Bus ride

Facepalm Facebook

Today I deactivated my facebook account. Facebook has been part of me for some years now, part of me I say as I have spent a substantial amount of time on it. That precious time I could have utilised elsewhere doing worthy stuff. Recently, I started following a blog www.becomingminimalist.com and that got me thinking.... we think somethings are unachievable untill we actually do it. Facebook addiction was one such thing that I wanted to give up but never reallly dared to take the plunge. I just happen to wonder, if ever, I was in real trouble and needed to call for help at 2:00 in the night, who would I call on my friendlist? Yes sure, 4 or 5 "friends" on my friendlist and they happen to be close family or close friends. They were with me, even before facebook was and will always be there for me, beyond facebook. Some of my close and dependable friends are not even on facebook!

I will not be able to see the funny posts, the informative posts but I do not really have to log into facebook to do that, honestly speaking. I am happy to not read posts people share that are politically correct but they themselves do not believe in, yet they share it anyway as it is the "in" thing to do, the inspirational quotes shared - if people had started following those quotes, the world would have been a much better place by now and I will not miss the candy crush invites!

The people who care will be in touch anyway through mails or phone calls and the people who do not care, will not care. But what I gain from not facebooking, is a sense of accomplishment for having overcome a silly addiction that the social media calls sustained engagement !

Back to square one!

Summer, couldn't have been a better time to land in Sweden, for the first time. I couldn't imagine that it got any worse in winter, even though everyone around, warned me. Soon, it was November and it was in-comprehendible to me, how could the same place wear such a gloomy and grey look. I shuddered in disappointment.

To make matters not so on my side, I was struggling with the language and a new country meant me going out of my way to find/make friends. All the above reasons lead me to explore countries, where the sun shone even in November! I did find such a far flung country. My excitement knew no bounds! Added to that, speaking English meant I didn't sound like an idiot, struggling to string together sentences that made any sense at all.

Maybe I was not in touch with my inner self as I wasn't even aware, I had let Sweden grow on me, imbibing the local values and culture and also getting better at the language (people seemed less perplexed when I spoke) while the plan for the move had taken over my life. Suddenly, the day came when I had to leave Sweden, I was sad beyond my expectation. I struggled to enthuse myself for the big move. It was a roller coaster ride from there on...

Ok, the sun did shine and I did sweat in November, yippie! But I missed the flat working structure in Sweden. The CEO's car being parked in the front most row, only the boss chomping on his sandwich and slurping on his fruit yoghurt, while the rest of us,lesser mortals, had to appear focussed on the mundane meeting agenda. The sun still shone, so I pretended to ignore (ONLY) the boss's breakfast at the meetings.

Sweden, with it's excellent public child care facilities, with a gender equality focus, has lead to more participation of women in the labour market and men playing an equal role in childrearing. Sweden's left wing politics has meant, above all, a lesser gap in the society, apart from national health service, unemployment benefits etc. The sun still shone and in November, but there were one too many things rattling on my mind....from childcare to kanelbulle, gender equality to fika, socialism Vs capitalism and it's effects to VAB, to name a few of the thoughts. I pictured my daughter growing up in a society, oblivious of the differences and respecting people as they are and not due to their social and economic status, sexual preferences and religious beliefs and most importantly, growing up in a gender - egalitarian country and took the plunge.

I signed a truce with myself "to bloom where planted" and returned to Sweden. The sun was no where in sight when I landed back in Sweden, and for a good 2 months. But it seemed less significant now.

PS - What I do miss is street food, authentic world cuisine and light hearted banter at bus stops, trains, stores and just about everywhere. Wishful thinking - Exchanging pleasantries wasn't considered hazardous!

A very inspiring piece of poem by my chirpy stary eyed 7 year old who wants to grow upto into a pop star. As a parent I can't stop grinning with pride :-)

Silver lining?

A silver lining on a cloud sounds great. But a silver line ( I would prefer to call it strand of grey) sprouting on my head, feels like I am only inches away from my grave. Ok, that was an overstatement. What I really want to state is that I'd do just fine without the glitter highlights!
I would like to beleive I am still far from the days when I have to dye my hair every fortnightly. And also hope the grey strands are not the harbinger of heart ailments and joint pains. Silver strands are not directly or indirectly proportional to the lard around the aorta. No nobel prizes for this discovery!
Getting back to the (grey) roots, they are not that many. So no distress calls yet but the depleting melanin at the hair roots which lead to greying, may not always be a byproduct of ageing. And who knows, maybe, flaunting grey will be the trend this fall!
And even if it is not, fitting in is not the trend anymore, standing out is...

Beautiful Mess

That's life. When we are young(yes, I was young too, some 200 years ago) we're quite critical about people and things around us, wondering why they are not as they ought to be. As they say - Everything that's good is expensive, illegal, fattening, gay or married to someone else!
As people age and sprout a strand or two of grey hair(not mandatory, ofcourse), get introduced to sagaciousness(not everyone), the eyebrows stop frowning at the drop of a hat. People just learn to accept life and it's ways. Everyday we meet braggadocios, megalomaniacs and people from far away planets, as they do not seem earthy but it seems less of a surprise when you've been on earth for quite a long time.
I have had no mid life crisis, seriously.Neither have I attained nirvana. Always knew life is a beautiful mess. It is what you make of it.
De-stress, not distress.
Get enlightened.
Make friends.
Cheat on your high protein diet.
Indulge in retail therapy - yes, happiness can be bought in apparel and shoe stores!
Ignore your pedantic colleague.
Greet your sneering neighbour.
Live, don't just exist!

Typically me

By jotting down things typical to me, I run the risk of exposing my faux pas far and wide but what the heck! Does anyone in the big big world love to splurge and yet cringe on facing the bank account state(ment)? Comm'n world tell me I am not alone. When on a spending spree, I try to convince myself, there's no tomorrow and I should live in the present but lo and behold, life does not seem to end after the money in my account ceases to exist. Does anyone have a tug of war with their conscience for petty issues like hogging an ice cream? I can see you smiling and owning up(in your mind, ofcourse). Ever since I remember eating, I have known guilt. But even before my guilt gets to my conscience, the ice cream has broken down into adipose tissue and become a permanent fixture on my waistline at lightning speed. Does anyone, after a day of (comparatively)less carbohydrates expect miracles? I do. I try my old jeans and much to my dismay, do not fit in. Life is not fair why should a pair of jeans be any different? Now, I do not want to spill all the beans about me and let the enigma surrounding my personality wane but I definitely gotcha chuckling and thinking...