I had a rather rough last week. Without recounting the negatives much, I am going to battle my emotionally exhausting week by reminding myself of the luxuries for which I am truly grateful for. Papa always prompts me to count my blessings whenever I feel low. Well, advice taken, Papa.
I am grateful for
Parents My parents get so tired of my behaviour sometimes and I know that I test their patience, yet they love me and I love them and we are happy together.
Gaurav Gaurav needs a special mention, I spend most of my time with him and somehow can never get bored of his presence. I cannot imagine my life without him!
Cousins my age I can tell Parth and Kunal anything without having to think twice. Also, it’s a nice feeling when you know you are not the only one with a sinking feeling.
Darsh Chickoo as we call the youngest member of our house, came for a sleepover thrice during this lockdown. Having him over was such a nice break from monotony during lockdown.
Gaurav, Darsh and I at 6 AM
Dadi I love sitting beside my Dadi to listen to her stories. She always has something new to talk about and never runs out of stories! She joined WhatsApp recently and watching videos is her new pastime! I find it cute when she shows me videos that she found amusing.
Kunal, me, Dadi, Parth, Gaurav and Darsh during Raksha Bandhan
Extended family I love all my family members, they are really nice humans and it’s fun to spend weekend afternoons eating and talking with them.
Sunrises I can view sunrises from my brother and my room’s window. I am not an early riser but somehow the thought of watching the sunrise motivates me to wake up! I am blissed out and smiling when I witness the beautiful star at its lowest brightness slowly rising from behind the concrete buildings.
I can entertain.
6 AM mornings Just like I love watching the sunrise, I love the whole ambience at 6 AM in mornings. Beautiful sky, chilly and fresh breeze, a merger of Sikh prayers from the Gurudwara and Azan from the Mosque, birds chirping – nature is in its best mood at 6 AM. Oh and a cup of warm green tea would be a perfect addition to the serene atmosphere.
Windows Windows are the only way I can view children playing in the rain, two men chit chatting atop the terrace, women drying clothes on their rooftops, man playing with his doggo, men and women exercising, sunrise, sunset, moon, rain, in other words; the real outside world in this lockdown.
Terrace “I’m the king of the world!”, said Leonardo while standing at the bow of RMS Titanic. I feel that when I stand atop my 19 floors building terrace.
Leonardo is love
DSLR Camera Hoot (my camera’s name) has been my companion for 3 years now and has helped me record the world around me the way I see it!
Phone Let’s be real, without the phone, I would be talking to just 3 people – Mummy, Papa and Gaurav. With the phone, I can talk to how many ever I want to.
WhatsApp I did mention the phone, but a special mention to WhatsApp because on a daily basis I cannot call all my friends, instead I can text them!
Laptop Well, seems like an ordinary object to be grateful for but without it, I think we cannot function in this day and age.
Cartoons Yes, I still watch cartoons and no, they never get old and boring. I love watching Mr.Bean Animated series, Horrid Henry, Tom and Jerry, Oswald, Pink Panther and more with my little brother, Gaurav.
Chocolate My utopian world would be the world shown in the Sunfeast ad starring Shahrukh Khan, except we can replace the cream and biscuits with chocolates and cakes.
Fun fact: Shahrukh Khan used to be my favourite actor in early 2000s
Spirituality We talk to everyone but forget to talk to ourselves which leads to a breakdown one day because you didn’t ever give yourself importance. Spirituality allows me to understand who I am and answers other self relevant big questions.
Meditation 25 minutes spent with myself allows me to declutter my mind of all the stressful thoughts.
Guruji (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) Spirituality and meditation wouldn’t have been a part of our life if Guruji was not there to guide us.
Writing My ability to write allows me to reflect my life and reminds me that my life is indeed engaging.
Alcohol I am not an alcohol connoisseur and rather drink for getting drunk with my cousins for feeling fearless, confident, carefree; blabbering, dancing and just being crazy all night while the world sleeps.
Kunal, Parth and I
Sonu Papa, Kunal, Parth and I
Music when drinking I can go without listening to music for days, but when I am drunk, listening to music is a priceless feeling. Kunal and I love listening to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky cover by Daughter.
Her voice is so beautiful.
Films Films are stories and a world cannot exist without stories.
Rana Rana is the only bird friend we have, thus we love feeding and pampering him everyday.
That’s Rana with his little one! He is a dad now :’)
Crows Crows here love ‘ghatiya’, a Gujarati snack and we love feeding them that. Crows are smart and they love playing ‘catch ghatiya’ games with us.
A happy crow
Food shows and vloggers Since we were missing outside food, we started watching food shows on television and food vloggers on YouTube to satiate our cravings.
My ability to cook Having made over 40 dishes with my brother, I think we can cook any dish we wish to now.
Aloe vera The only plant we own apart from Holy Basil (Tulsi). Aloe vera face masks are truly refreshing and help in clearing acne.
Sugar I have a sweet tooth. Honestly, jaggery or brown sugar cannot be the replacement for white sugar used in Indian sweets, brownies, cakes and other confectionery.
Double bed When I was in school, my brother and I used to sleep on single beds. Then, we joined our two beds together to make a double bed and it has turned out to be the best decision ever because I get to cuddle with my cute brother.
Lecinemaclub and meetings Lecinemaclub is an online film club that releases a new short film every Friday. Ajooni had introduced me to this in college and we both along with a couple others would watch it on Fridays in the AV Room followed by a discussion. College got over for her and me, we lost motivation to watch the films because we had no one to discuss them with. This led to the initiation of an online film club to watch the weekly films and discuss them every Saturday. Initially, we started the group with just 4 people but now we have over 30 participants!
Friends Beautiful humans to cry, laugh, share my life with.
Video calls Phone calls are not enough sometimes! Video calls are such a boon, it makes me believe that the people I am talking to are with me in my space.
Nani’s recipe book Nani wrote about 400 recipes!!! Gaurav and I found a new pastime, we started translating and digitizing the recipes which are originally written in Hindi.
Sundays with Vini Vini and I usually video call each other on Sundays and have performed various activities together like painting, printing, mukbang or simply talking and sharing!
Vini and I during the mukbang ft. my brother engrossed in eating his Korean noodles.
Food and water I think something that is helping me be alive and of course, keeps me happy too.
Shelter I have a secure house where our family of four can live our lives peacefully.
24 hours electricity and water I know we are privileged because we live in Mumbai and I have to be grateful for this.
Loose old tees and shorts I live in them all day, all night.
Books, newspapers Knowledge is Light. By the way, this was my school emblem. https://thedpyahighschool.com/ (Just in case you want to see it.)
Green tea I hate tea, but I love the mild flavour of green tea.
Vanilla scented candles They give warmth and the beautiful scent makes me calm.
UNO I like doubles more than singles while playing the video game version. But I like the real cards game more than the video game.
Did you know there’s a new version of UNO called UNO Flip?
Menstrual cup Oh well, just read this I used a menstrual cup. Maybe, you can too!
Painting Art has no language and no rules and therefore, I love painting!
Painted Rana, in an online session with Vini
Hormones Feelings are enjoyable.
Let’s take a stroll blog I am fortunate to have a goal right after juries got over.
Skandha This boy talks to me everyday, cares about me, listens to me and most importantly understands me. Also, co-blogger and co-founder of Let’s take a stroll.
Jhadu (sweeping), pocha (mopping), bartan (washing utensils), kapde (drying clothes) Household chores have kept us busy in this lockdown. Monotony kept us sane for a change.
Cleaning garlic It’s strange but cleaning garlic is extremely satisfactory.
Exercise Even though it has its benefits, I don’t practice it daily. But I was doing it 2 months ago!
Ah, that was a long list of 51 things/people I am grateful for. If you ever feel low, try writing a gratitude journal and you will realize, life is not THAT bad.
Vaibhavi 11.08.2020
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