10 day challenge: 8 fears

When I was a kid, I used to accompany my dad to the market to buy vegetables. I often used to get engrossed in the surroundings, while dad paid the vegetable seller. Then dad would start walking ahead. When I used to wake up from my reverie, I would realize that dad isn’t near me. I would start searching for him and get scared thinking that he has left me alone. Very soon, I would find dad standing 10 steps away from me, smiling after seeing my confusion. That one minute would be the longest and scariest of my life. That is my earliest memory of being scared.

In this post, I have jotted 8 things that bother/scare me:

1.   Snakes: Snakes and any other creepy, crawly things scare me. Snakes freak me out; I can’t even watch them on TV. My dear friend G, once played a prank on me. We had gone out on a walk, and while returning home we had to cross a field. It was dark. She knew my fear of snakes. In the most serious expression, she told me that the field was full of snakes and we had to run so that they won’t bite us. I ran the fastest and when I turned back, I saw my friend doubled up with laughter.

2.   Dogs: I am terrified of dogs of all shapes and sizes. They have never caused me any harm. However, I prefer keeping distance from them. I have never petted a dog in my entire life. Once I and my friend were busy talking near her building. A dog came running and sniffed me. I screamed so loudly that 4-5 people came running to see what had happened.

3.   Lightning: Yeah, when the rains pour down, and the sky sparks with lightning, I pray to God that one doesn’t strike me. The stupidest thing that I do is, I close all the curtains in my home in the hope that the lightning will be blocked by closed curtains:)

4.   Life cut short: I am not afraid of death as such. I know it is the ultimate reality and all of us have to face it, one day or the other. What bothers me is premature death. What if I die today? What if I am not able to achieve what I want to? What will happen of my family if I go away today?

5.   Crows: Yucks! I am not scared of crows as such. But of crows hitting my head. Read this to get a good laugh.

6.   Escalators: I feel dizzy on escalators, and try my best to avoid them. I am a bit more confident while riding up, but get terribly scared to ride down. My friends and cousins have tried their best to help me overcome my fear – with no luck. Wait, see the yellow line, and step when it reaches midway. This is the mantra I keep chanting.  I get weird looks as I stand gathering courage, and others wait patiently behind me.
When I was pregnant, I and hubby had gone to @home store, and the only way to reach the lower level was through an escalator. After 5 failed attempts, I approached the store’s security. This was when a huge belly and a worried expression used to help me a lot:P I convinced the security guard to let me use the staff elevator:)

7.   Loneliness: I am a social, outgoing person. I often worry about losing every one of my loved ones, my true friends. I am scared of loneliness.

8.   Horror movies: Well, I am very curious and intrigued to see horror movies. I see them with interest and then get terribly scared. I remember watching the Urmila starrer “Kaun”, siting in the second row. I was so scared later on, that I slept next to my mom for a good one week. The other flick which was quite interesting to watch, but scared me horribly was Jeepers Creepers. Now, on every late right road trip, I am convinced that Jeepers will attack our vehicle.

I realized after writing this list, that 3 of my 8 fears were related to animals or birds. I will have to do something to get rid of those fears.

Next weekend is 7 wants. Well, I want much, much more than 7.

10 day challenge: 9 loves

Okay, so after divulging 10 secrets about myself, it’s time to talk about my nine loves.

Most of my loves have evolved as I grew up. There was a time when I loved watching TV. We didn’t even have cable TV. Only the great Doordarshan, with DD1 and DD2. I used to switch on the TV first thing after entering the house. However, over time, I realized it’s a waste of time and watch limited TV.

The latest thing that’s addictive and fascinating is Facebook. It would be too embarrassing to divulge the number of times I check Facebook in a day.

Here goes my list of 9 loves:

1.   My family: My immediate family, my husband, my closest friends. I absolutely love them. They have always motivated and inspired me and largely contribute to what I am today.  They have also told me I am an idiot, when I behaved like one. They are the pillars of my life. They have accepted me the way I am, and love me for whatever I am.

2.   My baby: She came into my life on a cold December morning and changed it forever. I remember seeing this saying near a signal in Bandra “A child gives birth to a mother”. It couldn’t be truer. She’s taught me to love, care, be responsible, and be patient. Her single smile energizes me like nothing else and sleeping in her arms comforts me like nothing else. I love buying stuff for her – be it dresses, toys, or accessories. I loved dolls as a kid, and God gave me a real one. Unfortunately, my doll doesn’t let me dress the way I want her to. Her beautiful clips come out 5 minutes after I have carefully added them in her hair.
She has also taught me to appreciate whatever my mother did for me. I now better understand why my mom behaved in a certain way, why she took the decisions that she did, and how easy it was for her to those all those sacrifices for me and my brother.
My baby will always be my baby, though one day she will marry someone and go away from me. Sob, sob!

3.   Chips: I am obsessed with potato chips. I can easily devour one whole bag in one go. Once I start eating chips, I cannot control how much I eat. I think I have OCD when it comes to chips. I love Arby’s curly fries.
When I used to have fights with my dad and stop talking to him, he would bring me chips to resolve my anger and make me talk to him. My husband doesn’t buy chips when I fight with him though:(I DO NOT like to share chips with anyone else. I find it hard to share them even with my little daughter. She seems to be fascinated with them too.

 

4.   Beading: I learnt to make bead jewelry during our last trip in US. I didn’t pursue it as much until recently. Beading rejuvenates me and makes me happy. It keeps negative thoughts away from my mind. It gives me immense pleasure to create a beaded piece. I love gifting finished pieces to my friends; I also love to wear my beaded pieces. I hope to launch my bead jewelry business very soon.

5.   Books: Books are a man’s best friend. That’s so true. Books have never let me down.
I am a voracious reader. I can easily gobble up a 250 page book in one sitting. I mostly like to read fiction, self-help, or inspiring books. Nowadays, I prefer reading Magazines because they are easy to read and take less time.
Books traverse you to time and places written in them. My mind took me to Louvre museum after reading Da Vinci code; I had read so much about the FBI building, that I lovingly touched it when I visited Washington DC.
As a teenager, I used to read books late into the night. My dad would get up in the middle of the night and tell me to go to sleep. I would say “5 more minutes” and continue reading till I finished the bookJ

6.   Travelling: I wish I had all the money in the world to visit wherever I want. I dream of touring the entire India. I also aim to visit Europe and Africa. Luckily, I have visited the major tourist spots in the US. I am fortunate to have a husband who also loves to travel. Together, we explore new places to visit, find information about places to see, click innumerable pictures, and cherish our travel memories.

7.   The God of Small Things: Yes, I have read the book. And no, I didn’t like it. I couldn’t connect to the book. But I do love all the small things in life that God has created and I am in awe of them. “What is life if full of care, you have no time to stand and stare”. Life is too small to run after money, be obsessed with your career. We should always appreciate little things in life. Rainbows, the smell after the first rains, dew drops, a beautiful quote are all lovely things.

8.   Writing: I have always enjoyed reading and my love for writing stems from that.  I am glad I discovered the Technical Writing profession and it gave me the opportunity to explore writing. I love writing long emails to my good friends. I have blogged regularly in the past about daily happenings and maintained a food blog. I wish that I write more. I also aspire to inspire people through my writing.

9.   Dance: Put on some really good music, and the next thing you know, I start tapping my feet and swaying myself. I have learnt Bharatnatyam, and my love for dance comes through that training. A good dance, not only burns some calories, but also makes me happy.
I am happy and proud to see that my little one also appreciated good music and sways on the tune.

 The next posts is about 8 fears. That's a tough one.

10 day challenge: 10 secrets

Finally, my dear, dormant blog gets some activity. My friend Dee, passed on the 10-day challenge, where we have to write about a particular topic for 10 consecutive days. Busy (??lazy) as we are, we decided to write on 10 consecutive weekends. So, here’s the post for the first challenge: 10 secrets. Frankly, it’s quite odd to divulge 10 secrets to the whole world, and I wish it was 10 foods instead. Or maybe 100 foods that I like:)

On the other hand, my life is an open book. There’s nothing that my parents, husband, and close friends don’t know about me. I am an outgoing and extrovert person. Ask me something, and most probably I will tell you about it. Anyway, here’s my attempt at divulging some secrets or let me call them facts about my life:

1. I am big sucker for feel good, romantic comedies or romantic flicks. And the ending has to be happy. For me, if it’s not happy, then it’s not the end. I harass my husband every weekend to watch a movie that fits that category. I can watch my favorite movies over and over again. The top ones include: 27 dresses, Sweet Home Alabama, Pretty woman.
2. I am still scared of my dad. There’s no other human being whom I find scary, but if my dad glares at me, or raises his voice, I still feel scared.
3. I love buying plastic containers of all shapes and sizes. I may not freak out to buy any expensive stuff, but take me to Dollar or Wal-Mart, and I start walking towards the aisle where they display plastic containers. I am quite eco-friendly in all other aspects. My husband pulls me away when he realizes that I am heading towards that aisle.
4. I tend to take on more than I can handle at times. Too many tasks, too much work, too many things to do. Then I get stressed out and wished that I hadn’t taken up so many things.
5. I have contradictory feelings about a lot of things. I am quite social and outgoing; yet do love to be alone once in a while. I am hyperactive, yet can let go of some things. I like to take fast decisions, yet procrastinate others for no reason.
6. I have changed a lot over the years. I was a very shy, introvert, low-confidence, silly girl in school. My dressing sense was pathetic (still hasn’t improved much). However, I have observed a lot of people in my life and learnt to be confident. I am proud of what I am today. The only thing I yearn is to be wise and be at peace.
7. I love organizing things. I like to assign places for items, make lists, and arrange stuff. That doesn’t mean that my house is always neat and tidy. I make lists for everything: things to do, shopping list, and contacts list. I love to strike out items as and when I complete them. Earlier, I and hubby used to sit and make a list of things to do on every Saturday morning. It would be a long list with 15 items such as visit the bank, pay the power bill, or fix something. By Sunday EOD, we would complete only 3 out of 10 items. Now we have stopped making a Saturday things to do list.
8. I am jealous of the chemistry between my husband and daughter. She doesn’t even look at me when he’s around. It’s like I feed her, bathe her, play with her, but when daddy gets home, she turns her complete attention towards him. It feels good to see that they are so attached to each other. But sometimes I feel neglected.
9. I can figure out how complicated stuff works, yet never find it easy to operate a coffee machine, open doors (never understand which way they open), turn on faucets (why do they make them so complicated), and how to swipe credit/debit cards.
10. I get extremely irritated when friends, relatives fall out of touch and claim that they are very busy to write back. I think our generation has plenty of communication medium- emails, skype, facebook to communicate with each other. But we have lost the zeal to stay in touch with people or have become to casual. We hide under the disguise of “being busy”. I know I have neglected communication in the past under the same disguise, but I am definitely improving on keeping consistent contact.

The next post will be about nine loves. Stay tuned.