Loveit?Hate it?

Because of my new job role, I do not have to be in office if I chose not to. So, I kind of have this love-hate relationship with working from home.

- I miss walking to a colleague's desk for a pending work and look at her like a cute puppy to get the answer.

- I hate listening to a voice mail of a colleague when I want to reach him/her immediately.

- I miss the lunch breaks where we girls would vow to go on diet and then share cheese quesadilla.

- I miss the early morning wishes before we start work, which used to end only when someone had to rush for a meeting.

- I hate waking up and logging in to meetings. Believe me, it is not as nice as it sounds:(

- I hate working from bed (trying to change it!), I feel like a lazy woman without any purpose in life!

- I love working from home when I have lot of work, I can shut down everything around( which is nothing) and just concentrate.

- I love welcoming Sudhir home in the evening .

- I love the long walks and badminton games in the evening which would not have happened if I had to drive home from work.

- I hate being so close to the kitchen that each time I feel like taking a break, I just go and open the kitchen shelf.

- I love listening to music loud when I am working. Listening on ear phone at office is so not same.

- I hate hearing my mom say "You are home all day, why don't you cook something nice!"- Hello!!, I am home, but I do work!

- I love talking to my mom/mil in the mornings (their night time) , so we do not have to rush to their cooking and not get enough time for my call.

- I hate knowing, Sudhir is the only person I see the entire day , until my walk .


It amazes me how much additional time we get if we do not have to drive to office. Time to get organized and use all that courses I took on Time management?

30 Day Walk challenge

I am not much of an exerciser. These days, working from home gets me all cranky . Going for shopping/Movie does not seem to help.

Yesterday, I went for a long walk listening to my favorite song these days and felt so good after that. I would love to continue this habit , what better way to start it than take on a challenge . Looks like I kind of like these challenges and can be very disciplined til I complete it.

So, here I start my 30 day walk challenge, each day I will walk for an hour , explore new places click pictures if I find something interesting.

My 10 day juice challenge will start on August 1. I am so looking forward to it...:)

Weight Check -I did it

Yipppeee, I completed the 7 day Raw food challenge. Saying, I am happy and proud of myself will be an understatement. I survived 7 whole days without any cooked food, just raw vegetables and fruits(lots of it!)

I know I did not write anything on Day 4,5 and 6. They were much easier than the first three days. My body got used to the new diet. I developed some sort of rashes on Day 5 but it disappeared on its own.

After 7 days on this diet, my skin has started clearing out ( I had lot of pimples and marks), now it looks so much better. I am sooo happy to look at myself in the mirror !

I have lost couple of pounds(7 to be exact), now I am 65 kgs , that gives me bit of breathing space, I am not so close to the dreaded 70 mark you see.

I have lot of energy, I do not feel sleepy after my meals. I feel like doing different things. It shows how much our food habits affect our activities.

Even emotionally, I feel much calmer, I sleep better(not that I slept any less before;), I am more cheerful than before.

If you think , how can a person change in just 7 days, believe me it can happen! I am so excited about it that I do not have the right words to describe it!

But then, 7 days was not all that rosy, it took all my will power not to munch on my favorite snacks or take a small bite from Sudhir's plate.

My worst craving was(or still is) chicken wings with spicy sauce , the one from Buffallo wild wings . Second would be Noodles and then chocolate.

But then, who says things come easy ? There is no gain without some pain. In this case, pain is just to control the thoughts(. Exploring new fruits, veggies can be exciting if you set your mind to it. We can eat all we want without having to worry about calories, imagine having any amount of mango you want when you are on diet:-)

From today, I can go back to cooked food diet with bit of moderation. But, do I want to go for it? I think I don't. I would love to continue it until I give in and lets see when will that be:-)

Thank you all of you for the support .It was so encouraging to see your comments here. And to Sudhir for carrying loads of veggies everyday, hiding delicious chips/chocolate/cooking food when I was down with cravings/tolerating my raw food talks for the entire day ,list just goes on...

I even made him go green.. guess how???

Weight Check-Day 3

My body - Why are you feeding me all the weird stuff, I want to eat yummy dishes you have prepared for Sudhir.

Me- ha, ha, you won't get it. Shed the fat or else you will suffer more.

My body - No, I beg you .

Me- here comes your salad for tonight.



My body- You think, I will obey you .. muahhhhhhhh.. eat all the stupid food you want, I will still be same.
Me : Please nooo, I beg you
My body: muahhhhhaahh


So, this is my state. I am supposed to be detoxing by now and supposed to start losing weight. But my body refuses to budge. It is happy with the food it is getting and does not mind it! It refuses to lose weight or at least show some signs that I am on healthy diet. Unlike others in the challenge who are feeling energy boost, clear skin etc

I am so sad, but I wont give up.

After 3 days, I have not even lost a kilo (not even a pound!). So that is my story on Day 3. Today is the Day 4, so far so good . I haven't cheated yet!

Weight Check- Day 2

I completed the day 2 without much problems. I had Fruits for breakfast, weird looking but not so bad tasting green smoothie for lunch , Soup and big salad for dinner. The program is designed such that we can have any amount of raw food and limited quantity of nuts and seeds, unlimited soup/green smoothie.

The package comes with the online forum where you can interact with the other participants on the challenge , post blogs or add friends. I was amazed to see the entire group consisted of only ladies! I guess, men never feel the need to reduce weight(That is what Sudhir says:)

So, every small problems we face are discussed here, like someone felt she would die if she does not eat a chocolate immediately (you get the idea;). It is stupid , but it is fun to see so many people doing the same thing as you do and helps you stay on Track.

We go for shopping fresh vegetables every day and have started liking the experience. We stare at all weird looking veggies and laugh. Some look like small Christmas trees ( I mean, Kale). I found a new nut which tastes amazing and is healthy (Pine nuts)

Most difficult part is to pass the Chocolate row in super market and not buy it. But, I think about myself minus all the additional weight and the temptation goes away!

Cooking for Sudhir has taken a hit :( From last two days he is cooking his food as I can not cook the food and not feel like having it. I think I am feeling much better today interms of cravinga and I can cook something special.

So I am on Day 3 today, will blog about it tomorrow. So far so good:)

Weight check

It has been a while since I have blogged ,lot of things to blog about. But for now, I am so excited about my new diet that I can not think about anything else to blog.

I have started with 7 day raw food challenge . I think I just got tired of seeing the weight scale showing me increased number each time I step on it and decided to do something about it. This diet is designed to eat only salad/soup and fruits in raw form, lazy me is happy that I would not have to cook:)

I thought it would be challenging to get Sudhir agree with my plan. He is a firm believer in not being picky about food. But, amazingly , he was super supportive .

More than the diet, it is the grocery shopping that is tiring. We need to eat a lot to get the required calories for the day out of these green veggie and fruits. We got the print out of recipe, started our shopping yesterday evening. It is not easy when you do not know half of the things which you are shopping for. For example, celtic sea salt, kayle.. anyone heard of these?? Our cart was filled with so many new things , I almost got scared thinking about eating it.

Do not get me started on the organic product prices, I mean who would pay 4$ for so called organic cucumber? Believe it or not the first day shopping cost of organic vegetable was equal to the entire week grocery amount when we go for non organic.

Anyways, coming back to the diet, this is my first day and I have started eating those weird looking green leaves. Now, don't blame me, I was never in to having salads before. This is my first time at having celery, but it doesn't taste all that bad!

So the day one is almost over , 6 more days to go.
Starting weight :68 kg

This month, a year ago...

This month, a year ago, I got married. I remember the crazy month –wedding preparation, excitement yet sadness of leaving my parents, the big fat Indian wedding/reception, all the traveling, biding good bye to friends/relatives, first step to an unknown land with someone I knew only for few months yet vowed to spend the rest of my life. All seems like yesterday..

Life has changed so much since then. I read many blogs about if the marriage changes people. I have to say, it surely does. It depends on an individual to have positive or negative perspective about it. I have changed as a person. Marriage has taught me the value of relationships and lifelong commitments.

I feel the first year of marriage is very important because this is the time, you start seeing each other in the light of reality than have those dreamy version of the person you always hoped to be with. If it is an arranged marriage like mine, I would say, it is the time to know the person better. I guess, in love marriage it would work bit differently, where this is the time not to set the expectations too high.

I find it amazing, how each day passes and you grow closer to one another. For me, it is the small things that he does - The way he gets up early so that I can catch up on my early morning sleep, notes on the kitchen mirror, and the flowers, way he takes care of me when I am not well, more than anything, love with which he looks at me each and every day.

Yet, we could set a world record for arguments/fights we have. Sometimes I feel like we can never make it work, I see other couple and think that it is only us who fight (especially in the first year of marriage). We know that we are so different from each other, he cannot stay awake late and I cannot sleep early, I am not much into traditions and he is, I cannot live without eating fish/chicken and he is a vegetarian.. List goes on and on. Again, the small things, just like the good-small things these are I so hate you-small things.

But, at the end of the day, I know that we are crazy about each other. Every relationship needs working towards keeping it a happy one and our journey is just a year old . We will learn together as we grow, and we will grow as we learn.

My Counselors

Yesterday was one of those days were nothing seemed right in life. I felt, I had the worst of jobs/ I missed my life in India/ I felt , I am not a good wife .. the list goes on. I can blame it on lady hormones or whatever they call it which makes us, ladies, react this way. Even the glorious win by India could not cheer me up, I guess lack of sleep only made me more cranky. Poor husband as always was the target of my outburst. Sleeping/crying nothing seemed to help...

So , I went to meet my counselors. Let me introduce you to them .

Crab and Shrimp cakes: Loads of caloreies, but who cares. By the end of my visit to them, I almost could hear myself talking positively. Yet , I was not my original self ,so I went to the next counselor.

Chicken schnitzel : This is served with a portion of mashed potatoes and Cabbage. Who needs Cabbage when you want to feel better, so I replaced the cabbage with extra portion of mashed potatoes.


After this , I was back to my cheery self almost instantly. I called up my husband and even cracked a joke or two! If only I knew about these counselors on Friday evening!A big thanks to Gustav's and my counselors .

I am not a feminist, but...(Post1)

I am not a feminist, and to be honest, never gave it a thought before I started reading IHM's blog. My mother was a working woman and she never differentiated between me and my brother. If something was not right for my brother to do, it was wrong for me as well and vice versa. My grandmother was a strong lady as well , raising her 7 children alone when my grandfather was sick . So, in our house "You are a woman and not supposed to do so and so..." was unheard of.

Now, I realize, it is not true. Even in today's generation women do have restrictions. So, I thought of coming up with "I am not a feminist, but..." series in which I will post the stories where I felt things were biased.

Spoke to a lady for a work assignment and found her extremely good. When I asked her, why she was not working, her answer was that her husband was in different city and she wanted to keep the family together and could not find any work in his city. Now, I do not have anything against it , if she was happy with her choice. She was miserable thinking about the great career she had and the position she would have been if she had not quit her job for her family. When I spoke to her husband, I realized that he was not as competent as her at his work and he did not want his wife to work if she had to travel .

This story made me think about the bias society has towards men in terms of their career. We still think of a man as a bread winner and woman as a home maker. Though, the lady is as qualified (if not more) as the man of the house.

-Why does a woman have to quit her job/independence so that the family should be together. Isn't it the responsibility of both?

-Why do society ask a lady, how would her husband manage without her, when she travels for work? We have always seen the man traveling on work and leave behind the wife to take care of the family. But, he never has to answer that question.

- Why should the woman feel guilty about being ambitious, when it is seen as a great asset for a man?

- How can a woman not confront her husband about her career goals? Isn't it an important part of marriage?

This story is close to my heart because, I quit my job too when I moved to US . But, the difference was, I wanted to take a break from my career and see how the things would turn out. When I realized that being a home maker was not my forte, everyone supported my decision . Of course, it was not without concerns which would have been the same if Sudhir had traveled. Wonder how my life would have been if not for Sudhir,my parents and in laws support...

India V/s SA

It took me couple of days to come out of the depression of watching this match. It has been a long time since I watched a cricket match live. So, on Friday , I decided to break this spell and watch a supposed to be most competative match in Group B- India V/s SA. I am a big fan of Indian team and hoped that India would win. After all I heard that they were doing great in recent times( Ya! I can't believe I am not following cricket ). So, I got up early on Saturday morning and started watching the match on Internet.

Suddenly, I realized, not much has changed , Indian team is still the same team which I used to watch an year back. Why you may ask...

1. They can still lose matches after an amazing innings by Sachin .( Don't they feel bad for him? He does all the hard work and sets the stage where other batmen can just take singles to win the match . But, I guess he is asking too much out of middle order!)

2. Only Indian team can get all out from 267/1 stage! Can anyone explain me 9 wickets for 20 odd runs? that too with more than an over remaining?

3. Where are the bowlers? I agree we have always been weak in this section. But, how can 296 be not a defend-able total?. Did cricket change so much during an year that 296 is a bad total? May be due to twenty twenty , there is no scope for bowlers anymore. Cricket format should change and we should have only batsmen in a team . You can either have a machine bowl/batsmen can bowl. After all, if one only has to swing their bat at everything why bother making a poor bowler run?

4. I saw Kohli/Raina/Sachin/Sehwag do good work in the field. Where are the rest? Looks like Munaf /Harbajan/Nehra think its not worth bending their back to pick up the ball and Dhoni has to fumble with the stumping, thankfully batsmen were not quick enough! Anyways, why should we field !batting is our strength , isn't it?

5. Indian Players still look so under confident, we had the advantage of being the unbeaten side with able to perform well under pressure . yet, when SA was struggling at 247/6, SA batsmen looked more confident than us!

6. I have one question for Dhoni, why could he not bowl Harbajan in the last over. SA batsmen are not good player of spin especially the tail enders. he had taken 3 wickets already in the match against Ashish Nehra's 0. Yet, Dhoni wanted Ashish to bowl. Logic?

7. Dhoni commenting about his batsmen in media. You are in the middle of a world cup and you need your team to be united and motivated. I have not read any leadership book which said criticism is the best motivation.

Over all, I enjoyed Sachin/Sehwag batting , other than that the match was just the good old disappointing Indian performance. Getting so close to the victory and then throwing all away has always been our trend. Looks like we still continue it.

P.S: This is totally from a perspective of a person who has not watched Indian team play for an year . This match made me feel I haven't been away at all (Sad but true!)

Valentine's Day

Red , Red and Red every where. Teddies, Chocolates,flowers,gifts, Why can't every day be valentine's day?

I am always hyper on Valentine's day/Friendship day/Mother's Day etc etc(I guess you get the idea:-). I try to reason myself by saying its just another day, but, I am never able to control my excitement. It was the same even before meeting Sudhir and when I did not have a Valentine. Now, I am more excited because I have a valentine :) Sadly, we could not be with each other today as he had to travel on work.

I saw a couple wearing red and exchanging gifts in the bus, Office meeting was fun with people talking about their plans and I find a cute bouquet waiting for me when I return from work . I treat myself by cooking a special dinner and having it all alone yet excited that it is Valentine's day! Stupid isn't it.

My Childhood friend...

I don't know why I started thinking about this friend of mine. It has been ages since I have spoken to her.

I remember our childhood days. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I always wanted to look like her(though I knew I could not). She used to come to our house to talk to me and we would talk about anything and everything under the sun. She was older than I, but it never was a problem. I would try to understand when she spoke about marriage/kids and she would bear with my school stories.

I have the bits and pieces of memory from those days..

We used to watch tv endlessly at my place/hers (That explains why I was never into any sports).
We used to enact this stupid song every time it played on tv.
We had a favorite recipe i.e Top Ramen noodle. (That was all we knew to cook)
We used to study together(ya!!true)
We were crazy about cricket. South Africa was her favorite and I struggled to find a team other than India .
I used to get jealous when she went to meet another friend of hers in our neighborhood.
We used to do many stupid things and laugh about it
We had promised about meeting back after 10 years and still be the same
We talked of marrying the same guy!;) so we could be together.

Things changed once I started my college and she got married and moved. Though she used to come to her place once in a while, we started having trouble finding a common topic for us. Sadly, cell phone was not an option those days and I was too lazy to write to her. I was too young to understand the value of friendship.

Now after may be 10 years, we are so apart but memories still make me smile. I realize now, she was my first best friend.

Sister of my heart- Review

In the Library, this novel caught my eye. I did not think twice before picking it up when I saw that it is from an Indian Author. I was hooked on to it from the moment I started reading it.

Story is about two cousins born on the same day, Sudha and Anju. Along with the birth date, they also shared a misfortune of losing their father on same day. Raised by their mothers and an aunt, they had to lead a life fearing the society and trying to live up to the expectation of well known family in Calcutta. Their childhood passes by being inseparable from each other, sharing everything they had until Sudha comes to know about the secret of their birth. From this time on, Sudha makes sure Anju gets all the happiness so much so that she even sacrifices her love for it. Story takes a turn when they get married and separate. How the circumstances divide their loyalty between friendship and their new families, how they survive the difficult times of their life and love each other unconditionally just the way when they were kids is the backbone of the story.

I loved the narration by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This novel makes you feel the love Sudha and Anju share in each and every page. I read many pages with tears in my eye, when Sudha was forced to get married/abort a baby, Anju has a miscarriage because she works too hard to support Sudha with her struggle to fight against the world to keep her baby alive.

The novel talks about all the hardship women go through,yet how they manage to survive for their loved ones. Book is all about Love,Sacrifice friendship and Loyalty. A must read.

My Lust list

I liked the idea of Shilpa's post. But, limiting my lust list to only five was not an easy task:-)Here goes the list,

1. I am crazy about diamonds,especially the blue ones. Diamond ring below made me go gaga over it:-)

Caution- Before falling in love with it , it is priced at $16.26 million $.

2. Is there any girl in the world who doesn't dream of riding in a harley with her guy?



3 . What can be more exciting than seeing the world in a cruise especially if it is the most luxurious cruise in the world? This cruise has every luxury you can ever wish for!




4 . How I wish I had a personal designer! I would love to have dresses designed for me by Manish Malhotra.

5. Last but not at all the least, This mansion by the sea side stole my heart! I would not mind a smaller version of this with the same view.

New Year's eve

We didn't plan for it, but I loved every minute of it. We didn't party/go to a fancy restaurant or for that matter stayed up late. Yet, I enjoyed it more than any of previous years. If you ask me, this time there was no pressure of "having to do something fun", there was not much worries of whom to spend the evening with or planning endlessly for which party to attend/what dress to wear.

Sudhir was here and we spent the day being with each other midst the nature. I was with my husband in a place which almost looked like heaven. What more could I ask for!