Precious Pearls

A fairy tale of love might culminate in a marriage but in real life, it’s just a beginning. Love marriages make news, be it of an ordinary couple or of a celebrity. What surprises me is the special affiliation associated to love marriages putting them into a special category. Many live under the impression that couples in love marriage share lives resembling to the reel.  A very typical reaction when something goes wrong with a couple is “still it was a love marriage”!  Maybe, love-married couples must be burdened with expectations of having everything right.  At the end of the day, all it requires to keep a relationship going is maturity and why love marriage should be an exception? What prompts me to talk about love marriages suddenly? This question may crop up naturally and let me keep things straight before the speculations start. My take about marriages and husband-wife relationship is very unconventional. However, that hardly makes any sense since this particular view was for

All of a sudden, I felt like putting my diet chart on the fast-track and it was amazing; not the diet but the track. It was the nine-day fast I observed during Navratri . Let me clear a couple of things at the outset. I am not ‘religious’ in typical sense of the term, hence there is no ‘devotional’ ground to it. I also do not subscribe to traditional ‘fast food’ as I believe they defeat the very purpose. Secondly, it was not influenced by our PM Modi’s fast that rocked as much as his US visit did! I had been contemplating for a longer period to restrict my diet to veggies and fruits and Navratri fit the bill. A good family doctor gave me a clean bill of health post-fast and that put on some ‘fat’ to compensate the little I had cut down on. Forget shedding off pounds, what this experience taught me is there is more to fast than fad diets, weight loss and zero-figure. Fit-and-fine figure has never been my dream (I am far from it even it were!). I am an average professional in the bac

First things first! The last part of the series, A New Mother’s Version, will talk about bouncing back after birth. However, this talk exclusively relates to mothers and not children. Secondly, it’s not a parenting guide and to me, it’s too early to talk about a child’s upbringing. Though nothing qualifies me to talk about shaping a child, yet all I can say is that it is pertinent for a mother to stay in the best physical and mental shape. Resuming a routine or starting a new one is a daunting task. The child is bound to be an integral part of new mother’s life for the next decade and the balancing act is inevitable.  Timeframe to bouncing back will differ from person to person. Some may prefer to start it at very first month whereas it may take a couple of years to a few. It’s every mother’s discretion how long does she want to wait and devote time for a child or start it right away. Again, here we aren’t talking about just working moms. Bouncing back post-childbirth doesn’t absol

Pregnancy is one of the most delicate times of a woman’s life. It can be utterly positive though a touch of anxiety, stress and even a slight negativity may creep in. ‘Handle with care’ is the mantra a woman has to stick to all nine months. An expectant mother has to be extra careful as her mindset and every physical activity even breath affect the little life in the womb.  Hence, staying positive is necessary for the comprehensive growth of the fetus. All said and done, we cannot be positive all the time. Changing hormone levels can cause mood swings, nausea, and insomnia to an extent, which may end up physically straining and mentally stressing. Again, keeping an expectant mother happy is equally the responsibility of family, yet,  it all depends on how a woman takes it.  Besides,  advices, at times even unsolicited, pour in from every quarter and a carrying lady can be totally lost in the midst a long list of dos and don’ts. Drawing a thin line between listening to your heart an

A New Mother’s Version I was all the more enthusiastic and energetic when I resumed work after maternity break. Robust energy levels could be a little surprising to the rest as many expected the baby to be an integral and the most happening part of the life. However, I was keen to bounce back to the prenatal activities in-tandem with the little one. I was just trying to brace up to the challenges that new motherhood naturally unfolded trying to match the pace with things I was paced out in the past three months. This ‘remarkable’ enthusiasm may evoke mixed responses with many reacting ‘You can take it easy and need not rush to ‘bounce back.”  Though everyone has different opinions about how early new mothers should resume their prenatal activities, to me it’s absolutely not the question. It’s been over six months a lot of energy was flowing, I am back to routine and yet, I am basking in the glory of new motherhood after another nine months later baby’s birth... I might be walkin

All roads may lead to Rome but you should know the one you are taking and what may greet you on the way. One cannot take a cycle on a busy route and blame the mode of transport and traffic for not being able to make it on time. Eyebrows will be raised if you walk into a temple in a party-wear and looking for South Indian delicacies in the northeastern parts of the country would hardly make sense. The matter of contemplation is not the disappointments we come across but the expectations that lead us here.   A gentleman I know happened to experience a similar ‘disappointment’. A friend of mine, who has travelled to different countries, is settled in UK after marriage. She decided to take her uncle on a Europe tour. Hailing from a small village, he always wished to travel abroad. Apparently, there couldn’t be anything more comfortable than staying at a relative’s place abroad as our kin who has lived there can be the best guide. However, my friend, who had played host to many famili

How are you placed next week? Not many of us may refer to our diaries to answer it, as we usually know how busy or free we are. Beyond office on weekdays and family and social commitments on weekends, there could be barley anything coming our way. Many might be setting reminders for birthdays and anniversaries, however, in the high-tech era, only a few could be updating their to-do list on Smartphones. What we are up to is a different story but it’s just about the timetable that we are tied to and go by.     Every day, it’s a race against time for many of us. This is why perhaps we call our schedules hectic. This is the story of a majority of professionals as well as stay-at home people, who set their routine around their busy counterparts. For example, a housewife, too, decides the course of her day as per husband’s shifts or kids’ school timings. Each one has a set routine. That’s not all, some have fixed timetables to follow and they will be in a fix even they deviate from it ev

Being spoilt for a choice is a nice feeling till you make a right one. Imagine yourself in a plush eatery caught in the midst of a variety of delicacies from salads to mouthwatering desserts. It could be worse if you are health conscious. What we are talking about is not always temptations that lure us but about opting for the important thing between two or more equally essential.  Setting up priorities and making a right pick are tad tough than they appear. Easier said than done, it’s not easy to get the best of everything always, right from à la carte menu to choosing something in life when you are at a crossroads. Though having best of everything is not specifically a gender-sensitive issue, it seems applicable to the fairer sex in many walks of life. Especially in India, the entire journey of a girl since childhood days seems to be aimed at becoming ‘Ms Perfect’. It all begins with an endeavour to be a dutiful daughter; after marriage, every girl is striving to be a perfect dau

By its cover, never judge a book. So, never judge a person by one’s look! Spectacled beings aren’t always studious and those flaunting huge piles of books in a shelf may not be scholars. However, there is nothing wrong in giving yourself a smart look with a good book. This is what I would do precisely many a times but till the day I realised it... A neighbour, who happened to be with me in the elevator, asked me about a good library in the vicinity. Maybe the question had nothing more to it beyond striking a conversation. However, a delighted me delivered a brief speech on choosing an apt library suiting to one’s likes, inclination, profession or specific requirements. The very next day the person rang my doorbell to tell me how my ‘guidance’ had helped him zero in on the appropriate library. That’s not all. He left with a comment that I was the right person to talk to about books and libraries as rest of the ‘youngsters barely read these days’. As he was a retired defence personne