Procrastination...

It was a video posted by one of my friends on facebook, with the same title as this blog post. It was absolutely awesome, to say the least....who wouldve thought of that many definitions of this one simple word!
However, as one of the biggest victims(or is "exponents" the better word?)of this "phenomenon", I was actually made to sit back and think for a while as to what this word really meant to me. And I rather shocked myself when I drew up this list, of the top 10 things I could think of right away!
But 10 down and I had a feeling I wasn't not quite done yet.
Well, isn't that the whole point, anyways? :) :)
Ok, so this is what I have till now -

Procrastination, to me, is....
1. Thinking about restarting those music lessons but never acting upon it..
2. Fantasizing about getting around to finally progress beyond floating with my head down and learn some actual swimming, but always "from the next month"..
3. Resolving to learn new stuff at work but always finding enough reasons not to, right now..
4. Buying the "Learn Kannada in 30 days" book and then leaving the actual "learning" to be done on another, brighter day!
5. Seeing the husband dutifully pay all bills on time, making a mental note to actually submit the bills for reimbursement on time and then.......
(ooops!! isn't it overdue this month as well?! :( )
7. Getting indignant at unexplained fees and charges in the CC bill, but then never getting around to calling up their customer care service to set things right!
8. Thinking of calling friends/relatives but giving in to the "sahi waqt ka intezaar" syndrome..
(you can't call someone up in the middle of a work day, can you? Can you, really?)
9. Dreaming about that gleaming kitchen counter, sparkling cabinets, neatly arranged wardrobes etc and then....well, let's not even begin to get there!!!
10. Trying to snap out of the vicious cycle of putting things off...work piling up....getting down to do it....putting it off again...

What is it that makes it so difficult for people like us to actually "make hay while the sun shines" or "put that 1 stitch in time to save those 9"??
I'm not sure I'd ever know...but then again, "if there's a will, there also is a way", and I'm sure I'll find that will "some day", just maybe not today!

Paint me a rainbow

It's quite amazing what colours can do to my mood these days. And its quite a recent development, for I've never been so "colour-aware",if I may coin such a term, before. Sure, I've always loved blue in all its shades, and have also passed through phases when whatever I'd like while out shopping would belong to one particular colour, but I've never had colours dictate my mood before, at least not the way they seem to do now! :)
It was a cool Saturday evening, I had just woken up from my extended siesta and was sitting on my balcony with a cup of tea, generally staring into space - my thoughts idly straying in a million directions - too lazy to focus on anything in particular.
It had been raining all afternoon, and the sun was just breaking through the clouds...when suddenly I caught myself staring at a full blown rainbow, the most perfect arch in all its colour, as if just out of a children's book illustration!
It was the first time I'd seen such a perfect rainbow, and the overwhelming surge of joy almost had me jumping up and down, much to the amusement of the glued-to-the-telly Husband (it was World Cup season, after all).
He was promptly instructed to get the camera out and to capture the sheer wonder of nature, to which he probably mumbled something to the effect of "Why don't you get up and get it?". He was ignored, of course, I was too mesmerized, almost afraid to look away..lest it vanished by the time I looked back! It obviously did, eventually, and sadly the camera was brought out too late...but somehow, by that time I could not be bothered anymore..I was riding a wave of emotions, I realized how little it really took me to be truly happy, even if for the moment.
That's when it struck me, the effect of colours on my mood lately, and I could suddenly see the cute red top with big black butterflies on it brightening up a Monday morning, the purple shirt putting a smile on my face as I took a last peep into the mirror before stepping out, or the extra spring in my step every time I had the bright blue bag on my arm!
I realised, with a start, I hardly own any all white/all black clothes now, strange especially if I think of the time (back during my college days) when I swore by anything black!
Oh well, I still do fantasise over the idea of owning an elegant black evening dress sometime, and I do love my black Dhakai sari (oh boy, even that has a splash of vibrant green and warm rust to bring it to life), but right now, its a bright magenta kurta (that I'd seen at a store recently but didnt buy) that's on my mind...I can almost hear it trying to convince me how, with a little help from the lilac dupatta, it could make the longest meeting at work on a Friday seem to be over in a jiffy, and the weekend that much closer! And to tell you the truth, I actually think it could be right! :) :)

Footloose...

Q: "What is Malini Bhattacharjee doing all the time?"
A: "Travelling"
...or so read the latest update on my facebook wall, a response from a friend who had taken one of the hundreds of "quizzes" on the site. :) :)
And my first reaction to it was.."Oh, I wish!", followed by an amused realization that though it was an overstatement of sorts (Come on, I also have a job!), it wasn't all that far from the truth either.
Yes, I LOVE travelling, and everything that goes with it.
And I think its got something to do with my genes.
Saying that my parents have always been "fond of travelling" would seem an understatement, considering the fact most of our trips back then would be planned on an impluse, and we'd hardly ever spend a school/college vacation not going anywhere.
Sample this: We had been to Kashmir when I was 3 and lived in Shillong, and the trip was planned in approximately 5 minutes as my father happened to notice an article titled "Heaven on Earth" on the paper bag in which he'd just bought some sugar! :) :)
While almost all the other kids in class would be planning their "holiday homework" over the summer vacations or be looking forward to the gorgeous Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata during the Puja holidays, I'd be poring over the latest issues of the local magazines with my parents, scouring for our next destination.
It was because of them that I have vivid memories of Durga Puja/Dussehra celebrations in all sorts of places, each place adding a unique flavour to the proceedings. More on this some other time! :)
Well, I dont have Durga Puja vacations or summer holidays anymore...but then, what are the weekends for?! :)
So now, while most of my friends and colleagues plan for a laidback weekend of getting up late and catching up with friends, I am poring over the internet, scouring for our next destination :)
In this, I have an able accomplice in my dear husband (erm, its probably the other other way round, but what the heck..its my blog!! :) :P ) who's just as footloose if not more...and a much better planner! :)
So we travel....quite a lot. :)
And I thank my lucky stars for having got me this ideal partner and put me in the perfect place..Bangalore is a blessing for people like us, with the hundreds of beautiful places just waiting to be discovered, which we sure intend to do! :)

One of those days...

It was one of those days.

Not everything was right with the world, a lot of things not the way I would have liked them to be, and I was clueless if they could be set right, yet.

My heart was heavier than it'd been in a while, my mind bogged down.

Just then...the sky suddenly grew dark, it started raining...and we decided to take a walk.

The new coffee joint which had to be checked out, was.

Big cups, strong flavour, lots of gossip and laughter!

Coffee with friends and a walk in the rain....goes a long way in the lifting of moods! :) :)