All posts filed under: Personal

Winter in Virginia

Coping with life changes and enjoying the seasons

Published by Anita

My initial emotions when contemplating yet another life changing shift was equal parts anticipation and depression/anxiety. And probably, now that I think about it, quite naturally so. I did live in California for nearly 4 years (they did fly by) and built a life and a social network there. I pretty much upended my well sorted-out life and moved across the country to Virginia to start life all over. Again. The older I get, the more apprehensive I have become about building new relationships, and friendships, which are quite important to me. While I was an indiscriminate extrovert in my early years, I think I’ve come to appreciate quality over quantity now. I also find it much more difficult now. I still need and look for deeper connections and find it challenging because it’s becoming harder and rarer. And unlike people who live without social contact, I don’t do well without some form of physical and verbal connect with people. I need a hug once in a while, I need to exchange a few meaningful …

Reaching the half-way mark: It’s the journey, not the destination!

Published by Anita

It’s rather crazy how time flies. I was just looking back to a few weeks ago (8 now!) when I started off on my challenge. A few days ago, I hit my 50 day goalpost. I now have 45 more days to go. So what did I achieve so far and what did I learn? One thing is for sure—with a bit of determination and focus (okay, more than a bit!), it’s possible to stick to a target. Take for example, my determination to run/walk a 5k everyday. On paper, it did seem a bit daunting. But now that I’ve incorporated it into my routine, I make sure I get it done—doesn’t matter what time of the day. Though I started aiming to run everyday, one month into the challenge I began to experience a lot of ankle and calf pain. That’s when I decided that instead of stopping all together, I would just focus on brisk walking. At least for a week or two. So, yes—I’ve made a few adjustments, but I’m getting my …

The magic of meal time

The magic of mealtime

Published by Anita

Growing up, I remember that my parents always made sure we ate at the table. Together. At least one meal and it was usually dinner. I didn’t really pay much importance to it till I grew up and moved on and out of home.  Now that I look back, I really appreciate that we all got together at the dining table every evening. It might not have been deep conversations all the time, but just the act of gathering at the table was something we followed pretty much every night. As was tradition, mom would cook, and the three of us would eat! I do remember trying to learn some culinary skills at a young age, more specifically baking, but for some reason my mom did always insist on taking charge of the kitchen and never really taught us how to cook. My sister, however, did go on to become a chef during the early phase of her grown up life, but that’s a whole different story.   As I moved on in life, I crossed …

A 100 day challenge: Fitness, food and a few important things

Published by Anita

When visiting Stephanie last month in Switzerland, she and I reminisced about when we met and how we met. We actually met through our blogs! I was quite active on blogger at that time, having discovered blogs around 2002. I found some correspondence between us dating back to 2004, but we might have connected even before that time frame. We were both prolific blog writers—Stephanie wrote a lot about her experiences in India and that’s what got me interested (why would someone leave paradise, a.k.a. Switzerland, and spend a year in India?!). I used to write a lot of ‘diary’ like posts about life in general, my travels and experiences. Over the years, I’ve lost that habit (of writing on my blog regularly, not writing for work, which is my bread and butter!) and I still remember it feeling so good to just write. It didn’t matter what the topic was—and I didn’t have reservations about writing about what I ate for breakfast or what I did for lunch. It was my blog and I …

The Penland Diaries: Washing dishes and making them

Published by Anita

From washing dishes to making them has been the tagline of these last few days. And I’m borrowing and modifying the phrase from my very talented sister Ranjita (who used to be a chef and is now a potter) who says she went from: “Making dishes to making dishes”. Exhausting. Hectic. Overwhelming. Intense. Fantastic. A few words to sum up my experience at Penland so far. Time flies when you’re having fun and it really did. I have no idea how 10 days went by–it’s like one of those sprint races with Usain Bolt. It’s over before it started. The 18 member group worked at breakneck speed to fire “Rosie”, Penland’s three-chambered wood kiln. After 24 hours of stoking and firing, making sure all the three chambers were heated up, we stopped a bit past midnight on Wednesday. It was a first time for me working together with a team to fire a wood kiln and it was memorable. Now, I can see the reason why people fire these things. It’s tough and challenging–I still …

Showcasing Karnataka: Looking back, one year later

Published by Anita

On November 1, 2014 (also Karnataka Rajyotsava Day) a motley gang of 6, displayed the labor of their love at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad. Photographs taken over a 3-year period, traveling through the width and breadth of Karnataka. It was difficult to choose around 48 frames out of the more than 30-40 trips we had made individually and collectively. But, it had to be done. That’s all we could fit into the hall we had booked. What we remember though was that it was some of the best times we spent discovering the rich and abundant state of Karnataka, my home for nearly 10 years of my life. Not only did we challenge ourselves from an artistic angle, learning from and motivating one another; we also had some really fun times. Here’s a glimpse of some of the frames we displayed. We learnt so much from the time we spent together. But most of all, all of us forged a unique friendship that’s rare to find. While we had grand ambitions of putting a book …