Be Happy, Along with Me!

It was the festive season. Nilanka was busy cleaning up her house. She was dusting every nook and corner. She was already pressed for time as her brainchild start-up Oyila had just taken off a few months ago. She had some orders to be completed and delivered. But, she couldn't keep her mind off from the cleaning work as she loved order, symmetry and a neat ambience. Probably that is why she excelled in her business in a short period after the launch of 'Oyila'. She had numerous happy customers, mostly mommies who had ordered gorgeous frocks and gowns for their kids' birthdays and special occasions.  Although Nilanka was pursuing her passion, she had always wanted to do something different and 'out of the box'. She knew that she had tough competition in the space that her business was operating in. Making customized apparels had become the latest fad in the boutique business segment. She was just waiting for that spark to hit her, for her 'eureka' mome...

Couch to 5kms. This has truly been my story for the past 3 months. From someone who used to stealthily carry a notebook in the uniform pocket to read for class tests or just play the sport of ‘tennicoit’ (Assumed and seen as the easiest of all games) during the ‘physical education’ hours in school, I can actually run now. And I can see it changing the person that I have been. I started running 3 months ago. I recognised a personal milestone in my running today. It could be a miniscule one for proper marathon runners. But for me, it is huge. Till now, whenever I ran about 5 kms, I used to take a break with a brisk walk after every kilometre. But today, I managed to run my first 3 km without a break. I took a brief 30 second walk after that and continued to run the next 3 km without a break. I have covered only about 35 kms through the total number of runs I have done in these 3 months. Yet it is so amazing how much running can teach you in such a short period of time. For me...

Hello friends, I have self-nominated my  blog under 5 categories for the Indiblogger Awards 2017 #IBA2017. I know a lot of you follow my blog and show a lot of love in the form of comments and shares. Please continue to support by visiting this link and leaving your testimonial about my blog: https://www.indiblogger.in/iba/2017/entry/94659 Click on the link to know the categories and please leave your comments! Thank you so much! Haripriya

It was a calm and pleasant evening. The twilight hour was nearing and the skies were turning orange. There were a few flaky clouds scattered all across the sky. The sea breeze was slowly marqueeing its way around trees and plants.  Little boy Chubby and his mom were enjoying the sight of birds flying back home after a tired day. Chubby was a 3 year old boy, cute and cheerful, but not so mischievous. Both of them were in the open terrace, gazing into the sky as the moon was slightly beginning to show its face. Chubby was always excited to spend time with his mom in the terrace. That day was also not different. But for Chubby's mom, things were different on that day. She was disturbed by some thoughts in her head. She was tensed and perplexed.  The next day was going to be Chubby's first day to school. All these years, Chubby had always been by his mom's side and now he had grown up to go to school. On one hand, his mom was proud but on the other part of her head, a...

The prince of this story, was a unique gift to the land. He was matchless. He was born in a royal land. He lived in a magnificent  and really beautiful pink palace surrounded by gardens with so many colorful and lively varieties of flowers, shrubs and meadows. The palace stood tall amidst the garden. The prince shimmered in gold all the time. Yet he had no huge air about it. He was the sweetest of all those who lived around him. So sweet that he had numerous visitors everyday, every moment. He never had to go out of his place. So many beautiful, unique guests would come to see him. The prince was so enthusiastic by the attention that he got all through the day. He also had a best friend, a sunflower in the garden with whom he shared all his feelings. As time went by, he was too bored to sit wherever he was without looking at the outside world. He had never stepped out to see the real world. He asked his best friend, the sunflower, why he was becoming so unhappening and unlucky w...

A vast sea in front of my eyes. Thick and dark blue with strong tides and soulful waves. Waves were washing off my feet as I stood there at the shore not knowing whether I must go ahead with this journey. I didn't even have a motor powered boat, all I had was two oars and a rickety boat to find my way through this. After a lot of thought, my feet bid goodbye to the shore with confusion clouded inside my head. I set sail on my rickety boat. The sea was tranquil in the beginning, it was kind to me. Yet I sailed with a lot of questions in my head. Where will this journey take me? Will I find the right direction to move? If I lose my way, will I find someone on the way to help me? How long will it take me to reach where I want to? Where do I want to reach, what is my destination? I decided to silence these questions in my head and give this a try. As I sailed on the ups and downs of the rough sea, I started feeling lonely. Now and then, there would be few boats that ...

She loved adventures. She was always ready for new ones, the places where she had not been before. Monsoon had set in, she had just had a break up last month and she was feeling bored at home. So she packed her backpack and set out in search of a new place. She walked through dense, thickly populated streets. She was more of a city person and explored every nook and corner as a hobby. She crossed so many narrow streets and dark lit alleys..But she didn't feel like walking into any of them.. A few steps ahead, a place in brown caught her attention..An old man was sitting out, guarding the woody door. "Come in, you won't regret it!" he said in a base voice.  She opened the slightly creaky door to find a place lit in golden yellow. She carefully walked into the new place..  There were only a few people around who were busy with their own stuff.. A few were sitting and chatting with friends.. And then she saw him.. Across the room..Quite away from where ...

Tringgggg..The interval bell rang at school. It was 10.10 AM and Suraj reached out to his snack box in the lunch bag. Within a matter of seconds, all his friends thronged his desk and sat around him. Almost the entire section of 4th std A section was around Suraj's desk. He carefully opened the snack box and began distributing what he had brought for the day. Suraj's snacks were famous in his entire class and he was proud about it. Every evening he would return home to his grandmother to praise her and tell her how the snacks she makes were liked by everyone. Everyone were literally fighting to have a share during the interval time. Suraj's parents were working and hence did not have the time to prepare any home made snacks . But, Suraj's grandma Seethamma made delicious and fresh snacks everyday. She was in her late 70s. She knew the recipes for age old authentic healthy snack items such as red rice murukku, ulundhu urundai, kadala mittaai, etc. Till an year ear...

It was the first day at school. Children were walking in with mixed emotions. Vihaan also walked in with the same puzzled expression on his face like most kids. By the time he reached his classroom, he had realised that for the next few months, this place would be his 'hang out spot' during the day. He looked around to see if he could find some like minded friends with whom he could make his days ahead more interesting. But every other kid was busy with his or her own emotions on first day of school. The first few months at school, Vihaan was not very enthusiastic. He hadn't found a friend yet. Then came that day which he didn't imagine would be the most unforgettable day of his life. 'She' came in to school. She was too little, as much as him, infact much younger. But he admired her just at first sight. The person who brought her to school, found Vihaan to be a smart boy and hence told him that she would be his friend in school hereafter and he will have to ta...

Ting Ting Ting Ting!!!! If you hear those bells ringing close to midnight, you automatically recognise who it is. The kulfi vandi with a blue container covered with a red cloth on top. A young skinny fellow pedalling away on the street. He never calls out because the bell says it all. Kulfi has always been a night person. Like how we always have the curiosity and excitement to explore the city in the midnight, did you know that kulfi had its own desires too? A huge icecream factory owned by a business giant. Workers were toiling day and night to churn out the best ice creams. It was scorching summer and sales was also hot. Deep inside the factory, the ice creams had their own kingdom. Cup ice, cone ice, stick ice, candy ice, casatta, ball ice, everyone had their own leaders. There were gangs of friends too. One day, all the ice cream friends were sitting and chatting away to glory. Almost every type of ice had seen how the city buzzed with activity during the day. They had seen th...

Behind every successful man, there is a woman.. and behind every successful woman there is .... A list of thousand people to say 'thank you' to. We, women, start and end our lives with a vote of thanks all the time. So much so that we are thankful to someone for each moment we live. As a child who grows up, there are definitely a thousand people to be thankful to..But once we reach womanhood, we still carry that vote of thanks with us. I was able to get married to a good guy, thanks to my parents who found him. You don't say it was because you were smart on your own to choose a guy like him. You don't acknowledge your own efforts of finding out about the guy and his background or understanding him after lots of conversations. I am thankful to my husband who runs the family financially and that is why I am able to stay at home and take care of the kids. You don't recognize the passion you have for being a stay at home mother , the patience you have in engaging t...

Have you ever thought of how the different variants of the simple idly came about to existence? Well, I wanted to run my mind on a wild imagination trail and see if I could spin a story about how it happened. Here goes my attempt.. Once upon a time, in the village of Ulundhurpettai, lived Mrs. Khushboo Idli And Mr.Thalluvandi Idli. They were happily married and had two kids named vellai idli and kutti idli. Vellai idli,6 years old was very naughty. He always invited the wrath of his mom with his mischievous activities whereas kutti idli,2 years old was a silent fellow. One day, the idli family decided to take a walk alongside the banks of Sambar river. As usual the naughty vellai idli was too excited and as he saw a puddle of molagapodi on the way, he jumped straight into it and started playing. Appa idli and amma idli knew they won't be able to control vellai idli fellow so they let him be and settled for a short nap. Meanwhile kutty idli was exploring something close to the ri...

You don't have to go too far in life to learn that joy lies in small things. The power of a small seed to come out of its shell and grow into bright leaves overflowing with nutrition is nature's miracle indeed. I am happy that I could experience this miracle through the myHarvest gift box. The myHarvest gift box has been conceptualised by Archana Stalin whom I became friends with recently, thanks to social networking and like mindedness. This dedicated startup woman is pumped with bountiful energy. She is currently on a mission to spread the spirit of nurturing one's own home gardens in order to achieve a sustainable lifestyle. I recently bought a Paruppu Keerai(greens) myHarvest gift box from her. My daughter and I couldn't wait to open it and get started off. I want my child to nurture a green thumb as she grows up and what better way than doing it with greens that she can include in her diet as well. The myHarvest box contains a plastic pot,  well nourished soil, ...

The grass is always greener on the other side,they say. May be true, maybe not.. As a working mom, I have hundreds, no, actually thousands of thoughts running on my mind throughout the day. Most of them are about 'How I wish..How I wish.." . Well, maybe a stay at home mom is also thinking in similar lines from home.. so, what all are those wishes that spring up now and then in a working mom's mind? As she drives to office, she sees a young mom carrying her child on her hip an walking on the road..She thinks "How I wish I could do that walk with my little one everyday!" As she drives down a little further, she sees another mom holding her child's hand,and walking him to school with his school bag hanging from her shoulder. She thinks "perhaps, kutty chellam also would love to walk to school like that with me.." As she reaches office, as usual with a  ten to fifteen minutes delay, she thinks "I wonder if the breakfast I fed her today was eno...

A working mom is a lot of things. Just random thoughts on who she tries to be. What's on the plate of a working mother? To that mom who gulps down the leftovers of her child's breakfast on most days just to save the extra five minutes and drop her child early at school. To the mom who runs a recap of previous day's pending tasks at work while you drive through the traffic on the road. To the one who tries to multitask in the head during the morning travel , coming up with ideas that wait to get brainstormed that day. To the one who munches a bowl of junk many days because she didn't manage to pack lunch for herself. To the one who feels lucky enough to be able to work yet wishes all day that she could be there for her child for more hours of the day. To the one who has to take taunts at work for being 'punctual' in leaving the office at the end of the day just so that she could spend some more time with her child. To the one who is full of gratitude for ...