Luckynumber13_Chai

The Monkey mind vs the Monk mind (excerpts from the book Think like a Monk by Jay Shetty)                                 Our minds can either elevate us or pull us down. The monkey mind switches aimlessly from thought to thought, challenge to challenge without really solving anything. However, we can elevate the monk mindset by digging down to the root of what we want and take actionable steps for growth. Read on to look within you and understand which of the two minds drive your life :) ______________________________________________________________________________ The monkey mind is overwhelmed by multiple branches. The monk mind focused on the root of the issue. The monkey mind coasts in the passenger seat. The monk mind lives intentionally and consciously. The monkey mind complains, compares & criticizes.  The monk mind is compassionate, caring, collaborative. The monkey mind overthinks and pro...

I had my share of a long break from the corporate world, after having spent 13 years in the tech industry. Those who know me know that I have been working towards one goal ever since I moved into a new country in 2019. And that was to find a job that aligned with my aspirations, follow my passion to solve problems and make an impact in the world. I used my break from the corporate world to do many things that I never found the time to before. Explored South-East Asia and found it to be quite different from where we moved, the Middle-east. The people, culture, cuisine, surroundings, trends, attitude were all unique to Asia. No more luxurious malls with glamorous architectures, no more excitement of seeing a gold Porsche driving by on the roads, no more sensing the Oud scent of the Arab world, no more summer & winter seasons, no more view of "Burj Khalifa"the most iconic tallest tower in the world, no more going for a desert safari when you get bored of city life, no more i...

We were visiting the Netherlands for 10 days in the Summer of 2017, spent a few days in Amsterdam and drove down to a little university town called Groningen for a couple of days. My cousin, Seethu who is married to a loving Dutch human, Rein lives there. We were invited to a dinner at Rein's family home one evening and off we went, all dressed up and ready to have a fabulous time. It was an hour's drive from our AirBNB.  The minute we reached, we were excited to see a house that was shaped like a pyramid. It was made of meta facade panels, shining under the sunlight. I was in awe. That was my first time seeing such a unique-looking house! It was a beautiful structure, built by Rein's dad who is in the granite business. The families bonded and we explored his childhood home, while a huge feast of barbecue was being arranged. They turned out to be one of the most hospitable people ever. There were drinks, food, desserts and everything we needed to end the evening on a wonder...

During lock down, it was easy to let the mind wander and bring back memories of past travel experiences. One such day, it took me back to December 2019, when we were visiting cousins in Penang, a tiny island in Malaysia. Of all the adventurous things we did, we tried a new local dish called Char Kway Teow and it was delicious. Fast forward to May 2020, I was suddenly craving for it and couldn't stop myself from exploring eating joints which serve authentic CKT in Singapore.  "CKT"-Apparently, that's how the locals refer to the dish. I put up a post on the Facebook page of our condo and within minutes received a response about a tiny gem in our area, which serves yummy CKT. I was told that they used to deliver, but have temporarily stopped during the lock down, which meant I will have to order a take-away at the shop. That didn't matter and I mentally made a note of the address and contact details. The following day, the person who recommended the place send me a q...

Do you love inspiring stories?  I do and I love sharing them with my immediate circle, when I come across one. I heard this story while listening to a podcast of one of my favorite motivational speakers, Jay Shetty. It was told by one of the guests on his show, Jim Kwik, who is an expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, brain performance and accelerated learning. One day, a power plant shut down completely causing all operations to halt. The employees started running around frantically, to figure out ways to resume the plant. 3 hours in and nothing changed. The operations manager then decided to seek outside help and called a local technician, who said it was great timing as he was just around the corner.  He came in and checked a few electric boards. He identified one particular board to work on, opened it and in a couple of minutes, found a screw and turned it. Like a miracle, the power plant came back on and everyone cheered. The manager was thrilled to see the is...

Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are. If you ask me what is one action in life I am passionate about, I would say it is to make "Kindness" go viral. I love what Jay Shetty* is doing to make wisdom go viral. I am inspired to take that learning and make kindness a popular weapon in the world. My dream is to spread it so much that it turns into an integral part of every human being's life. When we first arrived in Singapore in 2019, I had a certain perception of the country from my previous visit, 8 years ago, as a tourist. After spending a month, I built up even more notions about the people, culture, lifestyle, food and weather. I was comparing every little thing to my life in Dubai and India, though I strongly believe each country is different and has it's own pros and cons.  All I could do was to make an unconscious list of things I disliked about the place. I could not observe the little acts of kindn...

How organized you are, How bright you are, It's a delight to walk through your massive alleys. A true example of everything under one roof, Everything you put up is another temptation. Your tasting stalls bring joy to my life. The different varieties of things you offer, Gives me a feeling of being in a new country everyday. Whether I crave for pastas from Italy,  Mangoes from India, Delicious cheese from Holland, Clothes from Thailand, Dates from Yemen, Biscuits from England,  Apples from Australia, Sushi from Japan, I know I only have to visit one place, which is you Don't I have a set of boots For that wonderful trip I have planned? I just have to walk into your spacious branch To get what I desire Do I want to impress a close friend on her birthday? I just need to walk into your nearest branch Looking to visit you again is no problem, Because you make sure I come in again, By handing out those instant cash deals  During check-out With you, what I need is always next d...

Saturday morning N: It has been long since we bought fish. Why don't I go and grab some from the fish market? C: That's a great idea. An hour later, N: Can u please call my cellphone? C: Sure, what happened? N: I can't find it, looks like I lost it. C: Oh! No, you are not the type to lose expensive stuff. Must be somewhere...check all your pockets! N: I did, it's not there. I checked around my bike and the market too, it has vanished! C: Ouch, a 35k cellphone- how can you be so careless! N is totally devastated. C tries to calm him down, N rushes to the police station and finds 5 people waiting to file an FIR for lost mobile. Saturday evening N: Should we go to the hospital today? Am just not in the mood. C: Don't think about it and waste a beautiful weekend. Let's go. N: Okay. At the hospital: N: Tests have confirmed it. Yay! C: Wow! N wasn't quite sure whether to be happy completely or be a teeny weeny bit sad for what happened in the morning. C was su...

INGREDIENTS: Ripe banana (elakka), pineapple or mango turmeric grated cocunut jeera green chilli curry leaves salt curd/buttermilk METHOD: 1. Put the sliced fruit, curry leaves, green chilli, turmeric, sugar/jaggery (if you are not satisfied with the sweetness of the fruit) into a pan. Fill it with just enough water to immerse the ingredients and heat until it boils. 2. Meanwhile, beat the curd to smooth and thick buttermilk form. 3. Mix the grated cocunut, jeera, turmeric, green chill (if you want the curry to be a little more spicy), enough salt into a fine, smooth paste. Pour the buttermilk into the pan and keep stirring. After a few minutes, just before it starts boiling, pour the mixture in No. 3 and keep stirring for a few minutes. Taste for salt, sourness and sweetness. Optional: End the preparation by spluttering some mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves to garnish the curry ;)

The semi-lock down phase from April 7th - May 4, 2020 was in progress.  However, on April 20th, the PM made a sudden announcement that it will be extended until June 1, 2020. When it was expected to be PANIC mode, the people in our house responded in a matured and sensible way. Husband thinking................... "I will have another 30 days of low credit card bills?😲😲"  "Few more weeks of zero useless shopping and eating-out expenses?"  "God bless the COVID phase!😇" Wife thinking............................. "He can work from home for another month?"  "He can help me with the house chores and babysitting😀"  "How convenient!😇" Child's point of view..................... "I can wake up late and not dress up in school uniform for the next 30 days?!"  "I can have more screen time, which is officially allowed by the school and at home?" "Yay!😄" How did you respond t...

            One day owzy the owl was looking for food in the night.As he could not see in the dark,he shouted in a friendly way ''squirty squirty please give me a worm from insect world''.So squirty the squirrel went to insect world and got a juicy fat pink worm.Throw it up in the air and the owl ate it.Owzy was so happy that he had a surprise for squirty.Owzy said ''squirty i have a suprise for you for being kind and helpful'' so he droped a bag and when she caught the bag and opened it she saw her favourite food chestnuts she climed up the tree and her friend and they became close friends forever.                           THE END MORAL: BE KIND AND HELPFUL.                              AUTHOR: ISHIKA                         ...

Fast-forward to 2017, I had been living in Dubai with my family (better-half and daughter) for 2 years. My company deployed me onsite for a long-term assignment from Bangalore in January, 2016. I was very comfortable in the new place, as it was my first home and the place where I grew up and the people I had spent the first half of my life with, the food I had grown up eating (junk and normal), the malls I was familiar with shopping from, etc. I had an amazing work-life harmony with 7 hours of office time, from 8.00 am till 3:00 pm and the rest of the day was free to do whatever I wanted. I was super committed to work and family and made sure I had fun. Not a day went by where I could not manage the two.  Then came about a different phase of life. I started to dread waking up in the morning and go to work. I was afraid of how I would plan a day from cooking all meals to doing normal chores to playing with my little one to talking with my better-half.  If you ask ...

In my childhood, I was known as a shy, silent girl. I loved to have fun, but was better off not having small or big talk with anyone, especially adults.  I was what you would call, an above-average student in school with the only artistic connection, being with drawing and sketching.  I loved to look at pictures and copy the drawing and occasionally sketch. The other strength I had was in athletics. I was a "running-race & relay" person and have won many trophies and medals for 100, 200, 400 and 800 meter competitions . I was good at shot-put (which was funny, as I had an arm that resembled a piece of stick) and long jump as well.  My parents, who had a conventional approach to life, tried their best to turn me into a dancer and singer but their efforts went in vain. I was enrolled in a dance class at a good academy, where I went for 6 months, twice a week. After each class, my dad and mom would be eager to see the dance steps I had learnt. Without fail, each tim...

I just made my daughter feel like a Hero during this tough COVID-19 crisis period we are all going through. What a cool concept that was born during this catastrophe. And the best thing is that I did it in minutes! Do you want to know how?  Read on... I visited a website and keyed in her name. The website was quick to publish a heroic story, with the leading character being Ishika and her story of how she emerged as a Virus warrior and beat the horrifying and powerful COVID-19 virus with a virus shield. In the end, Ishika feels great protecting herself and her family from this spooky little virus and its a happy ending 😃😃😃 Go on and make your child feel special by showing them a personalized story book, created in their name at  https://bookyboo.com/coronavirus-warrior Thanks for reading!

A family of 3 (2 adults & a 6 year old), who are die-hard fans of the American sitcom TV series (named F.R.I.E.N.D.S.), spent an evening exploring a cafe themed after this famous TV show. Living in Singapore, Asia and being galaxies away from New York, USA where the original F.R.I.E.N.D.S. cafe is situated, they had little hope of visiting such a place. However, when a friend visited  from Sydney last year, she mentioned having had coffee from this place and that was enough to get them excited. Who would have thought the F.R.I.E.N.D.S fan base would travel all the way from USA to Singapore and have a branch here! The cafe is named Central Perk , exactly where the friends gang spent most of their days. The furniture and interior is totally inspired by the actual cafe. Our 6 year old was super excited to sit on the couch, in the exact spot where her favorite F.R.I.E.N.D "Rachel Green" normally sits. The cafe menu has adequate variety of dishes, ranging from pizzas to Agl...

Dad just got back from an overseas trip and brought a new clock for the house. He wanted to make his little one feel special and said he got it as a gift for her. She was excited to see the clock and ran to take a look. We heard her exclaim- Oh dear! This clock has 1,1,1,1,1,1 and only 1's and no other numbers. Dad, you should take it back to the shop and ask them to change it. A picture of the clock below!