For the first time...

As 2010 slowly grinds to a halt and the last minute of the last hour prepare to bid farewell to the year gone by.
Was mulling over the year gone by...

Realized there were quite a few things i landed up doing for the first time or realizing for the first time.Here are the ones i can remember.

1. Good friends and great conversation cant compare to any of the riches of the world.
2. Truly appreciated the power of words.
3. Took to the brush after a good10 years!!loving it!
4. Have had one too many midnight conversations in the last year than i've had in my 26yrs!!Loved every minute of it!!Tx to all my nocturnal friends!!
5. Didn't let the numbers do the talking.
6. Binged on junk food for 5 days straight,only to learn too much of a good thing loses its flavor after a while.
7. Got 2 tattoos on the same day!!Yaaayy
8. Health is wealth,no fun when your at the doc every other day
9. Connected with beautiful strangers,unabashed,unafraid and enlightened!
10. Laughed so hard felt my gut pop out...
11. Lived,learnt and loved
12. Found a deeper connect in the places you'd least expect
13. Solitude is a gift we don't gift ourselves often enough.
14. Loved the feeling of freezing in cold on a terrace top with the cold wind and a warm thought for company.
15. Family gives you the time and space when you need it the most.
16. Set up a tent on an unfamiliar beach!
17. Fought the hardest than i've ever fought for what i believe!
18. Am living part of the dream already...till dreams evolve.
19. Tried my foot at a fish spa,if you haven't had a million fish exfoliating your feet you haven't really been tickled.
20. Trusted my thoughts without a second thought
21. Have learnt the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
22. Cheques don't always make you happy.
23. Took the longest bath i've ever taken a good 2 hours!!
24. Life is a whole bunch of wild,fun projects...a self proclaimed Project Addict!!
25. Mad conversation must be entertained!!
26. Celebrated Astra's birthday with an ice-cream cake!!Finally a cake she likes more than me!
27. Used more post-its and scribble pads in this year than i've done before
28. Reconnected with so many old friends and laughed about the years gone by and dreamed silly dreams of the years to come!!
29. Realized its OK to say NO when you don't believe
30. Hung upside down!
31. Bought an expensive watch i will probably never wear
32. Have indulged the unknown,with arms wide open and butterflies in my belly
33. Found a friend in the words of Allanis!
34. Ate biryani and nachos for breakfast!
35. Painted my room purple!!
36. Got left behind in a train :-( not as scary when your 26,but nevertheless my first!
37. Ate rassam pani puri!!hahahaa wasn't as bad as it sounds!
38. Gave away something that shouldn't have been given away in the first place,only to find something i wouldn't have found without giving that away.
39. Perspective is what makes you the person you are.
40. Learing to experience life...

The Sifter syndrome

Have we finally become sifters in our own lives?Skimming the surface,floating through,letting the ripples take us to wherever they choose to?

Stop for a sec and think about it,its become an integral part of everyones DNA today

• From the insane number of emails we get,we'd probably glance through the subjects and choose to read the few that catch eye

• The calls we choose to take,despite technology supposedly bringing us closer together i really doubt whether it has in the sense of 'meaningful, heartfelt conversations'.More often than not we land up talking more on the phone but the kind of conversations we have are more superficial,"What did you eat for lunch?Whens your doctors appointment?How long will it take for you to get home?"Stop and think when was the last time you spoke at lenght about something that really mattered to someone over the phone and think about how probably5-7 years ago you probably had more heartfelt conversations face to face.

• We sift through out entertainment options as well,from the kind of movies we choose to see,earlier i remember waiting for the Saturday night movie,I'd know which movie was aired on which channel,who were the cast and would have see the promos a zillion times.There was a heightened sense of anticipation for that movie!Today I'd probably surf the TV cable offering,stumble upon something that interests me and watch it for a while.

• The same applies for book reading[for the book worms]today we have so many more options but because of lack of time,lower attention spans,more interruptions etc we land up sifting to more books but not really getting involved in them as we read[think about the last time u laughed out loud at something funny in a book,or smiled even]

• Cooking is no different,i remember when i was young and we'd bake cakes at my grandmums place it was a truly bonding and ritualistic ordeal with three generations coming together to create a wonderful experience.Everyone had their duties and roles to play[from buying the ingredients,measuring them,whipping the batter,butter the bake dish,supervising the oven]Today I'm married and have live separately, i bake in a fashion that lacks the ritual and fan fare,mind you its not the quantity that makes the difference it the role that cake plays in our lives today and the bonding that it lacks.

In this age of information overload,the Attention Deficit Consumer,time shifting that we all are victim to no wonder we sift through the very elements thats make our lives worthwhile.I think that in some way may explain the looming sense of dissatisfaction that has latched on at a subconscious level in our lives.