Charu's Blog

Earlier this year, I was out on a chilly Saturday afternoon, exploring the streets of my city. I entered Bahrisons Booksellers in Select Citywalk, one of the most popular bookstores in Delhi. I immediately went in, and started browsing through their collection. I had no intentions of buying any books, thanks to my enormous TBR pile. Then, I came across this book, written by an Indian Author named Rehana Munir. I had never heard of the author before. I picked up the book, and I know we are not supposed to, but I judged it by its cover. The cover had a fancy looking bookshop and a girl in a green kurta, walking towards it. On the porch of the bookshop, was a cat, sleeping peacefully. The book was titled Paper Moon . I turned it around, and read the synopsis. I found it intriguing. At first, I decided not to buy the book. However, as I was about to leave the bookstore, I went back to aisle where I had found the book, and picked it up. I went to the checkout count...

Since I was talking about gratitude in yesterday’s post, I decided to pick up this topic for today’s post. During difficult times, like the one we are facing currently, it can be very easy for us to forget what’s going right, and instead, focus on the negative. We often give in to our entitlement, and tend to overlook how blessed we actually are. I think that it’s imperative to practice gratefulness and count our blessings. Which is what I’m trying to achieve through today’s blog. Here are five things that I’m grateful for: 1. A Healthy Body: At a time where all news channels in the world are showing us the increasing number of people getting sick, I want to take some time and think about how fortunate I am to have a healthy body. Distracted by other important things our lives, we often take our bodies for granted. I am guilty of the same. As you get only one life to live, you also have only one body to experience this life. It is important to take care of it, and be ...

One of my major goals this year is to read. While I’ve been an avid reader throughout my life, I feel like in the recent years, due to reasons such as lack of time and procrastination, I’ve constantly been putting off reading. Which is why, in 2019, I decided to pick up as many books as I could (thirteen in all). And in 2020, I’ve set quite an ambitious reading target for myself. So far, I’ve been taking this target quite seriously, and I’ve picked up around twelve books this year (have not completed all of them). One of the most powerful books I’ve read this year is Silence, by Thich Nhat Hanh . The author of this book is a Vietnamese monk, a global spiritual leader and a peace activist. He has written over a hundred books, and I’ve had the pleasure of reading two of them in the past four months. The other book I’ve read is called The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings – I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about Buddhism and Buddhist teachings. ...

Well, I found it hard to choose amongst the many things I struggle with. Nevertheless, I decided to write about one in particular, something that has been a constant struggle throughout my life – making small talk (or unfriendly social situations in general). If you are anything like me, you find small talk to be boring and unimaginative. You often find yourself in that excruciating and awkward phase of a conversation where you really do not know what to say. Your mind struggles, trying to find the perfect balance between not saying anything at all, versus oversharing about something that deeply interests you. While talking about the latter comes more naturally to you, however, more often than not, social situations do not permit you to get to this straightaway, and you have to circle your way around the small talk route. Which is why I love blogging, because I can avoid this route, talk about what matters to me, and structure my point in my way. Anyway, you might ...

I feel that music has a unique power of taking you to a different time. Today, I’m listing down my all-time favorite songs, along with a small lyrical portion from each song. These are songs that I’ve loved throughout my life, and the songs that I can go back to at any time, without getting tired of them: 1. Something Just Like This – Coldplay “The testaments they told, the moon and its eclipse” Though a fairly new song compared to the other songs on this list, this song still fills me with nostalgia – it reminds me of a peculiar time in my life which is hard to forget. Another song worth mentioning by Coldplay is A Sky Full of Stars. 2. Take Me to Church – Hozier “There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sins” This is one song that gives me goosebumps, literally each time I listen to it! There is an unusual quality about this song, which I’ve not found in any other song, even the ones on this list. The music and the lyrics - both are equally mesmeri...

Well, because I am unable to put my wanderlust in action, I’ve decided to write about it! Which is why, I've picked up this topic for Day 4. Small note to the reader: I’ve lived in India my entire life, and I’m going to stick to places in and around India. I do this because I believe in exploring the local tourist attractions before planning or actually undertaking far-off trips. Hope you will enjoy: 1. Manali: Being born and brought up in Delhi, a place blessed with being in close proximity to many mountainous regions, I’m naturally inclined towards being a mountain person. Manali continues to be one of my favorite destinations in India. I’ve taken three trips to this place in my life so far, and enjoyed it differently each time – from the adventures of Solang Valley to the charm of the streets of Old Manali. I absolutely love the vibe of this place. 2. Kolkata: The City of Joy! I can go on incessantly when it comes to describing this place. The reaso...

There are many people, who have inspired me at different points in my life. However, the one constant source of inspiration is in my life – as would be for many others - is my mother. I have seen the struggles of her life so closely, from my childhood to adulthood, and even though I did not understand them well for a better part of my life, I am slowly beginning to see the challenges that come with managing three children and a household.  Motherhood - it is a taxing job, which, while rewarding in its own way, can sometimes seem like a tireless pursuit. Which is why I want to dedicate today’s post to all mothers. And while I do not speak from experience, I feel that motherhood (or parenthood in general) is something so powerful – the ability to shape the life of another human being. It requires a great deal of patience and resolve. Lately, I have been interacting with a lot of working mothers at my workplace. I have witnessed them sharing stories, their daily c...

I clearly remember the initial few days of my first job, right after my MBA. We had been called to Mumbai, a bunch of fresh graduates from leading B-schools in India, all excited to take on the corporate world, highly competitive to prove their worth in the orientation program. I was one of the quieter ones in the group. And even though I participated fairly well in all the dynamic group activities assigned to us, I spoke very little. So during one of these activities, our HR lead was interacting with the group, and he said something to me that I remember clearly to this day. The reason I remember what he said to me, so vividly, is because while I partially disagree with him, at the same time, I cannot help thinking if he was right. Here's what he said to me. He said that I am fearless, and while I didn't speak much in the orientation program, he believed that I was possibly the most fearless in the entire group. And while I’d like to finish this story her...

In the midst of the world locking down, and given the additional amount of time on our hands, I have decided to participate in a 21-day blogging marathon. This is inspired by the 30-day writing challenge on https://lifeentirely.wordpress.com – I have picked up some cool and interesting topics from this blog and customized them to suit my own style. Hope you enjoy it! Day 1: 5  Things That Make Me Happy  I like to observe all the things around me and I greatly enjoy the little pleasures of life. Here I am listing 5 random things that bring me a lot of joy: 1. Books, bookshelves, bookstores: I find books to be very beautiful objects. What’s not to love about them? The smell, the feel of the pages, the happiness they give you when they are neatly stacked on a bookshelf next to each other, arranged by genre, author or even color. The sheer number of stories and characters they hold within themselves, and just knowing that you can get to be a p...