoga. When we are not paying attention, our body rewards us with aha moments of accomplishing understanding poses. Wait for them. I have experienced that zen with so many poses. It will hit when it has to. No one can force it. Till then, yoga on.

Namaste.

My life through apartments :)

Okay I know all of us love our homes. Some of us love them to the extent where they will go for a cheaper bigger space. Others might trade it for a better safer location.

How much do I love my apartments? Well to the point where my instagram is full of just my apartment pics. Have you ever loved something so much you won't share it with any other person? Ooh ask me all sections of my home are so special that when someone thinks of coming over, I actually decide in advance which parts will be open to visitors. Hehe bedroom is off limits even if you are super heart-attack sick. If I could, even washroom would be locked.  I know right love of the apartment. When my friends bring kids which was only allowed twice, no diaper changes in my home, no touching windows, not even my soft toys are accessible. They are up there safe from button seeking ignorant toddlers.

All my homes were always sunset facing. We didn't seek them out, they just came to us. And then it became a habit. A spoiled bratty kind of expensive lifestyle if you see. Ohh my first apartment in bangalore had a window with perfect sunset view. Well, we had just met so view wasn't the highlight of the life. We did have some pigeon babies and a maid who loved us. My maids always loved me. Who wouldn't love a non interfering over paying couple who sleeps when they clean. Bangalore gave me a lot of shanthi meals and mast kalandar meals and ccd's sizzling choclate. Our R15 bike was the star. We got stuck in rains, stayed in weird motels, moved within a month of meeting each other. My dressing sense sucked. If I posted a pic from that time, it would be blast from the small town 80s.

Then came this small apartment in chennai near beach. I kind of didn't like that one. There was nothing to look out for except construction workers. But it was fun. We raised two sets of puppies there. Saw lots of beach sunrises in thiruvanmiyur, besant. Ate burgers, dosas from sangeetha kind of shops. Whenever tsunami warnings came, the air in chennai became sweeter. When you are young, nothing really matters. You drink, eat, fuck, sleep, play borderlands and feed strays. Thats life. Grocery shopping is a pain but you still do it. My cooking skills were at their lowest bottomest pit. I worked which did nothing for my personality. Never ever work in a place that has people over 50. They suck the life out of you. Worse are the ambitious crazies who think promotion matters in a place like that. I see it as a way of getting out of home. Ohh home is like a cage after 17.  More you live there, more they try to turn you into them.

Aaah my second favorite apartment came in my life. Ceebros boulevard chennai changed my life. When you choose to live in a society full of classy rich people, you raise your standards. I met amazing ladies who worked with animals, went for lunches birthdays beach outings. Ohh finally gym swimming table tennis came in our lives. Life is so crazy, it exposes you to so many things in one moment. People hate chennai for its weather, I loved it in the evenings after 5. Cool breeze and my cats. Every day it was gym, walk, talk. The setting was perfect, a chef friend, a rum lover, an awesome animal lover , a fitness freak and the best part all of them had cats or dogs around them. These people taught me how to cook, how to talk, how to just be. I just absorbed it all in. We grew up so much. We finally got our lazyboys. Our first and last pet lola made an entrance.   It kind of prepared us for the transformations ahead. I had this crazy trainer who was Mr. Chennai then there were swimming lessons by this fellow who would text me waiting for you in pool :P. There is so much to learn always. And our table tennis sessions that I would never win. Pool table where the conscious me wouldn't hit because my ass was out. My friends called me lanky girl with guy shorts. We raised more pigeon babies. Hunted the demon's forge was in. We ate drank like crazy, baked cakes, visited yercaud like 7 times.   I would have never moved unless it was my next favorite apartment.  Every person has a journey, the moment we believe we are at our best, we stop evolving. Just keep going at your own pace.

Now comes dhan dhan dhan dhan my favorite one my present apartment which is always on my instagram. Right now when I am writing, I see clouds floating around. There is nothing more beautiful than the long beautiful sunsets here. I love it so much none of my friends have seen this apartment. Hehe I don't mind shifting people to bnb for this one. Its majestically elegant. The pillar that we hated is the center of attraction. My dining view beats top restaurants. If someone ws spying on me, all they would see is this girl sitting on red lazy boy looking at tv or typing something randomly on laptop. Every window has a scenery. There is nothing I would trade this view for. Just add a balcony to this one and its perfect. My life goes around it. When I cook, in the middle of it comes the standing bow facing sunset. The thought of having a job means no one would be around to see how sun set today, how clouds floated, did rainbow come when sun and rain were together. Did I mention rainbows, ohhh I have seen 4 rainbows in a span of 30 minutes.Sometimes 2 rainbows pop up together. When it snows, its beautiful outside. When the summer comes, walks around are my dream hikes. Its like a forest on one side, city on other side. What more could you get? My perfect home. When I wake up, I see misty clouds.  When it snows, I see beautiful flakes falling down. When full moon happens, our digicam is catching planes going through it. Hmmm my love knows no bounds for this one. Then of course it has given me yoga. On clear days, beautiful snow laden mountains come behind space needle. What more can you get, hehe I am going crazy and I am not even high right now. Cranes of course are the ugliest things popping around. In the morning its beautiful when seagulls take flight from bellevue library or in night when planes go around with blinking lights or on rainy days just one road with beautiful lights. Ohh this one is kind of irreplaceable. May be we will get a penthouse next time. This one has the hottest versions of us:). God, why do stingy hoarders get all the money.

I hope my apartment luck is always on streak and we keep finding happiness in our permanent staycation spots. My precious. Who do I love more- my parents or my apartment? Hehe lets not hurt people's sentiments here.

Awesome amazon post holiday party :)

We party every weekend so I didn't really expect it to get any wilder. Last year the party was pretty mellow for us. We didn't drink enough I guess. Hehe yeah so this time all drunk up on whisky and 2 more drink coupons in hand, we knew it was gonna be awesome.

Food is always terrible in amazon parties. My less terrible parathas and okra filled me up for the evening.

Yay by the time I got out of bus, drunk me was dancing on street. Oh gosh americans are so lucky they have the kind of hot girls normal indians can only dream of. If I had a do over, I would be reborn as a bi somewhere in america or europe with maximum strip clubs and spring party destinations. Then of course street workout and american ninja warrior. By 35, most of my life ambitions would be done so I will move on to yoga vacation spots with my victoria's secret photographer fellow ninja husband and 4 kids, 4 dogs, 5 cats hehe.

Coming back to this birth where we just got initiated, ohh party. Now I fully acknowledge that company parties can be so much lamer for people who partied all their life. We never had spring breaks, my first pub visit was in my late 20s yeah what a waste of prime young body when you don't use it to digest alcohol and cheap food.

Honestly, to me DNCE didn't even exist. I knew cake by the ocean just because this america's next top model danced to it. All drunk, our friends got a pretty sweet spot near the band. Lead singer of course was handsome and hot and just so groomed. How does that hair stay like that? Gel hmm but whatever he was shining something in my heart. The lyrics were pretty stupid though, toothbrush blah blah. But when you are high on booze, you just cruise. Guitar girl was crazy cool.

2 hours went by with us dancing jumping shouting around an over dull crowd. We didn't really care. See the motto of our life is have fun wherever whatever you do.  Aaah so we danced danced and danced. I took my friend's wine, my crazy moves around some kind of wheel spinner, hehe I even made my single person train to water cooler. Tomorrowland must be wild.

Aaaaaah loved that night. Thank god for the amazing friends, inspite of missing bus we got a place to stay and more alcohol and pizza :).

Fun fun fun.....How much fun would it be if it was crazy bollywood songs? Viral video I am telling you.

What is love?

Okay I kind of went on a mean cat spiral which didn't at all work for me. I tried to judge, tried to say that I knew it all. Ultimate fault in the wisdom seeking souls.

So backing up from that track, lets go on the peace trail.

I chose a post to reply to which was so vicious of me.

Lets see my version of love.

Love is like fresh crisp lettuce, hehe it does make you glow from inside. Some of us meet in college, some in school, some in workplace, some of us meet with parents and end up getting married. Love is never different. I know everyone says love is different for everyone. To me, it is a formula you work on. Every couple has a unique chemistry. What keeps the wick burning are little considerations, acts of love mixed with understanding and kindness.

Every teenager girl grows up with romantic movies. When you see guy waiting for girl or rushing off to airport to catch her last glimpse, it appeals to you. Not because we know that kind of love, its because we all somehow want that forever romance. Its after a few years of being in a relationship, you understand the concept of it. I don't even know how old folks feel about love. We know nothing.

Its like yoga. The more you get into it, more you are comfortable and flexible. Unless you reach that point, you never know what you are missing.

Love will not be complicated. Its simple, pretty genuine simple. So never pick worthless battles.

When we met, we were so apart in nature. Its just some spark, some kind of bulb that goes ting. You kind of want to be with this person, want to know him, want him to somehow speak your language. It takes a lot of time to know families, upbringing, what shapes his/her past. Why is she so laidback? Why is she so introvert? What are these layers of personalities hiding in? How can we just become awesome together? Time goes into relationships, like loads of tons of time. Love lust sails you through.

In the meantime, you start sharing hobbies, interests. Its important to talk about random personal things. They shape a human being. Also, if you are not spending enough time, you will never go the depth of your partner's heart and character. This all sounds made up.

How do you know you got the one? I don't really have tests. All I think I would say is see that the person loves you, cares for you, respects you, understands your moods. When anger comes or arguments happen, how can  you communicate with each other without pointing fingers. You are a team. Its never a vs in home. If they made me an expert on love, cupid will resign. God knows I am the worst one to talk to in stressful situations. So someone out here is dealing with that too.

I see so many marriages around me. The crumbled ones had cracks already. The happy ones show signs of love, companionship. Have you ever realized how within a dinner, we know who dominates in the couple, who loves more, who is just hanging around? Its all out there.

When should you quit? If it seems impossible to get love and respect, move out. A person can make you feel hurt or inferior unknowingly but if someone is investing all that time in just sad hopeless arguments or fights, its better to move on.

Life is soooooo long and yet so short if you get it on with the right one. Couples who grow together carry their relationship to levels of comfort and ease. You express yourself wildly. The personality just explodes. There is this amazing confidence, exuberance that a person can add to your life. You feel cooler, lighter.

So don't look around thinking of all the unahppy sappy couples. Sometimes people grow apart in mature world too so its just life. Look at the marvellous ones who are singing their way to deadline. I hate to mention but akshay twinkle rock.

Appreciate encourage where its due. Also, the thought when someone cooks for you or works for you or buys your favorites is all love. Just soak it in, love more. Thank them. Be grateful. Its like a church wedding lecture.

Even if I die today, I have no regrets for I loved and lived each and every moment. This is the goal. Every moment is an occasion. Don't waste it fret it on minute things. Grow together. Love each other.

When in doubt, watch "This is Us"

P.S. I love you

Save your country, we care :)

Hello americans, your country has given a lot of people dreams. You started on a really strong patriotic note. Don't give up now. As I walked around on san fransisco streets, it struck me with a memory of indian lane. Crowded, dirty filled with homeless people and pigeons. I see people not stopping for walking signs.

When you cross bellevue transit center, people are spitting right where they stand. This is what we escaped from. There are tissues lying around, starbucks cups left on bus seats, orange peels on park benches. Truly disappointing. Why would you go on a downward spiral? This country, this infrastructure is amazing. The amount of hard work, planning that generations of americans have put should not be wasted.

I get you are frustrated with economy, immigrants, government but don't give up on this. It takes  a third world country raised person to appreciate the peace and prosperity here. Not all of us are here to take your jobs, not all of us want to ruin your country. In fact we are so much  more careful of your rules. We stand in queues, we never litter, we keep quiet in buses, we always pay our share of parking tickets, we learn drive with caution. Some of the immigrants dare to break rules because they see some of you breaking laws. If you see someone not following line, point it out.  Make laws stricter, take more fine. Don't make innocent people suffer for a bunch of psycho trained freaks.


So this is my really honest plea. Don't cross roads unless walk sign is on. Don't break rules. Don't hate your country. Don't spit in public. Use dustbins. Don't shout in public. Take care of homeless population.  Keep it clean. Be more liberal. Focus on art not xander cage movies and please stop casting indians:P. Love it like you always loved. Make your country greater.  We are here to help always. If you send us back, you will just end up with more work to do yourself.