Week 26: No Complaints Please!

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

This week was eventful with the hurricane season upon us and we experiencing the first of rains. Amidst the rains and thunders, I decided to detox myself mentally. What did I do? I went on a 'no complaint mode' for 2 weeks!

It was a difficult task. The first day was easy but as the week started progressing it became extremely arduous to continue this mammoth undertaking. And yet I did it and I am proud of myself.

I did not whine or complain even once in the past 2 weeks. While doing so I realized how much I used to whine in a day and wondered how my husband is still putting up with me! I am a hopeless optimistic but my optimism is sprinkled with intermittent grumbling. Common now, even I am a human and I cannot be smiling and laughing all the time.

The major change I noticed was in my thoughts. My thought clarity was very high and I churned out some offbeat (not my usual genre) pieces last 2 week - A stark naked me in Fighting My Own Demons and a personal perspective on relationships today in The Twisted World of Relationships. 

I have had my own set of persistent problems which make me whine, to list a few - books ending in drastic ways, weather being too hot, someone sending nasty comments, Costco changing its layout every damn week making things difficult to find, people smoking in my face etc. 

This week I decided to not let these frugal things(I convinced myself these are frugal things, though it was very difficult to forgive Costco) affect my mood and you can see the wonderful effect :)

I could have continued with this detoxification, but this week all the toxins just blurted out of my mouth when I snapped at my husband over something really very small. Maybe detoxification is to be done once in a while and not as a permanent practice ;)

I am thinking of continuing this practice, one week every month. Who wants to join me in this?

Image Credit

Week 25: International Yoga Day!

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

I was done with my new experience for the week and then realized it is 'International Yoga Day' this week! I realized it too late, almost in the evening but still thought I should do something to make this very first International celebration of yoga a day to remember!

You ask me why? The reason being, yoga was there to uplift my spirits when everything seemed inconsequential and when I thought life had come to a stand still. Yoga was there to help me concentrate my energies in the pursuit of finding a new focus in my life.

I left my overly loved job in India to join my husband in the US on a non working visa, which at that time seemed as if someone had clipped off my wings. It was a conscious decision, being with your loved one was more important than having a job! Never the less, it took 6 months and some regular pranayama for me to start from scratch and get back to the love of my life - writing! A non working visa has been indeed a boon in disguise and today my life is richer than what it would have been back in India.

So yes, I had to pay my respect to yoga by doing something on this day. Guess what did I do? I headed straight to Riviera beach in my yoga pants with my yoga mat at 7 pm, looking for a quiet spot where I could stretch a little and then meditate.

When I entered the beach, I was welcomed by this old guy making BIG soap bubbles with kids trying to burst the bubbles. The bubbles were floating high, out of the reach of the kids. One kid threw his footwear in the air to burst those bubbles! Pretty smart, right?

I entered the beach and was looking for a nice spot amidst the hustle bustle, and I found these turtle nestings at a lot of spots in the sand. Since the turtle population is diminishing at an alarming rate, the local government with the help of citizen volunteers are trying their level best to help the turtles proliferate.

The Beach was busy with people from all phases of life stealing some moments from their busy life to be in the waters or see their loved ones enjoying in the waters!

But then I did find my spot of peace where I put my yoga mat and sat for a while just breathing in the salty air and being mesmerized at the vast expanse of blue in front of me and up above me! 

The view from my peaceful yoga spot

And so I paid my homage to yoga by doing a 20 minutes work out at the beach with a deep feeling of gratitude overwhelming me when I did 'namaste' at the end of my work out!

Week 24: New Place, New Beginning!

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

Finally we shifted! Shifting your place is the biggest adventure one can experience because it is a roller coaster emotional ride with memories with the old place playing havoc in the mind and excitement of the novelty of the new place pumping your heart! You are so used to your kitchen orientation being a certain way, the grocery shops you visit often, the friends near your current apartment.....everything changes in a night! It is also a very physically demanding exercise with all the cleaning, packing and unpacking involved in the whole process! 

The bottom line of the whole shifting process is  - We love our new place :)

And why wouldn't we, when we wake up every morning to this sight - 

A little bit of sunshine, a little dash of water and a little patch of greenery!

Imagine me sitting in my patio, overlooking at this fountain and writing this post right now! Be honest, aren't you jealous?? It is a delight to be amidst nature and yet be at your home too at the same time! We love our new place :)

The second reason behind the love for this new place is my kitchen - 

No whites!! Happy me :)

No more white kitchen. My earlier kitchen was white like a ghost and trust me the effort I have put in cleaning it before handing over the keys was mammoth. Indian cooking and white kitchens do not get along at all! A little turmeric spilled on the kitchen platform and you are dead! No amount of any freaking washing soap/cleaner will remove the turmeric completely. So no more white kitchen for me! I hope finally my biceps stop pumping up with no rigorous cleaning required now ;)

The last week was spent in exploring our new place. The first and the foremost - the local library! Nothing makes me settle in a new place completely till I go and make my library card and hog the treasures on the book shelves! I did exactly this after coming to the new place. Devoured the books at my new library which apparently is twice the size of my earlier one with a plethora of books, dvds and even audio books - all of this absolutely free! One thing I adore about USA :)

Yes baby, the library card is here!

Next on the list was Indian stores. Indian store is a little far from our place, some 11 miles or so. But we do have a Mexican farmer's market which apparently has a lot of fresh Indian veggies too.

Look at those fresh vegetables!

So vegetables were taken care of! We needed to find a meat store now as we do not like the meat sold in Publix and other grocery chains. In general we do not like the chicken sold in US, it is very bland. And we also had to search for a shop which sells Indian legumes and the quintessential spices. We did find one - Asian Market which was nearby. 

When we entered the Asian market, I did not know my life was going to change forever! My husband and me love fish, he being a Bengali and me being a Konkani. The only difference is he eats river fish and me sea fish. But when a Bengali marries a Konkani, it is a fish riot at the dining table! Till date in the US, we have never got fresh fish which we used to eat in India like mackarel, king fish, pomfret etc. We have been eating fresh snapper, cat fish and prawns and frozen mackarel and pomfrets.

This Asian Market was like a heaven to us! There was huge variety of fresh fish here and I was kind of intoxicated by the sight of all the fish variety!

Since it was an Asian Market, we also had live frogs, eels and chicken feet. The funniest part was when I saw the chicken feet, it reminded me of my very good blogging friend Lily who is in Korea currently and did share an episode where their table was hijacked by an elderly couple in a mall without any preamble and that couple was eating chicken feet! (Sorry Lily, to associate you with chicken feet!)

I did not have the audacity to open these sections!

Next on the list was finding a new Toastmasters Club and that also has been taken care of! I have found my club and will be starting my club meetings from next week. Hoping to complete my Competent Communicator (CC) Manual by September this year, I still have 6 more speeches to prepare to win my CC title.

I have found a yoga class too! Starts this Wednesday! I am just wondering how much I have achieved in just a week in terms of exploring the new place. I can happily say, "I am all set at Palm Beach Gardens, bring it on baby!"

Week 23: Teachings of the Gita

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

Sometimes accidently you come across certain things in life which change the course of your life. Something similar happened to me last week. 

We had gone to the Indian store, a chore which we do every weekend to buy vegetables and groceries. This weekend was different. There was a book stall outside the store and I just peeked at the books at the stall. My eye instantly caught the cover of the Bhagwad Gita and a broad smile appeared on my face.

I have been reading the Gita online on and off. I have been wanting to have a physical copy since a long time. And here it was in the most unexpected place. I bought the Gita right away. 

My newest precious possession

I have also been seeking for a Gita class as it is difficult to study the Gita on your own and assimilate all the teachings. One needs a guide or a group where there are healthy discussions on each verse which makes the learning meaningful as well as fun. Just out of curiosity I asked the lady who was selling the books if she is aware of any such classes. Guess what? The lady herself conducted classes via a phone conference and the class had already covered 2 chapters and were currently on the 3rd chapter.

I took the phone conference details from her and joined the class last week on the scheduled day and time. I was fortunate that the lady did a quick recap for me of the first 2 chapters in that 1 hour and now from the next class I will be on track for the third chapter.

Life sometimes places opportunities in the most unexpected places. I have been searching for a Gita class since 6 months and boom, I get one outside my Indian store on one fine Saturday. The best part of the class is, it is on a phone conference so my shifting to a new place will not affect my attendance at all :)

Looking forward to new learnings from the Gita in the upcoming weeks!

Week 22: Kebabs, anyone?

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

I would have started writing saying, "I m shifting in a week, tired of packing and cleaning, no time to cook, so eating outside was a boon...." But I know many of you are bored with my packing and shifting stories, so I will not bore you more :P

This week we tried Middle Eastern cuisine as it is one of the non bland options (Indian food spoils your taste buds and you can't eat food with no spice). We did a little bit of search and then zeroed down on Al Natour Restaurant. It was a weekend and we went there by 9 pm expecting a small place with less crowd. We were greatly mistaken! It was a little big than we expected and jam packed! We had to wait for 20 minutes till we got a small table in the middle of the restaurant. This reminded me of the small restaurants in India which bustle with activity all times of the day.

Look at the packed tables

We saw the menu and decided what to eat in a jiffy. We wanted to try the chicken shawarma and obviously kebabs! Till our main menu arrived, we were given pita bread, pickled vegetables, butter with home goodness and a spicy red chutney. The butter was so good that me and my husband were licking it little by little from our spoons. 

The goodness of white butter!

It was a long time till our main course arrived, almost 45 minutes. This was a big let down about this place. The chicken shawarma arrived with the ubiquitous french fries! You go anywhere in the US, try any cuisine - french fries will always be there sitting on your plate! The shawarma was a delight with big chunks of marinated chicken, a little of coconut flavour with a lot of spiced veggies.

Shawarma and French Fries!

The chicken kebabs were heavenly! My mouth had started salivating when the dish arrived. Spicy, rustic, melt in the mouth balls of meat. I devoured such awesome chicken after so so so long! Loved biting into the juicy meat. I ate a little salad too along with the kebabs, to pacify myself that I did eat a little bit of healthy food too ;)

Scrumptious Chicken Kebabs!! Yummmyyyyy....

I was a happy child after this eating and relaxing. There is so much to taste and experiment, we have just got started. I think the remaining year will be filled with new cuisines and stories about food to tell :)

Drooolll.....Don't stare at my kebab chunk

Finally I move this weekend. Oh, I forgot ....I had decided not to bore all of you with the packing and cleaning stories!!!!

Next blog from a new place, from a new apartment, from a new me (no, I remain the same...you need to live with me just the way I am currently!!)