UGC sponsored Space for Rough Work :)

Every Year, it is a ritual for me to apply and write the UGC Net exam. Now that the UGC Net Exam Paper III is multiple choice questions, the long and mandatory two hours one should remain in an exam hall seems pointless, don't you think? When boredom hits in exam halls, I usually doodle :) In this case, UGC has kindly provided enough "space for rough work" :D 

 Here's too many people cramped into a tiny space, resembling the tiny exam hall in Govt ITI Kalamassery, Cochin where I wrote it this time. Seriously, I have seen way too many schools that come under the purview of Cochin University and still no net! I really hope and want this will be my last NET Exam doodle. Fingers crossed!

And the quick flower doodle where there was space for Rough Work :)

Night Night folks!

Two weeks sunken in books

I have taken a long break from the blog, one reason being my preparation for an exam. But then there was an exciting second reason. I just got into this obsessive marathon reading. I was studying and then I was taking breaks to read. I was constantly reading for the past two weeks and I have to admit, it was like holiday. I have two pending craft projects and one finished project waiting to be blogged about, but I will come to them slowly.

Here is how the obsessive binge reading started. I was bored with studying and I thought I will read one book I had started and dropped some time back. This book was given to me by Gaya. One thing led to another and I entered the most interesting reading marathon I had in a long time.

So Mindy Cho'kaling'am won me over in half a day or so. 

I thought I should read something else and chose Gone Girl. That book was a pure thriller delight and my mind was completely blown. 

Gone Girl is such a demanding book, you will need something funny and light to get over it. I asked Gaya again to suggest me something. She said she will send me something. But then I was desperate to start something already so that I can get over Gone Girl. That is when I started reading Kitchen Confidential.Also this is when Puja joined our little book exchange club. Now it is Gaya, Puja and me overwhelming each other with e-books.  

Anthony Bourdain's journey to become the chef that he is was quite an interesting and different world, I could get Gone Girl off my mind a little. Then Gaya came back with her promised getovergonegirl book. 

Bernadette was another Gone Girl of sorts, but it ended nicely and lightly. It was a feel good Gone Girl, don't you think, Gaya? Any way, it was time for some young adult reading and I moved on to 'The fault in our stars'. 

Fault in our stars was not the regular 'star crossed' teen love story. It was a weirdly cute, sad sweet story. The sweetness made me move on to something more solid. I chose our good man Dawkins. 

I am currently reading The God Delusion, but this happens with me all the time when I read Non-Fiction. I will need another Fiction to keep me entertained while reading Non-Fiction. God Delusion is perhaps the best and engaging and not to mention stimulating Non-Fiction I have read in a while. But I am basically a fiction devour-er and I need to need to have it at all times. So I chose to pair God Delusion with a tale for the time being. So far, I am happy with both these books. They are progressing well and I am studying well too. This is my best balanced reading phase right now. 

All this book joy brought me to this wonderful idea, of sharing the book love once in a while in this blog. Anyone who cares to read and discuss any of these books can comment. I will be more than happy to share an e-copy of books I have. I will update my reading list in this space, possibly with brief reviews from time to time. As for these books, I enjoyed reading all of these. Nothing disappointed. 

Happy reading. 

A better way to recycle your old clothes

I am a recycling junkie who will look at an Old t shirt and think about making a bag or a toy. But I am dedicating this post for a better way of recycling. Giving.Yes, Give it away. Donate your old clothes to someone who will need it more than you do.I know many people who will never ever give away clothes or any other stuff for that matter. It might not even be the insane hoarding case.I will break it down to you so that you can picture this better.




(image credit: link)

Sentimental clothes

I totally understand this if you want to keep your sentiments attached to various pieces of clothing, like the dress you wore when you first performed on stage, or the jeans you wore when someone proposed to you. It is totally cool to get attached to one or two pieces of clothing. But when you have a load of clothes that are completely useless but you can't let them go because you have some memory attached to it, now that is what I will call a clutter. Wear it or if you don't fit into it, hold it, take a picture, post it on facebook, write about it on your blog, do something of that sort, save the memory in writing along with an image and be done with it. Give it away. If you want to save that one pretty piece of fabric, by all means save it. Take it to your grave if you are into that kind of thing. My mother wants her wedding saree to be taken with her to the grave, apparently. Now that is weirdly sweet. Weird, but sweet nonetheless.

Fit back clothes 

I once had a pile of clothes which I thought I will fit back into. Some were really nice clothes, but they were no longer my size. I tried to exercise, I ran daily and so on, but no, they did not fit back. They just stayed in my cupboard like constant reminders of how my body changed. They were like mean pointers who were mocking my efforts to go back to whatever body size I was three-four years ago. They were also a thoroughly depressing sight. And one fine day, sense dawned on me. I realized that I got to get rid of them and get new clothes that are suitable for my current body size. I asked my friends to take which ever they wanted to keep, rest I gave away to people who I thought might be happy to get some clothes that are old but in good condition. I also stopped shaming my own body for growing out of my old clothes. I got new better clothes :)

DIY idea clothes 

Ok, so pinterest is big these days. Among the people who waste time on internet, half of them do it on Pinterest crazily pinning DIY hacks. Anyhow, I am pretty  sure almost all of them just pin those ideas so that they can do it later. They will also find their old clothes and hoard them so that they can do that recycle craft later. Just that the later will never happen. Result is a cluttered clothes cupboard.
What make sense is to execute projects within a week. If you do not have the passion to do that old clothing craft within a week, you are not going to have that passion one month later. If you are not doing it in a week's time, give it away.

Not sure clothes 

Then there are these clothes you are double minded about. You kind of like them, you sort of dislike them too. You are not sure whether you want to wear it or not. My idea in dealing with this category of clothes is to put them in a bag. Check if you thought about wearing them at least once in a period of a month. If you haven't worn it for a month, just give it away. I am only talking about the seasonal clothes here.

No idea I had these clothes 

Then there are these clothes, when you see them you sit and wonder if it is actually your's or has someone left it in your closet. It might even be a dress donated to you by someone else but you can't remember who. These are the clothes you do not care about. Don't even think twice before donating them.

Sarees 

Never discard sarees. They are always in vogue and they will fit you no matter how thin or chubby you become in the years to come. Hoard them. Have family heirloom sarees. Save your grandmother's sarees, your mother's sarees, your aunt's sarees, your entire woman folk's sarees. Do giveaway too if you feel like giving them away.

That is my idea of what to keep and what not to keep. Use your sunday to clean your clothes cupboard and give away what you do not need.

Happy Donating!

Larger than life bananas

The boy visited my cousin, his aunt. There he met a calf and learned the word "Pashu", he saw a banana bunch that was bigger than him and he rode a jack fruit. That's my cousin Nimmi chechy holding my boy.

"Pashu"- Cow.

"Pazham": Banana

"Chakka": Jackfruit

One good happy day!