Creative Musings

I have been proof reading and copy-editing articles for online publications for the last two years. In these two years I have gone through myriad emotions while at work- anger, frustration, pride, fascination, amusement -not necessarily in that order! Yes, the writings can make you cry, laugh, shake your head in disbelief and drum your fingers with impatience as you try to make sense of randomly arranged words/ loose sentences. But there is the undeniable satisfaction of reading through a corrected article - pride at my own handiwork! The joy of having made an article readable and error-free always manages to satiate me and perk me up despite the definite tedium of the task. I have always had a critical eye ever since I remember and am quick at spotting errors - a quality which did not always go down well specially with people who were close to me! It irked them why I was always tracking mistakes, constantly trying to critique and improve things around me. Thankfully, a critical eye ...

It has been two months since we returned from our trip to Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta) in Indonesia but the memories of the place don't seem to fade out. In fact my husband and I have already started our research and are planning to combine the spots we missed out in Yogyakarta or those which we did not get enough time to capture in our memories with another trip to Java. It is strange but we cannot exactly pinpoint what was the one thing we liked most....maybe because it was not something tangible.....yes the mountains, the volcano, the river, the temples, the palaces and the people have all made a huge impact but it was something more.......... the intangible allure- the smell of nature, the hint of danger, the folklore and beliefs....all which create this magical aura about the place and makes you yearn to go back! Resilience in the Face of Adversity- Mount Merapi Maybe this is the reason why hundreds of people still choose to live on the foothills of the active volcano, ...

''Bless you John Gray'',  "Is your soul a woman's?" -my Venus heart has been exclaiming ever since I started reading the best-selling book, "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus," written by author and counselor, Dr. John Gray. In all probability most women out there would have read this book- & the men??? Well, who said Martians ( men from Mars ) can READ? Yes, I know my review comes too late in the day- its a 19 year old best-selling book, published in 1992 which has sold millions of copies worldwide and has attracted comments and criticism alike. But then I was a tad too young for this- could not have been bothered by self-help books, did not understand how grown up relationships could be and hated studying about planets and the rest of the solar system! To come to think of it, nothing much has changed now .... I still find self-help books a drag ( but find MAFMWAFV a useful exception ); even after being married for 7 y...

My 4 year old son's school re-opened today after a month long vacation. To my utter embarrassment I was as teary eyed as him, ( though I tried to cover it up with a smile so wide it hurt my jaw! ) as he waved me bye from the yellow bus plying him to school in the morning. Once I could no longer see the bus even after straining my eyes and neck to the fullest, I turned back. I could not get myself to go home, so I walked around aimlessly for sometime before slowly trudging up the steps to my 4th floor apartment. I turned the key in the lock and with a sigh acknowledged the emptiness and the silence. My mind was still not at ease and I could not forget the sad expression on his face asking me not to leave him, to stay with him pleading that he did not want to go. I sent a text to the bus driver and only when I received his reassuring reply my frayed nerves settled a bit. Of course, I reasoned with myself - this was hardly unexpected. Most young kids are not eager to go back to schoo...

What do people do when they are trying to find a new meaning to the mundane routine called life? What do they do when they seek inner balance within? What proffers an orgasmic high to some; is the spiritual connect of celebs and is purported to be the panacea for all ills these days? The answer is not really so difficult if you think of how many times you have read or heard of the words MEDITATE and MEDITATION every day from celebrity interviews to health and fitness magazines to spiritual talk. Everyone talks about meditation and the miracles it bestows on us vain people. I too have been enamored by the promise of tranquility and mental happiness that meditation for a while. So after toying with the idea for some time and reasoning with myself on why I should pursue this path towards self-actualization, I decided to take the plunge. A back injury that left me grounded for six months definitely helped the cause. The obvious questions arose; how to meditate, how much to meditate, w...

As the month of April draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the causes and commemorations which made headlines through the month like Earth Day and World Health Day. It is also a time to reflect on some other causes which sadly did not grab the spotlight but are nonetheless equally significant. One such cause is Cesarean Awareness . April marks the Cesarean Awareness month called upon by the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) every year. With one in every three births around the world taking place by Cesarean Delivery, the subject touches the lives of millions of women worldwide. It is thus not wise to engage in moral tirades about C-sections anymore, it is also not prudent to shy away from the subject. The awareness month is a time for women to acknowledge the inevitability of the Cesarean birthing process in certain cases and to question its probability in some others. It is a time for mothers to separate the myths from the facts and make informed choices about th...

My son, all of 3 years and 10 months has suddenly developed a soft corner for tiny tots and gushes over the thumb –sucking sweeties in the playground, in shopping complexes and even in the MRT! Everybody who has noticed his behavior of late has been warning me not to ignore these tell-tale signs of a child yearning for a sibling and that “I should go for it.” My husband and I have conceded as much. My son does seem lonely at times, even sad as he asks innocently whom he can share his toys and his room with and who he can take care of like we take care of him”. Once he candidly demanded,” when is the baby is coming out of Mama's tummy?" which caused my husband and me both to panic at the urgency of the situation! To be honest, with my biological clock going tick tock tick, we had been thinking of another baby ourselves. But we were still debating the pros and cons, actually mostly cons, now for a year and a half. There were definitely some major issues to contend with. W...