Chupke Chupke...Shhhh..

Well, everyone knows we have been expected to maintain social distancing to keep ourselves safe from the pandemic. Initially, I was cautious with some level of carefree attitude and let my son play with his best friend. Soon, I realized they were playing with many other kids. After a Covid-19 scare and quarantine, I completely stopped him from playing with friends, and even if he spent 5 minutes with them, he HAD to wear a mask. Everyone on my floor has allowed kids to play out in the corridor, no masks, no distancing. Birthday parties are being celebrated with 0 masks. All this triggers my anxiety. I take this pandemic extremely seriously after hearing about an unfortunate situation that one of my colleagues went through. He lost both his parents-in-law and had endured two months of trauma with all that was going on in the family and over that an additional financial burden with 20+ lakhs of the hospital bills. Not sure if others have not yet been impacted by the pandemic and are henc...

Last week I happened to binge-watch "Get Organized" on Netflix last weekend and realized how much I love what they do on that show. The Home Edit team is heartwarming. They are hilarious, lovable, and motivate you to get on the "edit" mode. Well, for the uninitiated, "edit" means clearing out what's not needed anymore. There has always been one place that is in my control that has been quite out of control. My freezer. :) So yesterday, post the refrigerator cleaning that I enthusiastically took up first. After a lot of hesitation, I opened the top shelf that led me to chaos. Packets blocking the view, a lot of powders strewn all over the place. We don't store ice creams, so we just use it to store frozen peas and all my masalas. So what happened when I had to review all the packets? Let's just say over 70% of the items were way past the expiry date. It became clear why. All packets were hidden out of plain sight and I would end up buying the sa...

Here's what I have learned from this pandemic so far.  I will add more to this as we progress with this worldwide pandemic. 1.  Simple lifestyle - we have way too much at home that we don't need anymore. We spend way more than necessary on unimportant things 2. Home-cooked food is good for our body, mind, and soul.  3. Spending meaningful, quality time with family is most important.  4. It is okay to have anxiety about the pandemic. You aren't alone.  5. Protecting yourself and your family is of the highest priority 6. Try to not judge others especially while looking at other parents letting their kids play around like the pre-pandemic times or people roaming around freely without masks.  7. Make sure to set time for yourself during the day 8. Keep yourself entertained  9. We are extremely privileged that we can stay indoors, order groceries from home while many folks have to be out in the open to help us stay in at home.  10. While staying social...

 More than 2 decades ago, my parents gifted me a photo of Hunchback of Notre Dame with the saying "Smile a lot, it costs nothing". I have had it on my desk for many years and it is something that I keep reminding myself of.  Seems too simple, but I have seen how a smile can transform the person with whom you are interacting. My son does that often when I reprimand him. He knows his smile will make me smile and forget what I intended to say. When it comes to colleagues, relatives, or even unknown people, a warm and friendly smile goes a long way.  Plus a smile makes you so much more of a beautiful person than you already are!  Some people say I smile a lot. I feel I don't smile enough. :)  I'll leave you with this - "Smile a lot, it costs nothing". That's it! That's all I had to say.