Growing up or out? ~ A personality check

There was a time in our lives when even the pettiest of issues in the recent times would have appeared mammothian and would have unlocked a dam of tears from a well spring so deep inside us that we knew not the fact, that we were young then, vulnerable to hurts, susceptible to believing hearsay and probably too innocent to comprehend that life is nothing but a cornucopia of pleasant and unpleasant instances. Yet, with each phase as we grew we grew shedding the image of the year gone by only to adapt to the new phase in life. But then, somehow there always is one category of people who fail to adapt to the changes that life has to offer and continue to live in a self created time loop, unwilling to come out of it knowing for a fact that there is nothing in the world that could beat that one enemy of theirs, the age and more so, the experience that tags along.

What is making me write about this all of a sudden? A couple of days back, one of my college friends and I were casually chatting when she inadvertently blurted out that she and one of our common close friend were not in talking terms any more. On more probing, I happened to know that the cause of such trifle was merely a very small thing after all. And that she had failed to attend the latter’s marriage for some genuine reason. Well, I was more amused than being surprised as I have had such experiences a tad too many. But what I did not get about all of this, is what was the mere point in breaking ties with a person you have been so close with for over a decade over such a trivial matter? And that is where I would say, maturity does not come with age but it rather comes with experience. For all, it made me think, ‘Why do people have to behave in an insolent manner in the most fragile moments?’ (considering every human is an insolent monkey at some time or the other in life), ‘Why do we get hurt by some dear one leaving aside the fact whether the hurt caused was intentional or not?’, ‘Why do we often succumb to that inescapable impulse to answer back when we know that the person does not have the intellect to understand anything that we may have to say?’ and such questions keep prodding in more and more! And here, I remember having read a statement in my school days,’Work expands to occupy time’. If I could draw an analogy to this statement, it would be something like, ‘Unquestioned sensitivity expands to occupy sanity’. And then sanity is lost at some time. Just like my friend was quite upset knowing not whatever happened that the other friend just snapped ties with her, and all for something so trivial.

I myself have experienced many instances as these. Rude and insensitive questions have always popped up at the most inconvenient times, such as,’You don’t seem to socialise much post marriage’, ‘You don’t return my calls at all!’, ‘You seem to have forgotten friends for good’ and so on and so forth. Of course, not that every clown in the town deserves an answer, but just that I had never sworn some oath to explain to every other person to answer questions that are uncalled for. Some questions have been pretty hurtful too which have eventually led to broken friendships. And such moments often help you understand that some things are just not meant to be.

But there is one thing more that one learns eventually with experience. When you get hurt by someone, it is not because that person wanted to hurt you, leaving the intention part alone, but because you just allowed yourself to get hurt. The space, the attention and the most precious of all, the time you give a person determines how susceptible you will be to getting hurt by his/her shortcomings, despite the fact that your own shortcomings may get overshadowed by your overbearing eyes that refuse to look inside of you. A fact of life that each one of us has to live with is knowing that somewhere down the line, our opinions will change, our priorities will change and our personalities too will undergo a lot of transformation. The goodness and the well being of body and soul lies in the realization, that no matter what changes, the positive attitude towards life, the acceptance of life with its bittersweet moments and to accept one’s own shortcomings with all humbleness should remain the same.

Shop, Shop until you drop at the Dorabjees ~ Retail therapy

'Happiness is a state of mind.'

A very clichéd advice/mantra to understanding happiness. However we all have the freedom to interpret it the way we want. And don’t know why I relate to this statement in the best way when I am indulging in retail therapy, not forgetting to mention here, much to the chagrin of my husband and my father. Something that men will never understand or something that we women may never comprehend the pain of their wallet getting pinched, which for a fact, may not be even felt by them! Yet, blame it on the store shopaholism which I am so badly addicted to. And I wouldn't say I was one of those who enjoy window shopping because I purely, absolutely and utterly enjoy only shopping (sans the window part)! And then after a major break in the year 2011 wherein I was in a self chosen hibernation where I was also as a matter of fact rehabilitating from the shopping addiction apart from giving health the top priority and loving the life that was blooming inside of me then (yes, I am a mother now to an adorable 10 month old!) and having changed considerably from that healthy yet not fat looking woman to a healthy fat looking woman, the self imposed self control, the self imposed pledge, the self imposed resolution to not fall to shopping addiction, all of it disappeared into thin air, the moment the mammothian self sufficient beautiful, charming, resplendent amazing top class departmental store, my all time favorite departmental store – Dorabjee caught my eye.

Dorabjee is located right across the SGS mall in the Moledina road of Camp in Pune. Ever since I stepped in Pune, I have fought hard, pretty hard from succumbing to that magnetic pull from that particular store, which used to be one of my most favorite hang outs in the past 4 years. Like my husband calls the entire strip of this Moledina road of Camp starting right from Dorabjee and ending with the 500+ shoppees of Clover center as the Devil’s Inn. It is a battle to restrain myself from hearing that ‘Come to me, Come to me, I am waiting!’ from this area. But then, in the end it always feels good losing out on the battle between the mind and the heart just like yesterday when heart won and my mom and I shopped to our heart’s content at Dorabjees! And the impact it had on hubby and his FIL was definitely not a tasteful one. Leaving aside the sad, unhappy, resentful reactions and arguments that followed, coming to the happy part, I finally got bitten deep and hard by the shopping bug for good, and some good meaningful shopping in a long while never hurts that much, or will it? So here is a review on the store, just check out!

Review on Dorabjee :

For people who are new to Pune or have little knowledge about departmental stores must visit Dorabjee for sure! And you may ask why, to which I answer, 'Visit and you shall be answered!' As you enter the store, the wafting aromas of freshly baked pastries, veg/chicken burgers, pizzas and hot simmering noodles surely puts you in a dilemma as to whether to shop and eat or to eat and shop! Yes, at the entrance of the store there is a cool hangout to time up for a little snack before indulging in your shopping delights. And the entry to the store is from the right.

Ground floor:
The store is a two storied with the ground floor comprising purely of groceries, spices, malted drinks, soft drinks, chocolates (most of which are high quality imported ones), exotic varieties of fruit jams, bread spreads, biscuits, wafers, coffees, teas (not excluding green tea importantly), vegetables (freshly cut and packed) and fruits. Moving further to the right from inside, there is a separate section that sells fresh meat (minced or sliced or whole as required), eggs and freshly baked loafs. And then moving to the left, there are a lot of stacks containing imported olive oil (the varieties are so many that you would care to take some guidance of some experienced gourmet guru to take your pick!) And there are those pasta varieties…..Spaghetti, Capellini, Vermicelli, Bucatini, Lasagna, Canelloni, Fuscilli, Manicotti, Penne, Penne Rigate and Rigatoni, which are available in some of the best imported brands.

First floor:
And even before you can finish gazing at those wonderfully organized rows of fresh mint lozenges, the floor above seems to pull you towards it with all force and I am sure, you won’t have the strength or the mind to beat it! Now the first floor is solely dedicated to fish, poultry, dairy and frozen food products. Besides, all fitness freaks can scour through the myriad energy drinks and weight balancing foods to go for the best one! Also people interested in buying good sturdy containers, fridge bottles and lovely tea sets and coffee mugs with amazing floral prints can check out here. Considering I have had many and have broken many (blame it on my small hands though hubby calls them careless!), that I am not buying any more as I just have too many for the present! Also, there are ample varieties of frozen foods and dairy products which keep you riveted to this section for a longer while. Name the type of cheese you want to have…..Cheddar, Parmesan, Feta, Ricotta…..they just have it all! And here, there is one exclusive section in the left most corner for fish and sea food. A very clean section and very well attended too!

Second floor:
And before I proceed to the third storey, all animal lovers, especially dog lovers would love to spend a longer time here as there are amazing varieties of animal food and I am sure, you would take your own sweet time to scour through. So now coming to the third floor, it is every husband’s nightmare room as this is one section that is going to keep the wives glued to shopping! Cosmetics, toiletries, kitchen ware, crockery sets and all varieties of glassware are available here. And not forgetting to mention, some electronic items such as ovens, egg beaters, hair dryers and coffee makers are also available. And for women who are obsessed with therapeutic massage oils, this is the place to shop for!

Snack a little!
So after spending a great deal of time in some useful shopping, an appetizing snack is definitely on cards and there, the restaurant beckons you from the right! Aah! Finally you can look away from your shopping bags and indulge in some sinfully delicious choco pastries and momos (of course, there are many other inviting options on the menu). As one sits on a table by the window side to sip on from a hot frothy cappuccino or even a soothing freshly made lemonade, the outside view appears too crowded and cacophonic and it just feels good and right to be on the other side of the glass even if it is for just some while.

The Happy ending or should I say, must be!
And now, I would leave the rest of the story to my readers because the billing section is where you find those happy wives looking fondly at their shopping bags and equally unhappy men who are staring at the billing screen and now, there is always a deterrent to any happy ending, isn't it? This is what can dent the so far, so good mood to an extent but you see, it is not the store that is costly but because the number of items you would end up buying from here is always more than the number of items in your list and just that, it is never that bad to shop more than expected in a long while. Why not, after all retail therapy works!

So, Happy Shopping my girls!

Cheers & God bless…!!

P.S: Dorabjee wines is right next to the store. So you may want to check that out too!

A Healthy Lifestyle - an ignored boon!

A Healthy Lifestyle - An Ignored Boon!: My article on www.saching.com :)

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Cheers & God bless...!!