A Key Board is mightier than sword?

Hi All

They say " A pen is mightier than a sword". Who uses a pen now a days? Its keyboard. I found this statement to be true in my case.  I will explain why.A few weeks ago I ordered a pressure cooker from amazon. I saw that I could not track the package for some reason. The estimated delivery date said Feb 9. So I thought I wouldnt check everyday.

During the first week of Feb I noticed that the fedex website stated the product had been delivered at my front door on Jan 25th! I was ( I ALWAYS AM) home and I received nothing! So I called the retailer, the lady on the other side spoke to me in a tone that convinced me that she thought I was lying! She said" if it says delivered its delivered mam!" I told her I live in an apartment so front door is literally living room so there is no way I had not noticed it. She was rude and not helpful. So the next thing I said was I will call fedex and call her back. I called Fedex. My luck was bad there was someone whose name i wouldnt mention who was rude and said the same thing saying if it was delivered it was delivered. I told this person that Fedex has been receiving bad reviews anyway due to the driver throwing monitor incident. So I said I would write about Fedex in my blog and it will add to the negative reviews they already had! Everything changed after that! He said he will track the driver and recover the package. He took down my phone number. I called the retailer again and said the same thing I told fedex. Same blog threat! She said she will make sure my money is either refunded or another cooker will be shipped!

The next morning I received a call from fedex saying they recovered the package and it was delivered to wrong address. They said they will deliver it in an hour. I GOT THE PACKAGE EXACTLY IN AN HOUR! I called the retailer and told them I received the package. I thanked them anyway.

Well don't you agree a keyboard is mightier than sword! One thing noone asked me was how many followers does my blog have? If I had told them they will lose business from my 4 followers I would not have received my cooker! LOL

Thank you internet!

xoxo
Srividya

My experiments with Snow Boarding

Before I explained my experiment with snow boarding I need to tell all something about myself. Even though I am not someone who would try anything thats new on the block ,I do seek to have fun doing mild to moderate risk involving activities. I do love sports. Wait a minute I did not complete the sentence yet. I love ALL sports in a 60 inch HD tv on ESPN channel. I dont have to know the rules. I dont have to support any team. If there is a lot of shouting and cheering involved I am on board.


I recently went snow boarding and had so many glimpses of wisdom. Coming from a country that is ALWAYS hot, snow has been something I really enjoy. So when friends said lets go snow boarding I just said yes. I love snow so how difficult would it be to slide on a board on something I really love? BOY I WAS WRONG! I am someone that googles everything. If google had to announce an award for someone that googled EVERY thing under the sun, the winner would be me. However I made an exception this time about not setting any kind of expectation and reminded myself to " go with the flow" - an expression I dearly love.So I did not know anything about it.


The first thing that made my mind say " You should think about opting out of this" is the shoe that we were given. I was told that kind of shoe actually protects us from injuries. As much as it was true, it was very hard to believe so because the shoes were awfully tight and very heavy making it absolutely impossible to walk!Then came an instructor ( we had signed up for an introductory class) who was 14 years old. I expected someone older to be my instructor. The word instructor seemed so BIG to describe the person that arrived to say we had to begin the class in 5 minutes. That was another time my mind said " This may be for someone that has always been on snow. May be someone young and energetic.You can opt out right now"  I ignored my mind's chatter and shushed her ( yes my mind is a she DUH! She also has a name he he. Go on conclude that I am a confirmed cuckoo!) and said I am a fun loving, physically active person I want to do this. Then came strapping my leg on the board. My recent gaining of weight, the mommy tummy and the fat snow pants did not help at ALL! Ultimately the 14 year old had to do the strapping for me. The kid that was hired to teach snow boarding was good at doing it. But he apparently did not know the ONE THING that he should talk about first. It was HOW TO FALL. He started off with asking us to strap one leg first. The first fall I ever took happened to be the wrong one. I fell and twisted my knee so badly that I could not continue the rest of it. What was supposed to be a nice change of pace from my usual weekends of walking around the mall proved to be painful and not so enjoyable!

Pain always brings us back to center. Makes us think about things we never ever thought about! So here are my glimpeses of wisdom.Any sport especially ones involving snow needs to be done with great caution so, if your mind says opt of it you get out, watch how others do and may be get into it later! Pain is no fun especially a mom who has a kid to take care of at home should avoid everything that would result in pain and affect mobility. Snow sports like skiing, snow boarding has a lot to do with balance so if we are over weight we may have falls and there is greater possibility of getting hurt. A little less weight on my body would have helped! ( There is one more reason to work out!) Snow sports require practice just like anything else. So it is always advisable to get a good instructor probably get a private lesson or 2  and practice a lot. Instead of blaming oneself it always helps to have a positive attitude and try dealing with the pain so we dont become all the more sedantary!

In conclusion I may not snow board again but it did remind me to be more cautious in future. I thank myself for not letting this kill my love for sports. Yes I did watch super bowl yesterday on a HD TV, having my swollen feet up and enjoying a nice dinner handed to me on a plate! I LOVE SPORTS.

Xoxo
Srividya

Salutations to Dr Vandana Shiva

A special post on a woman I respect the most

Poorna sthree salutes a complete woman who is working for farmers all over the world and people in this planet. She is working towards safe food for everyone, sustainable resources for the planet and better life for farmers all over the world.

This post is about a person I have been following for a while now. This person is a quantum physicist who has taken up a cause that is very important to all of us. She is an activist working against genetically modified foods. Her name is Dr Vandana Shiva.

Her work mainly is to oppose giant seed companies like MONSANTO that actually produce genetically modified seeds and patent them. These companies compel farmers around the world to use their patented seeds.  Because these seeds are patented, farmers are restricted to use their own seeds from the yearly yields and they end up purchasing seeds from these giants for a lot of money.In addition to pushing farmers in debt  these organizations have managed to make these seeds genetically modified.These seeds produce genetically modified grains and vegetables thereby making it unsafe for consumption.  These seeds have caused farmers to rely more on  chemical fertilizers and pesiticides that make the food even more unsafe.There were so many farmers' suicide in India related to this issue.

 Dr Shiva is constantly working with governments and NGOs to make sure farmers' interests are protected in the matter of seed autonomy. Her objective is to remove genetically modified food production and encourage  local farmers to grow food using organic sustainable methods. Her aim is to protect nature and rights  of people to access food and water.

Her movement is called Navadanya which is a seed bank to help farmers grow food using organic methods. Once using Navadanya seeds, farmers are free to re use the seeds obtained from their yield for the year without having patent restrictions.

There is a lot  of information involved in this cause. I request everyone to please read about Dr Vandana Shiva and watch her videos on youtube.  I am sharing one with this post. They say "We are what we eat" however we do tend to forget about paying attention to the most important thing - food. The youtube video is from the movie called The future of food.

This cause is so dear to me so I have shared this in both my blogs.

Xoxo
Srividya

Happy Thanks Giving

On Gratitude - Byron Katie

Notice the abundance of what you do have, right here right now, and let it in, really let it in. You may lose it all later, but for now, while you still have it, can you relax and be still, be comforted in what you do have in this moment. It would be nice to think, later, ‘I really appreciated it when I had it, I didn’t waste being grateful for a moment.’ We could wait gratefully for years to lose it all and notice to the end of our lives that losing it all never happened. To open to what is reality right now is to see options that are unimaginable to the frightened, living-in-the-future, I-know mind. ~ Byron Katie

Happy Thanksgiving all of you. Every tradition has some festival to give thanks. In south Indian farming communities, Pongal or Shankaranthi is an event for saying thanks for the great harvest that year and so on.

Being grateful for what we have is the only way to happiness. I began my post with Byron Katie's quote on gratitude. I bumped in to a book called " A thousand Names for Joy" by Byron Katie a few years ago. I met her in person in NY once. She is the founder of a revolutionary technique called "The work" . I am first of all grateful I ever found her and attended one of her workshops. Her book and her teachings have COMPLETELY changed my life. I am sure there are books and gurus out there with " Life changing" books and teachings. But this is not one of them. When I say changed my life it LITERALLY did. I look at life very differently now I am a lot happier in all circumstances than I used to be.I encourage all my blog readers to check out this book and her work at thework.com .  She is amazing.. I say thanks to many things this year.
1. Thank you my blog subscribers. I cannot tell you in words how much your subscription means to me.
2. Once I was told I can never be a mother. Those were the harshest words that I ever heard. Now I am a mother of a beautiful angel. I am thankful for that. I will always be.
3. In addition to being thankful for all those who love me who have been therefor me, I am thankful this year for life itself. Life is so kind that even in its darkest time it leaves us with something to notice or learn. I am thanking everything , everyone in  this universe.

Please leave a comment on what you are thankful for its such a joyful place to visit. Gratitude always brings us back to center :-)

Xoxo
Srividya

11.11.11 A lucky day?

Is today lucky? Mmmm Let us see. I got up in the morning. Alive and kicking. Lucky!Did not have a wink of sleep because LO had cold last night. But I managed to get up this morning holding her, nursing her, comforting her. Lucky! I have a beautiful baby girl. Had a fresh brewed cup of coffee. Lucky! Friends had left some pizza and bread sticks over for me so I don't have to cook today. Lucky! Had that for lunch. I managed to put Daksha to sleep even though she struggles to breathe with blocked nose. Some friends are coming over this weekend. A cousin coming over tomorrow. Yes lucky once again I have family and friends.  Hubby called from out of town. Lucky! I have a loving husband!This is yet another day but realized how lucky I was. It is just not a lucky day. It is a wonderful day like every day. Life has been so kind to me. I have been a lucky person through out. Having best parents, a wonderful loving sister, an amazing brother in law, nieces, cousins, friends. I have been lucky through out. It is a wonderful reminder and I am grateful. This is not bragging it is just a reminder to myself on what I have taken for granted. Sometimes I do grumble saying things are not going my way and I am waiting for my lucky day. But everyday is lucky. It is just how I decide to look at it. This was a sudden train of thought I had when i was revisiting 11.11.11 I thought I would share this with you. Please let me know what you are grateful for. What makes you feel you are lucky?

Xoxo

Srividya

A memory that makes me LOL

I have told this story multiple times to my friends and family. Every time I get reminded of this incident I laugh out loud. Especially when I talk about this with my friend who was with me when this happened .

When I was in my XII grade, my friend and I had trouble with accounting course. So we wanted extra coaching classes outside school for accounting. We looked and looked never found anyone offering accounting classes in that area. I remember how we walked streets of annanagar ( chennai - India) looking for a good teacher for accounting. On a very sunny day we were so thirsty and found this board with an arrow mark saying CLASSES. This arrow led us to an apartment in a cool and shady area with lot of trees. We knocked the door of the apartment. A very courteous woman opened the door. She invited us in and offered us a very cold glass of water. It was such a relief especially after walking around in the sun for so long. We took turns in explaining how much we have trouble with understanding concepts of accounting. We also said we would like to score 100% marks in the subject and that we wanted to master it so we could pursue our bachelors degree in commerce and accounting.

She listened intently and smiled at appropriate places.We almost were happy that we got a good teacher who can help us. When we asked her when we can start the classes, she said " I dont know girls you seem to speak very good English I am not sure if you need classes"

IT WAS A PLACE FOR ENGLISH SPOKEN COURSE. That was funniest half hour wasted in my life.

Xoxo
Srividya

Few of my favorite things

I recently purchased a red scarf at Target.Those who know  me know I am obssessed with scarves. I thought I will post a mini haul and favorites section. My current favorites are :

red scarf -frm target. This practically beautifies any basic Tee and top. This scarf has wonderful detailing and goes with all colors. I just love the fact that I can just get into something basic and throw this scarf around and look as if I put so much effort into my outfit.

Sleeveless Floral button down shirt - thrifted : its ann taylor it fits so perfectly. It only costs $3.00

coral colored skinny pants - forever 21 : I could practically live in them.They are so comfortable. Colored pants are so in now. It is such a nice change from blues blacks and greys.

Sally hansen distressed denim nail polish : This is from the crackle series of sally hansen but I use this alone. This says overcoat on the bottle though. People who are used to covering up their nails with color will find this weird.Single or  double coat of this exactly creates a distressed denim effect on our nails. You will still be able to see your nail color. It is different and cool. I love it.

Please enjoy the pics. I will do fav shoes section soon...

xoxo