Oblivion

Social media is getting on my nerves. I mean Social Media is really nice to stay in touch with people, get updates on their lives, share your milestones with the world, stalk your crushes, see what that ex of yours is up to, you know completely innocent stuff. But sometimes it just gets to be too much. My frustration level rises with my screen time. Now, I try to keep it to a moderate, not a minimum. But as I said, even the moderate manages to annoy me! So a while ago, I was very immersed in the whole social media phenomenon, whatsapping my friends about my dinner plans, then snapping them on the way telling them my uber ka speed, showing them what I have ordered on insta stories, tweeting about this amazing dish I just had and ooh checking in on facebook to make sure they know I've reached. I hope you guys know this is just an exaggeration. But you get the idea, I mean always being online, always being connected. These apps have made it so easy for us to stay connected all the

कभी आना थोड़ी बाते करेंगे कुछ तुम कहना कुछ हम भी कहेंगे उस घर की वो दीवार  जिसपर यादे लगाया करते थे रोज़ सुबह खटखटा के  दफ्तर को जाया करते थे  कभी आना थोड़ी बाते करेंगे पुरानी बाते याद कर थोड़ा मिलकर फिर हसेंगे कभी आना थोड़ी बाते करेंगे PS: My first attempt at writing a poem in Hindi. I have been trying to write one for so long, I just couldn't find the words. I mean literally. As much as I would like to think, my Hindi is apparently not that great when it comes to writing. And there is something about writing poems in the language that adds the dimension of depth that I just don't feel in English. This is just the first draft. I hope to finish it soon. 

It's day 3 at my new job and having smiled at so many people these days, my face now hurts. I have also become very proficient in giving a concise introduction of myself, I believe the word dog has received quite a good response from people, so I tend to talk about that a lot. Lucky for me, my team is full of dog lovers. I haven't met all of them yet, but the ones I've met so far really love dogs! So I am sitting for lunch, having recited my regular, Me - "Hi! I am Arushi, recently joined the ITS Team. I have a pet dog...." People - "Ohh so cute! I love dogs too"  and you know where the conversation goes from there. We all somehow got past the topic and I returned to my "I am new here" awkward smile. Somebody notices my left-handedness, and we start talking about that. Yes! I am left-handed. I am supposed to be creative! Ha! You haven't seen me draw an apple then. I can manage to put together a decent sentence though. So, one

The Weekend I wasn't able to finish this 30 day challenge. But I really did like it, I think I am going to try another one soon. I am not going to be able to finish all the posts, so I though I'd make one post and try to cover at least a few of the topics. #24 - 3 books on my bookshelf Factfullness - Hans Rosling (Currently reading and desperately trying to finish) Why am I a Hindu - Shashi Tharoor  Dark Places - Gillian Flynn #25 - What I would find in my blog My blog isn't about anything particular. I write about things that make me think, a really great conversation, my life in general, me reminiscing, my rants sprinkled with a few poems! I mostly write when I am overwhelmed by something. That gets the typewriter in my head going. Plus now I have a real one too. Yay. If you were to browse through my blog, you might find something about integrity, friendship and love, feminism, rain, Goa, Friends (TV show), cooking, questions I am contemplating and m

You know confidence is very important for a person in their life. How confident you are, impacts almost everything in your life. It is something that reflects in your personality. And what is more important is being self-confident. If you don't believe in yourself, then life my friend is going to be tough. I have come to realize that self-confidence needs to come from within and cannot be based on your validation by other people in life. I have been struggling with this for a while. I have always felt like an under-confident person most of my adult life. It's not like I shy away from conversations or am socially awkward. I am actually pretty social, more so when I am a little comfortable with my surroundings. My self-confidence right now is shaky at best. It is extremely fragile and can tumble with the tiniest of puffs of air. If you've ever played one of those games that require you to make a building and when you go really high and/or misplace a house, your entire bu

#19 Nicknames you have; why you have them Well, my joining date got moved up a week so I might not be able to finish all of these, but I will try. I might combine a few into one article itself. So the numbering might be a little off. So, nicknames huh. I have quite a few I guess. Well, my name is Arushi Pandey. I'll just start listing them down one by one; Pandey, Pandey Ji, Aru, Chotu, Shiro, Rushi, Popu, Bache, Shiri are the ones that are coming to mind right now,  Actually, most people get their nicknames from their names, in my case, it was the other way around. I was named Aru first and that is where Arushi came from. My mother and my brother were taking harmonium lessons when my mother was pregnant with me. Her teacher was a blind man, whose next student was Aru. My mother liked that name so much that she decided to give me that name.  Chotu is a nickname that a lot of people have called me over the years. The reason is simple for this one. I am short or tiny

# 15 Put your iPod on shuffle. First 10 songs that play This would actually be fun if I had my old iPod with me. It has songs from so many genres and eras that would be left astonished by my taste in music. My iPhone barely has any so this might be a weird list!  O Saathi Grenade - Bruno Mars Hey Jude - Beatles Main Rahoon ya na rahoon - Gulshan Kumar Do din hi madhu mujhe pilakar - Manna Dey (This is a part of Madhushala) Kanha - Shubh Mangal Saavdhan Love you Zindagi - Dear Zindagi Bane Pujari premi saqi - Manna Dey (This is a part of Madhushala) Jiyen Kyun - Dum Maaro Dum Fernando - ABBA 

So sitting in my friend's room, we were talking about house parties and how much fun they are! And then we got to talking about the mess in the morning and the puking that lasts till dawn. She was telling me about the one crazy house party she had in college days. And I chimed in with my own stories. Drunken 1 AM stories. Most of these stories are from my first year or so in college because after that we knew our capacities and drank responsibly enough to not be running randomly in the corridors, puking in the washrooms and waking up with the worst headache ever. I remember this one time, back in my initial college years, one of our friends had recently broken up and so we decided to have a breakup party. We managed to sneak in alcohol and sat in our rooms drinking and dancing around. I wasn't drinking that night for some reason, so I was responsible for making sure the warden doesn't find out and everyone was fine. I remember that after a while, my friends had had too

#14 A picture of you and your family This is a photo of the Pandey family from about a month ago when we were all in different cities, actually different states and in my brother's case a different country altogether.   Again, I couldn't find any recent pictures so this will have to do. I know this is a weird picture, but sorry this will have to do. I will maybe update it in December when we all get together.  We are an extremely tight bunch, the five of us. We discuss everything from bad breakups to why the Modi government isn't performing well enough. That is the best part of my family. I don't have to think twice about telling them anything. I don't have to hide anything from them and believe me that has made life much easier. There is no concept of personal space between us. We constantly interfere in each other's lives, giving advice, making fun of each other and also fighting like hell sometimes.  My family I think is the best part about me.

#13 A letter to someone who has hurt you recently Aah! This is something extremely personal I believe. I know I write a lot about things going on in my life. But I never really explicitly say it (not very often though). It is usually implied. And the other thing is how do I choose who to address to! I mean there are quite a few on that list (sorry trying to joke about the whole situation). I don't want to be pointing someone out here, I mean its already being done on twitter so much, I'd rather not add to it. But what I will do is write about a few things that hurt me. So I have been spending a lot of time with myself, learning how to be comfortable in my skin. That is something that I am not good at or rather was not. I am getting better. I was used to having people around me most of the time. So yeah, in trying to do that, I have had a lot of time to myself, and have been thinking a lot. And obviously breaking down and analyzing the entire thing bit by bit. Replaying

#12 How you found out about blogger and why you made one Well, I started this blog a long time ago. I think back in my first year at the very beginning that too. I had always been decent at writing as a kid. Back in my first year, I had moved away from home and was living alone for the first time. So one of those days, I was probably feeling a little homesick and overwhelmed and I just started writing. And it was a load off for me. Since then, whenever I feel overwhelmed or if there is something that makes me think, I just sit and my computer and start typing. I don't think just keep writing whatever comes to my mind, much like right now.  So, yeah I consider this blog my escape. I rant here about stupid things, write about happy ones, give my opinions on some and just share my experiences with everyone. I had no other intention of starting the blog. In fact even today, it is a place for me to let everything out. I don't have to hold back. And if some of you happen to l

#11 Another picture of you and your friends This is a collage of a few people I consider my close friends. The black box in the middle is because I know I have missed out a few of them. This is not because I love them any less, it's just because I couldn't find any recent pictures with them. Or you know those people who are really close to you but you never got around to taking pictures with them.  These are my people. People that are important to me, and have played a significant role in my life. This picture has people from all facets of my life. There are a few I met back in school, a major chunk I became friends with in college and some I met at work who became much more than just colleagues.  They all have taught me something in life, and there has to something, some habit that I have picked up from each of them. These people are some of the most amazing people I have met, in their own unique way. My bond with each one of them is very different. Some are

#10 Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped and mad I haven't been able to listen to my favorites or "go to" songs for a while now because they make me reminisce, and that is something I am running away from right now. Only if that kind of running made you lose weight. And this is a bit of a problem for me because I love music. I always have something on in the background. I am listening to something, about 90% of my awake time. These days all I have been listening is to is Prateek Kuhad, The Local train, and covers by Karan Nawani. These songs are completely new to me hence, no thinking, just listening. And mind you they are really nice! I mean really good! Go listen to Raat Raazi, Dil Beparvah, Choo lo, and Aaftab. Really great songs! Getting to the point, let me start listing down the songs that I listen to when I am in the moods mentioned. When I am mad I normally listen to "Just go to hell" from the movie Dear Zindagi. Actually, t

#9 Something you're proud of in the last few days  For those of you who have read one of my previous posts, Side Hustle, already know about this. It's been roughly over a month since we actively started working on it. So let me give you a little context first. Side Hustle is a project as I like to call it that I have started with one of my friends, the girl who doodles her thoughts. She is an amazing artist and the best part about her work is that it is not spectacular fruits of bowls, but it is about things that we can relate to. Things that we should know about, and things that make us think. She pours out her thoughts on the canvas and makes something awesome every time.  One night, amidst our random conversations, I told her that she should put her work out there for the people. And that got us talking and one thing led to another and here we have Side Hustle. A project that hopes to reach out to people, help them, educate them and maybe leave them with a few c

#7 Short-term goals for the month and why Since I am on my notice period, I have quite some time on hand. And hence more than a few short-term goals. Let's list them down. The first would obviously be successfully finishing this 30-day challenge that I have taken up. This the first of any such challenge and I would like to see it through.  Another goal that I have in mind is that I want to start running regularly. I have tried it a couple of times before, and got bored after a couple of days and gave up. This time I want to stick to and be consistent. I have read a lot about people feeling good after exercising due to endorphins and what not. I would like to experience that for a change, rather than watching reruns of Gilmore Girls (awesome show btw). For the first time in years, I might say, I have no obligations or duties to anyone at all. I have complete autonomy on my time. I have to appease no one and I needn't alter my schedule for anything. It's not tha

#7 A picture of someone/something that has made a big impact on you  All of us have idols right? People we look up to and aspire to be. We have all written essays in our middle school about our idols. I wrote one about APJ Abul Kalam, the Missile Man of India. I was fascinated by him. I didn't want to be like him though. As I grew older and some sense came into me, I realized that and my idol was not far from home. The person that I want to be in life, the person I wanted to be when I grew up wasn't any celebrity or scientist it was my own brother. I have admired my brother for about half my life now. I have seen him grow up in front of me, become the amazing man he is. Not saying he is perfect, but he is pretty close to as good as anyone can get. I know he has his flaws, but the kind of person he is, that is who I want to be for the most part. I have always wanted to be like him, so much so that in my first year of college I wore his loose black band t-shirts all aro

#5 A picture of somewhere you've been to Well, this is a picture of Bantony Castle, an abandoned castle on mall road in Shimla, one of the busiest places there. This is a huge house, thats stands majestically next to Grand hotel and if you don't wait to really look at it, you won't really notice it. It is not a creepy house, as such, just abandoned and forgotten. It actually is very pretty if you take the time to look at it.  Just a random fact, the government plans to convert it to a museum soon.  One fine evening while taking a stroll, my hyperactive imagination got activated and I started thinking about its history. It used to be the summer house of a lot of Lords during the British era. I was a little disappointed when I read up on it. I thought there would be some sort of a mystery to the house, or maybe just a ghost lurking in the attic. If you happen to go to Shimla for a vacation, do walk by this house, you might spot a ghost!

You know when you live in a city for a while, you start to scope out a few things that become your go to places. It could be your favorite coffee place who by now recognize you as the caffeine lady and know how you like your coffee, your go-to bookstore where you pestered long enough for certain books, your favorite delivery restaurant on swiggy that you know so well so much that you know how will your midnight egg roll taste like, that theatre where the popcorn is just the right mix of salted and cheese or even a particular petrol pump you like to go to. You accumulate these certain things that have your personal stamp of approval and over time they become a part of your routine and your life. No more scrolling on swiggy for hours on end deciding what to order from what place and how it will turn out to be because you already know what you like and what would make those Monday blues go away. When you move to the city, in the initial days, it's like a testing phase, you try a

#4 A habit that you wish you didn't have This topic has made me think so much that I haven't been able to write anything all day. When I started thinking along these lines, I could only think of positive attributes disguised as negative ones. "I work too hard!" or "I am a bit of a perfectionist" I have recently given a few job interviews, looking for a change (and I got one yay!). So my brain was stuck in that mode. I was approaching this from the perspective of the age-old interview question "What are your biggest weaknesses?" asked time and again in interviews in different forms and variations. So yeah, I kept thinking along those lines and coming up with ridiculous answers.  So I decided to go for a swim, something I do these days when I need to clear my head. Whenever I have too much on my mind or a decision to take, I dive right into the matter and the pool! So, there I am swimming and thinking and a few things come to my mind.