Reading for me is not just a mere hobby. Its sort of a lifeline. I remember my childhood was devoid of any toys or games, but do have a proud collection of very beautiful picture books. With growing age, the reading passion also starts growing, so much so that by the time I reach the permissible age, have read almost all the titles by Sharatchand, Bankim Chand, Amritlal Nagar, Shivani and lot more stored in the book shelves of our home.  Me and my sister, used to hide these titles in the comic or text books and read. Lol, yes!

Our grandfather used to tell us stories from Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Tolstoy, in the most interesting manner. The love flourishes from there.

And somewhere in between, the love is lost in loads of work, managing the personal and professional life, though, not forgotten completely. Finally, decided to relive my passion of reading again, and restore some serious reading habit. Last two years, have seen my bookshelf building up more rapidly and with some real lovely collection. Thanks to some lovely friends whom I've found on twitter, and their recommendations, this love is jumping boundaries now and is becoming more experimental :D

Though, this year I've pledged to read more books, I'm able to complete only 20 something so far. And I find it quite a good number to restore that reading habit. Few interesting titles which I've read so far this year, and will love to share with you all...

# Our Moon Has Blood Clots - A Memoir of a Lost House in Kashmir - By Rahul Pandita
# Curfewed Night - By Bashrat Peer
# The Shadow of the Wind - By Carlos Ruiz Zafon
# And the Mountains Echoed - By Khaled Hosseini
# Apradhi Kaun - By Shivani (Hindi)
# To Kill a Mocking Bird - By Harper Lee
# The Palace of Illusions - By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
# The Girl on the Train - By Paula Hawkins
# The Vegetarian - By Han Kang

To list a few...... And yeah, Manto Dastavej are something which are continuing in between.. :))

That's all for today, here I return to my current reading...

Happy Reading guys!! And don't forget to share what you're reading these days......:))

Hissoṅ mein bante hue Hum

Pal pal kar hissoṅ mein baṅṭ rahe hain hum 

Kabhi hindu, kabhi muslim

To kabhi sikh-isaai

Isse bhi na bane to khud ko 

Punjabi, bangali, Gujrati 

Ban kar baaṅṭ rahe hain hum

Apne hi desh mein kabhi uttar ke to

Kabhi dakshiṇ ke ho kar reh gaye hain hum

Aao ek baar mein milkar 

Baaṅṭ dete hain apne jahaṅ ko 

Apne apne dayaroṅ mein simaṭ kar

Apni hi banai jailon mein

Khud ko kaid kar lete hain hum 

Nafrat ki Iss aag se 

Ek ghera bana, usi ghere mein 

Khud hi apne-aap se 

Batiya kar khush ho lete hain hum 

Kya zarurat hai Hume kisi aur ki

Apne aap mein hi sampurṇa hain hum

Hum hi darshak, hum hi actor

Sarvgunsampann hain hum

Roz apne aap ko uṅcha dikhane ki chah mein 

Kitne hi neeche girte jaa rahe hain hum 

Itne nafrat ke beej bokar 

Aane wale jahaṅ ko waise bhi kya dekar jaayenge hum

Aao aaj issi waqt apne mulk ko noch nochkar 

Apni sarahadeiṅ aap hi tay kar lete hain hum

Ruko, ṭhehro, sambhalo....

Thoḍa socho ek baar phir

Chahte kya hain hum

Nafrat ke phal

Ya ek haṅsta hua jahaṅ

Banana chahte hain hum....

#Self

Rediscovering Myself

We all face a turnover point at some time of our lives. (especially after watching movies like "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", which tends to talk all about liberation  of souls), so in my case, it happened some two years back, when suddenly I decided to quit my job which is termed as the most conventional one for the females in our world, yes, you guessed it right, academics. Though, I was quitting from the position of the Joint Director of Distance Education of a Private University. Naturally, the position was good, and I was at the peak of my career, and at such stage normally, quitting is not so looked upon, especially when you don't have another offer in your hand. Now this decision was more of a surprise to me as well, as I've never thought about it or planned about it. But once the thought is planted in my head, it refused to go away.

After quitting my regular job, I tried for some visiting teaching assignments, but I soon realised that I need a complete break. So, what next, I don't know. As I said, I haven't planned anything.And here starts my rediscovering stage. After working for more than a decade, with two kids, a full-fledged house responsibility, this liberation was more than welcome in my new found freedom. So, I decided to enjoy every moment of my freedom and rediscover myself.

And here I started my mission to learn new things.

The first of it was to try various recipes....

Oh! How I loved it! Yumm.....but then I detect a change in my tummy size too, errr..mmm...time to switch on to something different.

This was the time when I rediscover photography and writing. And I found out that it really works putting your emotions on paper  and clicking the beauty around you. Both helps in keeping the positivity flowing.

 Believe me creating something is such a heady feeling, that you'll never want to stop. Creativity gives freedom to imagination. It acts like meditation.

The next passion which I rediscovered was fabric painting, which was introduced to my by Mom during school days. So, was kind of surprised to find that I actually love it. And here I goes, painted around 4-5 dupattas, and gifted all of them. What a heady feeling, once again. Meanwhile, also started learning 'Madhubani' Painitng from a friend. Painting is actually a pure sense of meditation, all your worries, problems, seems to get lost in between those colourful strokes. And the end product always makes you happier, more confident about yourself.

So here's I'm rediscovering my passions, myself all over again. And without wasting any single day of my life. Have we talked about my love for reading yet, no? Okay, we will talk about that in my next post. Till then, just remember, life is too short and there are so many aspects about yourself which are lying hidden somewhere deep down you, so without further delay, start exploring yourself. You never know whom you can find underneath!!

Me and Blogging

Now this was going on since some years back, close friends and family forcing me to start blogging. And I was usually always making some or the other excuse. Finally, could not hold it any longer and decided to jump in and see where this takes me now.

The one reason, why I was keeping away from blogging, is my 'word fear'. Yeah, words somehow fail me always when I sit back and try to write something or even try to explain myself to someone. But, they are always there in mind, playing, jumping, dancing, sometimes whispering to each other and teasing me.

In jumbles, they play, create their own dumb charades and when I want to interact with them, Sigh! like some naughty kids they change their game and switch to play hide-n-seek. The hide all over and somehow always win in this stupid little game of theirs.

And how hopeless I feel and sound when I am around these little pranksters. They tease me, test my patience but still they are my best friends when I am alone. How I would love them to stay with me, when I need them most, to not leave me speechless in middle of expressing myself.

So, crossing my fingers here and starting my blogging journey with the hope that these pranksters, my naughty words will remain with me to support me on this journey.

Wish me luck Guys!! :))