Pretty Days- Week 12

// Dear Diary Series

30th November, 2020/ Monday

• Slay Day — Wolf Bootcamp Day 1 with Puneet. To better health and stronger body. The goal is to maintain routine and exercise consistently.
• Was on extra long, extra loud, extra celebratory family group call today. Family first, specially when they are the nice and kind ones!
• More self birthday gifting continues- Octopus tripod and ring light for studying and videos. Self love is the best love!
• Cooked greens for the first time after mum expressed some concern about my balanced diet — Aloo Palak it is. Popeye said Spinach is good but I corrupted it a bit with the potatoes, lol!
• Successfully completed by 30 day Vegan Challenge. 30 tips, 30 reels, one for each day. As I say, what is life without a wee bit of commitment!

1st December, 2020/ Tuesday

• Hello December! The happiest, vibe-est, joyfoul, festive, lively month of the year! And yayy to Birthday Month!
• 7 A.M. — Spotted a beautiful almost full moon through my window.
• 8 A.M. — Consistent with Project 365 time-lapse.
• Sometimes I commit more than what is expected of me — Spent the whole day recording videos for a UK in India project to showcase Life in Bi-modal teaching. Recorded everything from when I wake up to almost shadowing my whole day in and out of seminars, campus, and everything else that happens in between. As you already know, Tuesday is when all the action happens, so that was a lot of work.
• Every building on campus have started putting up their own little decorated Christmas tree, so it feels festive around!
• I went into Muirhead Tower for the first time today. Though it was only to meet Claire, I felt like a sneaky adventure & felt so good!
• People & relationships bring me joy and I like to nurture them. Handed out Christmas/ New Year cards to my group in class. They were all surprised and overwhelmed. That in turn multiplied by joy. And this is how the world goes round!
• International Antarctic Day!

2nd December, 2020/ Wednesday

• I have an OCD of completing every task assigned to be to the last detail, conversing, communicating and delivering to the best of my ability, and sometimes pushing myself to do a little more.
• The UK in India video assignment came to me at least two weeks ago, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to work on it. I just documented my whole of yesterday. The chosen word for the reply was ‘Impressive’. I think the right adjective was ‘lengthy’ (lol). Took a lot of time, but now I know better, to ASK before I just go for it.

• Spoke about Democracy and International Relations as a Guest Speaker on Noto’s podcast — Foreign Policy Talks. The other speaker was Alhareth from Libya. Good to get a global perspective and strengthen community.
• End of National Lockdown. HAD to get out and go to City Center. Shopped a bit (read lot) and walked under sparkly Christmas lights. Consumerism, you addictive sin! But it’s also my birthday!
• Sadly, Birmingham will be on Tier 3 lockdown from tomorrow, so just have a day in between to go around. This also means, no elaborate birthday celebration.
• Laundry day, freshy summer orange fragrance!
• Birthday prep happened, new everything and laying them down and soaking up the good energy! And also, lots of delicious food.
• Birthday gifts started arriving. It was so unexpected that Akka sent me a Camera. After losing the last one to a crash on deck as we were passing by Drake Passage (totally not my fault. Remember the mountain waves and the rocky ship!) , I really wanted a new one to document memories. I said it to her in passing, but she actually bought it for me. I’m so happy!!
• 6 P.M — Sydney is 11 hours ahead of London. So, I get my first Birthday wishes from Niha. So many years of friendship, it feels so good to strengthen the bond as we grow older!
• 6: 30 PM(India Midnight) — My core team CRS call, followed by other birthday calls and message. This is a definite peaceful, positive, happy vibe! Can’t believe how obsessed I am with birthdays, but I don’t see anything wrong with it. After all, it is the whole reason behind your existence, so why not celebrate it in the best possible way!

3rd December, 2020/ Thursday :-) ❤ ❤ ❤

• Midnight (UK) — While it was midnight here, it was already the wee hours of the morning of 3rd December in India. Family calls & messages from both US and India that went on till 2am.
• Early Morning- I woke up early, because it was already mid-morning in India and my phone kept ringing. Shower and breakfast were delayed, but yes to soaking maximum love. Mom decorated the house as per tradition, and creatively put some stars around me!
• Morning — I saved Curry Noodles I brought from India for a special occasion, and what better day than today. I made that for breakfast! Spoke to more friends and dressed up in my new Kashmiri Kurta. Basically, shopping in Kashmir was the last thing I could do (March, 2020) before the lockdown happened and I left India later in the year. So, that’s what I have. Planned to go to Sri Venkateshwara Temple, but realized it would take at least half a day for that and I didn’t want to rush it. So, prayed at home, and will find a more relaxed time to visit the temple.

• Afternoon — This is when I began my celebrations with friends here. Photoshoot, walk to Harborne, coffee, and tip toeing around in pretty dresses! Supreme coincidence has to be receiving the gift package from USA, which was posted 20 days ago but reached exactly today.
• Reyansh made a Roary dinosaur drawing for me, and hand-made a beaded ‘Prathyu Pinni’ bracelet. I couldn’t have asked anything more in life, than this precious gift made with little hands and a heart full of love!
• Evening — My house mates are the best. They brought me a Vegan Chocolate Cake, we gathered around in the hall, ate popcorn & pizza and celebrated for a while. Tina, Martin, Mizuki, Anirudh, the two new Chinese occupants and me. Just perfect!
• Night — Had dinner with Eleni — some good food, music and replying to all the messages. Almost trying to wind down after that. But no one sleeps before midnight on birthdays. You make use of the whole 24 hours! Except by the time it was midnight here, it was already the morning of the 4th in India, and so I spoke to Mom again before calling it a day!
• Sydney — India — UK — New Jersey — California : That’s the number of time zones I celebrated my birthday in! So incredibly blessed.
• Thank you! Thank you! Thank you a million times Universe for this good life!!!

4th December, 2020/ Friday

• Birthday hangover with all the love, wishes and replying to all the messages. It is the most important day in the year for me, and I pray it remains that way.

• With half open eyes, as soon as I woke up, put up Reyansh’s Birthday art on the wall. I absolutely love it and is the most precious gift I could get.
• Eating leftover pizza for breakfast is another level of deliciousness.
• Almost forgot about my last in-person/ on-campus seminar of the Term, so did a bit of running around.
• Elenie went back to Greece for a couple of months, so there will be less photoshoots & random madness. I will still have to push myself to go on walks, and the mundane grocery runs.
• The rest of the day was pretty ordinary.

5th December, 2020/ Saturday

Curry Noodles is the best!

• 7 AM — Wolf Bootcamp on point! The wooden floor is loud, fragile and annoying but I do my own variations of some of the workouts like burpees, to be considerate to the whole building. Make the best use of what I have, as I have no alternate place where I can go to exercise.
• Started as an amazing morning, then slid into a mediocre afternoon, ended up being depressing by evening
• 8:30–9:30 AM GMT: Was a panel member for SoCh sharing my experience and journey of being in the Development Sector. It was one of the better Zoom Sessions’ of the year. Perhaps it was because of the panelists, who had some truly inspiring stories to share. Always ready to learn and grow from the tribe.
• There is a life lesson I am reminded of: Life is like a kindergarten teacher, who teaches the same thing over and over again, till you fully learn the lesson and get it right. Life is teaching me some really important lesson now, and in a tough way, and I better learn them, or lose my sanity & personality forever.
• I am ready to learn, grow and evolve. Shedding the baggage & moving on. Maintain honesty, purity and clarity in every damn relation!
• The motto this weekend is to just survive!

6th December, 2020/ Sunday

• I survived another rainy grey day and that is good enough for today
• I walked through Harborne, cooked and zoned out.
• Spoke to Sarah after many many months. Some exciting plans coming up, fingers crossed.
• It’s not been a great weekend, but I know tomorrow when I wake up, I would have turned to a fresh chapter in my book. A little wiser, a little calmer, a little kinder.
• I don’t want to dread December. It is my Birthday Month. It is my favorite month. I love it. I am going to break all old negative patterns and ensure I only learn lessons and go about life with a positive outlook! ONWARDS!