Zindagi Rockz

Today is my mother's death anniversary.. It's been four years since she left us.. And contrary to the popular saying that "life goes on", I don't think it really does.. If you've lost a parent, a sibling, or someone who was a huge part of your life, you'll probably understand what I mean.. You don't "move on".. You simply learn how to carry the loss.. Over time, you get better at functioning, smiling, working, laughing.. while quietly grieving in places where no one else can see.. Anyway, this isn't a sympathy post.. In fact, I was telling a friend today that I'm done playing the victim and dwelling on the fact that life hasn't always been fair to me.. We all have our share of battles.. Today isn't about seeking sympathy.. It's about remembering my mom.. It's about being grateful that I got to have her in my life for 37 wonderful years.. Birthdays and death anniversaries of my mom and my brother have always been diffic...

Tomorrow is my mother’s 65 th   birthday.. I lost her on July 1 st   2022.. Nothing and I mean NOTHING can prepare you to face the loss of your mother.. It’s a void no one can fill and that’s an understatement..   Anyway, some dates don’t understand absence.. They just arrive silently, demanding to be acknowledged.. Her birthday is one of them..   December month is actually difficult for me.. While the whole world is celebrating the last month of the year and Christmas vibes are in full swing, I’m silently mourning the fact that my mother’s not here and it’s going to be one more Christmas and birthday without her..   But I’m not bitter.. Death in all its cruelty puts things in perspective and you learn that life is too short to hold on to bitterness and grudges..   So today I would like to celebrate the woman who was my first home, my fiercest protector and my quietest strength – all at once..   My mother is the most consistent person I know.. She woul...

Kochi people take their fitness seriously.. I can vouch for this fact since I have completed a year in Kochi and close to one year of membership at a gym here.. And I've seen the same set of people come to gym everyday consistently for the past year.. Walking into the gym at the same time every morning and going about their workouts with clock work precision.. Their consistency at the gym can put Olympic athletes to shame..  Me? I like to refer to myself as a semi serious athlete.. If you look at me, you can tell I work out.. but you can also tell I  really  like snacks.. And yes, I live by the mantra “fitness is a journey", mostly because I enjoy the scenic route that involves French fries and protein shakes.. I like to stay active most of the time.. although I like to come across as laid back and if you notice my style of walking you'd think I'm the laziest person around and I want people to think that.. that’s part of my strategy.. fool people into thinking I’ve sur...

So this year I had the opportunity to be a part of Onam celebrations in God's own country.. While I do have a lot of Mallu friends and I've celebrated Onam with them at Bangalore, I think it was missing the authentic flavor that the festival has.. Well, this year I got to experience Onam in it's true unadulterated form.. For the uninitiated, Onam is Kerala’s annual festival where everyone, and I mean   everyone  celebrates the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali.. It’s about prosperity, unity, gratitude, equality and also about flower carpets (pookalam), traditional dances, and eating like there’s no tomorrow (Sadya).  So the difference between celebrating festivals outside Kerala and in Kerala is that the native mallus believe in advance planning.. As so many Insta reels have depicted that it is the HR's role to conduct Rangoli competitions, organize Fun Hours etc in office, hence being the HR head it is also in my purview to ensure that Onam is celebrated with a...

So yesterday, I completed 17 years of professional life. Seems like a  lifetime  ago when I stepped into the training college of my institution for my induction. I can vividly recall my first day when I was so anxious about joining the  job . At that point in time, I never imagined that I would have continued in the same profession for so long. Seventeen years is definitely a long time. Cut to the generation of today — these people have an attention span of 17 minutes (yes, sarcasm!) and I can assure you they will never stay in the same organization for more than 17 months. During the course of my professional life, I’ve had the opportunity to be on several interview panels for recruitment, and all the résumés I looked at had a common factor: those applicants consistently jumped from one job to another. I noticed that, on average, people stick to a job for about 1.5 to 2 years. As I was thinking about what a long time it’s been in this organization, I also thought about w...

Remember those motivational posters from school that said  “Work hard in silence, let success make the noise” ? Yeah.. I hate to break it to you, but in 2025, if you're working hard in silence, the only thing you're going to get is more work.. And probably someone else taking credit for it — loudly, publicly, and with a LinkedIn post that includes 12 hashtags and a candid shot of them “humbly receiving the award..” Welcome to the age of  self-marketing  — where  how you present yourself  often screams louder than  what you actually do .. And if that sounds unfair.. it is.. But when has life  ever  been fair? The Curse of Being “Low-Key” There’s a whole breed of us who were raised to believe that being humble and letting your work speak for itself is the right thing to do.. The problem is,  your work doesn’t have a mic .. And you? You're backstage, quietly being excellent while the mediocre ones are out there doing TED Talks on “The Art of Mul...

S o here’s wishing all of you a very Happy Friendship Day! Actually, scratch that—every day is Friendship Day when you’ve got the right set of friends. You know the kind I’m talking about—the ones who make office life less of a daily endurance test and more of a sitcom with inside jokes, spontaneous chai breaks, and mutual eye-rolls during meetings that should’ve been emails. Then there are the friends outside work—ones you met through common connections, ex-colleagues who’ve moved on to better (or just different) jobs, or people who decided to chuck it all and start something of their own. Friends come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities. (Yes, I know that sounded borderline sleazy—but those who get my humor know exactly what I mean. Lol.) So for today’s post, I thought I’d do something fun—what if our friends were apps on our phones? Scroll through this list and see if you can recognize your own circle in any of these! 1. Instagram / Facebook The group gossip. This one always has...

A few years back my daughter asked my husband the meaning of the word "gay".. My husband explained to her that when a person likes another person from the same gender they are called "gay".. Her next question was "What if they like people from both the genders?".. I don't remember how this conversation concluded.. Usually each parent wants to be the "preferred" parent but for once I was relieved that I wasn't the parent these questions were directed at because I wouldn't have been able to handle them with the same ease my husband did.. Owing to the digital age, kids are a lot better informed than we were when we were their age..  But having access to so much information without actually being able to process/assimilate this information is causing a lot of problems in the generation of today.. I recently watched a show on Netflix titled "Adolescence".. The story shows how teenagers can be influenced by what they see online.. ...

Well. I always thought "inmate" was a term used to describe people who were imprisoned.. like those sentenced to jail time for offences they committed.. Of course, it was only after I joined the hostel here at Kochi and began to adhere to the hostel rules that I realised that the only difference between us and those people serving time in prison is that they have forcefully been imprisoned but we joined the hostel by choice.. so the hostel management is right in referring to us as "inmates"..  So a lot people wonder why I chose to stay in a hostel.. The conversation goes like this..  Them: So where are you staying? Me: So & So hostel.. Them: (5 second pause) But why Madam? you are eligible for leased accommodation.. you'll get good houses here on rent.. Me: (Groaning silently and wondering if it's silly to play a pre recorded voice note listing out 10 reasons why I chose to stay in the hostel) Instead I just smile and say it's very close to office.. ...

First of all, a very happy International Women's day to all the wonderful ladies out there.. Seeing the statuses of the women in my contact list I'm assuming the ladies had a good time celebrating "our" day and why not? We deserve a good time every once in a while so why not have a day to celebrate who we are - the fairer sex, the mentally stronger gender, besides being fun, enthusiastic, charming, ambitious go-getters.. Basically we can be anything we wish to be on any given day and we should take pride in that.. And Women's Day is an opportune moment to celebrate and revel in the pride of being a woman.. So what is it that a woman really wants.. I personally feel that women want different things from life depending on what phase of their life they're currently in.. As young girls we have a very idealistic expectation from life as we're looking at life from behind rose coloured glasses.. So a young girl dreams of getting married to a handsome Prince, have...

Today would've been Mummy's 64th birthday had she been here with us.. However like she said, it's always the best people that get called to heaven early on.. So she's celebrating her birthday in heaven along with my brother..  My Mummy was a wonderful woman who enjoyed the simple pleasures of life.. a homecooked meal, reading books, stitching, embroidery, knitting and she loved tea and had endless cups of tea in a day..  She was an excellent cook and enjoyed cooking for her family.. Even when she made normal stuff like maggi it tasted just out of this world..  So I inherited none of her homely' hobbies, but I inherited her love for books.. She was a well read woman and had an excellent memory.. And she was an excellent teacher and was well respected and loved by all her students.. She was strict with me and my brother.. More so with me.. She had high expectations of me and growing up I had very little margin for error.. I used to resent it that she was so strict and...

First of all, a very happy Friendship day to all of you.. I think you have read enough quotes and seen enough reels depicting the importance of friends/friendship in our lives so I won't give you any more 'gyan' on the subject.. But the occasion calls for a customary blog post so I decided to pen down a few thoughts.. I've come a long way from being that naive girl who believed that 'Friendship is forever'.. "Friends forever" is something I scoff at now.. that's probably the cynic in me speaking.. But I've also come to realise that people come into your life at the exact point in time when you need them.. These people turn into friends and then long after they're gone still stay in your life albeit just as memories, but not without leaving a lasting impression on you..   Today I take this opportunity to thank all these different types of friends (some of who are still in my life and some who are not) who decided to adopt me as their friend ...

So when I met M for the first time I never thought that we'd be friends.. You know because of the Senior/Junior thing that we otherwise term as the "Generation gap".. But when I met M for the first time, I also wasn't prepared for meeting the most calm person ever who was also the coolest, most fun person you could ever meet at the workplace.. So after exchanging pleasantries I asked if she had any work for me and after much thought she gave me some letters to prepare.. It became a daily routine.. I would go to M's desk, greet her with a reverential "Good morning, Ma'am" and ask her if she had any work to assign to me.. and she didn't have much work to give me but I had nowhere else to be so I would sit next to her and watch her as she would go through the day doing her work in a methodical manner.. Her day would begin with a call to her husband as soon as she reached office.. Her next call would be to a friend who is now my friend too.. (heh heh...

So, I'm not sure what a person who learns/practices Yoga a couple of times a week is called and so I'm taking the liberty of calling myself a novice "Yogi" (for want of a better term).. Please pardon my ignorance and let the records show that I don't intend to offend anyone with this post.. So now that the 'disclaimers' are done with, I should get to the point.. In the past couple of years I have tried to focus on my fitness.. So I've joined the gym and tried to be regular with my workouts.. It's been a challenge, but with a lot of support from my hubby and also my mom (when she was here) I have for most part been regular to the gym.. I'm enthusiastic about any physical activity be it working out at the gym or playing any sport like badminton/table tennis.. And when I was transferred back to Bangalore, I found Cult Fit.. Cult Fit has been like the "Find of the year 2023" for me.. For the unversed, Cult Fit is a chain of fitness centre...

So for those of you who don't know what 'Karma' is, let me explain it to you.. It is the sound of your daughter's voice when you walk in after work (relatively early) and she says... "Maa, I've never seen you at home at 7.00 PM".. Sarcasm, on point! Few of my friends would say, "After all, she's your daughter.. What did you expect?" I now realise how people around me must feel when I dish out sarcastic lines with a deadpan expression.. People around are always on the backfoot, always trying to figure out if I'm serious or joking.. I now have someone who's beating me at my own game.. and whipping my ass, I must add.. Today my not so little one is celebrating her 12th birthday.. It's been such a wonderful time seeing her grow up.. While being her mom has been one of my best roles, one which I have thoroughly enjoyed, its not always a smooth ride.. There have been heartwarming as well as hilarious moments during this 12 year journey....