Chuffed!

Cheerful Monk has this post up in her blog which, as it so often happens to me, came at a time when I was looking for the correct word to describe something that came my way earlier today.

The famous Serenity Prayer goes like this.

I have liked this prayer for its simplicity and thrust.

What came my way was this quote:

“I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change.
I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”

~ Angela Davis.

This appeals to me and I am naturally chuffed for having learnt about this.

Do you like the quote?

Tsundoku – 2.

My friend AA sent this to me on WhatsApp.


He further reminded me that in Japanese this is called Tsundoku.

And that, reminded me of another blog post that I had written earlier more than eight years ago.

It also took me to Nick who suffers from Tsundoku and Wisewebwoman who does not but, who reads a mind blowing number of books.

I am like Nick. I buy books as soon as I come across some reference to them somewhere and they wait to be read at some time in the future. As I write this, I have twenty two books waiting to be read on my Kindle and ten Hardcover ones on my book shelf.

As I was writing this post, another friend strongly recommended another book that I intend buying as soon as I finish writing this post.

This is one condition that I am perfectly content to be saddled with.

How about you, dear reader? Are you afflicted with Tsundoku as well?

Morning Solitude.

As my regular readers know, I wake up around 4.30 am every day, perform a set of exercises, meditate and then I venture out of my bedroom.

The first thing that I do is to make myself a mug of ginger tea. I carry this to our verandah overlooking our garden and sit on a chair facing the garden and the road beyond it. A cat that has adopted us comes around asking for her morning breakfast which is given to her and she contentedly sits around till something else distracts her.

Strangely enough, she resembles a coon about which you can read here.

I take about half an hour there while it is still dark. I watch the morning walkers, joggers and others on their way to work or whatever and sometimes, some passing acquaintance will stop to exchange some pleasantries.

This morning respite sets the tone for the rest of the day for me and it is something that I look forward to every night before I fall asleep.

What is your morning routine?

Another Outing.

My beard trimmer conked out and I had to go to the manufacturer’s service station located at a distance of 12 Kms from my home. I put on a mask, got into an autorickshaw, and went off to see a bit of Pune that I had not seen for near four years.

It was a great experience passing through many landmarks on the way that brought back many memories of my more mobile days and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive to and from the Service Center. So much so that the driver of the auto even asked if I was new to Pune!

The place that I  had to go to is called Swargate and I was simply amazed at the changes that have taken place during the time that I had not visited that area. The major junction is now free of the long waits at the signal due to the flyovers that have come up and we were able to go pretty fast to where I had to go after the main junction.

The icing on the cake was the excellent customer service that I received at the Service Center and the very considerate driver of the auto who drove efficiently, helped me in and out of the auto and over all kept me entertained throughout the adventure.

An outing that has given me the necessary impetus to be more adventurous from now on and more importantly the confidence to my son and daugher in love that I can still be left alone to my devices!

The Post Card.

With WhatsApp under pressure because of their recent message about accepting their new terms of privacy, many jokes are doing the rounds, mostly and appropriately perhaps, in WhatsApp and here is one that came my way from three different sources.
My response to one which was copy pasted for the others was “Absolutely. My father from the old school, used to add my degrees after my name: BA MBA. The postman asked my wife once what that surname meant!

My nephew overheard this and started calling me Bamba Mama.”

And that response from me reminded me of another post that I had written in this blog.

So, the postcard makes another appearance in my life. Here is the another one that was preceded by another to which there is a link in the post itself.

Note: In Indian languages relatives have specific names unlike the umbrella uncle and aunt in English.  Mama is specific for the brother of one’s mother.  In this instance, my nephew is my sister’s son.

Cooking Undhiyu The Traditional Way.

Nick had this to say in his comments on my blog post Winter Speciality Food:. “I wonder if other dishes would benefit from being cooked “under a warm winter sun in an open field on a farm”? In fact Wikipedia tells me that “the dish is traditionally cooked upside down underground in earthen pots”. Sounds a bit tricky! But your Undhiyu looks delicious, however it was cooked!”

I thought that the best way to learn the process which I have seen a few times, is to share this video with my readers.