More than a fairytale!

This morning I got up and it felt weird. Not an upset tummy day but a different flutter inside. I checked my phone and there was a message waiting to be opened. Hoping to see, “Your balance is getting low, please recharge your account soon” from the network company, I half opened my eyes and read it. It said, “Yo!” That made me smile. Smile like an idiot. An idiot in love. Deeply in love.

 It was amazing how he is always the first thing that pops up in my mind as soon as I get up. Be it randomly, or texts from him, or days when I wake up with a content smile because I saw him in my dreams. This might sound like a Hindi movie, but yeah, I often dream of us running around. Not the Hindi melodramatic type where the girl holds a pigeon and the guy holds her from her back and together they let the bird fly. But, I see us roaming around on his bike, punching, hitting irritating each other!  

Yes, I am in love. I’m happy. Very happy. “Touchwood!”

I don’t have to be called a princess to feel special. When he calls me “Mula” that feels good. It feels special. It’s amusing how I can stay calm when he: bites/ punches/ irritates/ squeezes/ spits/ pinches/ slaps/ and many more annoying things to me. I have always been a very violent person threatening to kill everybody.

I am I love. It feels so good to say it. I AM IN LOVE! :)

I was always in love but its been a few days that I have been happy. I know I am mentioning it TOO much. But every time I mention it, I feel sooooo happy and nice and loved and what not! :P

So my sexy man!

Thank you for making me feel this way.

I want this to go on forever!

Us.

 Forever.

<3

P.S. You don’t need to be in a fairy tale to wait for your prince to sweep you off your feet.

Violent Streak!

This post is dedicated to my colleague who thinks I am violent and who is scared that i will kill him someday!

:P

Mr. Executive, I shall kill you someday!

And Snaap! ;(

I got up this morning and when I opened my eyes, I was lying on my back facing the ceiling. Following the same usual routine of stretching my arms and twisting and turning making weird sounds, I snapped my neck.

That hurt really bad! I froze for say 2- 3 minutes. Unable to do anything but keep staring at the ceiling, where I saw spider webs on the hanging stars that I had made some time back. I thought to myself, “Damn I am a dirty mess!” After staring at my ceiling for a little longer I got up to get ready for work. Yes, I am a good employee!

However, god damn that hurt! I finally got up and acted like a giraffe. Stiff and weird and strange and ugh! I made my way to work somehow and there was no way I could twist my head and turn around. To make me look less stupid, I took my glasses out and put it on.  Once I was at work, things got worse, there were people sitting on all directions and interacting with them was the worst thing that could happen to a handicapped like me!  And why do people need to interact with me today? There are so many days when I am so desperate to talk but no one is around.

 And so I am here, sitting straight in my cubicle fussing at everything.  And till now, it has not been a good day at all. If anything good happens- good meaning, my neck gets alright, I will jump and dance and and and, sigh! I wonder how long will this last!

Till then you people who can do anything with their necks, have fun eh?

The sad stiff necked human.

I am not a giraffe anymore! 

I cant do this as well!

:(

Smile! :)

A photographer is like a fish, he lays thousands of eggs hoping that one will grow to maturity 

Am I living it right?

Once in a while everyone wants to feel like a princess. Wait, princess is too much. Maybe just special. Showered with attention and all the love you need leaving you happy and smiling all day long. Again, smiling all day long would make you look like an idiot. But again just happy! It’s not that people aren’t happy when they don’t have anyone around them! I am one of those people who can actually survive by myself (I can actually! Even though I grew up with a sister, I have been the kind who stays locked up in her room for ages). However, even between all of the things going around you, new job, old job, weight loss issues, no matter how much you deny it, you want to be loved, hugged and be told that you are the best!

I started writing this article trying to prove that I need some loving at times. I still do but, just because I need loving and no one is available to love me doesn’t mean that I ruin my days sulking!

Hug yourself if you’re feeling low!

<3

Chao!

Im bored!

Bye!

Because, Earth is not an open dustbin/ loo.

My workspace is very close to where I live. And I walk past Thapathali Bridge every day. Always lost in thoughts trying to hold my breath in to avoid the foul smell. I come across different activities everyday! Some days it is children of the slums throwing the river water at each other, their parents chasing them, monkeys chasing people, and what not. My favorite past time is looking at the objects floating down in the river and thinking which ones might have come from my household apart from the poop and the ashes of dead people from Pashupati.

Like any other day, I had my earphones dug deep into my ears and I was listening to “If its love by Train” which is my current favorite. I saw a disturbing scene. Yes, I saw a person poop. How disgusting could that be? Worse, I try to divert my eyes and I spot another person peeing. Such a way to start my day! “Thankyou god!” I thought to myself!

What is wrong with our country? But again, as I was explaining the situation to my colleague at work, he told me when he was in India a few years back, people peeing wherever they wanted was a common sight. Is this happening because of illiteracy? But wait, don’t kids who are getting education in well known schools thrown sweet wrappers/ noodle packets out of the windows of their school busses?

The main problem for this is ignorance. We were never taught to do such things but we end up doing the wrong thing.

   

I am not calling myself an environmentalist because I too at times throw things openly. Not always but sometimes. My sister who got married some years back built a beautiful mansion in Sanepa. The beautiful house stinks like a toilet. Even they cant stay there anymore! 

 We should all get hand in hand with the environment conservation. That reminded me, if you are a How I met your mother fan, you will know how much Marshall wants to save the environment. In the latest episode form the 6^th season, he even quits his well paid job as a banker to work for the environment as an intern. This is what he says that made a heavy impact on me! And, I googled it! :]

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or as Marshall puts it, “Garbage Island”) is a swirling mess of bottles, bags, toys, packaging and plastic trash from all corners of the Earth forming an enormous plastic whirlpool in the North Pacific.“Discarded water bottles from Iowa, takeout containers from New York City, flip-flops from California and plastic debris from the world over make their way from land into storm drains, streams, rivers and other waterways.” The plastic is carried out to sea, where it gets trapped by a vortex of currents to form a giant, floating trash dump. Seabirds, turtles, and other marine mammals mistake the floating plastic for food and ingest it, filling their stomachs with bottle caps, cigarette butts and fishing lures instead of food, ultimately causing them to starve. Scientists estimate that around the world, up to one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die each year from eating plastic.

This is just an example of the Pacific Ocean.

Similar things happen in Nepal.

No matter how much people try to create one day cleaning campaign in Bagmati, one day wont make a difference. You need time and effort for this. That doesn't mean you save today's work for tomorrow. Start today and let your children be healthy!

Take Initiative today.

:P

<3

Blogging!

I started blogging because I saw my friend, Yesha malla (http://yesharambles.blogspot.com/) blogging. She was awesome at it!

As i went on blogging, there were many people who made a blog because they found me inspirational!
Haha! YES! :)

So, thank you dear people who read my blog and who made one because they liked mine :)
Do visit their blogs!

Sudeshana Karki: http://my-itchy-toes.blogspot.com/
Raziesh Shrestha: http://iblog-razz.blogspot.com/

And it makes me so happy knowing that there are some people out there reading my blog! :)

Poems!

Fiat

Isn’t it just great?

After all that I ate

You refuse to pick from my plate

Afraid that you’d makeweight

 On the day I was late

Which you just hate

And it all started from being classmates!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love you baby!

Loving you from the core of my heart,

Making you my sweetheart

Giving you just more than a fart

Never wanting to be apart

Day and night i think of you

Without you i feel like an igloo

With you i want to start life anew

You have me stuck to you like glue!

<3

Valentines 2011

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we have a Camera!

Tripureshowr!
With Mr Sajjan Raj Vaidya! The awesome writer/ singer/ annoyer! :P

Sunshine.

Half-headed!

Stupid wire that ruined it!

The Chase! 

The forced smile! :D

Under the cute tree!

The Sunset!

Behind the bars. :P

The beautiful window!

And the day ends!

BYE!

And I am a girl!

My lover always told me, “Why do you have to wear dresses?”

My answer to that would be because I am a girl! Well, it’s not that I want to flaunt myself! No, its just because that’s the way girls are!

I am not trying to find an easy way out here but, there are guys too, who try more than hard just to look perfect. Well, I don’t try that hard, it’s not even about trying! Being a girl in her late teens, I love wearing dresses, shorts, colorful tees and everything that a girl would love to!

Today, one of my colleagues was looking into the glossy papers of Vogue and admiring a page. Another colleague came up and with a smirk, he asked her, “You are a girl, why are you looking at another girl?” She laughed out loud and replied, I am looking at the dress she is wearing you idiot!” Well, this is just an event that led me to writing this post!

There is a myth that girls dress up for guys and vice versa. I love clothes and make-up so, I dress for me--of course, and I do also enjoy it tremendously.  Seeing a beautiful dress on a mannequin breaks my heart thinking it would have looked great on a pretty girl! I know this is too dramatic, but its just the way it is! :)

I have to run back to work now! :) 

 Happy day folks!!

Amit and Saurav!

Living for the love we have,

Living not for reality.~

Sometimes when we have a camera.

Good times at Tripureshowr!

 They are local kids who want to grow up to be like Sachin Tendulkar. The guy in the middle speaks amazingly good English while the one on the right tries to communicate with me assuming that i was a foreigner- but all in vain. They are like any other kids that we know from our family ties. Or being specific, the high class kids. The only difference is that, they are not materialistic. They dont need a toy to be happy, a sweet to make them smile. Tell them you are Priyanka Chopra and they will believe you. Feed them Candy Floss and they think its spider web. ( I did both of the above!) 

Meeting them made me realize that we are all materialistic people looking for objects to make us happy while they are happy the way they are. Just running after the pigeons-gathered up on the ground on the temple premises where they play- and seeing them fly makes them happy.

Learn to be happy with what you have. 

Dont aim for the galaxies when you are happy staring up at  the beautiful sky, full of stars at night. 

Hope~

When there is a small ray of hope glimmering in the end of the aisle.

Falling~

A friend wrote it!
He was too shy to let people read how awesome he writes! 
:)

And here I am, drenched in  the classic 'failed romance' feeling. When I look at it, I know that it is. But its not the first time its happened. Not to me, not to anyone else. So if I tell someone how it really feels, all they get is this mundane image in their heads with a guy falling in love with a pretty girl in a very strange way. And it never looks so hard to get over when you're the one who just has to listen. But when its your footstep off of the doorstep, there are not many places you can walk off to. They can never feel the vibration on your chest from your heart breaking a million times inside. They can never see the struggle you make to keep it inside when the tears collect in your eyes. When the tears do fall on their own, all they do is ask you - because its a human instinct and nice to -  is, " What's wrong?" and when you answer, " Everything.", they do not realize how genuine that very 'everything' is. So I'm keeping shut. I can't make anyone understand and so I won't. Why? Because they can't. To be honest, I'm not sad because of the knowledge of the possibility of me never standing behind her, holding her and looking out the bedroom window watching the sun rise. I'm sad because when I wake up one day with someone next to be, it won't be her. After I'm done pushing that one last gulp of drink that will make the world go around me, I remember. That very 'someone' is going to be the best thing that will ever happen to me. So much so, that I won't need her; I won't remember her. So I'm not here waiting for the failed romance to magically transform into my story of the girl I loved. I'm waiting for the memory of her to disappear. After you step off of the doorstep, there aren't many places to go to. But you can always keep walking. You never run out of roads to walk on.

All words reserved: Sajjan Raj Vaidya!

:)

Imagination.

Don't waste the sun on a rainy day
The wind will soon blow it all away

~Jet, Shine on

Just put a rainbow in your life! 

:)

Hmm?

Here I am in Basantapur, in my favorite café. Sitting on a low bamboo stool, waiting for my small cup of cappuccino  and I came here to decide about my life. It sounds/ looks/ feels stupid! 


Why do I keep on forgetting why I came here? I wanted some internet service but – Nepal is a country with plenty of water resources but no one has learnt to utilize it yet- so back to where I was, I didn’t get my internet connection because of load shedding and here I am writing this as my next blog post!

Well, I am listening to hallelujah at the moment. That is such a beautiful song! And I have such a bad life! Sheesh! Why do I keep on saying that? I am just 19 for god’s sake! And I can see some guys checking me out. Not so ugly- I am working, that might seem like a good thing to other people. It is, I earn for myself- well not technically but I do get the money I need to get me things!


Why go i keep on thinking about stupid things?

My cappuccino is here! Now I am thinking again, what is life all about? 

I got internet access! YES! :)

Now that cheered my mood! 

anywho!

I rant about how i want to be alone and push off everybody from my life because i am waiting- wishing- wanting for some alien thing!

Again ranting here!

i dont know what i am writing here but i assume this is just a phase!

a phase that i want to pass so desperately.

please pass away.

so i will just go roam around this fun filled place! :)

chao!

I was on my rollerblades
Rolling on moving on

Because i love taking pictures.

Confessions of a Facebook- holic.

If you are one of those people who just skim the first few lines and flip the page, hang on to this one. I assure you are going to like this write- up!

June 2008, that was the month the mysterious webpage, the facebook took over my life. After being an incessant user of Hi5, getting adapted to Facebook was quite of a hassle. However, it was not that late that I actually started eating, drinking and breathing facebook. Adding album after albums of pictures, writing on people’s walls and the best part of it; stalking other people- it was all so good! It’s not that I am a stalker but everyone enjoys poking one’s nose into other’s lives once in a while!

For a person who needed to be on facebook 24/7 having a sibling with whom you had to share the computer was a curse. Fights after fights took place. Load shedding made matter worse as my sister and I had an argument as to who would get to use the computer first once the lights were back. Again there would be arguments on to make each other friend on facebook or not. And if we were friends, swearing on each other not to spill any beans about facebook activities to our mother.

Going deeper to that thought, I made a new facebook exclusively for the family members. I named it after my pet name at home and added all my family members, uploaded the same pictures in both the facebook-s and had time for BOTH of them every day. You might think I am crazy. But trust me, it was fun. Many people who are reading this might not have family on facebook and you are probably blocking them or having them on your wait list. I don’t have to do that! I stalk them and get to know what they are doing everyday!

So getting back to my facebook craze- Just as much as I loved stalking, I loved uploading pictures of everything- friend’s birthday, gathering at house, prank played on a friend, another prank played on the same friend, crocodile’s tail and what not. I remember one of my closest friends telling me that I am a mad woman because I had 53 photo albums. I repeat 53 Photo albums on facebook. Of what? Well, as I told you earlier, of everything! Again, under this topic, I had numerous fights with my sister as to who would upload what pictures!

I am a self-proclaimed patient of ADD (Attention Deflect Disorder) which means, I can’t do without constant attention. That made me very conscious about my profile picture. Changing it often, trying to make it just more than perfect. Sulking if I didn’t get more hits. Similar thing happened with my facebook status-es. Writing something different just to get attention from people! I know by now, you think I am a crazy person, but this is actually true and as I look back to it now, it makes me shudder and laugh at loud at the same time.

There was a time when I got GPRS service on my father’s phone and surfed facebook throughout the night. If there was nothing to do, I would just keep on refreshing the page minute after minute expecting a new newsfeed to keep me busy for a while. I facebook-ed even during my classes, hiding mobile phone under the school desks in fear of the teacher catching me red handed. Well, it was not long that my father asked me to get the GPRS service on my mobile itself which was depressing. Why? Because my balance dropped down as soon as I recharged it!

Time passed by and the friend requests and the pokes came in like anything. Yes, with time, I matured. I started working. And the office rules got me out of this horrendous addiction. Even though I cursed the rules at first, now I am thankful to it! I no more spend all my money on recharge cards and time on facebook. I still stalk people but I have stopped refreshing page after page just to get fresh newsfeed I still have 147 friend requests pending and 73 poked waiting to be poked back. But instead of poking some total stranger, I now spend my quality time teasing my grandfather on marrying me off which is just so much entertaining and fun than facebook!

because its a HOLI-day!

its been a while that i took an initiative to update my blog! :)
tied up with lots of work!

hmm! Saturday today! Holi!
why i am here updating my blog? because i love my readers! (pfft!)
i had planned on going out but, my groupies went out of town so im here sulking! :S
other of my friends called me over but im waiting! still waiting for i dont know what! :P
anywho!

i love holi!
i love the colors!
water!
laughter
anger ( once a friend plays a prank on you)
fun
bhaang!

but, as we compare past holi-s with today, seems like it has changed! there were times when my sister and i played on the rooftop, hit everyone on the road with lolas!
now, if we hit anyone with lolas, they will prolly send us to the jail!
well there is a different story behind the one who enjoys aiming lolas at others and the ones who get hit!

however,
so yeah!
happy holi folks!
its 11: 31. yes, there was a rumor that an earthquake would hit kathmandu! it didnt! :)
so enjoy people!

love,
nivida!

Im Nineteen! (SIGH!)

December 13, 2010

8:03 PM

Dear Journal, I have something to tell you today which has been bothering me for quite some time. Today is December 13, 2010 and if you love me, you know what I am going to tell you about since you know so much about me. Anyhow, if you are wondering what news has the “Drama Queen” come up with, here it goes.

 I feel like I am an alien at times who has come down from Mars in a huge spaceship and is E.T.’s sister, but the sad part here is, my birth certificate says that I was born on 14^th December, 5:14AM. My mommy says I was difficult during birth and was the naughtiest child from my family. Biting, scratching and beating up the cousins who loved me and came over to ‘play’ with me. Poor cousins.  With every passing birthday, I grew wilder, naughtier and what not! Birthdays always fascinated me. Not other people’s birthdays but MY birthdays. I adored being the center of attention in my birthday cap with a knife on my hand cutting the cake with smiling faces surrounding me. Not to forget my second favorite part of birthdays- cake came first any day- presents! I never had any clue what I wanted but anything made me happy.  No matter how old I was, going to school on birthdays always made me happy. Wearing my prettiest dress to school and distributing sweets to friends, getting patted by teachers and the whole school singing birthday song for you in the morning assembly.

It’s 9:51 PM and I am panicking! Oh god!

Years passed by and I entered my teens. Yes, you have zero idea on how reckless and restless I was. However, I had stopped abusing my cousins and started loving them. 13, the magical number hit me and I thought I was socially and mentally an adult. Fighting back with my parents, trying on makeup, gossiping, bitching about friends and every rowdy teenager would do. Now, since I am a self- proclaimed alien, I lived on a lie all my life. My mother told me I was born on the 12^th of December and I celebrated my birthday on the 12^th till I was 16. Almost half of my friends wish me on the 12^th and make jokes about my birth disorder. SIGH!

Another funny thing, I celebrated my 14^th birthday in B&B Hospital-Another bizarre thing happening in a drama queen’s life. I had my appendix removed and was admitted in the hospital where I cut a sweet pudding cake and apple juice with my sister and my parents. I will always cherish memories from that birthday. Forever.

10:30 PM- 1 and half an hour to go!

I was an overgrown baby with pent up energy. I still am. Oh yes, who would know me better than you?  I had abnormal hormones. I loved every boy who looked cute, fell in love more than a dozen times and read books on finding my soul mate.  I feel so stupid writing this now! Haha! But Bahaha I will just laugh it out. Like I did all my life-laugh at something-anything- everything. One thing I remember clearly is the day I got my periods. I know this is a taboo subject to talk about but hey, that happens to every teenager doesn’t it (apart from the male species)? So, when I was married to the Sun God, after the periods, I was told that I was a responsible and had turned into an adult, a woman overnight. That was silly because how can I just turn into a woman overnight when I am still the same 5 foot 2 inches tall? Women are the ones who walk on the runway of the FTV not a child like me. Yes, Child. It was the word I was looking for! I was a child! I ran along with my brothers, dug my nose at times and farted out loud in front of people.  Beep Beep. I just got a text from my boss at work. She said she couldn’t stay up till 12 so she is wishing me early. Sweet! Oh crap! Does that mean I am 19 already?  No, OLDER? My last year of being a teenager?  

11:24- OHH MYY GODD!!

Will I die soon now? I don’t want to be 19! Being 18 was like jumping off a cliff with a parachute. Turning 19 in half an hour feels like the end of the life! Will I never be able to fart in front of others? Not that I -am very fond of it! But wait up, NINETEEN? Will mature instincts kick in when I can still am a small girl, a child? Am I entering the adulthood without a single high school sweetheart like the movies?  But on the second thought, why is there an ice cream called 21 Love? That obviously means I will find the love of my life when I am 21. Doesn’t it?  Since it’s time, should I bid goodbye to my teenhood and say hello (a sulky one) to my adulthood? Should I have arranged a party for myself? Am I being a drama queen Ms. Journal?

You would never imagine what just happened! It’s 12:03 already! I am NINETEEN! Nothing happened! I thought there would be a poof! And I would turn from 19 to 90 year old! I still look the same. My phone is ringing but I will just finish writing this. In the crappiest of my handwriting:  No way I am growing older, I am the same me and my mother would probably fall of the kitchen counter- LAUGHING of course - if I told her that I have become responsible once I am an adult. I don’t even like the word. ADULLLLLT.  However, I didn’t change into a sweetheart when I turned 13 nor will I turn into a woman once I am 19. It is a process and I have molded into myself I am by now. The main thing, I am not sad that I will change my habits, NO WAY! I will remain like this evermore and fart in front of my grandchildren (Note again, I am not fond of farting but just an example you see). As for the looks, I will use the anti ageing creams and do something and remain sweet 16 forever. But for now, adios journal! Will tell you how my surprise birthday treats I am expecting form a few people went. Bye! Thank you for being there!

Xoxo

Nivida, the 19 year old poised lady! 

Random thoughts!

    What now?

A new Beginning :)

Starting 2011 (with an awesome start), I left many things behind me, too many memories, some to cherish, some to dread. But I learned several things in the past year. I went through hell of things and hopefully I did learn things from them (hopefully!)
I know its way too late! but its still 1st month of January and I came up with my resolution!

Resolution for 2011: Dont Fall in LOVE! :)

Inside a writer’s mind

I am a writer. Well, not a professional one but I love writing. It came up to me as a hobby. A lame hobby; inclusive of write-ups of the sky, river, mommy, daddy, poop and what not. I had a habit of writing journals and yeah, that helped a LOT! I read books a lot of them. I loved romantic novels and it was fun replacing the girl in the novel with you while the handsome man swipes her off his feet.

SIGH! That never happens in real does it?

Well, so inside a writer’s mind; a confession. I see story in everything. From small tea cups to fingernails to clouds. If you are a non writer, you might be thinking I am crazy but trust me that do happen for real. And when you meet young people, like really small kids, they ask you if you write about princesses and wars. You do have to lie sometimes and make up stories! 

I don't know what made me start this write up but, I am running late for work and, yeah! gotta head to work, that is writing! 

Happy day folks!

Dashain Tales of a Carnivore

 I might sound like a carnivorous monster, but blame it on the genes that I inherited right down from my carnivorous grandpa!

Dashain! Ever since I was a small girl I have always loved this festival. Be it for the new clothes my mommy bought me, the money I received from my elders or the goat my daddy bought to sacrifice to Goddess Durga. As I grew up, clothes and money came by as usual, but my heartiest anticipations were for the goat, or to be more specific, meat. I might sound like a carnivorous monster, but blame it on the genes that I inherited right down from my carnivorous grandpa!

It might sound hideous but during Dashain, I go on the so called ‘goat hunt’ with my daddy and accompany him while they slaughter the goat mercilessly and collect all the blood in a bucket to make a dish out of it. It sounds awful, but it tastes like heaven when eaten with beaten rice. You may ask where we go for the ‘goat hunt’ and where it is slaughtered. That isn’t much of a problem. We don’t quite worry about that and neither do others who follow the custom. People here are not that hygiene conscious. They shop for the animal a day before and slaughter it in a place where hundreds of other animals are slaughtered on the same day. There might be so many germs in the area and the chief problem, the animals we so lovingly slaughter, might have some serious disease!

Meat, meat and more meat
On Asthami, the day we slaughter the goat, my mother cooks awesome dishes out of the same meat! She cooks the goat’s brain, tongue, ears, ribs, intestine and what not. In other words, she cooks the whole goat and I eat all the various resulting dishes. For a few days, meat is all I eat. Be it for breakfast, lunch, in-betweens and dinner. You must be thinking, “Does this girl’s family just eat meat?” Well no, we eat other items such as samaybaji which is made of smoked fish, black soybeans, diced ginger and chiura. They are served on tiny leaf plates, which make the meal even more delightful. Everywhere we go to put tika and get blessings, I end up eating all that they have to serve as I am just like my father. We tend to compare the kebab prepared in all the different households and savor it. But, in spite of eating all these meals, it’s amazing how I never get sick. And it’s not just me but almost all of the carnivorous people celebrating Dashain!

Even after consuming so much of meat, not being sick made me do an extensive research on it. Yes, I am a health conscious person too and I found that due to unawareness and due to absence of laws, people buy meat which cannot ensure consumers’ protection because of quality that is low grade. High sanitation standards in the slaughter houses, processing plants and handling of meat at various stages of marketing are of great importance to obtain high quality meat because the meat is an ideal medium for the growth of unwanted microorganisms. Bacteria reduce the life of meat and cause many health hazards. I’m sure you will agree that all we care about is the meat we get to eat and not so much about the hygiene!

No meat for Brahmins? No way!
In spite of coming from a Brahmin family, my ancestors were smart not to follow the ‘no meat for Brahmins’ taboo. I always wondered what went inside the Newari kitchen because Brahmins and Chettris more or less had the same rituals. It might sound stupid but I always wondered if the Newar people cut buffaloes during Dashain and I imagined all the mess it created. When I told my friend Avas Shrestha about this, he told me, “I don’t let anyone cut anything at my place. We substitute eggs in place of sacrificial animals, forget about the buffalo!” and he even called me a monster for what I did. He told me his mother’s secret recipe to avoid toilet troubles - they ate curd and pau, a drink made of lapsi or amala. Also, cucumber and radish pickle which spice up our taste buds and also help in digesting food, are famous during Dashain and are found in almost every household.

After Dashain, looking down at the weighing machine as I stand on it, I know what to expect and I stay calm. As a fellow lover of delectable Dashain feasts, I know how hard it can be to resist asking for second helpings of that delicious meat full of fatty goodness, so I’m not one to ask you to eat little and be weight conscious. Let’s just remember that we are after all eating traditional healthy food and as long as we don’t follow our heavy Dashain meal with more junk food, we can enjoy Dashain to the fullest – totally guilt free!

What's in a dream?

The sunlight streaming through the window made soft warm circles on my face and I yawned lazily and turned to see Ayush snoring peacefully to himself. As I was thinking just how lucky I was to have him, I heard Skanda and Rakshya fighting over breakfast in the kitchen and grunted. I dragged myself out of the bed lazily and squinted at my reflection in the mirror. After swirling my hair around my hand deftly and winding it into a smooth knot, I headed towards the kitchen. A cursory glance at the family photo on the antique table-stand (a wedding gift from my mom) stirred a deep-seated question, “Is this the kind of life I always wanted?” I never really had a solid answer to that, often feeling guilty as I look at my wonderful husband and two wonderful kids. But where am I?

As I make pancakes for breakfast I just can’t keep my mind off the Things I wanted to do as a child, and a young girl. My two adolescent kids break into an argument and I can’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy. As a little girl I often saw myself wearing stilettos and walking down the ramp. Well, I do wear stilettos, the ones my daughter owns and she just can’t stand me wearing them. I have had to suffocate the little pleasures of life and find fruition in fulfilling my daughter’s wishes. My life today is just limited to household chores, laundry, TV soaps and occasional dinner with my husband. I suddenly realized that with every passing day I was growing older. I thought of my first crush from school. I never had the guts to tell him about my feelings. How different my life would be if I were married to him? Sinful thoughts! I find solace thinking of him as pot bellied, and aged and unattractive. My mother was cool, but not cool enough to let me have my navel pierced. As a teen, I remember doing the pretty typical rolling of my eyes at half of the things my mother said to me. I try to be cool in the mother’s role. Hope that is how my kids see me because I have never caught them rolling their eyes at what I have to say. I let my daughter go bungee last month which was again one of my childhood dreams. Listening to her thrilling experience made me feel a part of it. I always wanted to work for a media house. My parents coaxed me into taking up science and I had to snuff out that dream as well.

It is almost evening and I am browsing through the p album from my younger days. I spot a picture of me, in my teens, dressed in my mother’s saree, tika, chura and bright red lipstick. It was then that I remembered the most important dream I had, being a good wife and a good mother. Just then my son opens the door. He races to me and holds me in a bear hug and plants a kiss on my cheek. He rushes on about his day at school and friends. He doesn’t forget to complement me on the fried rice I packed him for lunch. I realize how lucky I was to be where I was at this point of my life. My inner self tells me that the greatest joys in life lie not only in realizing your own dreams but nurturing the future to realize theirs. I was living my dream and don’t think I can ever live any other dream as wholly as this.

The Hair Story!

 And you thought you have bad hair days while I have had hair issues all my life! I am a girl in my early 20’s and I have had drastic change in hairstyles. From being bald to having long hair to short bob.

 

Inherited from my maternal grandmother, I was born with adorable baby curls just like my elder sister. I really don’t remember having it since my mother, the greatest barber of the world, decided to shave it all off as she had a hard time managing my sister’s. So the story starts here; I was bald throughout my childhood.  Flipping through the photo albums I always crack up into hysterical laughter. My mommy thought I looked pretty in a cute little frock with no hair. When it started growing and was the length of an inch or two, I was surely very stylish to sport a hair band with two pleated hair extensions that reached my waist while my original hair got lost on my scalp!

Since there was no availability of parlors for small girls at my time I went along with my dad to get a haircut to the famous Hajam Dai of my community. He would place me on the tallest chair and bend down to cut my hair short. I always cursed him from within and told him I would grow my hair long and pretty like Rapunzel wore it. The biggest evidence of my childhood, the photo albums jam-packed with memories show that I had pigtails when I was in my preschool. As I think about it now, I wonder how they managed to get that long.  However, after entering teenage, I tried all the hairstyles possible: from crop short to waist long. But one of the biggest mistakes I repeated time and again was as soon as I got them long; I cut them mercilessly. While entering the parlor, I am jolly and happy but while stepping out of that horrendous place, I swear on never entering again but I end up going there again.

As years passed by, my scalp showed signs of me growing feminine with wavy reddish locks that fell on my back. By the time I was in high school, there were friends who went gaga over my hair. My friends often teased me by saying I should join the TV commercials for beautiful hair!  I’m not trying to tell you that I had the most beautiful hair imaginable, but I had good hair. But, just like any other girl, I had bad hair days that made me go crazy making me want to rip it off!

This didn’t last long. One crazy day in February, I was returning from work, I saw that my locality had opened up a new parlor. It was named “Sushmita’s Parlor”. I don’t know what tempted me to but, I went crazy that very minute and without thinking, I pushed the swinging doors of the parlor and stepped in. After examining it for a brief second, I placed my bag in the table that looked like it was freshly painted and checked myself in the mirror. The lady raised an eye questioningly and asked what I wanted to do with my hair. Without pissing her off further, with a huge grin on my face, I reciprocated immediately and said I wanted to cut it short, “Short Bob”. I don’t remember what I was feeling when she was started spraying my hair but I she snapped at me telling me not to cut my hair. I snapped back telling her to do her job. I don’t know what pissed her off but she used her scissors and cut it real short! To top it all, it was winter and we all know our country is so famous with the load shedding! Yes, the lights went off when she was cutting it down and she relied on candles! By the time it was done, I was bored to death and without checking myself, I paid and walked through the swinging doors yet again. As soon as I reached home, my mother smiled and told me I looked cute just like a small girl in the mushroom cut. I fumed and told her it was the so called “Bob cut” and locked myself in my room and went to sleep.

The next day was a disaster. Trust me, a real disaster. I got up and looked for my rubber band as I always tied my hair to sleep and by morning, it got lost in my bed.  Then I realized I got a haircut. I threw the quilt and ran to the mirror. I cried. My hair was gone. I was bald again! Well not BALD but I had short hair! Very short! They were springing in all the directions and I looked like a porcupine! This was certainly the worst hair day of my life! I cried and cried wiping my tears to see my hair clearer, wiping them again to make myself look better. But no, I looked worse by the minute.  I tried every possible way to hide my hair, mufflers, caps and on certain days, I hid myself! This lasted for some time. People complimented on my hair some called me Lady Gaga of Nepal. Well, that made me smile because I worshipped her.  

Days passed and yeah, my hair grew longer. By longer, I mean an inch longer. I still had the short bob but I got used to it with time and I no longer hid myself. I went on with my life and I survived the haircut. I tie it up on rainy days and sport hair accessories on sunny days. Though I still wish it grew overnight! And about the Hajam Dai- every time I see him checking my hair out, I try avoiding him and walk as fast as I can out of the shame.

My love for clouds!

I love walking! Walk, walk and walk! With white colored ear-phones shoved deep inside my ears and my favorite songs playing loud in my ears, I walk happily looking at people. Be it a sunny day or a rainy day, my sunglasses and my bright blue raincoat are my best friends!

Some months back, in my new work place, I met this arrogant, moody little girl who is horrible at making sounds (animal sounds/ bird sounds).  However, she is an awesome writer and she loves walking just like me! After spending some months together, she left my workspace but one habit she instilled in me was looking up at the sky while walking. I never noticed the sky. I was rather interested in people and their weird activities.

So with time I turned out to be a very keen observer of the clouds. Lying down on soft grass that grows in my backyard and making pout horses and whales and astronauts out of clouds. Someone told me that looking up at the clouds when you are sad helps you forget about the sadness because it keeps you occupied and helps you forget things faster. That was in fact true.

I am running out of words for now and I am sleepy! So just some cloud pictures that I took from my mere phone! 

Garden of dreams!

Pokhara

Dhulikhel

My friend's house! :)

Sarangkot

Dont Get Bitten by the Clutterbug!

“Life doesn’t begin at twenty, forty or sixty-five, when you get married, when you get promoted, or when you have grandkids–life truly begins when you discover how flexible and free you are without clutter.” That’s not true! I am a clutter bug and I have a life!

• Are you reluctant to toss out old newspapers and magazines because you might want to read them someday when you have time?

• Do you get frustrated daily because you can’t find things?

• Do you regularly misplace your keys, glasses or wallet?

• Do you dread opening a closet door, for fear that something may slide or roll off a shelf and land on your head?

• Do you keep outfits that you haven’t worn in years and hope you might fit into them again once you lose the excess pounds?

Did you feel like somebody was narrating your life when you were reading the questions above? If yes, you are a clutter bug, just like me! Maybe now, you are questioning yourself, “Am I a clutter bug?” Well, don’t panic!  I have questioned myself a thousand times before when my mother persistently asked me to clear up my room almost every day of my life. Who admits to being one? You know you are a clutter bug when you just can’t help yourself and bring home more clutter to add to your accumulation of stuff at home.

Going back to the days when I was younger, my sister was the biggest clutter bug on earth! We shared the same room and my portion was always clean as I had inherited the clean freak gene from my father. I felt like I was on top of the world when my mother told relatives how clean I was, until I grew older and the clutter bug took over my life. I tried to deny it for a couple of months, but later, I got used to the dirt, mess and unmanaged things around me. From the empty coffee cups, stray CDs, tubes of Chap Stick, assorted magazines, clean laundry, receipts, hair dryer and shoes. I told my mother stories about how the clutter fairy stopped by my room and plied her trade in the most insidious of ways but she never believed them.

The mess! :)

You must be thinking, “How does this clutter start?” Well, it starts with a sticky note, and then evolves into boxes here, stuff there. Pretty soon, it’s taken over and one small sticky note is a pile of stuff. Then, just when you least expect it, you discover that the clutter bug is running amuck, all over your home and office. But do not fret much, you aren’t alone. There is even a group on facebook dedicated to clutter bugs like us, millions of us. Well, why doesn’t my mother understand that? She sneaks into my room cleaning up the whole mess. That makes my room look clean and it smells nice, I admit that, but I can’t find anything. Nothing at all, because she has either dumped it or kept it in an organized way somewhere.

If you have ever watched the popular tv series, “Clean House”, you will get to see some very fine examples of clutter bugs. Some are even nominated for the “messiest house in America”. While the show is very entertaining and even pokes fun at hoarding, the behavior can be a symptom of a serious problem. Individuals who hoard often feel the need to collect and save things that the rest of us would discard. Additionally, they will feel a stronger need than the rest of us to lay in a stockpile of “needed” items. They’ll cruise yard sales, go through other people’s trash, and even dumpster dive. I found that being messy is caused by a contagious disease called hoarding which is an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I told my parents about the dangerous disease I had acquired that forced me to stay dirty and messy. But my dad, who is a clean freak, was worried and did some research on the dangerous disease his little daughter had acquired. He passed me down a link which said that it wasn’t the hoarding that brought along untidiness with me but that I was a lazy bum! I read the article and found that four out of every five clutter bugs made that excuse, so that was lame.

Now that all my excuses were busted and I was no longer a patient of an infectious disease, I had no way out but to listen to my mother’s orders. Well I did not get any major transformation and my room is still littered with objects and the piles of laundry tucked in the corners and my bed is never made, and my mother still screams out loud for not having cleaned my room when the guests are arriving. Just what are you thinking, why do I need to clean my room when the guests are arriving? But giving it a second thought, keeping my room free from clutter would prevent me from stumbling around mumbling excuses about how the alien captured my room and is full of poisonous air or crawl right under the couch and eat dust bunnies. I think it’s ok to have a little clutter once in awhile. After all, it’s your house not an art museum! But our mothers are so tempted to sneak into our rooms and clean it! That is something the clutter bugs hate because when someone else shuffles your things, they get lost. What’s worse, you can’t find anything when you need it and it’s back to square one, looking for that lost piece of earring and after finding it realizing the state your room is in again. So, if you are living with a clutter bug, let them clean it up on their own if they don’t try adapting to the environment.

But, we all have busy weeks, and get distracted with other stuff and start drifting out of our normal routines. I am not the guru for de-cluttering but I got some helpful tips from my mother, and these do help when there is somebody visiting your room. Well, this doesn’t mean that I don’t have a little backslide once in a while.