The price of a dream

Name: The Spy
Author : Paulo Coelho
Genre: Based on the life of a real person, with some fictional elements

The Spy is the Story of a woman,  named:
Margaretha Zella, by her parents
Madame MacLeod, post her marriage
H21, by the Germans
Mata Hari, by herself

Many of you may know about her, I didn't when I began reading the book. It's as enthralling as every Coelho book is. I have always liked his protagonists and the manner in which he tells the stories.
For this book, I will share some of my favorite quotes and hope you find them intriguing enough to pick up the book and read.

Everyone flirts with danger, so long as the danger does not really exist.

I decided to be who I always dreamed.. And the price of a dream is always high

He knew that my tears had drained everything out of me and buried it in the sand,  where it must remain until the end of time

For certain,  I 'D go to my grave one day without ever knowing live,  but what difference did it make? For me,  love and power were the same thing

But that meant living the rest of my life split in two: as a woman who could be anything and one who was never anything, one who wouldn't have even a single story to tell her children and grandchildren

But I do not want to rush my own story

The most beautiful melody in the world will become a monstrosity if the strings are out of tune

I was going to lie and say I would be waiting for him when the war was over,  but honesty has a way of dissolving lies

I am the nightingale who gave everything and died while doing so

the injustice of which you were the victim for the sin of being a woman,  for the greater sin of being free,  for the immense sin of.....

In the battle of the sexes, all men,  no matter their expertise in various arts, are always easily defeated

Once there was a beautiful princess who was admired and feared by all because she seemed to be too independent. Her name was Psyche.

#Booksin2017 #Book3Review #PauloCoelho

Bus travel and random memories

My memories of bus travel revolve around travelling to MCC from Rajajinagar and later using the University Bus during MSc days. Some 'busstand besties' are now friends for life. Bus travel memories also remind me of my tryst with the local language,  forgetting to collect 88 Rs. (which was a lot at that time),  when I had paid 100 for a Rs. 12 ticket,  getting pick pocketed on a shopping trip to Commercial Street.
Most recent bus memories are of 2013-14 when I travelled to work by Bus while expecting Ira and Prashant dropped me to the starting depot so that it ensured a seat. I also travelled consciously on some bus days,  4th of every month.

Today,  visited a friend in Electronic City. On my return journey,  cabs refused to travel from E city to Yeshwantpur citing that it is too long a distance. While waiting for a cab to say yes,  my friend says,  take a bus part of the way! And so I did and it was like travelling down memory lane :) As I sit in another form of transport to cover the rest of the distance home,  I thought,  why not do some blogging.
#micro-blogging #bustravel #busmemories #busstandbesties 

"Buttermilk is very good for summer"

March 9th, 2017 was a momentous occasion in the Pramadh household. It was our turn to make home lunch for Ira and her friends. A fabulous concept at Jackfruit House where the parents get the opportunity to cook a full meal for their child and his/her classmates. We are diligently told when our chance is well in advance. We then have to fill a form, mentioning what we are cooking: Starter, Main course and Dessert options. The home lunches previously done give all of us some clue about what works for the kids and we all create our permutations and combinations depending on our cooking skills and comfort levels. We have seen some super creative cutlets and colourful paranthas, uthappams with paneer and corn and paddus. While the kids must be having a blast, we mommies always wish we were invited for the home lunch too (It is mostly mommies who do the home lunch. In some cases, the papas are also there). Prashant and I love cooking and can easily dish up a meal for 15-20 people. Culinary skills aside, our love for food initially made us feel more ambitious. I wanted to make carrot paranthas for the kids. Making 40-50 parathas should be ok. Then we were told that we have to cook for 35 kids. Yes, 35! Suddenly, the thought of making 70-80 parathas seemed super ambitious. Sanity prevailed and we decided a simpler menu that we both can manage between us and reach school by 11.30am. We made cucumber, tomato, green moong sprouted salad; Buttermilk, Corn and Peas Pulao, Papad and Grapes for dessert (on the request of Ira).

All cooking done and we were all set by 10.30 am. We reach school and are told food time is 12pm. I guess the 11.30 time is to avoid late latifs. Discussing whether the kids will like what we made over vada and coffee, Prashant said that while we have cooked for foodie friends and passed the test, the moment is stressful in a strange way. We walked in with all the dabbas and paraphernalia. The teachers announce what the menu for the day is and the benefits. Eg. Buttermilk is very good for summer.

The excitement and the chaos creates a musical cacophony. Hands go up asking for more butter milk or pulao or papad. The blatant honesty of kids is what makes this experience of dining unique. Kids tell you what they liked and don’t. While some took multiple helpings of the buttermilk, many said they don’t drink buttermilk. Some wanted us to remove the sprout from the salad and some wanted extra corn to be separated and served with the pulao. Conversations accompanied the food and the hour went by pretty quickly. As we wrapped this home lunch and walked out of school, we began talking about….what shall we do for the next home lunch?! Ira, of course was happy to have mamma papa at her school and when her teacher offered to feed her because she was taking her own sweet time, she said, “No! I want to eat by myself”! Another Iraism we feel happy about. Wonder what Ira will request for next year!

Till then, the first home lunch memories are here to stay.

A toast to a bunch of women I met this year.

Behind,  beside,  alongside every successful woman is another woman or women who have encouraged her,  laid her fears to rest,  shared her tears and her joys,  had that cup of chai and samosa over unending conversations, have spoken of heartbreaks,  triumphs, tribulations. Have helped her find her inner strength,  find the wind beneath her wings. They have together laughed and reminisced about childbirth moments, shared daily nitty-gritty, they have grown together. They may know each other for a short time or for all their lives. But every woman,  has another woman or many a women.... who have been with her on this journey of life.
I am blessed and I feel grateful that I have fabulous women friends- independent,  strong, honest, loving and accepting. They have made me a better person and seeing all the good things about them,  I strive to be a bit of all that goodness and learn some of their magical evil tricks too. On women's day this year,  I would like to raise a toast to a bunch of women I met this year.

As Ira entered the walls of her montessori,  I stepped into the world of mommies, literally. I always wondered how it would be. An extrovert like me but I can be tongue tied in the most simple situations. As Ira made friends,  we mommies made friends too. Thanks to technology and the ease it promises,  we formed a WhatsApp group. We shared our anticipations,  doubts,  fears and our joys. This became a group where we discussed everything,  the holiday list,  the notices that came crumpled in our little ones little hands,  the PTMs, the celebrations and dress codes. We also had our share of tough discussions and disagreements. This group was like a knowledge repository and any KM (knowledge management) professional could take cues on the KS and KT (knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer skills). Finding the perfect tailor,  finding the poms poms for school functions,  the place with the softest thatte idli, the store for craft items and talking about lost items at school. We fervently discussed home lunch menus and memorized the rhymes our little ones said. This was like quora and wikipedia all wrapped into one. We mommies slowly began to know more about each other thanks to the breakfast meets and some shopping and occasional outings. We encouraged and shared the enthusiasm of anyone who began a venture,  anyone who got a new job and anyone who did something creative. For moments when one of us felt low, there was a bunch of us to lift our spirits and make us feel better. We made memories together that go beyond the forwards shared and the photos uploaded. As our babies grow  and complete a year of school,  we mommies have also come a long way. We have found soulful conversations,  common dreams,  matching hues to our stories. We have experienced the power of women friends through this new group of friends that we have made.
So,  happy women's day ladies!! Let's raise a toast to every woman in our life.
#mommies #happywomen'sday #memories

Because a little girl dreams on

Been meaning to write this post for over a week now! Hoping memory does justice.
I attended the NASSCOM Diversity and Inclusion Summit 2017 on 27th and 28th of Feb,  2017. The discussions ranged on current practices in organizations, what is being done,  changes at policy level,  how change has to be a participative measure and driven from the top.  Here are a few thoughts from across sessions that stayed with me.
Bring your whole self to work
Making people count
Focus on skilling and re-skilling
Understand enablers and disrupters
Do away with the unconscious bias - stop asking, am I good enough
The diversity agenda has to be handled one step at a time
Gender neutral mentoring
Create enabling ecosystem
Support has to be pervasive in nature
D&I part of business strategy
Advocate for change-be a part of the change

I personally love what is written on the satchel, 'Because a little girl dreams on'. Diversity comes in all colours and hue and time we have a sense of pride about being champions of diversity. A journey that must begin at home even as organizations make strides in their initiatives.

#diversity&inclusivity #advocateforchange #lettheconversationsbegin 

Demystifying Indian Girls

Name of the Book: One Indian Girl

Author: Chetan Bhagat 

Publishers: Rupa Publications 2016

Genre: Fiction

A book that I read over two days and mostly while sitting in a cab travelling across Bangalore. I like the ending of the book but not sure what Bhagat aims to achieve. A book dedicated to the few Indian girls who dare to dream. A book where the protagonist is a successful  debt analyst and yet mops over her unsuccessful and complicated relationships. Her fault is endearing yet the feminist bits of the book are cringe worthy. It doesn't go the complete distance. The men provide literary eye candy. It's at best a light read,  a perfect recipe for a Bollywood movie. With the story set in New York, Hong Kong and London and the lead characters wearing matching colours (shades of blue), in the pre-climax. 

I read the book out of pure curiosity like I have all his books after being impressed with Five Point Someone. I do hope young girls do not begin to believe that Bhagat has given them the prototype of one Indian girl. Because 'we' are much more than what this 270 page saga presents. We all want to dream,  we all dare in bits and pieces,  we have our successes, we have our failures,  we are single,  we are married, we are career material,  we are maternal type, we are confident and we are confused. But, isn't that what makes us. We are a myriad mosaic. 

#Book2Review #Booksin2017 #Fiction

Celebrating love…The distance between this day this year and the next

I dislike roses

I dislike diamonds

I dislike soft toys

I dislike pomp and show

I love love-stories

I love romantic poems

I love books

I love candle light dinners

Today is Valentine’s day.  A day when the world celebrates love and some remember a saint by the same name. A day when some reminisce their unrequited love, some bask in the sunshine of being in love, some find scepticism in every act of love and some live in eternal hope for that ‘one love’ and some are just plain rational about this thing called love. A day when the consumer industry make the most of our hopes, our despairs, our ambitions and our desperations. In our country, this day is also marked by some vandalism and moral policing in the name of culture. Pyaar ki toh aisi ki taisi.

While I agree that we do not need a single day for love, I also believe that every moment needs to be celebrated because life is just so precious. And there are such small ways to celebrate the love. Celebrate the love everyday by respecting the person you are with. Respect his dreams and his ambitions, embrace his shortcomings and his fears, enjoy his quirkiness and his misadventures. If you are in love, cook with your partner. Cooking is one of the beautiful ways to connect. Learn about each other’s preferences in food and make the effort to cook that special dish. Plan little surprises, small love notes tucked away for your partner to find. The glint in the eye and that meaningful smile will take your breath away. Have conversations, the mundane and the intellectual ones. Talk books, talk politics,  talk love,  talk child care... Speak what you are thinking and express what you feel. Share opinions,  agree to disagree,  have vehement debates and emotional outbursts. Have conversations. Do things you both enjoy(ed) doing together- a long drive, dinner at a quaint place, watching a play or just making a tub of popcorn and catching that series on the laptop. Remember the moment when you chose him in a heartbeat and if you took ages, remember those ages. We live such rushed lives that we often forget to be grateful for what is there right in front of us. Count your blessings. Count the love of your partner, your family and your friends because love can conquer everything (says the die hard romantic).

There will be a 14^th Feb every year. There will be a rollercoaster ride of emotions every year. Just decide how you want to travel the distance between this day this year and the next.

To love and the beautiful world it creates!

May I say, Happy Love (Valentine’s) Day!

Say it with words,

Say it with silences,

Say it with a song,

Say it with a dance,

Say it with a cake,

Say it with a biryani,

Say it!

Mamma, the Centipede will find me!

Ira and I do a little walk in the evening in our apartment complex. It involves a few rounds of walk, taking turns to chase each other, plucking the magic leaf () that when eaten with honey helps her throat and new stories every day. We also take either the ball or ben the plane with us. Demands are made to carry bigger soft toys for a walk too. But little twigs, dried leaves and stones make their way into the stories being told.

Today it was about a centipede. Ira had first seen a centipede at IISc on one of her visits and she was intrigued. Today, I told her that I saw a centipede and then it went missing in the garden. Ira then promptly plonked herself on the corridor and with a stick began tracing an imaginary centipede and then the centipede slowly found its way home into one of the crevices in the wall. While the centipede made its way home, we continued our stroll and she said that the centipede will find her and behold, eat her new pink shoes! So, we must hurry and she is scared and so I must carry her. The dramatic gestures must have convinced the other walkers that indeed a centipede is following her. She also said that the centipede will eat her small lappot (laptop). Convinced that the centipede is on her trail, we increased the paces. We reached the lift and she said, “Mamma, the centipede will find me!”. A hug convinced her that I shall keep her safe.

These little stories will be cherished life long. Hope the imagination grows leaps and bounds and Ira, the story teller stays on.

#Ira #Iraisms #storyteller #imagination #playtime

You feel like an Islander, instead of an outlander

Name of the Book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Authors: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Publishers: The Dial Press, August 2008

Genre: Fiction

You open this book,  you smell the yellow pages (mine was a borrowed copy) and then you fall in love with the characters. Imagine a book that's filled with letters.  Letters that tell a story,  enumerate the history and the geography of a place.  Let's you delve into the lives of the inhabitants. You experience their joys,  their fears,  their insecurities.  You immerse yourself in their warmth and openness. You want to be Juliet and Elizabeth at the same time. You like Sidney and Dawsey, find Mark charming, yet annoying. We all want a friend like Sophie. Eli and  Kit steal your heart, while Isola's world of potions seem too tempting.  The ravages of war,  the human atrocities,  the times when good wins over evil, goodwill has a hard day,  courage takes you places. You live the lives of these characters vicariously and you pine for more letters to be written.  The contents of a little wooden box bound by a ribbon and those 'Wilde' letters in a tin box in the kitchen enthral you.  And of course, what is not there to love about a story that talks of a literary society,  about book lovers and potato! By the time you turn the last page, you feel like an islander, instead of an outlander. 

Go on and read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society because living so many lives in 274 pages has never been this fascinating before. 

#Book1Review #Booksin2017 #Fiction

The day I took a Nobel Laureate on a guided tour of the Institute

Being a student at IISc, have had the opportunity to listen to many Nobel Laureates over the years.  There is always a sense of awe and admiration.  As a student and a researcher, your ears are keen, eyes are wide open as you soak up every word they say.

Today, the IISc Alumni Association hosted a special lecture by Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus on 'The Zero Effects of Social Entrepreneurship'. At some point, all of us would have read about his work on micro finance and the changes that the Grameen bank model has brought about in the lives of people in Bangladesh. Apart from his inspirational talk today where he spoke about how change can be brought about by encouraging every woman to understand her entrepreneurial abilities and how we need to be job makers, not job seekers for the economy to grow today.

Prior to his talk, once the introductions were done,  we took him on a guided tour of the Institute. I have deep love for the Institute and earlier as a student,  have taken visitors from other University also on campus walks. This request from him and a keen interest to see the campus just filled me with gleeful happiness to share all that I know. Talking about the expanse of the Institute,  the heritage buildings,  the new initiatives and the subway. Post the tour,  we took some snaps at J N Tata Statue and as we proceeded to the faculty Hall,  I requested him for a selfie and he was all smiles. We spoke in Bangla and I told him my Baba is from Farithpur and my Ma from dhaka. He also invited all of us to Bangladesh. The warmth,  the humility and the knowledge just blows you away. A day that shall be etched in memory.  The day I took a Nobel Laureate on a guided tour of the Institute.

#NobelLaureate #IISccampus #Memoryforlife

Mamma, I am looking beautiful

The world is a beautiful place when you see it from the eyes of a 2 year 8 month old. Ira has recently learnt the word beautiful and uses it in multiple situations and for multiple people. She finds the characters in a book beautiful, she finds a tree in a park beautiful, she find mamma's institute beautiful, she also tells snowy (owl) that she is beautiful. This morning she wore a dress for school, looked at the mirror and told me, "Mamma, I am looking beautiful." The grin that accompanied the line was heart-melting. She then turned to me and said that am looking beautiful and gave her papa the same compliment. It didn't matter that I looked as draabe (shabby) as I could with unkempt hair and a rushed morning look. What mattered is that she has begun perceiving beauty in everything and everyone. Beauty that those little doe eyes see. The world is beautiful Period.
We have always told her how "Ira is brave, Ira is strong and Ira is smart (accompanied with gestures)." Guess, she has added the new line- "Ira is beautiful."

#Ira #Iraisms #microblogging #beautiful #childrenperceivebeautyineveryone #beautifulworld #positiveaffirmations