Creative Blogger Award

Ranju has nominated me for the Creative Blogger Award yesterday as I awaited the release of Mission Impossible 5 in India counting down to today. Thank you Ranju 🙂 May the vampire blessings be always with you 😀

Here are the rules:

• Thank the one who nominated you
• Nominate other bloggers
• Write 5 random facts about yourself

5 Random facts about me: 

•  I look at people getting married, and parents of friends and relatives boasting about the jobs of their sons and daughters; and I usually hope that they take their parents with them rather than leaving them in Central Kerala to bother me.
• Watching horror movies give me so much of a relief from these; it makes me realize that worst things can happen and this is kind of better. Yes, do watch those horror movies regularly because they prepare you to face the horrors of the world 😀
• I haven’t combed my hair for the last eight years. I have never cared much about it. I have been completely against a particular hairstyle defining my style. I also cut my hair late, like once in two months or so spending Rs.70 for it.
• I don’t like buying new clothes. I feel that I have enough of them for eternity. Still, if one of the relatives want to buy me one, I wouldn’t say no. I only try the dark ones; there is no shirt or t-shirt with light colours in my room.  Otherwise, I haven’t really bothered about what to wear.
• I have a good record of keeping on drinking tea, but my Paneer Masala Dosa eating record is at more than one per day since last March end. I hope to keep this record at the same level for a long time. I have had more than half of it from Saravana Bhavan. I had Paneer Masala Dosa from Delhi too.

Here is my list of creative bloggers:

Archana @http://drishti.co
Amreen @https://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com
Tara @http://www.crimsonapril.com
Purba @http://www.reverieofpurba.blogspot.in
Deeshani @http://www.deeshani.in

That will be all 😀

TeNy

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Joy of Being Together

There are many forms of happiness in one’s life, as they become the other side of that coin which has sadness on one side. One of them is that bliss of being together with your loved ones – friends, relatives, and all those who find a nice place in your heart. The need for people in our life is a certainty, and we need some good support to remain motivated through the dark times – after all, life is not a soft bed of flowers on which you can just lie down and enjoy.

This brings me back to a memory from some time ago. We had shifted to our old home again, and it was a return to the past. But there were still not many friends around there, and couldn’t find most of my childhood friends there, as most of them were having jobs somewhere else, and a few others couldn’t be contacted at all. I was lonely there and the scope was there to be eternally alone unless there was a nice twist to come.

Then one day, I had a Facebook message from an old friend of mine who stay near my present home to which we have returned after a gap of around fifteen years. We had studied together for the tution classes, and it was good to hear from him. He was getting married and told me that he will be coming to visit me. I told him to come whenever he wanted because I wasn’t much hopeful about it – this had happened before with nobody really coming and I was pessimistic.

But that was not the case this time. As I was going through my normal pessimistic model, he came to my home on the very next holiday. We talked about a lot of things, like how he was going through the difficult times in his life, especially with facing people without a job, and it was easy to relate for me because it was the same on this side too. Society wants all of us to get a job, then get married and afterwards, bring kids to this world.

He told me that it will pass, like in his case, as it has only gotten better for him. He had been going through the same phase as I was, without a job and writing for entrance for his post graduation. There might have been times when his case was worse, as I always had some other things to do. He was like for this all the time, but never really achieved the good results for a very long time. He struggled real hard, and I have been the lazy one with my studies, even with my good scores.

He told me that there is always the right time for the right thing, as it happened with him. After his marriage, he was going to go for the Doctor of Medicine, and his wife was also going to pursue the same. He made it clear that things did finally came right for him, and what you have to do was to keep trying. There was never going to be a substitute for hardwork, and he was another example for the same.

So, we had porotta and paneer butter masala at the nearby restaurant, talking a bit more about it, finishing the small meeting with a cup of tea each. It was a fine day which proved with ease that being #together is very important, and we all need our friends in our life. This was that little nudge that I needed to get back on track, and just like Housing.com, lets believe in the power of optimism which can be attained in one way or the other. Check this link for more details about Housing.com and how they can be helpful: https://housing.com/

***The images used in this blog are those of St George Basilica, Angamaly – another symbol of optimism for me. These two photos were taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 #together.

TeNy

A Season of Beginning

Throughout my life, I have searched for spring or even autumn and found summer, the kind that has been the cruelest of them all, with no hope for rejuvenation. Even now, the heat surely takes over, and this year is one of the hottest of them all, and my aim has been to eat three ice creams every day, but still not helping me that much. This temperature runs parallel to the heat that I have to face in life with a black hole of emptiness which keeps pulling me towards it.

The amount of heat has kept me without a desire to go out during day time, but then something happened; it is more of the discovery of a spring that could be eternal, without being bothered much by the other seasons. I had remained clueless, even as the decisions were ready to be made – I even had a problem about going out of summer, because I was never used to the spring. The closest to the spring that I ever reached was with the green trees of Union Christian College.

I have been trying to restrict the summer with a few movies, as I had gone to watch another one, a Malayalam movie called Saaradhi to another town, adding to the list of the places where I have watched a movie. After watching the flick, I wandered around the city aimlessly, looking for a place to have another tea. Then, my eyes stuck at an advertisement about a PSC coaching centre and I noted down the number.

I had given this a lot of thought that a little coaching can only do good, but couldn’t find the right place with the best timing. But when I had a cup of tea and made a call to the number, I could find the most appropriate timing at this place, for the early morning batch. It was not like magic was going to happen, but a new beginning was needed – just like the spring.

I decided to work hard for the PSC exams, going for a coaching in the early morning, just some distance from home, inspiring a journey of about twenty one kilometres. A coaching in the early morning was the best option, as it was sure to bring the freshness of the spring and there is cool climate which gives a boost, not like the winter cold, but with a certain lowering of temperature that gives a nice feeling.

I personally feel that the mornings are the best time to study, and it brings out the spring inside you to make the brain work better. I have always chosen to wake up early in the case of examinations, and it has mostly worked for me, unless I never really had any sleep due to the pressure and ended up with less sense in the examination hall.

I hope this also works for me, and helps me better with the future tests. I have been caught with a deep struggle with Mathematics for a long time, and I can surely feel the loss of many other things which I had learnt at school level. I can feel time running about, and I do feel worried that if there is no lasting spring this time, there might be no other. I need the season of rejuvenation in a world that has had so much less of spring.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The first image was taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC W-310.

TeNy

Adventures of Simona

The presence of Simona the Lionhearted a.k.a SI-MO the Kitty, the most valiant cat of its times at our home has passed a month in total with a few days extra, as of now. November 28 was her day of baptism, with the date of birth unknown, and after being named Simona, she has made a lot of progress these days. She has turned more playful, and is also so much quicker than she used to be – you can miss her easily if you just turn your eyes away for even a second. And yes, she is having a lot more food, and knows what to do when she needs food.

New avatar: Simona is one of the legendary explorers of the Newfoundland.

Simona is not just a kitten now as she has become part of the family. She is no longer afraid. She seems to understand and realize things better now, like sitting on a sofa only when someone is present, and also to stay with the company of her newfound family instead of being alone. She is never happy when she is left alone, and nowadays, she is very much aware of the house, as she often comes all the way up to my room and starts knocking on the door whenever she wants to play.

A kiss to whatever it is, and tries to bring it down, just because she can. Kitten power.

Sometimes, Simona is the Phantom, the ghost who walks, and it is impossible to detect her, but the cover is blown when she finds a familiar leg which she wants to hug. On another day, she might be The Flash, going faster than any creature that has ever set foot in our house. On another occasion, she might be Mandrake, the magician who plays with her magic wand which should the splinters made of any type of wood. There are times when she becomes the enchanting Carmilla, ready to bite the lesser mortal creatures with her mighty little fangs.

Simona can smell what the Rock is cooking. A big wrestling related question answered here.

Simona was never the first cat that we have given some space in our home. You might have already read about Zeezee (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/zeezee-the-oracle/) – the one who is no longer with us. There have been predecessors. There was the pure white kitten which spent time while jumping around our shuttle cat and the pure black kitten which had some happy times around our world, both being hit by cars. There was also another kitten going back to my childhood, which is believed to have been kidnapped.

Simona’s mother had told her that she could climb a tree – first attempt being made here.

But Simona had stayed and mingled with us like no other kitten has done before. She has adjusted with her home and seems to have fallen in love with it. We do keep an eye on her though, as there is a big cat wandering around on the top of the walls and there are lots of stray dogs roaming around just outside the gate. We shall keep an eye on her all the time and try our best to make sure that her time in home remains awesome.

The blue flowers. Simona has seen the Morning Glory and she will soon find the location 😀

My friend, James dedicated this song to Simona and yes she is getting older now – see how much bigger she is now from the earlier post I had put on my log (https://theteacerebration.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/how-i-met-my-kitten/) 😀 When this kitten gets older and becomes the La Belle Dame Simona, there comes the bigger responsibilities; may be she can listen to this one later 😀 If you wish to dedicate something more for her, you are welcome 🙂

As I still keep worrying that she might one day go out and be in trouble, you are also welcome to give me some suggestions about having a cat at home. I haven’t had the opportunity to have one at home for this long a period along with becoming this close, until now. Any advice is welcome, but only in the case of cats 😀 May be this will also inspire me to have another pet at home, and the next one might not be a cat – who knows? 😉

TeNy

Attempt for a Clean India

We are all proud Indians, and our national awareness and patriotism reaches new heights when Indian cricket team wins the World Cup or during some other international event. We are extremely happy if an Indian somehow makes to the next round of a big tennis tournament or wins a medal in any of the games. But do we have the same feeling concerning cleanliness? Do we find a clean India as something to be proud of? Shouldnt we consider it the more significant thing and not abusing the players from other countries?

Our new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi also came up with a request for the same, as the new government seems to have their attention on cleanliness. There are advertisements all around the movie theatres and multiplxes concerning the same, asking us to respect and follow the path set by the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi. They have raised their voice through the media and made things clear. It has actually made a lot of people aware of the need to the same. But have most of us changed, or is it limited to a few people or practiced only when camera is rolling?

Kitty caught in what humans’ litter (Photo taken on my Samsung Galaxy Duos)

People still throw their waste on the road, and even relieves themselves in the open, leading to the spread of diseases through mosquitoes and rats. A lot of big cities are facing this problem in a bigger way. One has to wonder why people are so careless about it. There are big garbage collections on the side of the major roads and nobody cares? Isn’t that one of the most depressing things a fast developing nation can have? Are we not better than this? Than why does this happen? The bigger question is about why nobody is saying anything about it?

We have the tendency to avoid a few things which don’t directly affect us, especially if we don’t consider them as a big deal. We might look at the world around us and try to adjust with the lack of cleanliness rather than doing something with it. We are determined to make adjustments to the situations. But things are surely changing. #AbMontuBolega is a campaign for the same reason, and it reminds us that it has been a long time since the need has arisen for the common man to come up and do something about it. One can try raising his or her voice, and see what happens.

Not among the cleaner beaches, right? (Photo taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC W310)

We have the right to do so, as much as concerning any other thing. Cleaning and maintaining that cleanliness have been a thing of problem for our nation. We haven’t been known to be among the cleaner countries in the world. There exists a lot of foreigners as well as NRIs who have complained about the same. But no right step has been taken. People become more and more aware of the same, but don’t care to do anything about it, because we adjust too much. We need to keep calm and speak about it like Montu at the website http://www.abmontubolega.com/.

So, next time when we see some garbage, let’s make sure that we make an impact. Let it be certain that we don’t drop garbage on the streets, and also try to do a certain amount of cleaning by ourselves. If we see someone doing that, there is the need to raise our voice and talk to them about it. If there is a real bad situation concerning the waste disposal, it is our duty to inform the authorities and make sure that they take the right action concerning it. Our nation needs collective efforts and one or two people can begin to make a difference.

Every place needs to make sure about trash (Photo taken on my Sony Cybershot DSC W310)

This blog post was written in association with #AbMontuBolega campaign from Strepsils in association with Indiblogger. The campaign asks us to raise our voice against the lack of cleanliness, and deal with everything dirty, as there are places which needs our attention. It is only if we raise our voice that the desired results are achieved. Please do check the website http://www.abmontubolega.com/, as well as Strepsils on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/StrepsilsIndia) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/StrepsilsIndia) for further details.

TeNy