Tag: blogging

Walk in the Woods

by himalayaswithin, posted in Chahna says.., Explore

Destination: Self! 

If you have been following my blog, you’d know that it started as an excursion experience sharing blog. I would pick a trail from Surrey or Hampshire council website and would set off. However, over time it evolved, and I started sharing experiences from other aspects of life. Hiking experience changed over the last few years for me after I had my child. It had been a while since I had been in the woods on my own, when I received news from internal Philips communication channel that Philips had joined hands with Chiltern Charity Run to support a mental health charity called Mind.

Mental health is something that has been my focus for the last couple of years. I have learned to recognise that mental health needs as much conscious attention as we pay to our physical health. Both are interlinked in some way but they both need to be addressed individually to achieve an overall balanced fitness. As I develop deeper understanding, I realise there are several layers to mental health and that there are lots of taboos attached too. We take our mental fitness too much for granted and tend to turn a blind eye subconsciously.

Chiltern charity event was the perfect amalgamation of my evergreen hobby and my recently revealed truth. I grabbed the opportunity and chose for the 10k run (or walk) in an endeavour to find peace amongst the woods as well as support the cause for my belief.

Two of my lovely friends decided to join me in this adventure who were as unsure as me if we’d make it. Not worrying about the result, the trio embarked upon the journey catching up after a long time. We talked about our work, fitness, work life balance, challenges and touched upon mental health aspect of our lives. One of the girls is a practicing GP who shared some very interesting but eye-opening insights into mental wellbeing.

The hike was amid woods close to Henley on Thames. Henley is a beautiful town on the river Thames in Oxfordshire. The weather was kind to us on the day – not too hot, nor too cold. The calmness of woods began having an impact on us soon after we started. We took a break at about 4.7kms for about 10 mins and had some snacks. That break helped me cross the line of being too conscious about my walk and being able to surrender myself to nature.

Soon after we resumed, I left my friends behind, not on purpose, just the terrain and a bit of consistent speed. I crossed a few people who were ahead of me and shortly I found myself alone in the walk. That put me in the space where I could connect with myself through nature. I kept pausing every so often to take in the scenery and to allow myself to absorb into the moment. Without realising, the charity’s purpose of mental health was being fulfilled. My mind was unwinding, and life’s purpose was becoming clearer.

The final patch of the walk, approximately last 3 kms, were complete wonderous for me. There was no one I could see in front of me or behind me. There was open ground on side and dense woods on the other. This patch had concrete road to walk on, unlike the rest of the hike which was mostly off-road and woody. During this time, there was one moment where I could simply let go of everything, including myself and be totally tuned in with the universe.

As I came nearer to the final turn, crossing which I would be back into real world, I turned around and kissed the woods good-bye, making a promise to myself to visit them soon.

I thank Chiltern Charity and Philips for giving me this excellent opportunity and to enable me to disconnect.

Written by: Chahna D

Edited by: Milauni T

DO YOU GET 24 HOURS EVERY DAY?

by himalayaswithin, posted in Chahna says..

Long time ago, a friend of mine asked me, if I also get 24 hours a day like everyone else?

There has been something going on in my head since a few days but have not been able to put a finger to it. Driving this morning to work, a thought triggered, and it took me back to the moment, few years ago, when my friend was amazed with how much I can do in 24 hours.

I was thinking about how will I manage if get into a role that has more responsibilities than I have now? Will I be able to do justice to my family in terms of my time and responsibilities? Will I be able to do justice to myself? Will it affect my physical and mental health? All these questions led to me to think that, hey, my life has changed a lot in the past few years, but I still have never compromised on things I like to do. Writing, for example! Agreed, I have had to put my interests away for a bit now and then, but I have always managed to find my way back. How?

This “How?” led me to understand about intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is that you do things only when you have to or are driven by external motivator. For example, going to yoga class because your friend goes – which is fine – question is what do you do when your friend skips the class? Do you skip as well? Or do you work hard because you want to do better than your colleague and seize that promotion?

Extrinsically motivated individuals will always need a reason to do something. But what happens when that external motivator is taken away? They lose purpose. Intrinsically motivated individuals, on the other hand, do not need any external driver to do something. They find time for what they think is important for them. They have a force within them that drives them.

Internally motivated people do things they enjoy for themselves. Yes, they enjoy company, but at the same time, being a loner doesn’t scare them. They constantly find ways to pursue their interests no matter the odds.

So, let’s take this opportunity to introspect and try to understand ourselves better. In MBA, I had learned about Stephen Covey’s time management matrix which I would like to modify a bit for us here. The more we try to focus on Quadrant 4, we will feel more peaceful and happier in life. We generally tend to get caught up in activities within quadrants 1 to 3 and always push behind the activities in quadrant 4.

The paramount question is how to focus on quadrant 4 when we have so much going on? Job, kids, families, commitments, it’s maddening. So, here I have tried to put down some pointers that might help you.

  1. List the activities in your daily routine that fall under quadrants 1 to 3
  2. How much of your time do they take away?
  3. Do these activities require to be done by you? Can anyone else do it?
  4. Which activities drain you physically? Can you get domestic help to do it?
  5. Which activities drain you mentally? Is there anyway you can share those activities?
  6. Which activities can be pre-planned? Like, can you batch cook? Or can you plan your social commitments?
  7. Are there any activities that can be done while they are still manageable? For e.g., laundry. I find doing laundry more regularly actually makes it manageable and less effort consuming.
  8. Which are the activities that you can automate? For e.g., setting a direct debit for your regular bills, having a dishwasher, or having a multicooker.
  9. Which are the activities that you can do away with sometimes? Like, for me, it is ok if my house is messy, it must be clean though. But I can be at peace if there are toys lying around that are not in my way. Identify such activities and learn to give them a pass sometimes.

Basically, try to minimise and plan the activities in quadrant 1 to 3. This will allow you to have more time on your hands to focus on the activities in quadrant 4. The more you do it, the more organised you will become. The more organised you are, the more time you will have to pursue your Ikigai!

Yes, all of us get 24 hours and working towards your Ikigai for a few of those hours/minutes- makes this world a better place for you!

Written by: Chahna D

Edited by: Milauni T

Treat Myself day

by himalayaswithin, posted in Explore

Coughing all night, waking up zillion times, I had a broken sleep and sore throat when I woke up. Yet it is all on you how you see it or carry it.

I still woke up in delightful spirits. It is truly said when you have had dark / rough times, it gives you a different aura. Very silly analogy to my morning but hey it is my morning..! So I decided to do something special. Something for me that I would love and carry on the good spirits through out the day despite the sore throat.

I put on my favourite jumper, took my travel mug (empty), set the right kinda songs for the mood and drove off (after tending to my sore throat). To Starbucks..!!! I got myself my special Toffee Nut Latte made perfectly. Songs on full volume and I singing along in loud, harsh voice..

Empty wet roads in the festive times, songs that touch your heart in the right way and warm coffee let the thoughts trail and I named today as “Treat Myself” day!

SO, what are you treating yourself with??

Everyone Plays their Roles…

by himalayaswithin, posted in Fiction

No one is really yours

Everyone is just playing their roles

If you think, they are yours

Believe me, my friend, you’re wrong

 

There are moments of light

When you feel bright

Your hope rises, and dreams shine

If you think, they are yours

Believe me, my friend, you’re wrong

 

When you love, they love you back

When you respect, they respect you back

But in moment of truth, they hold back

Then you realise, the square one is back

 

Then you realise, you’re all alone

Everyone is just playing their role

Bake…..Set….Ting: Aromas of Life!

by himalayaswithin, posted in bake, Explore

I hadn’t thought I’d write about this until the day I baked because I realised my page isn’t just a travel blog, it is about sharing experiences of exploring myself. Doing anything new is exploringoneself. Bringing out hidden capabilities and developing new skills. Therefore, here we go.

Since I was a teen, I have always enjoyed being home alone. With my husband travelling to Africa, I was going to be on my own for 10 days – one more thing to check off as first times. I had made a list of things I would do which broadly consisted of watching movies / tv series that I like, trying my hands at baking, and shopping!!! Movies / tv series didn’t turn out that well until 4th/5th day and being a ‘skinflint’, shopping was also regular, nothing special. So let’s talk about what happened with baking.

It was Friday evening. First weekend alone, he has never left me alone in these years. I decided to bake Shepherd’s Pie and checked the recipe online. I had all the ingredients (or so I thought) to make ‘my’ version of the pie – that’s a better way to put it than to say I made the pie from whatever I had available. As soon as I began gathering the ingredients, I realised I didn’t have butter. Cannot prepare the potato mash without butter! All right, I decided to quickly pop out to a co-op next door. The guy on the counter said he cannot take card payment for less than £5. Duh!

While walking back home to get some cash, thoughts filled my mind. God has mysterious ways of playing games when you are on the roll to have fun. I think He enjoys putting little obstacles, perhaps to check how determined you are! I always love playing these little Chess games with Him. I also missed India so much – in India, all local shopkeepers know you and in a situation like this they say, “Koi baat nahi behenji, kal de dena..” (Don’t worry ma’am, pay tomorrow).

Following the recipe outline, I prepared the ingredients, heated the oven and now it was time to be patient. I kept checking from the oven ‘window’ for the potato layer to turn a bit golden. I ended up baking longer than recommended in the recipe but the outcome was simply delicious!

Shepherd’s Pie with Garlic Bread
My version of Shpeherd’s Pie

Yes it is a lot. A lot for me. It served me for lunch and dinner for the next day as well.

 

Delighted with my first experience, next on list was scones. I had checked ingredients, shopped in advance, had checked the recipe several times and had also observed a friend bake them nearly a week ago. The waiting time was difficult to pass which I managed, although checking frequently how my scones were doing. It was relishing to watch the scones rise. A feeling of accomplishment. I took them out and found out they had risen into a weird shape! However when I tasted them after they had cooled, they were really good. Every ingredient was in its correct proportion. Although I could have let them bake for a little longer and made them little smaller in size.

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Butter Scones

 

Second straight success boosted my confidence. Next day was the short bread day. Same story – all ingredients checked, batter prepared – had to keep adding flour to get the correct thickness because I added too much butter – but the rest remains the same. The wait, the peeping through the window, opening and checking the aroma – the same emotions. Once done and cooled, I took a piece, and… ..and they were delicious just that we cannot name them shortbread!! They were soft as a cookie. Too much butter I believe.

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Short Bread

 

But hey, that’s what we all do. We all make mistakes the first time round – at least I am brave to write it on the blog!

Anyhow I hope you enjoyed the read and that it triggered memories of similar stories. Stay tuned with this page for more fun stories 😊

 

 

Written by: Chahna D.

Edited by: Milauni T.

Girlfriend Getaway!

by himalayaswithin, posted in Explore, weekend trip

(When two girls are on a roll- You’re in for a long yet fun read)

Good things always start without a plan. They hit you amidst the routine of your life and you never expect magic was just around the corner. So, for me- It all started with a video call one night with our friends in Scotland who wanted to discuss about a life-turning decision they had to take. When pondered over the conversation later, we all woke up next morning feeling closer to each other and expressed our sentiments in our group chat. In the flow of emotions, I asked the girl out on a date. Never expected it to materialise, nonetheless never also expected it wouldn’t really happen.

Next day, she was looking up for places we could go. She called me during lunch to discuss on a suitable weekend and before we knew, we had booked our stay in York, a historic walled city in North Yorkshire, England located at the confluence of river Ouse and Foss. The city was founded by the Romans in 71 AD. Ancient charm never fades, isn’t it?

It was 4 days till the D-Day!!

As per the plan, she was going to take the train from Edinburgh and I was to drive. Drive nearly 240 miles. Wohoo- a first time for many things- first long self-drive. The husband was confident that I would be able to easily pull it off (rather drive it off 😉).

I did not let my mind ponder over it until the day of my travel. Everyone at my work was concerned as I was leaving straight after work. My manager was kind (and worried!) that he allowed me to leave early.

A vortex of emotions hit me- and hit me hard. The butterflies had found their way in to my gut and I was feeling confident one minute and nervous the other. Nevertheless, I shot off at the decided time, put up the online radio for Hindi songs, put up the navigation, had a hydrating drink and a couple of Mars bars within my reach, perfect air con temperature, said a short prayer and started the ignition- Vrrrooommm!!!!!

The scene was straight out of a movie- 5 hours of quality Me-time while on the wheels. Perfect time to think, ponder and wonder. Amidst scores of thoughts and its sub trails- one conversation with the husband kept lingering on. During one of our late-night talks while checking out the route to York, he asked me out of the blue that what would happen if I meet with some untoward incident on the road? Instantly, I told, “I will give you a call”. He smiled, not sure in agreement, for my innocence or for the dedication I have for him, but he said, OK. My self-pondering revealed to me that the first thing I would really do will be to call him in an unfortunate event. One never knows how little things can make you feel loved. The urge to spend even the best weekend with your friend loses its true flavour if you don’t have anyone to share it with. Being blessed with someone to go back to, to have someone to go home to, someone who would just drop in and rescue you from any situation you land yourself in, in any part of the world – I guess this is love!

It was a safe drive. While I reached on time, the long and arduous wait for my friend, Swara (this is how she prefers to be addressed) began. Her train was late so I drove to the nearest Sainsbury’s and got us a pizza. Just when pizza was ready, it was time for me to leave for the station to pick up Swara. We ended up having dinner at 11:30 pm. We were so thrilled just because we had made it to the trip that we had to watch our loud, harsh voices so as not to wake up other guests.

With no plan in our heads, we took the bus to town centre next morning where a lovely lady who we bumped into on the bus stop, guided us about the buses and things to do in the city. As soon as we stepped outside the bus, I announced let’s start with walking along the City Wall. After a quick coffee and muffin break at a beautiful local café, we approached the nearest start point for the wall.

Conversations flowing endlessly – some insightful, some routine, some crazy, some experiences, and some philosophical. Conversations with no agenda. We were just us – 2 late 20’s (okay, just 30’s) women being themselves, with no restrictions, no guards, just free-spirited women. I believe this is that age when you have gained enough experience to understand your own mistakes and still have left enough of lifetime to work on them.

To find a soulmate in this phase who vibes at the same frequency as yours is a prayer heard.

We reached the Castle Museum which is next to the Clifford’s Tower, the river Ouse and the Rose Theatre. We decided to do the cruise or boat ride on that day and leave the museum for Sunday as it was forecasted to rain on Sunday.

As we walked through the square of the Rose Theatre grounds which had a few food and drink stalls, we came across the Box Office. They were running Shakespeare’s theatres and there was one show that evening. The cheapest tickets were within our budget and we decided to go for it. We got the tickets and now had a long afternoon before the show.

We went up to the river but both cruise and boats had a long queue and we didn’t want to spend that long waiting for a boat whilst we could do a lot of other things in its stead. We made our way to the famous old street, the Shambles which served as an inspiration for the Diagon Alley in Harry Potter movie series. We walked around the street and market, bought ourselves a Harry Potter souvenir, bought gifts for our husbands, enjoyed some great street shows until it was time for us to head for the theatre to queue up for best place.

The theatre square was buzzing with people. A theatre actor suddenly showed up and involved the guests with some game in which Swara and I volunteered which is way against our normal selves. We soon queued up and entered the theatre, only to be left dumbfounded. We had got ourselves standing tickets for a 3 hour show after walking the whole town since morning (roughly 13 kms)!

It was an open area to stand surrounded by stables for seating all around and above us. We named it the Hall of Shame! So, we found us a good spot right in the centre and in the front. We saw people sitting down on floor and so did we. Within 5 minutes, a young, lovely looking girl walked up to a group sitting next to us, asked them to stand up as the theatre was going to be full and threw a glance at us. Urgh!

Swara suggested we take a spot closer to the door if we want to leave half way. We moved to our new spot and waited for the show. For the first half an hour to one hour, we couldn’t understand much of what was going on. Tiredness was pouring in and I was afraid Swara would give up. But the story picked up quickly enough to stop at an interesting junction for interval. We rested during the interval and got back up for the second half. Towards the end of it, the script and actors had engrossed us deeply. We were jumping, clapping and dancing at the rhythm the actors and the musicians were throwing at us.

Later, we came to know that the Midsummer Night’s Dream is the most popular comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595-96 portraying the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. Really looking forward to reading it now.

We called the day by watching The Polar Express movie from the DVD collection of our hosts. The next morning started with black coffee and toasted bread with butter, thanks to Swara.

We took the car to the town centre as we had checked out and wanted to leave straight from there. To our delightful surprise, it was a good partially sunny day with a bit more wind. Which meant we could do the boat ride!!! Being early, there was no queue and we got ourselves a self-driven motor boat within 5 minutes, putting together all the cash we had between us. It turned out to be one of the best adventures of our lives.

Following a delicious brunch at a local restaurant, we walked alongside the river Ouse having some endearing conversations that I am sure we both benefitted from. We got different outlook to things and phases that we experience in life. Connecting with each other in a beautiful, refreshing and happening city, helped us connect to our own selves. Having found a deeper way in and our souls cherished, we embarked on our respective return journeys. My journey was filled with thoughts of the incredible memories of past 2 days and an undying longing to meet my husband and pour out my experiences to him.

A home filled with warmth is I guess the end for every holiday and adventure.

Visit my page for the pictures- I’m sure you would not like to miss it. See them here – https://www.instagram.com/himalayaswithin/

 

Written by: Chahna D. | Edited by: Milauni T.

The One You Cannot Have – Book Review

by himalayaswithin, posted in Book Review, Fiction, Uncategorized

I have read many, many books over more than a decade – English, Gujarati, Fiction, Thriller, Action, some non-fiction and always dreamed of writing a book review but never picked up a pen, until now (picked up my keyboard, in literal words!).

The book I recently read did not really touch my soul or leave a lasting impression like many other books have. But, today morning, without giving much thought, I simply opened a word doc and started typing. Perhaps because I am more confident in writing now or because this was an easy read, it was also easy for me to write a review. Nevertheless, I am stepping into a new genre of writing.

Name of the book: The One You Cannot Have

Author: Preeti Shenoy

As the title suggests, it is about an unfinished love story. A young girl and a young boy, Shruti and Aman, find magical love in their college days and spend the best 4 years of their lives. Bunking classes, grabbing every opportunity to be together, working on projects together, etc is surely something we all can relate to. Dreaming about having a future together, caring unconditionally for each other and understanding even a flick of an eye made them ‘made for each other’ soulmates. Only until life took its own course.

In present day, they both live different lives. Shruti is married to a very nice guy from her community chosen by her parents and Aman is wrapping up his 2 years of life in the U.K., which he had chosen as respite after his harsh break-up. Shruti is fairly happy with her marriage and has buried (or let’s say has tried very hard and she thinks she is successful until circumstances change) Aman and the time they had spent. On the other hand, Aman is still single and has failed any attempt to even think of a relationship.

Aman moves to Bangalore in the hope to start a new life, meets his old boss who is a friend (Vikram) and joins his company to help him get a new project hit the ground. Knowing of his return to India, Anjali contacts him well before he was to fly and fixes a date. Aman agrees reluctantly only to be polite and to get her off his back. Anjali is Deepika’s (Vikram’s wife’s) cousin, works at a magazine company as a writer. She has her own column and writes about day-to-day struggles / emotional journeys of women. One date leading to another, Aman and Anjali get along well, and Anjali has finally found a guy who fits all her requirements of a life partner. She gives out clear signals of being interested in a relationship, but Aman is terrified. He likes Anjali. After a lifetime, someone has genuinely made him laugh and made him feel important. He likes the upbeat, full-of-life, successful, independent and beautiful Anjali but his past, his pain stops him from making any advances.

Shruti, at the same time, faces a head-first fall in her marriage when Rishabh finds out about her relationship with Aman. Rishabh knows that the relationship ended before marriage but the fact that Shruti lied to him when he had asked her about being in any previous relationship, eats Rishabh from inside. He can no longer trust Shruti and feels to have been wronged and cheated. Shruti confesses, apologises, gets angry, becomes outrageous, tries everything she can think of, but nothing eases Rishabh’s pain. Rishabh’s parents’ visit during the same time complicates things even further. After being broken from inside for months, she finally decides to write to Aman. She strongly believes it is only him who can pull her out from this darkness.

What happens after is for you to find out by reading the book. The author has given excellent plot to the story by taking a reader through past and present times parallelly as that’s how real life is, isn’t it? We never really leave our past, it’s always with us – only buried, sometimes even forgotten, until something triggers it. The author takes us inside the minds of each key character and has put best effort to personify each of them. The language used is quite colloquial and some readers might find it naïve. The tone and tense of the language gets monotonous at many points and inclusion of a lot of not required / redundant information like literally describing a conversation in passive past tense frequently throughout the book can get to a reader. The author could have used that space to express deeper emotions and essence of conversation rather than simply translating it. I found those passages boring and empty. Having said so, the curiosity that was created kept me gripped on until I finished the book.

Have a happy read…

You can buy the book at https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-You-Cannot-Have/dp/9383260688/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535099333&sr=8-1&keywords=the+one+you+cannot+have