I visited the friendliest island in the world | Solo Indian Girl

Last night was special...we had a reason to celebrate.
My daughter, GAZAL GARG has just released her latest you tube video which is about her close encounter with WILD SHARKS?! Yes, wild sharks and sea snakes in open sea!!

Not wanting the lockdown to deter our spirits, we wanted to create the same magic for her at home, that she has created in her video. If you are interested to watch, here's the link to it :
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJJrNGGMl5Q&t=143s)


My son took over the front line and prepared most of the dinner himself, right from the scratch !!
So there was, Pepperoni Pizza that had great crust, gooey cheese, flavourful tomato sauce again prepared at home and loaded with pepperoni.

Next was cheesy Calzone filled with mixture of sausages, pepperoni & bell peppers and rich marinara dipping sauce to go with it.

There was also a veg pizza, just for me- out and out loaded with veggies.
Saving the best for the end was Chicago-Style-Deep-Dish-Pizza. Have you ever wondered about the "pie" in pizza? Well, with its more than 1" tall crust cradling distinct layers of cheese, fresh marinara, and loads of veggies, this definitely was a knife-and-fork pizza PIE or actually a SQUARE 🙂

Ohhh & did i mention the hummus, falafel with sweet pickle that we had for starters, courtesy : me 😊😊

Free flowing wine, soft diffused lights, humming of our favourite numbers (old & new mix)...together we did manage to create some MAGIC✨✨✨

My daredevil, you've proved it yet again that you are completely unstoppable!!

Right from taking that bold decision to swim with wild sharks in open waters...to planning your trip, conceptualising your story, writing the content, alongside studying and clearing all the practical skill tests (there were almost 30 of them, I guess), to get not just a PADI open-water diving certificate but walking that extra mile to clear even the advance one, going for night dives just after your fourth or fifth dive when people do it after 20-30 dives, swimming with wild sharks & sea snakes that were the most venomous of all, living on a remote island with bare basics (I remember the day you returned back to civilisation, you called me & said, "Maa, AC & mirror are seeming like a luxury" :D ), looking for a videographer who could shoot you underwater, doing your on land filming....and it didn't quite all end there. Rather the real work started after you returned. Keeping yourself in isolation for our safety, then reviewing the entire footage and setting on the mammoth task of piecing it all together as a cohesive whole...editing visual effects, music, sound design...u accomplished it all, my warrior princess...single handedly...you have processed & released this video, entirely on your own!!!

Phewwwww....took me quite a while to pen it all down but I had to write it Guzz, for I've seen you working day in and day out from the moment you've returned. (please don't be mad at me & you don't need to feel embarrassed)
The video is so captivating but the world needs to know all the hard work that's gone behind the camera :)
Gazal Garg, do you even realise, what you've done!!!!

In a world that's so beautiful but where terrible things happen every second; in a society, where a 'girl' has to really battle it out to make her place, let alone stand out, you not only keep the courage to chase your dreams, (real wild ones at that) but are making every effort to realise them.

I am superrr superrr proud of you, not because what you've done but how you've stood against all odds, braving all storms, yet never letting any doubts or fears get better of you.
I'm proud to be a mom of young courageous lady, who believes in herself, in her dreams!! You inspire me Guzz!!

When you gave up your job at Landmark, just like that, to chase your dreams, I felt it required lot of guts but what you are doing now.....mannn, now this is something that require real guts !!!

I SALUTE your WILL to chase your dreams, your GUTS to take risks and your constant effort to be nothing short of the BEST.

DON'T LET ANYTHING STOP YOU EVER!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJJrNGGMl5Q&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0DC358HmGOIp-8VtdFrXutE7BobGeJ9YMDj59G-o9rLYsKULQbVBl7CFY

AMBEY HOUSE...that’s the name of our house, where we don’t know the meaning of the word ‘neighbour’ cause we all live as one BIG FAMILY!
Yes we know corona crisis is going on and social distancing is ‘THE’ word to adhere to and we are following it very diligently but at the same time, one can’t overlook the perks of being a part of one big joint family (a concept known only to Indians)
Yes, like a close knit family, we are always there for each other...be it in moments of celebration or to ward off any stress! Actually, when we are all together, that in itself becomes an excuse to celebrate😄😄

But what we did today has made me emotional beyond words cause our today’s thaali comprised of vrat ka khaana from all the floors...full of love and positivity💕
Even Maa must be super pleased with this ‘mila-jula-bhog’❤️
All vrat ki thaalis from the best of places fade in front of this thaali.

Rasedaar Aaloo, Khatta-Meetha Petha, Singhaara Parantha, Amaranth Laddoo & Green Chutney : courtesy Charu Goyal

Paneer, Palak & Aaloo Pakodas, Imli chutney, Dhania-Pudina Chutney & Samak Kheer : courtsey Ekta Sahni

Sabudana khichdi, Samak Poha, Bhune Aaloo & Pineapple Raita : courtsey Shalini Jain Garg

31.03.20

STARS COME BACK TO DELHI'S NIGHT SKY

Today, looking up at the night sky, I felt a sense of nostalgia. I can't remember when I last saw ORION so clearly in Delhi sky. Been almost thirty five years now, when I used to watch milky way, lying on my bed (on terrace)at night and drifting into the magical & mystical world of stars!

As a kid, gazing at sky was my favourite past time (not kidding)
I loved finding shapes amongst the cotton soft clouds during the day but it was the night sky that was truly compelling.
It summoned me to gaze at its magnificent beauty and reminded me of how insignificant we were!
I remember dreaming with open eyes about the stories of constellations coming to life😊😊

And today was no different!!
Looking at night sky, I felt the same gravitational pull, tugging at my soul!

Do you share similar feelings, when you are gazing at pollution free Delhi night sky, studded with stars? Does it bring a sense of nostalgia? Do share in the comments below👇🏻

(Please excuse the poor picture quality as they have been taken from an iPhone)

30.03.20

TAKE THIS TIME TO TRACK, WHO YOU MISS, WHAT YOU MISS!!

In Sharad navratras, last year, while I was fasting, I craved for some nice Navratri thaali.
Me & Gazal, my daughter, went all the way to Select City Walk in Saket to try Sattvik’s thaali.
AWESOME ‘is’ the word 👌🏻👌🏻 (don’t feel like using past tense😊)

I especially clicked pic of empty thaali, which normally we don’t do, just to prove how delish the thaali was! It was literally finger licking delicious, right down to the last morsel.

Me & my daughter, kind of made a silent pact, that we would come to have this 'thaali', the next navratras too.

Navratras are here, it’s the sixth one today and I had simple home made samak rice and sabudana khichdi. Both tasted amazing but I was just pondering, how unpredictable life is!

Who would have thought six months back or for that matter even six weeks back, that the entire world can come under lockdown.

‘Quarantine’, that up until now we had read only in novels or heard of in movies that too for prisoners in detention camps, today has become, globally, the most commonly used word.

Ironically, technology that’s always been vilified as the culprit of ‘loneliness epidemic’, break-ups, divorces - the very same technology is now coming to our rescue. People are taking to social media to host kirtans, birthday parties, even happy hours on platforms like Zoom!!

Distance is not a metaphor.
In a universe of Facebook friends, Instagram likes, twitter followers, the hierarchies of love and life used to seem flat. Even to me. But they aren’t. They are physical and real and they matter.

The lives of our tribes live in us, and our pattern of meaning is hardwired in ways sometimes difficult to see.
Take this time to track who you miss, what you miss. Sometimes a little bit of removal gives a lot of perspective!

30.03.20

Thanks to the lockdown, what has greeted many of us pleasantly in the past few days is nature’s best gift: a wondrous weather with cleaner air & clearer water, star studded night sky, flowers swaying in much brighter hues and constant chirrup through out the day, some of it, we’d never even heard before!

Our life will return to normal as the virus retreats but let’s continue to pollute less and keep this priceless gift not only intact but thriving🙏🏻

-shell

29.03.20

Let's unplug for a while
From the havoc wrought by an infinitesimal virus
As constant cacophony drops dead
And sound of death becomes deafening
Let's disconnect to connect again
With the non-stop humdrum of life

Let's unplug for a while
Not because we are flailing and falling
As we stagger to gain control
But continue to succumb in rising numbers
Trying hard to hang on to hope
Though every eye mirrors, delusion and despair

Let's unplug for a while
To swarm the roads, crowd the metros, flock the markets, visit the shrines
Rubbing shoulder against shoulder
Holding hand in hands, just like old times
Shouting, giggling, chattering, cursing
To once again drown in that cheerful din

Let's unplug for a while
To run wild like little kids
Splashing in pool, dancing in rain
Summer barbeques, winter bonfires
To tinkle the glasses & laugh with friends once again

Let's unplug
For our kids to once again race on sand & build castles
Swoosh down a cliff, breezing their bicycles
Play hopscotch & cricket in open grounds
To once again have soda, shakes & cookies passing around
Kids over for playdates & staycation, home filled with happy sounds

Let’s unplug
To once again embrace spirit of Eid ul Fitr & Diwali
Drench in cheek by jowl Holi camaraderie
Pray for our brothers' longevity, as we tie Rakhee
Sing carols, make merry, gathered around the Christmas tree
To finally propose this valentine, going down on the knees

Now when closeness can kill and distance can save
But isolation without solidarity is sterile
When everything seems liquid and liable to melt
And hard truths and durable wisdom, we seek

Let's all UNPLUG
To once again INTIMATELY be part of CROWDS
and rejoice amidst beaucoup de bruit

-shell

India’s normally bustling streets have become quiet
Door to door deliveries have come to a stand still
The mask & gloves clad crowds have vacated the alleys
Even the country's unrelenting construction has come to a halt
Time stands stretched
Almost like a God sent opportunity to reset our lives
To distance ourselves both literally & figuratively
From all the chaos, the stress, the apprehensions, the anxieties
The constant fear of what's going to happen next
Let's unplug for a little while
And connect with ourselves

-shell
27.03.2020

Co-vid 19 is the worst news of 2020 - all doom and gloom right from when it first waged it's war from Wuhan.
Stealthily, silently, steadily - like a sadistic pathogen, it's aiming for the most vulnerable amongst us, drafting the healthy to be its accomplice and co-conspirator, wreaking havoc on masses, instilling widespread fear, madly striking it's fangs into anyone and everyone coming in it's way.
Those who don't wash their hands clean, are equal culprits, corona's partner in crime!

CORONA is inflicting enormous human suffering, savaging the global economy, and ripping apart the very fabric of daily life.
It took a thing as minuscule as a virus to remind us, how petty we really are!

And the paradox is, everything that 2020 facilitates - technology, connectivity, global business, shrinking planet - are the very reasons, responsible for the far-flung reach of Corona, turning it into Global Pandemic!
To halt the spread of virus, slow the rate of transmission, lower the steep incline of infection - humans are being QUARANTINED.
Imprisoned in our own homes and rightly so, for brutally ravaging the very PLANET we live on, our HOME for million of years, the CORE of our very existence.
A GLOBAL LOCKDOWN IT IS.
Has life come to a full circle? Is there any redemption ?
We know not. We can only ATONE.
And try to keep ourselves on an even emotional keel.
Mother Nature has hit the PAUSE button.
And has left it upon US to 'RESET' our LIVES.

Suddenly, the world is re-learning the power of slowing down.

In the midst of Global Pandemic, people are learning to cultivate slow pleasures.
Social isolation is teaching us "The Joy of Solitude."

shell
25.03.2020