Greetings cards used to be a “thing” in India, at least in my town a long time ago. Now it is very difficult to find a decent card for an occasion. This is fine as technology has taken over and lots of people wish others through WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and whatnot. We have been so used to sending cards (physical) to friends and family during Christmas in the UK, it was a nightmare for us to find the right cards last year. So this year I decided to rope in my good friend Ashwini @ Experiments with Card Making and convince her to use her extraordinary skills to create some customized greeting cards for us for this Christmas.
She was hesitant but curious but I wore her down with my pitch and finally, she agreed to do around 15 cards. She came back with some proposals based on some samples she had done over the years and we chose a few styles. The discussions started when I was ill and over at my sister’s place and we finalized the designs when I had started my medication and was back at mine (around July, or August). Finally, by the end of October, we received our cards. She has discussed her methodology in her blog post if you are interested in her process.
Here is the set of all the unique cards (a few of them had different colours, but I had already got them ready to be sent). She did an amazing job and we were very surprised by the top-notch quality of these cards with matching envelopes and such. They are not flimsy like the ones we usually get in the shops but are quite thick and sturdy.
It also feels nice to have customised cards to send to friends and family. And she priced them very reasonably too. I am only glad that I got to be her first customer and hope she takes in more customs :). She is very talented. She has a day job and she does this as her hobby but given the quality of the work you can see the effort that has gone into each and every single card produced. We are so happy with the end product and would highly recommend her to all!
Thank you, Ashwini, and hope this is the start of something new in your artistic endeavours.
The world is in such chaos, especially with climate change. The amount of heat wave that is blazing through one part of the world whereas the other is grappling with floods.
Not so long ago we were struggling with a 40+ C heat wave in our place (South India) but now the max is 30 degrees and there is enough rain and breeze to keep us in a much better place now…may it continue for a few more months before winter (or the so-called) sets in.
You already know that I suffered the most during this time because I had to go out and about for work and then the disease took over (I am healing well, no new blisters, but the healing is slow and steady…I will take it as long as I don’t have any blisters to deal with). But at least I am able to give some tips from my side to grapple with the intense heat. If the 40-degree heat was only for a few hours it wouldn’t be that bad. It is the consistent heat throughout the day that is the killer. Mr M had grand visions of Indian Summer (the real one) until he experienced 40+ heat right from the get-go from 8 am to 7 pm. That is when you get dehydrated, get ill and such. Especially with the humidity. If this is the beginning of such heat waves and summers in the western hemisphere then here are a few tips and tricks from us folks who are seasoned to it (might have to exclude myself from that folks for a while now… I am relearning too).
I found a nice visual which might help rather than the text.
Here are a few more tips that we followed, if that helps.
The one way Mr M who is a seasoned Westerner survived the heat was to stay indoors, with the fan on in the room he was in and not do any physical activity which needs energy (browsing websites don’t count as physical activity). He did his yoga much earlier than usual (like about 6.30 am and later in the day around 6.30 pm, if need be).
We usually go out for our weekly lunch on Saturdays but during the summer we restricted it to home deliveries or going to Malls where you are in A/c. Every time we ventured out, we used to have the fruit juice that was available in the summer. For example, we get a lot of watermelons, mangoes, and grapes during the summer season. So we always used to have watermelon juice whenever we did go out. This helps with hydration. The one other good source of hydration is coconut water. Not the ones you get from the cartons, but fresh ones that are available easily, at least for us. Obviously one has to make do with what one gets. But hydration is essential. Also avoid coffee and spicy food during the day. Stick to simple plain food. Buttermilk is awesome for tackling the heat.
The only time we used the A/c was during the night. Because we sleep in our first-floor bedroom, the air there (thanks to the hot air rising) is hotter during the night and to ensure that we don’t get roasted in our sleep we ended up using the A/c. I was also taking three showers a day, one mandatorily before going to sleep.
Do not drink water with ice cubes in it. They don’t help quench the thirst. Keep drinking normal-temperature water.
If you have curtains (heavy light-blocking ones) then close them during the day. We do not have double-glazing windows in this country (India) so closing the windows also helps, but in the western parts because of the cold winter, there are double-glazing windows which I have felt detrimental when closed during summers. I kind of felt suffocated in the UK when I closed them during the heat. So I will leave it up to you to close or leave the windows open based on how it helps you. If you have table fans, they will help a lot. My mom always uses this extra fan during summer to keep herself cooler, especially at night. Ceiling fans only help so much and she doesn’t have A/c (can’t install them as she is in a rented place). Keep the lights off as much as you can and if you are in the kitchen and if you have a chimney fan, turn it on. We don’t have one but we leave the windows open and ensure to use the kitchen as less as possible during the day.
I can’t think of anything else at the moment other than the ones listed but hopefully, a few of these will come in handy. If people aren’t used to extreme heat then it is going to be painful to suddenly feel so much heat given that the body isn’t used to it and getting adjusted to it can be too much, especially during the first time. Whenever I complained about British summer in the UK people were surprised as I come from a tropical place but I kept telling them that that was the precise reason I hate the heat as I know it isn’t good for me 🙂 especially if it is a prolonged one. And it is just not the heat that people have to endure now. There will be so many side effects to it. The water bodies will dry up, if the crops depend on good weather they will suffer, groundwater getting dried up etc. etc. And if there aren’t enough water storage facilities or even plans for summers like the ones people are facing now then over a period of time drought will set in. Hopefully, the authorities will think about the future and not just the present and see what needs to be done if this heat wave becomes a norm where it usually isn’t. And then where there is intense heat, there will be heavy rains too. We need to be prepared for that too.
I think I should stop now otherwise I will end up ranting about how the authorities are causing chaos and wrecking havoc in our infrastructure in the place where I am… I will leave that for another day 🙂
One of the perks of living with my sis is that my nephew and I have similar tastes when it comes to music and movies except maybe the hip-hop songs that he listens to more which I am not a big fan of. So during his break (schools had a delayed start here due to the heat waves) we binge-watched a lot of movies together. I haven’t watched most of the Star Wars movies but thanks to him rewatching them for the nth time (most of the scenes fast-forwarded because they are lame, according to him) I kind of feel like I have a hang of the Star Wars franchise now, just don’t go asking me quiz questions on that as of yet 😉 But the one series that I was absolutely happy to watch was the Top Gun series. I had watched Top Gun a long time ago but had forgotten a lot of it. So we decided to watch it first before we moved to the Maverick one. I should say it was a lot of fun. I wouldn’t understand the craziness that comes with that movie, but I get the appeal of both movies. Especially when you watch them back to back, with all the songs that they sing together as a unit, the kid coming back and singing the same song in Maverick, the emotional side of the story, the songs etc. It was fun and I enjoyed both movies. Typical Hollywood masala movie to watch on a holiday. My nephew and I are hooked on the ‘I ain’t worried’ song and we keep singing it *all the time*. He is trying to whistle the tune now too and sometimes it feels like Simba trying to roar 😀 but it is cute and he is almost there. Another year and he will be whistling like a pro 😉
He hadn’t watched any Jurassic Park movies which I thought was an abomination and promptly decided to rectify that and we ended up watching 4 of those movies (literally binge-watched them in 2 days). We had to stop after Jurassic World coz the rest were not yet available and the holidays were over too.
For a kid of 12 years (almost 13 according to him), he is into Suits, which I find very interesting and he is really into it (even though he would be happier watching Breaking Bad according to him 😀 and even attempted to bribe me to watch so he can watch along with me. The only reason he is not watching it on his own yet is that his mom will stop the subscription if he watched anything not appropriate for his age). The other sitcom he is into is Brooklyn 99, again a weird choice. I am thinking of introducing Big Bang Theory and seeing how he takes to it. Not that I have watched any of these. I don’t watch any sitcoms so when he starts any sitcom I start reading my book and just keep an eye on the time and ensure that he does his homework after an hour of break 🙂 Hopefully, he will continue to do the right thing when I am back home and not there to monitor him. I will sure miss all the binge-watching when I head back that is for sure 🙂
Please welcome, Ritu, a new addition to our family of two.
She is a rescue dog. She wasn’t getting adopted in spite of being well-natured because she is three-pawed (had the front right paw removed after an accident, we heard). But when we were there to look at dogs, she got attached to us, especially me, and was instantly comfortable with us, so we decided to take her in. She is around 4 according to the rescue centre.
We brought her home last Saturday. It’s been a week of learning about each other and she is slowly settling into the new environment. She was very unsure for a few days but was happy to be here with us at least. She had very less food for the first three days (which my friend mentioned was normal) but slowly she is getting back to being herself (that is, being cheeky and naughty at times). Last Friday, Mr M told me that she found her voice and has started barking at a cat (a ginger one) that roams around our neighbourhood. Other than that she is very docile and quiet. She keeps to herself and sleeps a lot. We are still trying to find the right food for her. She is such a picky eater, we also checked with the shelter about their food choices and have tried to use the same, but every day is a struggle, maybe it is part of her settling-in process? She kind of gravitates to me for play (which is odd, because even though I am good with dogs, playing with them is not my forte 🙂 ) and gets very excited when I am back from the office (which is such a nice feeling 😉 ). Mr M is taking care of her most of the time and takes her out for walks ( I join them in the evenings). She is very scared of loud noises and gets very agitated if an autorickshaw is close by or if there is some sound of a firecracker or something similar somewhere. She doesn’t fancy car rides too much (except for very short distances). The two things that she absolutely loves are a) sleeping, and b) being petted. She knows how to nudge my hand to get me to pet her.
It’s been a busy few weeks, and last weekend and this weekend have been spent with Ritu getting to know her and giving her a chance to know us and our environment. Hopefully, she will enjoy her stay with us and we will be able to provide her with a good home. I am sure I will be posting about her progress here. Stay tuned 😉
Wishing you all a very Happy, Peaceful, Mindful, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!
I hope I get to write more this year than I did the last year. I still have to catch up on a few things and may have some time later for chit-chat on this digital platform. Until then, stay safe!
Books, Music, Photography, & Movies 