To-Do List 2017 - An Introspection

I never believe in new year resolutions and can not keep them anyways. But I try to maintain a to-do list in a notepad, a list of things on the personal and professional fronts that I want to achieve. I call it my own bucket list or wish list to make it sound fancy. Please do not confuse it with the wish list I send to Santa on Christmas or the bucket list of activities to do before I die. This wish list is closer to reality. For example, I remember this particular bucket list from the year 2014 when I wanted to stay on my own in a rented apartment (I was staying at a hostel before I moved into the apartment), get a driver's license and buy a two-wheeler, invite my parents for an extended stay at my place, join swimming classes, search for a job I like, and look after my finances responsibly. These wishes might sound mundane but they played an important role to boost up my confidence- the confidence to live alone, drive across the city, meet new people, and confront my inner demons.

This makes me realize that I have not made my bucket list for quite sometime. To my utter surprise, I have spent almost a year and a half to learn to stay with a guy and to settle in a new country. No, I do not regret the time I took. But now is the time to make a new bucket list. The bucket list 2017 looks nowhere similar to the one made in 2014. A 27-year-old's wish list was poles apart from that of a nearing 30-year-old's. Sigh!!!

Getting organized and managing my time well: I have never been able to stick to timelines and I hate deadlines. Obviously, it is a Herculean task for me to manage my time efficiently amid cooking, grocery, and laundry (the top three least favorite chores). So, I am aiming to steal away some quality time everyday to read, blog, paint, and talk to my parents and friends. And yes, I want to minimize the last-minute chaos in my life.

Following a healthy routine: A brisk morning jog or swimming have always been a part of my day. So have been the late night movies, skipped breakfasts and weekend celebrations with beer. I am working on waking up early after a good eight hours sleep, followed by a heavy breakfast. And the morning jogs have now transformed into long evening walks. While I can't assure myself of "beerless" weekends, I am planning to cut down my alcohol intake significantly.

Learning something new and completing some unfinished tasks: "Do one thing everyday that scares you." I need to learn driving a four-wheeler and get a driver's license. I am planning to work as a volunteer for the local library. On the professional front, I wish to learn coding and get enrolled in a course (this is particularly scary for me given my non-technical background). Also, I plan to work diligently on my website.

This bucket list demands some major lifestyle changes from me. Let's see how far I succeed. Wish me luck :)

The Transformation of a Foodie

Being a Bengali, I was taught to appreciate the taste of prawn, crab, Hilsa, Rohu, chicken, and lamb from a very tender age. Though vegetables are termed as "Ghaas Phoos" (that literally means grass) in a typical Bengali household, I was fed with quite a generous amount of spinach, okra, bitter gourd, beetroot, bottle gourd, and eggplant as well. I could not evolve as a fussy eater, thanks to my mother's stern looks at the lunch or dinner table. However, I also could not realize my love for food until I started staying in a hostel. Poha, Upma, Chole Bhature, Daal Baati, Gatte ki Sabzi, Malaiyo, Raw Mango curry, Thalipeeth, Appam, Pooran Poli, Pithala Bhakri- I was introduced to new flavors from various parts of India. At the same time, I started missing "Ghar ka Khana", the much sought-after homemade food.
"Those who love to eat do not necessarily love to cook." -Writer of this blog post

It is said that people who love to eat can also cook good food. …

Books and Coffee

As ridiculous as it might sound, at the end of a long tiring day, a perfect date for me means a large cup of coffee and an interesting novel to read. Yes, you have the liberty to label me as an anti-social and a nerdy introvert! I find it pretty amusing when someone tells me that reading novels is a wastage of time. Or that someone likes to go through work-related books and not elaborate literary pieces.
An introvert raised as a single child, I have always found solace in my books. My love for storybooks started with Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Little Mermaid. My father introduced me early to the monthly kids magazines- Tinkle, Champak, Nandan and Chandamama. I do not know if these magazines still exist. Billu, Pinki and Chacha Chowdhary followed soon. The Famous Five and The Little Women too entered into my life. Being a true Bong, Anandamela was an absolute necessity during Durga Pujo. The lazy afternoons of summer vacations were sometimes spent on Tagore and Sarat Chan…

When I Met Harry

Harry came to my life when I was in the eighth standard. A bespectacled young boy with ruffled jet black hair, green eyes, and a scar on his forehead; a boy to fall in love with. Don't blame me as I was a teenager who wanted a spell of magic in her life and to run away to the Hogwarts. I hated being a muggle and aspired to become another Hermione Granger. I imagined myself boarding the Hogwarts Express and reaching Hogsmeade, going to that magical school, and learning to wave my wand. I had once written a secret letter to Harry on Valentine's day and later decided to keep it safe in my diary. When I watched 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' for the first time, I lost my mind (and heart!) over that young and extremely cute Daniel Radcliffe. I remember keeping newspaper cuttings of anything and everything related to him. I still have them, safely secured in my old trunk. Well, that infatuation lasted for a couple of years till I graduated from college. And…

Being a "Housewife" and Baking Shit

Even though my mother and mother-in law are both successful homemakers and I have immense respect for homemakers who are unsung superwomen, I still find the tag of a 'housewife' as my identity pretty insulting. Blame it to the spirit of feminism that arises from time to time to attack my poor husband or the fact that I had worked for five years at a stretch before marriage and had led a very independent life, I never thought that I could be labelled as a housewife. Alas! God had some different plans.
Early this year, moving to the U.S. on a dependent spouse visa made me the quintessential housewife. I bawled, shouted, and argued with my dear husband whom I held responsible for my plight. As if my feminist rants were not enough to torture him, I decided to exhibit my limited culinary skills to feed him, making good use of all the free time I had.
The Birthday Cake
August came and I started planning for my husband's birthday. When we were in a long distance relationship, I…

The Peace Amidst Chaos

In my mind, there is always a cobweb of thoughts running in a loop: worries about my parents' health, anxiety over the work deadlines, fear about my future; the thoughts go on and on. So, when I decided to take my parents on a short trip to Banaras, I was anxious over charting out the travel plan and executing it to perfection. My parents, on the other hand, were initially reluctant and later very excited to go to the holy city for the umpteenth time. But the bone of contention between us was the travel plan itself. While I was stressing on early reservation and booking for the trains and hotel, they were thrilled over traveling by a bus overnight and staying at a place with bare minimum facilities. No prizes for guessing that they are more adventurous than me. Needless to say, I could manage to book the train tickets only.
Banaras has a charm that never fades away. Though I have visited the city a couple of times, I still look forward to roam across those narrow by-lanes and rev…

Finding Happiness

There are a thousand things in my everyday life that I do not like. Peeling garlic, commuting through traffic, folding clothes and cleaning my closet, getting my hairy legs and hands waxed, looking at a pile of utensils in the kitchen sink, indulging in small talks with people or getting dragged into a discussion about makeup products (I know, this one makes me weirder)- the list of my dislikes is pretty long.
Keeping my dislikes aside, I wonder about the little things in my day-to-day life that give me pure joy. Enjoying a big steaming hot cup of tea accompanied with my favorite biscuits is a bliss for me every morning. Feeling the warmth inside while gulping the hot tea makes me happy. Strange enough, I usually fail to appreciate such simple pleasant activities while rushing through my monotonous schedule.

After a bit of introspection, I have listed down a couple of things that take me to the 'happy zone'. Whether it is a long shower after a tiring day, a bowl of hot soup,…

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