This Blog is about some of the experiences I have had during my journey of my life, as a daughter, as a wife & mainly as a mother to my daughter with special needs... And some honest book reviews
Today the sun has set on 2017 and tomorrow it will rise with 2018…
Like it did all these years, this year too was
full of incidences; some bought a smile on our lips, while some bought a tear
in our eyes.
No, I am not gonna go into flashback and
reminisce all the instances and details. But instead, I would like to share
with you what I learned from some of the incidents.
A couple of days back, my close friend and
sister, Janaki posted on her timeline
‘You can be a friend.
You can be an entrepreneur. But you can't be both all the time.’
Well the above sentence itself is
self-explanatory. Need I say anything more?
Since the day we are born we are taught to
be selfless. We are taught to think more of our family rather than us. So in
that process, we forget ourselves. And the end result, we bury ourselves for
others. So it’s time to think about ourselves, its ok to be selfish sometimes
and say NO, and not feel guilty about it. You can't make everyone happy when
you yourself are not happy.
So
I would like to rephrase Janaki’s phrase as
‘I
can be a friend. I can be a mother. I can be a wife. I can be a daughter. I can be an
entrepreneur. But I can't be all-in-one at the same time. I can be me, just
me.’
But most important and foremost thing which
I want to say is
Thank you all who lent me a patient ear
while I cribbed, one who lent me their shoulder while I cried buckets (Yes,
people who appear strong can also break down at times), one who gave me words
of encouragement when I was feeling low and broken and also to those who were
always there for me; no words, no hugs but they were just there for me which
meant a lot.
So thank you one and all. I won't name
anyone, but you know who you are. And one important thanks to God, who gave me
such gems in my life.
As
for new year resolutions, well resolutions are meant to be broken but goals, I
do have couple of goals in my mind so let's see how it shapes up because as the
saying goes
So, thank you once again to all my friends,
readers, and supporters and wishing you all a very happy joyous and healthy new
year 2018.
As we step in New Year, we generally
have expectations of what new year will bring for us. But it is also necessary
to rewind to the past year and see what we learnt from our experiences.
2016 was an eventful year for me.
Many happy and unhappy instances occured and each taught me a lesson of its
own. Someone had said ‘we learn from our mistakes’, but I prefer to say we
learn from each incidence which leaves an impact on our mind; be it a happy
successful one or be it a mistake.
Flashback 2016
January 2016 started with a bang
with me being announced as one of the winners for HT Brunch
#BrunchBookChallenge 2015. It was my first year of participation, wherein we
had to read 34 books in a year and I had managed to read 36.
My prize for winning #BrunchBookChallenge
I always loved to read books, but it
was last year that I started posting my reviews for The Book Club. And… I won
my first gift voucher for Sundari Venkatraman’s The Madras Affair contest.
Reviewing books helped me read and understand the essence of a particular book
and what the author wants to convey through his/her writing.
February and March saw lots of
health issues regarding me and Prerna as she was admitted in hospital for high
fever and vomiting. Same day evening I had a great fall in the hospital and I,
being me, ignored the pain as a sprain, which after 3 weeks of neglect turned
out to be two hairline fractures. (1st time I was in plaster… 2016
was a year of many firsts for me.)
With Prerna’s health and my
fracture, my baking and chocolate making took a back seat due to which had to
give away some of the materials and incur loses. L As this continued for next couple of
months it led me to the dreaded D-word – depression. Had a tough time in those
months dealing with things and becoming normal.
April end did bring some respite as
I got to visit me birth place Dombivali where I met couple of my school mates
and my school bestie after may be a decade. Visiting school and the area where
I resided was like childhood revisited.
Childhood Revisted
Around the same time a blogger
friend called up to say she needs a video of mine with Prerna for a mother’s
day campaign. I was a nervous wreck. I have never faced a camera before and Prerna
was camera conscious. Finally with help and encouragement of couple of friends I
got the video ready and sent it to her. 2 days later again she called to say
the brand liked the video snippet and now they want me in a video shoot for the
social media along with couple of other mommy bloggers…Me in a video…UNBELIEVABLE!!!
I have a really big big big phobia of being in front of camera and so I was
unsure of this. When I spoke to my parents, they said “God is giving you an
opportunity, grab it with both hands. Go for it."
So on the D-day I set out with
butterflies in stomach and head buzzing with excitement. When I reached the studio
I met Kim and Kejal, mommy bloggers and my soul sister Janaki. The whole day
passed uneventful with loads of masti and bonding. Finally when the shoot
wrapped up in evening, though we were exhausted but we were happy. This made May memorable.
After 3 days when we saw the video I
had tears in my eyes as it was so emotional. Thank you, Anusree and Ronald, for
making this day a memorable day of my life.
Next couple of months were bit
hectic, dealing with Prerna’s changing hormones, mood swings and me getting
used to her tantrums and all. In June received another setback with my health
as continuous back and shoulder pain along with migraine and dizziness was
diagnosed as slip disc. What followed next were sessions of physiotherapy and no
stress and strain. Felt so dependent and handicap as for some time I was
advised not to lift even Prerna. But I also met some awesome people in June. These
personalities, with whom I had always interacted online, have read their books,
their articles, their reviews but never had a chance to meet them in person.
Who are they you may ask??? Well they are the awesome admins, authors and reviewers
of The Book Club; Rubina, Nilima, Paromita, Sundari, Ashwini, Sunita and
many more amongst others. Meeting them all in person and interacting with them
was an awesome experience.
The Book Club Team
In July, I got my 1st big
win… won a kindle for reviewing Nilesh Rathod’s The Shattered Dreams. Also in July
attended a workshop conducted by Allure Chocolates on coverture chocolates or
Belgian chocolates. It was an informative workshop which gave me lots of ideas and
knowledge.
Workshop by Allure Chocolates
Come September, (as nothing worth
mentioning happened in August, I skip that month), the birthday month of my
not-so-little princess. Prerna completed 12 years. (Why do girls grow up so
soon???)Since it was her 12th birthday I wanted to bake something
special for her. Also wanted to try a couple of things which was on my to-do
list. So made a doll cake with chocolate sponge and strawberry buttercream with
edible chocolate candles filled with kesar pista filling (slurp) and for her
friends at clinic made a checkerboard cake with coverture dark chocolate
ganache. I did try leopard print on 2nd cake but it didn’t turn out
that well but happy that I tried something new and it was well appreciated and it
tasted yummy.
My 1st Doll Cake
October is Diwali time. After
attending the workshop in July tried my hands on Belgian chocolate for 1st
time with three different soft center fillings and it was a hit… yipeeee…..
November, another firsts… took
courage and tried making a choco mousse cake and to my surprise it turned out
delicious at first attempt. Also received my most awaited prize… My Kindle…
Mera wala Kindle :)
1st Choco Mousse cake
Another feather in hat was Chocodisiac became the official favourite choice of authors of The Book Club as the best Giveaway prize for their winners :)
Lastly comes month of December, last
month of the year; wherein we all wait for Christmas and the current year to
end. I had won the blog tour of Paromita’s
Shamsuddin’s Grave and the prize was a guest post for the author’s blog along
with a gift voucher. Paromita sent me her questionnaire and lo, my 1st
interview, my 1st blog post… what more can I ask. (Read here) What a fantabulous
end to the eventful year. Also amongst all this mayhem I did manage to read 37
books for #BrunchBookChallenge this year.
2016 was a mixed year for me; professionally
it was ok and on personal front though health issues were main concern but still
I manage to swim through it.
So what did 2016 teach me? Well I did
learn lots from the past year incidences. Initially I used to get upset
whenever I used to see pictures posted by other bakers of their art. But then
someone did speak out to me, What do you really want to do in life? It actually
set me thinking and was an eye opener for me. I did have an heart-to-heart chat
with….. ME.
And I made peace with myself that
even though I LOVE baking and doing stuff I do have my limitations; with Prerna
and my health issues I can’t be a full time home-baker. So now I don’t feel bad
when for days I don’t get bake orders. Instead I utilize my time for my spoilt
teen and reading and learning new skills and improving my knowledge and admire
works of skilled bakers on guild.
Personally I have to let go my past and
hurt deeply embedded in heart (which is little difficult) and look ahead. Acceptance
plays an important role in bringing up Prerna. Though she is a differently
abled child, her physical development will be normal, it's not going to stop or
slow down. Initially I was scared just by its thought. But then I accepted that
her development is a natural phenomenon, though reluctantly, I did accept it
and then it did become little easy for me to face it.
Previously, people used to say, it's
difficult to raise a girl with special needs, as they grow older. I knew it is
going to, but a recent chat with two of my friends who have boys going through
this difficult stage and also with Prerna’s therapist made me realize; handling
girls is easy than handling boys. Though both have their own and different set
of issues and problems.
Last but not the least; I learnt an
important lesson towards end of the year not all who show as your friends are
what they really show they are. Some are interested to know your issues not because
they care for you or are concerned. They just want to know how much deep you are
in troubled waters so that they can attack you when the time is right to
strike, when you are weak and vulnerable. So choose your friends wisely. Instead
of having hundreds of people whom I call as friends, I prefer to have a select
few who will stand by me against hundreds if time comes.
Goals
for 2017…
Well, foremost top on my list is to
recover from the damage done to my health by taking little care of myself because
health is wealth and if health is good we can even climb Mt. Everest…
To read atleast 40 books this year,
even though target for #BrunchBookChallenge is 36 I am testing myself.
As far as baking is concerned, well
my bucket list for this is very long one… hope to tick off one item every
month. I will keep updating about it on my Chocodisiac page as and when I accomplish
it. {Fingers crossed}.
I hope I have not bitten off more
than I can chew. Time will tel.
Till then folks, have a great
rocking year 2017 and keep reading, commenting, sharing and supporting me as you
have done since past 5 years.
