THE MISSING BONE

PC: Stock Images The battle is intense and there is a massive clash of sheer decision-making. Do not be mistaken, this is a serious kind of clash between sense and sensibility. This is an ongoing daily war between your eyes and brain activity. To sleep or to not let sleep, insomnia in medical terms and sleep deprivation in common language. What is Insomnia: An everyday battle with falling asleep is insomnia. The ability to enjoy a sound sleep is hampered, affecting productivity and health. Major factors affecting sleep are spending time over screen and stress. A little local survey revealed that even though people experience stress on and off, it still affects them a lot. Screen time, especially browsing aimlessly on smart phones is a factor people do out of habit.  Why is Insomnia Debilitating: What makes lack of sleep harmful is that it makes us cranky and sluggish. It also makes us less attentive at work. This calls for caffeine intake more than it is required. Sleep-deprived bo...

Love is an emotion, no word, no emoticon and no one can define in its entirety. Since time immemorial, it has been at the pedestal of all feelings and people have described it in various ways. All kinds of discourse hold their grounds to be correct and apt. Love is depicted and imagined to exist in different forms and degrees like romantic love, love between parents and children, topped by the kindest and most purest of a mother's love, love for humanity as a whole, love between friends, love between siblings and so on. Ponder over: My question to you to ponder over is, does love really have a 'kind' or does love really need to be based on a particular type of relation?   Isn't love a mystery? Philosophers, thinkers and lay men have brainstormed and come up with a variety of description, yet it seems like we do not understand what love really is. Various Forms: While love has been defined as a very strong feeling of affection, encompassing everything positive, it has al...

There is a famous proverb which goes like 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade'. It has been rearranged in several ways like, 'When life gives you lemons, squirt it in people's eyes', 'When life gives you lemons, make orange juice and leave them wondering how you did it', 'When life gives you lemons, take out the salt and the shot-glasses and fill them up with tequila', etc.  I decided to make one of my own - 'When life gives you lemons, take the seeds out and plant a lemon tree'. How about that?  For sure, each one of us has one or the other problem we got to deal with, willingly or unwillingly. Often followed by uneasiness, anxiety, trouble relaxing, sadness, helplessness and what not. We feel stuck and imprisoned in shackles.  In one of my earlier posts, Ithaca was a topic of discussion. ( Revisit Motherhood For Ithaca ) .  Let us revisit the concept once again to rekindle the idea of relaxing when life really becomes a big glob of s...

Sharing with all of you, my not-so-chef-like recipe, a very simple and quick one for days when you are on a run and time does not seem to be too friendly.  Without further ado, let us get to the quick steps. (I have used Medjool dates, cashews, almonds, pecans and pistachios) What You Need: A few dates, the softer they are the better  the binding. (You will know ahead what is meant by binding). A handful of nuts (dry fruits) of your choice like almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, raisins, coconut flakes, dried plum, dried pineapple, dried mango etc. Honey - optional A grinder/mixer. Hand mortar pestle also works. Bread or Flat- Bread (Chappatti) What To Do: What you actually need to produce out of these already yummy ingredients is nothing but a moist mixture so that you can spread it on a base of your choice. (You can modify the combination and add more dates to make it moister)  Without using much of your already occupied brain, go ahead and make a close to a...

Tongue twisters are not only enjoyable, they also enhance eloquence and help with clarity of speech. It is a heartfelt activity that makes us roll on the floor laughing. Historically speaking, the first known tongue twister came along as a song sung by Billy Murray in 1908. You can enjoy the song, link included below. She Sells Sea Shells - Billy Murray As children, most of us must have even made our own twisters and challenged our friends. It is interesting to note that these exist in every culture and every language.  What Makes Tongue Twisters Fun: The idea that you have to produce the perfect speech with funny sentence formation without derailing the correct pronunciation is in itself a tough task. Like SHE SELLS SEA SHELLS, it gets tricky to maintain the correct placement of words in the sentence. We instead trip and it becomes SEA SHELLS SHE SELLS and there you go hurtling down with laughter. Why You Should Have Fun With Twisters: Well, it is no brainer! You enjoy it and you ...

Hop three squares and gallop, run diagonal, stomp ahead and march backwards, I don't think any other sport has these many features like Chess has.  What makes Chess unique is its ability to let you think about your moves while you have an aerial view to all of your own and your opponent's moves!  It is believed to have originated centuries ago and first named as Chaturanga , taking us to the land of diversity, India. It then spread to Persia, Russia and the rest of the world.  Below you will find Alex Gendler's link on historical reference to Chess:  A Brief History Of Chess - Alex Gendler What Happens In Chess: Chess is a sport of one step at a time, mostly depending on what your opponent decides to do. The motive is to save the King who is by far the weakest and unfortunately, can only move one square box at a time. The King's army consists of front liners - the Pawns followed by two sets of the Rook, The Knight and the Bishop in the second line, one se...

As wonderful a discovery as paper is, Origami also boasts of being a wonderful art straight out of paper. All it requires is a square sheet of paper and voila, a stunning art form is created.  All of us have definitely made airplanes and boats as children. Imagine the creativity it brings galore with other similar Origami designs like flowers, animals, birds and what not; the imagination is immense. Origami is great for decoration and is a great source of leisure activity for relaxation. Besides, it is  a great tool for for hand-eye coordination, making it an amazing activity for kids. I recently tried my amateur hands at playing with it and decided to share it with you. I believe you would love to know what to expect and if you are already a subject matter expert, the conversation will get even more interesting.                                    Mari Ono's Origami Book Here ...

This is going to be a special shout-out to women who have stepped into the realm of motherhood in the era of Covid, 2020. A few of my friends have also bravely welcomed the Stork home with their bundle of joy.                                                             PC: 5-year old budding artist Even though life must go on and Ithaca must wait before you have experienced the adventures of life and battled the demons, health should never take a back seat. Health must remain the focus, body being the temple.  Exercising and strength building are imperative to maintaining a sound mind and healthy heart.                                         PC: Joan Pagano's book - Strength Training for Women    ...

                                                            PC: Washingtonpost.com Why should we watch horror movies?  I have heard people say they wouldn't watch a horror movie at such and such time or when they are all by themselves. Although I know they are being chicken-hearted (including myself), I pretend to understand the logic. In reality, movies of the likes which make you feel lifeless and on tenterhooks, bring an extremely out of this world experience.  Like chilli flakes, paprika, harissa, pepper and hot sauce stir the taste buds, horror movies put adrenaline out in open right on the surface of our skin. For the sake of making more sense, enumerated are five personal techniques I have devised over the years to reap maximum content and benefits out of supernatural activities glaring at me. Good luck reading...

                                                                          PC: Self Without going into the details, dos, don'ts, whys and hows of practising gratitude-journaling, I would want to focus my ideas on exploring the living-in-the-moment feelings of penning down the details of gratutude-journaling which I have named on a whim this very moment to 'Gratituding'. Definitely, I can not call myself an expert on the topic and neither do I think I can provide an encyclopaedic reference to it.  Introduced to me by a friend, this habit of writing down positive and happy moments has started to speak to me at a level I am beginning to understand. So, basically let me borrow a few fleeting moments of your time to elaborate the aspects of positivity it ushers in. And, I am going to be referri...