Questions on a Sunny Day

It was on a sunny day that the ninety seventh human was allowed to get into the castle, something which was allowed only that many times through the history of the new and the old vampire worlds. Usually, the people allowed were someone who was good at one field or the other, this time, it was someone else, who had forced his way into this place, and so, none of the vampires happened to be happy about it. Still, they managed to deal with this person in the usual manner without exposing them to the sunlight directly.

Evil Human: Hi, inferior creatures, I am here, and I am going to praise my nation right now. So, listen to me as I go through it.

Vampire Bat: Why do you want to do that now?

Evil Human: It is what I do to make you understand my superiority in front of you lesser beings. I am going to sing our national anthem, and you have to stand up in respect for our culture and traditions which are the greatest in all world; otherwise, I will thrown you out of this castle like the useless dead people that you are.

Uncle Dracula: Enough of this. Tie him up.

[Vampires team up and tie up the man.]

Evil Human: This is an action against the greatest civilization, and the one true great nation of all time, which I condemn with the power that I possess due to our superiority over all those weak, pathetic…

Vampire Owl: This is rather unexpected. I have never even heard the Lich Queen or Mr. Werewolf Anger say this aloud in another territory.

Vampire Bat: One has to wonder how things happened to be like this. There should be some kind of control.

Uncle Dracula: This is quite natural, my friends. When a nation has so much of a great history, and the values that transcend what a common man can see, along with great development over the last few decades, uneducated fools like these will emerge.

Vampire Bat: It should be so depressing for a great nation to have people like this guy singing nonsense.

Uncle Dracula: Well, India has come so far into the modern world while maintaining its own powerful ideologies, values and culture which have contributed to the success of so many great people from the nation. It is the same reason why there is unity in diversity like nowhere else.

Vampire Owl: I was going to feed this guy to my zombie minions, but I am afraid that his extreme right-wing nonsense will poison their brains or what is left of them. They are all good people eating brain biriyani and having some graveyard fun, you know.

Uncle Dracula: It is only due to him not taking the essence of being an Indian, not taking the best of the great civilization right into him, and he seems to have been brainwashed into hating others rather than supporting his own nation and people. I have heard that uneducated humans fall into this too easily, and here we see the same proven with ease.

Vampire Bat: It is a case of shame that nothing can be done about it.

Vampire Owl: I am sure that politicians are also contributing to this. Such beliefs are what cause world wars.

Uncle Dracula: There is enough in Indian culture to be righteous and still gain success, but some people are just going on abusing others or choosing the wrong path to achieve success, and some dumb people think that it is all about religion, but the truth is that it is about politics – if there is no religion, there will always be caste, language, race and even celebrity worship among the others causing trouble. The only way out is to embrace the true essence of Indian culture, which has been all about truth, love, peace and non-violence.

Vampire Bat: May the essence get to be more powerful than the existence of people like him.

Vampire Owl: May righteousness prevail now, and towards the eternity that we look forward to.

Vampire Bat: My vampire friends, the human world has too many nations which consider themselves and their culture superior to the others. Only when the superiority is proven by their own actions of kindness and love rather than the rest of the things, that their world can be a better place. It is not by wealth and certainly not by fame, as there is that ancient Indian way of thinking that includes “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu”, calling for happiness and peace not just to oneself, but to the whole world. When the world becomes a better place, happiness automatically comes back to you.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

Witness the celebration of India’s growing global influence in Lufthansa’s TVC; for it is #MoreIndianThanYouThink.

TeNy

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The Changes of Life

Life changes, and it was always expected to happen. Even after a change, that particular changed situation is also going to change. It is not something that I wasn’t expecting, but it did come all of a sudden, and it is actually a good thing. One more year without change and I might have been rather too hesitant to change – I would have detested it and might have tried to prevent it in all ways possible. But not now, as this change is something that I wanted long ago, even before I started this blog.

People still say that if you take a degree in MA English Language and Literature, you have to write NET and even try for JRF, and it is the natural path right ahead of you. They say that you have to follow this path or not do justice to what you have studied, and most probably you won’t get another job at all. I know that most of my friends have done that and the rest have gone on to do BEd and made the choice to do SET instead – note the difference, but I consider it rather minute.

If you look in our class, you can find a maximum of one person who hasn’t gone after NET or SET, and not trying to become the college professor or school teacher – I have made it two in that case, and it is the divergence that I have always wanted; with the master divergent movie Charlie winning so many of the state film awards, you might want the same too. Society has that idea that teaching in school or college is the better choice, especially for women, because they can reach home earlier, and there might be even many free hours – I know a few who have pursued the same for this reason.

I have walked around a lot these days through my favourite bus station!

Well, the case of post graduation in English has been rather strange. It is like the least professional course around here; you are not really preferred for most of the jobs out there. The newspapers and magazines ask for a journalism degree, and so I am glad to be part of a publishing house right now; it was getting seemingly impossible to get a job. Most people don’t even reply when an MA English graduate send a resume; they just don’t seem to have that idea that we are just readers and nothing else.

It is the same reason why me getting this job has been very significant. It has been the result of a long wait, and it is the same reason why I have broken my writing streak on my blog. If you remember, I have been writing continuously from December 9th 2014 to February 3rd 2016 – I continued for a few days after joining work, but it was getting tough with my timing as I start around 6:30 AM and return home around 8:30 PM – that is just the average, as I have reached at 7:30 and 9:30.

I have really less time at home, and so I have reduced my blogging just before reaching 500 posts on this blog, as this one is the post number 496. As of now, it seems that the 500th special post won’t happen anytime soon. But it might change some day, as the journey is just about 40 km even though it is the kind of a journey that can take about two hours, thanks to the pot-holes, traffic problems, change of timing of buses and the metro as well as fly-over constructions which are going on.

I once again travel through the bus station where I have passed through the most!

I have surely managed to be more used to it though, even as it still ends with me getting so much tired. I spend my time on the bus listening to music or watching some movie or television series in English. Well, at least I will have something to write about what I watch and the long journey which should actually finish in 45 minutes, but extends to two or even three hours based on which bus I manage to catch, and how many of times I have to change that giant transport!

***The images used in this blog post were taken by me on my Asus Zenfone 5.

TeNy

What World Provides

It is a terrible world. We are judged by people for many reasons including our choices in what career we pursue, what we watch on the big screen, what we earn, what we browse on the internet, whom we worship, how much money we possess, where we live, what we eat, how we dress and similar things. No matter how much we try to be good, people will just judge us and try to put labels on us. Some of them use our personal opinions and interests against us to declare that we are bad or useless. It is a world which is not suitable for people with their own choices.

All the sadness in the world comes to us in huge baskets of disapproval. It only gets bigger as life goes on and on. We look for a smile and never find it, and then we look for a reason to smile and it is not there. Most of the people find faults and it is quite difficult for them to appreciate others; so it is not easy for us to trust them to bring the smiles. Even the relatives don’t really like us, and nobody tries to understand our situation. They never try to look at things from our perspective too.

It is a very difficult thing to bring smiles to our own face, as there is rarely anything positive that we find in the news that can do that. There is almost nothing that the people say to me that can make another happy. Nobody cares about the other, and the world is nothing but chaos or terror waiting to unleash. There is no freedom and there is no love. So, where can the smiles come from? How can we bring smiles to the face of others? Well, food can do that better than the others; it is a nice option.

Well, taste has not always been a priority for me; neither has it been so with the choices. I still have my priorities about what I eat. There are two things that I love to have as part of my food, and they are paneer and potatoes. I am a big fan of Aloo Tikki and Vegetable Nuggets became my favourite due to the presence of potatoes. The smiles usually arrive when I see that the menu has somethiing like that includes a potato. This smile tries to come at all times, but it is not always there.

So, it is time to put a smile on the face of at least one person. In a world of hate, it is not something easily possible, unless it is about the artificial smiles. Thinking about the same, I had a look at this product called McCain Smiles. The mashed potatoes with happy faces make a nice effect, with smiles coming right from the plate. What we have to do after that is to eat the smiles with a smiles on the faces. With smile being reflected from the plate, the only thing that we can do is to smile back.

It is the smile that we forget and it is the smile that we find difficult to have. Remember those Milk Bikis Milk Cream Cookies which we used to have? Those were the biscuits which smiled at us. Then there were the Little Hearts biscuits which came up with the shape of a heart. They were consistent sources of relief to us at a time when people smiled and cared less. The same is with McCain smiles which brings the smiles on the packets as well as the products. There is a reflection of happiness right there.

McCain brings extension to the smiles with Aloo Tikki and Vegetable Nuggets. The Chilli Garlic Potato Bites brings more smiles to what already exists. When you look at the Super Wedges from McCain, there is another addition. Potato Cheese Shots takes the same further. With McCain Cheese and Jalapeno Nuggets, the smiles are taken to the next level. Still, there is no smile like what McCain Smiles brings for us.

***The images used in this blog post belongs to McCain India. Check this link for further details: http://www.mccainindia.com/

TeNy

Smile on a Face

I have always believed in Vegetable Nuggets. Along with the French Fries, these have been my favourite whenever I wanted to have something light for the stomach whenever I visited a mall or multiplex. They were quite cheap, and just like popcorn, could be eaten while watching a movie on the big screen or television. I also used to have them with the rice just like vegetable cutlet. So McCain Veggie Nuggets is the first thing that catches my attention here too.

Then there is the Aloo Tikki, and these two makes life better. As we usually have vegetarian food for most of time, there are these two things which can bring the change when we are having some time out or traveling. There can also be some French Fries to go with these, but the two things become significant in more than one way. I have often wondered how life will be without these two things, and it is nice to see that McCain Foods India is providing them and making sure that they are better available.

Both of these items are not readily available close to where I live, and it is another case of misfortune. The options with the vegetarian food haven’t been much, and when they are here, it has been mostly about the South Indian food items. I have only recently known about the existence of Aloo Tikki as what it is, reminding me of the Vegetable Cutlet along with Vegetable Nuggets also doing the same. It has been different for the local bakeries and restaurants though.

The situation always brought something like Onion Vada, Uzhunnu Vada or Parippu Vada instead of the rest as some light food. Even otherwise, it could only bring the Vegetable Puffs, Vegetable Burger or Samosa as the biggest variety which has been with us all these times available at the bakeries. Having the same food has been part of our lives whenever there was no non-vegetarian option. We still hoped for more variety, but never really had them around here.

This brings a smile to our faces as they are the perfect light food items to have at any time, with the tea or just having in hand as part of the food while traveling to that place where food is not easy to get. The two food items can also be combined with rice to make up for a possible vegetable curry absence. It is a nice combination to have, and it brings happy times as the side dish not only for the usual rice, but also for the Biriyani Rice or Fried Rice, with or without gravy.

So, these snacks need to be there whenever there is the need. The presence of the same when we are looking, will only make sure of the smile on the face. This is the kind of food that most of us having been waiting to have when the need arises, and it has been so for quite a long time. So, the happiness is when they become available a lot more and at many more places. In a world of chaos, may be we can at least be happy about the food that we desire for.

When it is all about food, we have our interesting choices. They are not the same everywhere, but there will be the very few which we will always prefer to have. When we succeed in having them, it puts a smile on our faces, at least at that point of time. It is among of those very few things which can make us happy in a world which holds nothing much for humanity other than depression and sadness as McCain India brings them.

***The images used in this blog post belongs to McCain India, taken from their website: http://www.mccainindia.com/.

TeNy

The Daily Celebrations

People call different days as big occasions or time for grand celebrations. Some of them have those religious festivals like Onam, Deepavali, Christmas, Vishu, Easter, Bakrid, Ramzan and a lot more while a few others try to hold on to the wedding days of their own, and also wait for the special occasions of their friends and relatives. But then one interesting question remains here: Why wait for a big event to come to our life when we can just go on and #CelebrateLife everyday?

I haven’t been a big fan of celebrations for quite some time. Almost every special day has been just another day in the last few months. Yes, the days of big celebrations were surely there, but they have faded into the emptiness which I have discovered. Now, the only thing which is left about them happens to be a certain part of the memories which can be temporarily awakened by a look at that folder in which all the old photos are stored. But I dare not to, because they are dead memories.

All these celebrations had one common thing which is the talk about others, and the worst side of the same comes from those relatives who say that I am the next candidate at a wedding function. There are actually two sides to the same. The first one is that I am sure that I am not the next, and it has been perfectly proven by younger cousins who can’t wait to fall in love and overtake. The second side is that none of these relatives who make the point that I am next will ever try to proceed with the same and help me in the process. So, once again I say – #CelebrateLife everyday and not think about any special day coming, and I would need the following for the same.

If you celebrate life without me, I will find you and I will hug your leg. Mind it!

Simona the Valiant Kitty: Simona has been a big part of the daily celebrations. You just can’t have a day of joy without giving her the chance to be part of it. She makes her way through everything, closed doors, windows which never open and the leaps of faith which even the Devil’s hound kitten would not dare to make. She is like a legend in finding where the celebrations should be, and spreads happiness there by hugging the legs. Well, after all why should humans have all the fun? Kittens need their due because they can hug trees better.

The Great Vampire Gardens: No, the name is not official. Such a name would be devastating for mother who looks after it more than I do. Still, I call it by that name which is applied to the place whenever I am wandering through there. Well, there is a lot of happiness when there are trees and flowers around, and they play a significant part in making our lives a celebration. The first fruit to have grown at the new part of our garden is the Star Fruit, and I believe that it was just the preface to a never-ending celebration at the garden! It gets better with the beauty of monsoon!

There is no celebration like a nice shower with the green trees and plants.

That daily blog post: What is a celebration if there is no writing? Yes, there is the need to write something all the time. I have never desired for any escape from this part of the daily celebrations. I have doubted myself a lot, but for the past few months, never hesitated from coming up with something new and posting it on every other day, no matter what kind of troubles I had to face. It has been significant in getting this blog to twenty thousand visitors, and it is another reason for celebration!

What to read for the day: There is also the desire for daily reading. Every day, I hope to read and learn something new and make a good choice about what to read. These days, it has been mostly restricted to History, Geography and General Knowledge due to the upcoming PSC exams, but I have done that with joy and as a celebration. Reading has always been a celebration for me too – I have never complained about what I had to read and did try my best to like what was there, with the exceptions of some scientific things.

For now, the only thing that bothers me is that I need these things better, at a higher level! ***The photos used in this blog post were taken by me on my Asus Zenfone 5.

#CelebrateLifeAtIvy by owning a dream home at Ivy estate, an 85 acre estate with 34 acres of greenery and open spaces. Join the 1600 happy families already living here. Check out this walkthrough video and decide for yourself.

TeNy

Favourites of the List

I have chosen five advertisements from the Pepsi Crash the IPL videos which were made by the fans. I have taken special care not to choose any of the finalists or winners because that would surely be not fair. I had to choose the videos according to my opinion alone, and for the same, I have chosen five of them which I have shared below with the video links and small descriptions for each.

Crash the Pepsi IPL – “The Robber”
Uploaded by Ashutosh Joshi

If you use the phrase “crash the IPL” exactly as it is, I would consider this advertisement the right one to use. Whenever there is a cricket match, we see people crashing into the action from a distance like this. Yes, the climbing is a little overdone, but after seeing the advertisements for Thums Up and Mountain Dew, this is nothing – I expect people to be a lot better than I am, as far as such dangerous stunts are concerned; consider it as a result of looking at the roads all the time.

Crash the Pepsi IPL – “The fault in our Suhagraat”
Uploaded by Anshul Agrawal

This was a cute advertisement, with the need for Pepsi arising during the first night – well, we all have ur preferences, don’t we? I would be highly disappointed in the absence of tea at any moment. Well, they want it and they are going for it without jumping in front of all the available vehicles of the city (sorry, Thums Up and Mountain Dew). The cast is also a nice one, and I thought that this one did treat the idea in a clean manner rather than adding anything unnecessary and without overdoing it – there is some maturity in the treatment here.

Crash the Pepsi IPL – “Jahan Masti, Wahan Pepsi!”
Uploaded by S Bhavini

This is a simple one, but the truth has been spoken. The real truth is that Pepsi doesn’t need an advertisement at all. If advertisements decided which soft drinks we bought, the list would have gone differently – we have never had Pepsi for their advertisements. If we were to choose from them, we would all have been drinking a lot of other things. Drinking Pepsi is something which comes quite naturally related to the mall culture. A bottle of Pepsi comes quite naturally to the new generation.

Crash the Pepsi IPL – “Ahead of time”
Uploaded by Paul Joji Kokkat

I felt this was nicely directed and brought to us, from an idea which has always been there – there are some good changes in the detail made, with two girls’ teams Virat’s XI and Ranbir’s XI playing each other. Well, this is always better to watch rather than having Virat Kohli and Jacques Kallis playing at the stadium – Pepsi should try more of common people than celebrities with the same idea, because it is not the celebrities who make any man drink Pepsi; otherwise why do many other drinks also do good?

Crash the Pepsi IPL – “Hawww Pepsi!”
Uploaded by Jai Sughand

This is another video which follows the usual tactics, and the idea that one will do anything for a soft drink continues. Yes, drinking others’ Pepsi when not looking should come quite naturally, but this surely has a better premise, and this is more possible at college than anywhere else. You can’t leave anything on the table when some people are around, out of the fear for the devourers of all food. The cast is good, and they have timed this one very well. This one works quite nicely in the end.

I haven’t really liked most of the advertisements in the Crash the IPL list, but these five can surely replace those Pepsi advertisements because they have something from the makers who seems to be people with ideas rather than those who keep doing the same thing again and again without any real variety. We need good advertisements, and may be making the common man make them and putting them for vote might be a better solution for the companies considering the current situation of television commercials.

Check out the #CrashThePepsiIPL videos & participate in the activity at BlogAdda

TeNy

Of those Happy Moments

The moments of happiness are mostly subjective. The things which can make one happy needn’t apply to others with the same power, or they might not apply at all. There are moments of passing examinations which brings a few people some happiness, but for me, it is just a case of relief. Some people are happy about seeing celebrities, but for me, it is just an experience. Some others are happy because India won a cricket match, but for me, it is a game and can only applaud. But I have my simpler moments.

A cup of tea at the Indian Coffee House: Having tea at one of the branches of he biggest group of family restaurants in Kerala has always been a moment of joy. When I was a kid, it always made me happy to see the workers with the special hats and turbans. The group is more of a socialist organization, and the tea here has been part of my life for such a long time. Wherever you travel in Kerala, Indian Coffee House is the name which you can trust, related to having food without any worries, and you can find ICH at many locations.

A drive through empty roads during the monsoon: I have always hated the heavy traffic and the heat which has prevented me from opening the windows and switching off the AC. My favourite moment of driving the Chevrolet Beat comes during the monsoon showers, as the rain keeps pouring down and I keep driving, opening and closing the windows according to the strength of the rain – I would keep driving through the most beautiful landscapes of Kerala until a tiny tea shop of my choice is reached.

An early morning motor-bike ride: Here is the most common thing in this list, I have been doing this for quite a long time. This early morning journey is one of the most refreshing things of the day, and these days as I go for early PSC coaching classes, the whole thing gets easier. There is no happiness in the return journey, as it happens after 10AM, which is too late – but happiness is achieved in the earlier journey which makes sure that the day remains good; yes, I am the one who wakes up early.

Watching the foggy world from the top of a mountain: When I talk about this moment of happiness, the first thing that comes to my mind is Ilaveezhapoonchira which has some of those moments closest to nature, with a lone tea shop at the top. It is applicable to many other places of higher altitude, but you need to visit this place, see the fog spread all around you and get lost in the moment of awesomeness. This is another beautiful destination in Kerala on which I have already written about.

Reading history or literature in an old building: There is a certain amount of difference about where you read a book, and this where I wish to read my books. It is more of happiness when you read them at a place where history stays ready to be awakened, and reflects the beauty of literature on the walls. Yes, there is a cup of tea to go together with this, and you end up reading the book with more interest, and finish off as an even happier person.

The sadness is when you can’t get tea when you need them, and when there is no nature when you look around. Fortunately, Kerala has a lot of both of these, and not many other things bring this much happiness as tea and nature – it gets better with the rain or the fog, and a few books can nicely contribute to the same. Unfortunately, except for the third one in the middle, none of the others have worked for me for some time – hoping for those moments of happiness to make a return.

***The image used in this blog post belongs to Coca-cola and the brand’s advertisements. Coca-cola also asks you to celebrate International Day of Happiness, and so lets have a glass of Coke and enjoy the weekend: http://CokeURL.com/96jnc

TeNy

Of Happiness and Optimism

There have been too many days which lacked the happiness factor in my life, and I often wondered why it was so difficult to find the joy which has been lost. It has never been my area of expertise. But I have found its opposite side with so much ease, and there has been absolutely no struggle associated with it. The absence of happiness is always present, and even when there is the most need. The reason was that there was no optimism, and the level of hope was so low!

Yes, being an optimist never came naturally to me, and it has been more about being a cynic all the time. Among them all, there was that November 28th which changed a few things. I was rather wandering around with no plans. Then there was something which came to me like music to the ears. It was the cry of a kitten from the canal in front of our house. From between the vegetation of the canal, a face looked up, and said the “meow” and again came up with another louder “meow”.

See who was waiting? Look at the smile there as optimism works out for her 😀

Then I was like, this one is in the canal, and this was going to add to my sadness with this one going to die there. There was no way to bring it up as it was too steep all the way. That was another point of pessimism there, and then I saw it trying to climb up, trying again and again until almost reaching that point from where I could pull it up and take it home. Kittens are optimists aren’t they? I wondered if it could have done that as a pessimist.

We named her Simona and she has been a fighter. She gave a valuable lesson with her struggle to be up with us. From then, she has been a symbol of optimism in a never-ending manner. Simona, the symbol of perpetual optimism continues to be with us at home. She has been very good at providing some moments of happiness, becoming also the happiness factor of the family.

I am an optimist kitty and I know clearly that I can get into that room 😉

The point was that what I have to do is to keep trying. Falling down has been another thing that came naturally to me, and the plan should have been to get up every time. Simona teaches so much, and the way she looks at you is optimism, and her knowledge that you will always be there to feed and look after her is the purest form of optimism. You can feel it in her eyes, and realize that you, the human is her best friend.

She needs her time with her humans, and she knows that they will always be there for her, whether to feed or to play with her, and to make sure that the necessary position on the lap is there for her. It is her optimism that we never want her to miss, as it is a contagious thing and she is a carrier of that beautiful factor. I have often wished that the optimism was a virus that could spread better.

She is Simona, or SI-MO in short, and she is our little cute optimism. Even as she has got bigger, everyday, she sits in front of the closed doors of the rooms of the house, letting us know that happiness as well as a positive approach towards life is not elusive. She has been proving that with each sunrise, making sure that the humans of the house never miss out on the joy of the beautiful day being shared with her. Yes, she tells us that the world is beautiful and better be optimistic about it and your own future!

The photos used for this blog post are the pictures of our kitten taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC W-310 during the time period between November 28th 2014 and February 28th 2015. This blog post was written as part of the Happy Hours campaign from Housing.com in association with Indiblogger. Do check this link for details: https://housing.com/lookup

TeNy

Inspiration for the Soul

This is my 100th post at Tea Cerebrations, and an interesting fact is that this century was attained on the 200th day of this blog – 100 (200) with one post on every two days : Not bad for a test match hundred, right? 😀

I have got my hat-trick extended with the Very Inspiring Award here 😀 And thanks to Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in) this happened so fast 😉 There are certain special facts about her being the inspirational one for my blogs: 1. She has been commenting on all my blogs for a very long time; 2: She was the first one to comment on this blog; 3: She was the first blogger friend to be on my Facebook friends list. So, Namrata the inspirational blogger has provided me with this inspirational award (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in/2015/01/very-inspiring-blog-award.html) which inspires me and makes me feel like an inspirational blogger 😀 Thank you 🙂

Seven things about me:
1. I feel that working for Romanian tourism will be nice, especially concentrating on a castle 😀
2. My favourite among the sweet ones are white chocolate and milk peda.
3. The only vouchers I have ever known are from Flipkart.
4. The only district in Kerala where I have not gone on a trip is Kasargod (have just traveled through).
5. I seem to think more than The Thinker 😉
6. I doubt what is easier in this modern world; me getting a job or finding goodness in people.
7. I strongly believe that Vikram is the greatest actor India has ever produced.

Here are the fifteen blogs:
I wanted to mention my friend late Jean‘s blog here first as it is going to be two years since he left us. He was always an inspiration. (http://photoshealingwords.blogspot.in)
Heera (http://thereadingbud.wordpress.com)
Leena (https://fashionokplease.wordpress.com)
Bikramjit (http://mannbikram.wordpress.com)
Mary (http://marythelittlewriter.wordpress.com)
Shibu (http://shibumathewn15.wordpress.com)
Harsha (http://allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)
Aneesh (http://gangsofedathua.wordpress.com)
Mirna (http://mirnamorgan62.wordpress.com)
Simon (http://simonsayswatchthis.wordpress.com)
Avinash (http://avirandom.com)
Ashley (http://ashleyblancospeaks.com)
Charly (http://charlypriest.wordpress.com)
Ada (http://ada2writes.wordpress.com)
Bhaswati (http://adoniszone.blogspot.com)

Remember, tea is forever; and congratulations 🙂

Tea Cerebration 2014

The WordPress.com stats helper vampires with the aid of zombie minions and the little goblins prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. I would like to thank Maniparna for being the biggest commenter on my blog which started this year, with about fifty more than everyone else and Namrata for being the very first commenter on The Tea Cerebrations 🙂 Also thanks to the others who have supported me, especially those in The Hall of Fame and all who have given a comment or a like for this blog so far 🙂 You can also spend some time to read the movie year in review at Movies of the Soul. Happy New Year, everyone – keep being awesome and drink a lot more tea 😀

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,800 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

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Dauntless in Love and Care

I have had very few vacation trips as a kid compared to some of my friends who have traveled a lot. But as time passed, I understood the significance of having a memorable vacation journey which would refresh the mind of any normal person. Among the trips I had during childhood, there were Kolkata, Chennai, Goa, Bangalore and Mangalore which I remember. But I am ready to make sure that my child would have more vacations, and all of them shall be better than what I have had in my entire life. *I am sharing two photos of childhood here, the first one taken at Kolkata and the second one at home with my cousin brother.

I was going through an initiative from Club Mahindra at http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html about travelogues written by children. It reminded me of thinking about myself and how I would go on holidays with my child. The first thing I want to ensure is that I remain dauntless, so that my child would know that I will always be there for him, whenever he feels a certain amount of fear about anything. There is this feeling of insecurity that children feel while going on journeys, and I remember having felt the same on so many occasions. This insecurity is like a big mole on a face, as it affects the beauty of the vacation, and the significance of the journey itself is reduced.

From one of my first vacations ever, at Kolkata – a photo discovered in the album and scanned.

The fear that children feel outside their home in quite natural, and the current world, we have to be very careful – these are not the best times for the children to grow up either. So, I would make sure that I shall be the friend to him and be the friend that I rarely had during my own childhood. I have to correct the mistakes from my earlier generation, and it is my duty to make sure that he enjoys, and it is a privilege to make sure that I also enjoy the little things that he does.

Even as I strive to make things happen here, another nice thing I would like to add is another person of his own age to give him company. I would choose a family friend who has kids of the same age to accompany us on the journey so that they can nicely contribute to the fun. Otherwise, I will find a relative with a child of the same age. I have been aware of the disadvantages of being a lone child, and I shall never let that happen to my kid, and it is a promise that I have to make to myself.

An old photo with my cousin brother. Never be the lonely child in a busy universe of chaos.

Well, what is a vacation when the child is not happy? My mother always used to tell me to be happy, or it affects her and destroys the whole purpose of the vacation as it was always about me. She always wanted me to order what I wanted in a restaurant and would have the same thing. This is what I would do, especially when we all have the same thing for food, it is the first step to letting him make decisions during a vacation – his ideas need to be valued. I have had almost no say in even my early education, and I know the pain.

I would let my child explore the world with curiosity, but I will always keep an eye on him, making sure that his vacation universe goes perfectly, and looking at things in the way in which he sees things – it is a perspective that I would enjoy. It will be the best case of happiness for me to see my child enjoying a vacation which I had arranged. It makes my world special. When he loves the journey, my soul takes a leap forward, and it is what we should strive for when choosing a vacation. Let us remember the fact that every step that we make will also teach him something – so lets plan it well to make it a learning experience as well as an entertaining one.

This entry is my submission for the latest Happy Hours Campaign from Indiblogger in association with Club Mahindra’s Teddy Travelogues. I don’t think that Club Mahindra Holidays, a part of the Mahindra Group needs any introduction for any of us Indians. They are among the most commonly mentioned names in their field. For further details about the Teddy Travelogues from them, please spare some time to check http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html

TeNy