Preeti Shenoy's blog.

                                              Thank you for the food we eat,                     Thank you for the world so sweet,                     Thank you for the birds that sing,                     Thank you God for everything.  Amen.

There are some things that exist online that give one a  jolt of pleasure, spiking like a surcharge of electric current, giving you an instant lift, much like the Adnan Sami song. I list them here in no particular order. 1. Inbox (n) :  Where n is a value > 0. Never mind even if its dictionary.com which has mailed me the word of the day (yes, I subscribe to it), I still feel happy to a see something new in my Inbox! If it is a book-praise mail, pleasure doubles instantly. If it is from good friends, pleasure increases in geometric progression depending on degree of friendship and the varying coefficient of  degree of  intensity of the warmth being felt towards person in question, being experienced :-) Apologies for being mathematical (Somehow I love Math--I must be a closet geek  as I admitted to not only liking a much hated subject but also subscribing to dictionary.com  that too in same paragraph! Eeks! What is happening to me? I must have drunk more Chardonnay  than usual!

Everyone knows that we're attracted to people who smile. There are numerous health benefits   too of smiling. As children, we smiled and laughed so easily. Have you seen babies and really young children?  Have you noticed  how infectious their happy attitudes are? We find ourselves smiling very broadly indeed when a baby smiles at you or when a child does. (I go absolutely ga-ga over babies who smile at me!) Most experts tell you that even if you force yourself to smile and act happy when things are going wrong, you actually begin feeling better. I can vouch it is true. I have a friend who makes me laugh so much. She and I giggle like sillies over small stupidities and trivial things and within minutes we're feeling great. I so miss her!(We used to be neighbours  when I lived in Bangalore) When I was very young, about 5 or maybe 6, I took part in a 'smiling contest' because my teacher at school entered my name for it. I had no idea what it meant and I have no clue wh

Firstly, a big thank you to those people who left a comment on the previous post which was special for me, as it was my 400th.( Ironically that post seems to have got the least number of comments compared to my previous ones ) Here is the part 2 of  the very special post . I had asked the same questions to a few more people and had also told you I'd give you my responses at the end. :-)  So here it is as promised! Suma Suma blog s here   and used to develop content for an educational website. She now freelances (writes travel articles) and does all the things she did not have time to do earlier. When I first stumbled upon her blog, I was so delighted as she is my kindred soul! Our thinking, values and even taste in books and attitude towards raising children matched to a T! :-) She is smart, articulate, beautiful and a  mother to two lovely boys  (Yes, she does not look it at all. Apologies to all men who drooled looking at her picture :P  :)) 1. Would you rather

This post is very special. So it is lengthy.Therefore I will spilt it into two parts. But I know you don't mind that! As a special treat, you can play some lovely music too.(just click on current mood video on your right for a superb piece of music). So get that cup of coffee or that drink, settle back into your chair and enjoy the read. :) I did! Because I didn't write this post at all. But hey--that is not why it is special.  It is special because it is my 400th post!!  (yes FOUR HUNDRED!) I wanted to do something different from my usual posts. When I think back, I have gained so much from blogging. Most importantly I have made some amazing friends (most of whom I met in real life too later on) only because of my blog.So as a tribute to blogging, I thought I'd ask a set of very interesting questions to a set of interesting people and put up their answers/interviews.If you are a regular reader of my blog, you would probably remember me mentioning these people from

My mother lives in a tiny little village in Kerala, far away from the tourist bounds. It is Kerala at its best--unspoilt, serene, tranquil. Green fields compete with forests of tall rubber trees and shady groves that boast of trees like jackfruit and mango. My mother has no computer (She sold it after my dad died.Dad used to be very net savvy and I used to get at least  2 mails from him every single day. My mother could not bear the thought of using it) and so I have no Internet access when I go to live there. It is end of modern life as we know it and I welcome the break. My mother has a beautiful cottage. She also has a lovely  Champa tree in her garden that she has tended to, all by herself with a lot of love and care.She has a myriad flowers, her favoutire being Hibiscus (she has more than 40 varieties of it) and Petunia. There are goats and hens to keep one company. There are wells for my children to draw water from. The sun shines like a diamond through the forest of r

Everyone who is a parent has an opinion on parenting. There are scores and scores of books written on the subject. Even  people who have no children (yet) will have some opinion on how they would like their children to be raised. What is amazing about it, is everybody is right in their own way! There is simply no 'right' and no 'wrong' way. Each of us does what we think is best for our children. It all depends on what your priorities are and what you choose for your children. What saddens me however is when parents compare their children with other people's children (MY Child scored this much in this exam, how much did yours score?My child plays tennis and violin.Does yours do anything? My child went for state championship in Chess. My child is preparing for IIT entrance.What are your child's plans?) Richard Bach had said " Children are not our property and they are not ours to control anymore than we were our parents property or theirs to control".

I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better.  They fight for honor at the first challenge, make love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to know about death.  Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their worrying.  ~George Bird Evans, Troubles with Bird Dogs If you can look at a dog and not feel vicarious excitement and affection, you must be a cat.  ~Author Unknown     The top two pictures are of the same dog that I clicked in Kerala . I don't know whom he belonged to. He was always roaming around on the road, in my mom's village. I don't know why, but Children and Dogs always come to me and they absolutely adore me :) I too love dogs and most children. On the left is a picture clicked on my Birthday, when we came out after a nice meal in a restaurant in Bangalore. It was a stray on the side of the