Dreams Galore

A lot of you must have observed that I haven't really posted much in the last couple of weeks. I have been caught up in lot of things at once and I am so lucky and grateful that I had some wonderful authors and books to keep you all entertained. But in spite of all the work I had, I have missed blogging. I missed blogging terribly because it is a wonderful way I get to share my thoughts and writing with you all. Add to it the fact that I haven't had much time to read as well. It was, in short, a dry spell in my life. Below are just a few things that got me off the blog: 1. Snowstorm in NJ - This has the biggest impact on my online life. We did not have power till this wednesday and it affected a lot in terms of my writing and blogging. It sucked but I am glad everything is back to normal now. My first snow fall indeed became quite memorable. Pun intended! 2. NaNoWriMo - Despite my decision to not participate, I ended up participating. This can be owed to a brainstorm I ...

I am so excited to share my published article published on "Close To The Bone" ! The article is about giving your best when writing the first draft. It is also about how we need not bother how it all ends. We can always edit later, right? :) For all NaNoWriMo participants, this is what you need to keep in mind. Hop over to check out the article and do let me know what you think about it! Thanks all! Happy weekend! 

This is my entry for Blogfest Contest hosted at Brenda Drake's blog : http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com/ Genre: Romance “H elp me”, screamed the voice. Alex, covered with mud and sweat looked around the bare rocky edge he was standing at. He could hear the voice from all around him. His face crunched as he tried remembering the face behind the voice. “Who is it? Where are you?”, Alex called out. He was panting, jogging along the treacherous end of the mountain searching for the voice below. The cry of help was urgent and fear tugged his heart. “Help me before it is too late” Fear laced the voice too. Alex stopped to hear the source and he rushed back to where he hoped the man is. He fell on his knees, and put his palms on the brown ground trying to peek below. Ground gave away beyond the point and he staggered back scared. The edge was slanting towards the abyss and he feared he would slip down. “Alex, where are you? Please don’t leave me here. I will die” ...

A quick post on the new mouse I got. I loved the design on it and is now added to my can't-live-without list along with my HP mini. What makes it even more exciting is the little mouse pad that I made for it. I took a cardboard, cut it to required size (just big enough in my case), printed off an amazing design from Lolly Chops  and pasted all over it. It looks gorgeous, isn't it? :)

I made a quick bookmark to justify such a large bookmark storage box.  Here it goes! PS: For the first time, I put in my initials at the bottom - @SMM. :) Oh and if you are wondering what the hell is a bookmark box, check it here .

So, I got the familiar itch to cut and destroy things this morning and I made up my mind to do just that. I realized yesterday night that I was losing all my bookmarks that I somehow end up having in my so many books and wished there was a box where I can store them. That gave me the destructive idea to rip apart my Kelloggs cereal box (which wasn't empty BTW!). So, I cut the box, printed some paper and pasted all over it to gift myself a royal, pretty huge (need to print off more bookmarks now!) bookmark storage box. I can make it fancier or may be make another smaller one. Nevertheless, the thirst is almost  satiated. Sharing with you some pictures of the same! Oh and you can use this for some other purpose as well - craft materials, receipts, etc etc. You get the point, right?

Last week I embarked upon my first trip in US - a bus tour to Washington DC. A friend of mine invited to join him and his wife on this trip and I am very thankful for it. It was fun and quite informative for me, a person who wasn't very excited about this country. Now, I can appreciate their history and feel much more comfortable with my surroundings. On this particular tour, we visited Princeton University, Philadelphia (Freedom Bell and others), Washington DC (All memorials, White House and US Capitol Hill) and Baltimore (Korean War Memorial). For a 2 day tour, this was a pretty tight itinerary. I intend to visit each of these places in leisure some day. The highlights of this tour for me was Philadelphia, Capitol Hill and Air and Space Museum. There are several clicks that I took and would like to share. But this post is for only those that are closest to my heart. Philadelphia: How true! Philadelphia is the home to the famous "Liberty Bell". Freedom was p...

It is ridiculous that I am so ridiculously excited about this....but oh wait! I know why I am so insanely excited. It is because I just cooked my first original dish in my whole life! Yeah, you can frown, roll your eyes and get annoyed that I wasted precious minutes of your life, but hey, this is my time under the sun. And guess what, i even clicked pictures of it (yeah, I am THAT excited!) :p Ok, so now that I have made it, I have decided to do namkaran for it. This dish would henceforth be called, Healthy Tikha Khatta Gobi ! You ask why? Because it is tikha (spicy) and khatta (sour) and of course, very healthy because it has carrots, and matar. A very satisfying and momentous day for me. I think I am ready to enter the world of cooking now. World famous chefs - go take a hike! Ok. Not right away. But soon. As of now, Ashik needs to taste it. God bless him! :p

A little craft at home hurts no one...especially if you are alone! :) So I made a bookmark! This is the front of the bookmark. You can declare you are the owner of the book with it. This is the other side/back side of the book. You can list "My All Time Hits" here. Ah...my sweetie! :p Pretty simple one and very easy to make. But it helped me refresh in no time. I have many more ideas now and I hope I can try them out soon! 

As our car drove in to the parking lot, I saw him for the first time. He did not look any different to me from far. A neatly dressed man giving out restaurant pamphlets. I did not bother giving it a second thought. I was too occupied with enjoying every bit of my time with Ashik after a crazy week of work (for him, that is). And then I was about to watch Harry Potter later in the evening. So, there was nothing that could spoil it. I happily stood with Ashik while he was buying the parking coupon and was smiling my way through the night when I saw him again. This time my heart leaped out of my body at the sight. He was no regular college kid giving out pamphlets to earn some extra bucks. The man standing in front of me distributing pamphlets was an old man with shaky hands and a kind smile. If I would say tears swam in my eyes at that sight, I wouldn't be exaggerating. Nevertheless, like every other time when I turn my face away from such heart-piercing sights convincing myself that...

The key to happiness is freedom, and the key to freedom is courage —Anonymous

All of us can sense change. Some subtly while few others strongly. If I have to explain how I see change, then I would say I witness it as a third person. It has always happened. My first crush. My first board exam. High School. First Love. Second Love (!). First book. First Struggle. First rebellion. First Job. First Jeans. First Fight. First marriage (lol!). I saw it happen. Like a third person. Watching from the sidelines. Many of you might feel the same way too and I know I do. It is immensely helpful like you don't feel affected too much. That's good. It helps you not rot in the same path through out your life. It prevents you from being comfy in whatever you are doing. That reminds me I am out looking for a really comfy sofa and I am so confused with the choice I have! Anyway, coming back to original point. So, I am witnessing another change in my life. A major change if I might add that has the potential to provide a significant diversion from the path I am on now. I...

What is it about rains in Mumbai that brings out such happiness on everyone's face? Why are the first drops of those cool water passing through God only knows how many layers of polluted air on our face gifts us the purest joy one can imagine? At the risk of sounding like Ranbeer Kapoor in "Wake Up Sid", Mumbai rains are really something to experience to appreciate it. The strong cool wind on your sunburnt and moist face feels like heaven.  Just when you thought this might be the best thing that has happened to you that day, rain drops on your body prove you so wrong! Rain tops it all and you feel so blessed to not mind standing just there, rooted to the ground and get drenched, happily, in the water. Well doesn't rain bring that joy everywhere? I beg to differ. Rains in Mumbai are different. No, they do not come from any other place up above. They come from the same tap that Gods decide to open up every year to probably empty their surplus. What makes Mumbai rains ...

42676 words in one month. If it was the NANOWRIMO contest, I would have fallen just a tad short of completing it. But then if I would have got my what I call "Writer's sunshine moments" as often as I got it this month, I would have stuck to my guns.  It has been an incredible month for my novel. And with almost Nil pressure at work, it was easier for me to write more than I could have otherwise. I had never felt this tuned to my story before. If there were moments of blankness, there were also some unbelievably inspired moments that brought out some of the best twists I could ever hope in my book. I think I could have reached this milestone much earlier than a month if I hadn't been distracted by another milestone that I need to reach soon. I have decided to take the GMAT exam in approximately two months time. A rather ambitious target I would say. But so is the NANOWRIMO contest, isn't it? Every year thousands of aspirants start their journey to scribble, if not...