Preeti Shenoy's blog.

Hello dear dear person! Happy world book day! Today I went LIVE on Instagram, and you can see the SEVERAL books that I recommended which even adults can read! The entire live session is available on my profile till tomorrow around 12.00 noon, after which it will disappear. So if you want to have  some good children's book recommendations, please go and check it out on my Instagram. (please look up how to view instagram stories and live if you are new to Insta)' Also, today completes 30 days of my blogging for every single day. I started on 24th March, when the lockdown was announced. Today is the last post in this series. Now, I know many of you wait for my posts----but this wasn't easy for me at all. While I have immensely enjoyed it, it also leaves me drained because no matter what I had to come here and blog.  All of you who left me comments--your comments were what kept me going, as it felt like a conversation. So thank you! I will try to blog every n

At Edinburgh, Scotland. You can see the Edinburgh castle behind me Hi there, How are you today? I think my yesterday's pos t    sent everyone who was calling me M'am, in a tizzy. If you want to call me M'am, please do 😃. I realised after reading all the comments, how uncomfortable I made many  of you.  I think everyone is still stuck on 'age'. (If you have't read yesterday's post, I have linked it; Highlighted word is a link) Most people in India have been taught to respect age. So if someone is older, it feels very disrespectful to call them by their name. I get it. I had lived in India for over 30 years, post which I moved to UK. It was in UK, that I was immersed in a completely alien world.  I was so used to my  children's friends calling me aunty. I still like it when my children's friends call me aunty. In UK, they would address me by name. There were kids who were anywhere  between 5 and 18 ! It was amusing  to be addressed by na

Hi there! How are you doing? Hope your day was good and peaceful today. Sometime back I had read a brilliant article  P lease don't call me Aunty by Shobha  Tharoor Srinivasan which I share from time to time on my social media. Do read it. (highlighted is the link) I quote her opening lines W hen you meet an adult woman, who is perhaps your mother’s age, what do you call her? Mrs.? Ms.? If she is between 10 and 20 years older than you, do you address her by her first name or last name? Or, do you pause to ask how  she  would like to be addressed? If you’re an Indian American, you’ll probably just call her “aunty.” “Aunty” and “Uncle” have become easy fallbacks when addressing people including distant associates, neighbors, acquaintances, and even total strangers who are older than oneself. I’ve watched the attractive shopkeeper in our neighborhood Indian store cringe and straighten her kurti when a jean-clad matron has the gall to address her as “aunty.” And I

Hi there, How are you doing today? Today apart from being 20/4/20 , also happens to be Hitler's birthday. Holocaust is something that disturbs me a great deal, to the extent that if I think about it, I have physical symptoms like breathlessness and a churning in the gut. It affects me deeply.  I have no words for the most despicable, heinous and shameful incident history ever witnessed. The visit  in January by the suriviors to  Auschwitz-Birkenau moved me to tears. (coloured words are links..Please click  on it  if you wish to know more) Apart from Diary of Anne Frank (which most people know of) , here are four books I highly recommend that have Holocaust as their theme. I am not reviewing them nor am I elaborating about what they are about, as there are tonnes of reviews already of these books, and you can look them up with a simple google search. I am just giving you the names. 1. Man's search for meaning by Viktore Frankl: This is a life changing book which

Birthdays are special for some For others it is just another day If you like the  birthday person, Then it is an opportunity to say All the things you usually don’t For we have been conditioned so We don’t express our emotions always But on birthdays you can let that go Tell the person you are there for them Only if you mean it though! Send wishes that are genuine Don’t hold back, let the words flow For life is so unpredictable All your plans it could block So celebrate every occasion Create memories you can lock For memories are treasures And lest you forget To make each day count Using every chance you get. © 2020 Preeti Shenoy   kindly do not reproduce without permission. Happy Lockdown birthday Neel!   It sure is a unique memory. Edited to add:  This poem can be for anyone who has a birthday during this lockdown. It can also be for anyone who has a birthday. Period. *************************************

Hello again! As promised I am back. What day of lockdown is this? I have forgotten. Guessing it is day 25 of lockdown. I was looking back at all the posts I have written, and reading them. I was just thinking that while I write so much, I hardly get to  know YOU . I am of course familiar with all of you who leave me daily comments. However, I would love to see a picture of you! So if you have an Instagram account, do give me your handle in my comment box, and in case it's a public account, I will try and leave you a comment on one of your photos. Same for Facebook. If it's not a public account, it's fine. Do not fret about it! We will continue to e-meet here, on my blog :) Today, I want you guys to write for me. Like I mentioned, I would love to get to know you better.  I also want to gently nudge you, (and I include myself in  that nudge) to think about your day from the time you woke up till now, and tell me the three happiest moments in your day today. It ne

Hello  Lovely person! Since yesterday's post was a big hit (judging by the number of comments I got but perhaps that was because I said I am watching you with that crazy Goblin/elf pic!) I thought I would continue the series and share with you my five top podcasts . I listen to a lot of podcasts when I walk my dog. I find them engrossing, fun and  I don't feel the time pass. I love listening to podcasts. Here are five podcasts I love: 1. Modern Love : I love this one; All episodes are less than 20 minutes. They are deep, moving, thought provoking, heart warming and well written essays. 2. Invisibilia : Here's what it is about 3.  Kind World : All episodes are under 10 minutes. Love this one too. 4.  On being : Krista Tippet : These are long  ones, and need very deep thinking. 5. New Yorker Fiction: Deborah Treisman Apart from the above five which are my current favourites, in the past I have also listened to Serial.

Hello hello hello! How was your day today?  You know what I like when I come to my page to blog? Reading all your comments. I usually blog, around this time--at the end of the day, when all my chores are done and I am done for the day. It is a delight then to go through all your comments. And all of you reading and leaving without writing back to me--I am watching you :) I really like the interactions here, and I do reach each and every comment, and also reply. For today's post, I thought I would do my top 5 movies , and TV shows. My all time favourite movies 1. The Shawshank Redemption : It's been my favourite for many years, and it still remains there. 2. Life is Beautiful :An Italian film directed by Robert Benigni 3. Brokeback Mountain : The passion, the beautiful settings , the brilliant actors make this a must watch. 4.  Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: Beautiful movie! 5. Pursuit of Happyness: (spelled with a y) ,The Bucket List, Bridg

Hello wonderful person! If you have been reading my blog, you can be nothing but wonderful! How are you on Day 22 of Lockdown? Today, my fitness coach (and friend)  Neel,  messaged me. He keeps posting fitness challenges as well as daily workout (There's a lot of stuff  for beginners) too  on his page.  A couple of days back put a challenge on his page which was an original challenge by him. Someone completed the challenge and then posted it as their own, with no credit to  Neel. It has happened to me many times. My content has been stolen, quotes from my books are taken and people put it up as their own quotes. Same happens with photos I click. Sometimes pictures of me, are used without my permission. One time, someone stole a pic of my garden and used it in their ad! (Can you believe the cheek?)  Another time they stole a picture of my mother and me, and used it in an article. You bet I raised hell and got them to take it down! Using something without attribution to

Hello there! How was your day today? Today completes 21 days of lockdown. But now that it has been extended, I am extending the #21days of positivity too, as requested by many many of you. Thank you for the thundering 'ayes' to my question of whether I should continue. For today's post, I thought we would talk about the #Lockdown itself , and do a recap of  the impact it has had on all our lives. How have these 21 days been for you? For me, these 21 days have been rather pleasant and peaceful, although crazily busy. As regards the housework, Satish and I do it all ourselves. Our children are both studying outside India (yes, they are safe). Since it is just two of us, it is not hard to manage at all. He and I both cook, wash, clean, water the plants etc. I have my art to do (I make a portrait daily), I have my daily workout plus a lot of other tasks.I run on a tight schedule and before I realise it, yet another day has passed. I live in a very  small

Hi there bright soul! Thank you so much for all the beautiful, overwhelming and encouraging comments you left on my blogpost of yesterday, asking me to continue the #21daysof positivity. I had also asked on my Instagram whether I should continue  and a whopping 95% said yes. So alright--I will! (I am imagining your applause and taking a bow) I have a confession to make--on some days, I am so tired that I am dozing off while writing the posts. But then I wake myself up, because I know you would be waiting. If my writing can make a difference in even one person's life, I am not going to let you down. I am fiercely committed that way, once I give my word. I always keep it up, no matter how hard it is. Today something nice happened. Out of thousands of artists who are taking part in Sktchy's #30faces30days challenge, the portrait I made got picked to be displayed on the home page. That's a huge honour. Here's what I made today: Those amongst us who ar

Hello Gorgeous Person, I had a very intense workout today--HIIT. (High Intensity Intreval training) If you have never heard of a Burpee, I highly recommend you try it! I must have done about 30 Burpees today as a  small part of my training plan for today. If you want a good routine for fat loss, do follow this excellent  page   for home workout plans and challenges. When it comes to exercise, I wonder why some of us are motivated and some of us are not. In my case, I grew up with parents who were big on Fitness. My dad used to walk 7-10 kilometres daily. My mother still has her exercise routine. It was always healthy eating, and no one in our family was overweight. Both my parents managed to keep everything (BP, Sugar levels etc) under control. In a country like India, where majority of people above a certain age think that taking pills for health related issues is the norm, my parents are exceptions. When I was in high school I competed at track events and won severa

Hello there you wonderful person! I must admit this lockdown is hard. It is Day 18, and I can't help thinking that though we were told it is 21 days, the fact it is  the outbreak is hard to contain. Extending the lockdown seems imperative. India is fortunate that compared to US and Italy we have relatively tinier numbers. However, given our population, and how densely we're packed we need to be extremely cautious. So let's all stay home, stay safe, follow all precautions and send a silent prayer and thank you to so many on the frontline. This morning, when I was walking my dog, I was thinking about 'honesty' in relationships. How honest do we want to be with our partners, our loved ones? By honesty I don't moral honesty, like cheating on them. That is not what I am speaking about. What I am talking about is the question of how open do you want to be, if you know it will hurt their feelings? And yet, sometimes we as their closest friends and well-wisher

Hello there, How are you doing on day 17 of lockdown? It does seem like the lockdown will be extended. So let us brace ourselves and not think about it. What has to happen, will happen. We have no control really--over circumstances  or people. People come into our lives at certain times, and our life changes. People also vanish from our lives at certain points--maybe they break up, may be they stop talking to you for no reason, maybe they die. Our life changes again. Our life is like a river which ebbs and flows towards a final destination, at which point our soul leaves our physical bodies. The number of books I have read on this topic are numerous. All of them say similar things--that we form connections with people at certain point in our lives, and when the 'karmic debt' is paid off, they vanish. I have read all the books of Dr. Brian Weiss. If you haven't read them, I highly recommend them; Begin with Many Lives, Many masters. I have also read Sonia Choq

Hey there, Hope all is good with you on day 16 of #lockdown. I thought I would do a fun post today. Here are ten good things that you would have never discovered but for #lockdown. 1. You learn to celebrate small things: We got milk today. Hooray! We got vegetables today. Yay! 2.The person who goes out and gets the above mentioned stuff, becomes the hero, the  saviour,  and gets treated like  the act  was worthy of no less than a Param Vir Chakra.  3. Your spouse/sibling/roommate watches YouTube, cooks a meal and suddenly aspires to go on the next Masterchef. 4. Home workouts become innovative, with each and every furniture being examined carefully for it to double up as bench, water-bottles as weights and stairs as elliptical. 5.You have vague memories of the time we used to have house help, and didn't have to sweep, mop, wash the dishes or iron our clothes. 6. You discover the joy of a freshly scrubbed toilet bowl and bathroom floors.