WHOOSH!

I had hoped to be much more active on my blogs, as compared to earlier, but unfortunately or fortunately I have been away for two whole months! How and where these two months flew by is a question to that bewilders me. 

July was all about my new venture (which I will talk about in a bit and I am immensely excited about it), then came my Kathak shows and with it hours of rehearsals, costume designing, the usual drama and the sorts, the series of birthday's (Did I mention that July marks the start of our Birthday Calender? We have one in each month! So each of the Kumar's have a BIRTHMONTH, as opposed to the traditional Birthday! HA!) Apart from all these, my Kathak exam, Ganesh Chaturthi, ALS Ice Bucket Challenges, Raksha Bandhan, Onam and what not! July, August and bit of September just whooshed by! 

In a bid to take away the guilt of ignoring my blog, I have created collages/videos to authenticate my legit excuses.   

Excuse No. 1

Music, dance, photoshoots, videoshoots, food, waterworks and what not! Yet another fantastic Independence day celebrations! 

Kathak I Classical Dance I Independence Day I Fun I The Good Life.

In case you would like to see the other videos, here you go: Kathak

Excuse No. 2

Every Onam brings with it a fair share of banana chips, onam sadya's (feast), onam pattu (songs), dance, payasums, laughter, movies, Onam kodi (new clothes) and pookkalams (floral arrangements). This year too Onam has come with a Bang! Onam with the Kumar's.... HAPPY ONAM!

Excuse No. 3

Quite unexpectedly and but decidedly at the right time, I resolved that it was time to give wings to my dream of starting my own design practice, and just like that things started to fall into place. Sometimes we sit around wishing things would happen, but we don't put in enough effort. Sometimes we do everything in our power to make things happen, but they still don't and it frustrates us. 

And that is exactly how my new adventure The Design Connect by Neelanchana Kumar has come about as well. Fingers and toes crossed!! Although, I do have my fair share of "Why Me's" with Mr. Omnipotent, touch wood, this has been going relatively well. I don't want to jinx it and so I will not dwell further on the subject.  All I will say is that... Things fall into place when the time is RIGHT, and when we let it. 

So, it has been two months since, and here are the official before and after pictures of the first ever Project from The Design Connect Studio's.

Reception - Then and Now.

 

Cabin - Then and Now.

For the rest of the pictures you can click on this link  or you can check my Facebook page HERE! (LOL! That still sounds so weird, and pompous!) Do like, share and stay tuned for more updates and if you need an enthusiastic and gregarious Interior Designer; qualified with a Masters in Design and with an inherited, and inveterate passion for all things related to Design, you know who to look for! :) 

A little bit of self promotion doesn't hurt! HA! Cheers!

So, I have cleaned out my desk and am ready for NEW adventures.

I am sucker for details... From the biggest pointers, to the most minute and immaterial bits and pieces - everything is under my radar. Probably a nod to my OCD self. So... It is rather befitting when I get into recounting the exact no of days/ weeks etc, that I have worked at Spencer. 

333 weeks, or  6 years, 4 months, and 19 days, before I cleaned my desk one last and final time.

I'm heading off to new adventures and although, I'm not sure yet as to which one I will pursue first, but I am certain---they will be wonderful, eventful and exciting for sure. Knowing me I am certain they will be dramatic as well. 

Walking into a dusty, colorless and dreary warehouse, tucked away in little corner of Al Quoz, I had never imagined I would spend all this time here and become a part of building Spencer as a brand. It has truly been a roller coaster of sorts, meeting so many new people, brainstorming ideas, seeing various highs and lows, projects won, tender's lost, fighting cyber squatting, babies, marriages, flaring tempers, flying keyboards, to moving into a shiny new office in Tecom, and expanding our boundaries to the unknown lands of furniture and furnishings... and what not.

To simply say that Spencer was a learning experience for me, would be an understatement. I have been a part of various "defining moments"  here and I would like to think that one of the very first 'defining moment' would be the moment when one of my bosses convinced me to stay when I was all prepared to leave, mind you this was my second day at work, when I was so utterly disheartened at the distance I had to travel daily to get to work and not to forget being the one girl (among-st 12 men) in my office.

Working in Spencer made me a part of departments I had no idea were required for the smooth functioning of an organization, IT department, support desk, graphic design, photographing, public relations, social media managing, customer relations, data analysis, report development, administrative support team, and expert jib jab card creator…  and phew! 

From designing T shirts for our boys, to making the Spencer flag that keep flowing proudly in JLT, to designing graphics for our pickups and vehicles, to coughing up legal notices for clients, to donning the hat of  a web designer, to making tea for my clients, to take on the role of the driver and picking up clients, to sneakily revamping the Big Boss's cabin while he is away on vacay, to getting heavily involved with creating social media platforms for Spencer, to give a much needed face lift to the furniture showroom, to redesigning the company logo, our business cards, to planting the plants, putting up the Christmas tree, to dealing with peepers and poopers... and the list can pretty much go on and on!

I have evolved with Spencer and as Spencer grew  - in size, structure and business, I grew too – in my role (quickly rising from an entree level Junior designer to where i am now), in my skills and in my personality. We evolved together. I wouldn't be the person I am today, had it not been for Spencer. I have seen over 70 colleagues come and go, some for a day, some for a week, while some in fact have came right back as well. Talking about colleagues, I have to specially make a mention of three crucial people whom I have seen from day one and who have played a significant part in my time here. 

My Boss - Mr. Koshi, for treating me less like an employee and more like his daughter. I will forever cherish all our laughs, differences in opinions, arguments, and cold war's. It was a pleasure working with you and a great educational journey.

Prat - My friend, my fellow fashion police and a wonderful human being. He has educated and kept me updated on pop culture, gossip, style and the latest fashion trends. From fighting like cats and dogs we have surely come a long and I appreciate our unique equation.

Shaji - Tea and water with an added dose of office gossip, Shaji was never one to disappoint. Always on top of everything that's happening and always ready to help. The first person I met at Spencer and the person who made me feel truly welcome. He has been of phenomenal importance for me.  

Aparna and Shaf for being so so wonderful, patient and fantastic with me, to handle my craziness and to also knock some much needed sense into me from time to time.

Anish, Mona, Karthika, Julita, Neethu, Mr. Thomas, Shiju and George.... Thank YOU! 

Guys, it has truly been a joy to have worked with each and every one of you during my time here. You have all been delight and a nuisance to work with. To say, "I hope that we can stay in touch with you" would be unrealistic and largely utopian if you ask me. I would much rather say, hold on to the memories and thank you for allowing me to be a part of so many different hues of memories.

I have no intention of say Good bye... I may be leaving Spencer, but I sure am leaving a lot of NEELU in Spencer. And that my friends, is a tad bit difficult to get rid of! Ha Ha...

Love and Prayers...

That most brutal of teachers.

Experiences.

I have had the most unbelievable and unreal experiences. Of course,  I am certain everyone has their fair share of experiences. But, boy, I seem to take THAT chunky portion of cake, that's laced with everything possible! Cream? Cherry? Caramel? Strawberry Sauce? Nuts? Almonds? Gummy Bears?  Nah, not one, I get the whole DEAL, with every single topping possible!

But you learn, my God do you learn.

Let's take last week for example, my week began with a stalker, one who slyly follows me around in my office building, while I park in my Basement, in lift,  and god alone knows if he has collaborated with the Peeper!

Oh, while we are at the topic of my basement, let me elaborate. In a move that would put Indian power cuts to shame, my office building management has a new and innovative way of cost cutting. Simply cutting off the lights and the AC, easy! It's a miracle that they have the lifts running. So at 9.00 in the morning this is how ,my basement looks...                             

Picture this,  at 5.00pm in the evening, on a Thursday evening nonetheless, when most of the building has already left early to bring in the weekend festivities, you go down to your basement, which is pitch darkness and all the crazy crime scene investigation shows, and murder mysteries that you watch doing you no good, you walk up to your car....  Lo and behold, you have.... well this!

Dear Parking no. 56, I know who you are, (at least now I do, after my friend and I did a detailed investigation of you) what I don't know is what is your problem? Clearly, you seem poised and in place with both your feet comfortably in your engrave, doesn't doing such kind of sly, shady attics ashame you? That to with someone who is young enough to be your granddaughter?

 A one of case, you may say... Well, last Thursday, 8th May 2014, to be precise, a Mercedes Benz, started following me on the road, very close to my office again. He followed me, kept honking, flashing lights, and coming way too close to my car, etc etc. All this because I may have overtaken him somewhere before. See, I say I may have, because I overtake a lot of people, everyone does, people overtake me. I don't see it as the end of world, but clearly for this guy, it surely was!

So he stopped the car when we got to a block, came over to my car and open my car door, and started shouting, screaming and hurled the choicest words from his preferred slanderous dictionary. When I kept telling him, to stop and rather when I asked him what he was doing, over and over again, he simply pushed me back into my seat, and screamed further commanding me to park the car, nearby.  Now I was right below my office building, could have easily gotten into my parking and gotten away from this psychopath, but then how? My basement is less of a basement and more a part of The Exorcist or The Shining's set!

I parked outside, got out of the car, thinking if the two of us are in the public view, he may refrain from behaving like an absolute nut job. But no, he continued to do what he was doing and all the while, there were lots of people at the around, people who saw the whole exchange but the funny part was, no one came close. Not one of them, though it was necessary to come and check what this huge Ukrainian guy was doing to this visibly shaken Indian girl.  After about 10 minutes of being drenched in a rain of explicitness and insults, when I somehow managed to get into the car, He turned T-REX on me!

While I am dialing the Dubai Police, this guy, starts hitting my car, punching into my car windows, hitting on it window, again and again so hard that I thought my window would crack. Having exhausted his energy, screaming and punching my car, he then went of to click multiple pictures of me and my car. Happy with his results, he took off.

In all of my years living in Dubai, a city where I raised, a city that I love,  a city with extremely high safest measures and a city which gives at most respect to women, I have never seen something like this!

Having said all this, I would like to really applaud the Police officers at the Jebal Ali Police Station who took such a keen interest in this case, especially Office Tariq, who make me feel extremely comfortable. He didn't need to keep reassuring me or promising to protect me, but he did. Thank you so much to everyone at the station, for being such helpful, kind and wonderful human beings and more importantly for making sure that this Ukrainian jerk will never again be able to do this or anything else in Dubai!  

I seem to be getting wealthier  and wealthier on experiences, from Thursday to Thursday.

Why do you not love me Thursday? Tell me, baby, why don't you love me... When I make me so damn easy to love? Let's try again, shall we? 

Reason? Season? Or a Lifetime?

There was a time I use to blog daily! Unbelievable, but true. I used to churn up new and exciting (or I would like to believe) posts day in and day out, just for my satisfaction. Now it's a miracle that I get one out a MONTH! Hmphh... the Perils of climbing the corporate ladder. Sigh!

Today, I write about a topic I have addressed, back in October 2013, (Click here for earlier post), about how people come and go and come right back in our lives. I was upbeat, excited and even a little Utopian when I wrote that one. Now I am in a pensive and reflective mood, thanks to the changes brought about by time, place and people.

I truthfully believe that everyone we meet, we meet for a reason. We have encountered any given person for a reason. We have friends who remain, friends who come in our lives but soon depart and friends who just pass by our daily lives. Even if it is just running into a fellow barista at Starbuck/Caribou/Tea Junction of the world, there is a reason sprinkled in our path that we may not even see at this moment in time.

There’s a quote that goes something like, “People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime,” which really resonates with my life. Maybe the simple reason of the daily encounter with the  watchman is the daily smile (or frown, depending on individual moods) that both share and eventually that starts the morning off right (or Wrong). Each action has a direct impact. Believe me!

Instead of dwelling on the pain of saying goodbye to a friendship, look at it as a chapter that was filled with many memories and now lessons that will forever live with you. Sometimes we are welcomed by friendships that aren't meant to last forever, but are meant to teach us and help us grow on our beautiful journeys. Easier said than done, I know. We tend to hold on to things, with closed fists; memories, people, smell, taste etc etc . Sometimes I wish, there was a delete button, no I wouldn't delete the memories, not at all, but what I would give to delete emotions and feelings that often flood through immediately after the memories dance on top of our heads.

(For some weird reason, this song has sprung into my head, and I feel it plays with the same theme as this post.)

On the contrary, sometimes we have to learn when to let go and continue on our journey. It takes courage to stand up and realize that sometimes you need to move forward. This doesn't mean things have to end nasty, it just means that you are mature enough to see that these people may be holding you back in a way that at this moment in your life is not what you want.

‘Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on out hearts, and we are never, ever the same.” ~ Flavia Weedn

In last two to three weeks, the kind of experiences I have had is simply mind boggling. Ghosts from past, friends turning foul mouthed delusional junkies, catching up with old friends, getting back in touch with dear old colleagues, performing Kathak on stage again, distancing from people, I never thought I could but should have un-friend-ed a long time back. Certainly CRAY CRAY has been the forecast for too long now.

This morning, I saw a rather an inspiring message that, I know feel is fitting with this topic. It read as, “E.N.D = Entirely New Direction.” When our friendships end, it’s really just a sign from The UNIVERSE saying we need to head down a new path or one of the people involved need to pull up their socks.

Stop focusing on WHY, WHAT IF… these are toxic questions that create an abundance of noise in our lives. Instead, begin to take the risk down a new direction. With an open mind you will surprise yourself with the outcome. I am surely surprising myself with my new found strength. 

My strength comes from knowing that "Everything that needs to happen will happen, when it's supposed to happen, the way it's meant to happen."

The story of the SPARE TYRE...

In past two months, I have been involved in what I would like to call a lot of one sided arguments ( i.e. apart from my usual "healthy discussions" with friends and family), wherein the someone randomly comes up to me, starts an argument and then ends up doing a bit of name calling and of course the standard use of the abusive words showcasing their horrible command over the English language. They expect me to react, obviously, because that's why they do it.... funny enough... My only reaction to the individuals... lets call them the "Action Mongers" in question was nothing. One of them being an ex- colleague, and the other being an elderly person, who is only known to me through a mutual entity. Both of them, tried their level best to bring me down to their level, made good use of their heavy baritones, aggressively shook and contorted their facial expressions... but I just didn't move. 

Not because I couldn't, but just because, I was merely refusing their gifts

There's yet another person in my life, who has been constantly trying to insult me behind my back,  let's call the said person "The Well Wisher", who decided, on their own, that I have a "Void" in my life, and THEY seem to have been entrusted by some great power to FILL IT! Their "help" so far has been in the categories ranging from "grossly insulting" to "extremely insensitive pokes". I will not go into the nitty gritties, simply because it just isn't worth it.

There’s a Zen story... which, for the life of me I can't remember at this point in time, however, I do remember the moral of the story.. (that what counts, isn't it?...)

The moral was: “If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it, to whom does the gift belong?”

The beauty of such situations is that, even when we find ourselves in such terrible situations, or even when someone throws the mother of all insults our way, we still get to CHOOSE your response. Nobody can take away that power away from US, but that being said, too often we surrender to it ourselves...

I am the practically the last person who is going to say, if someone slaps you on one side of your face, turn the other one to him! Trust me, although Mr. MK Gandhi and I share birth months and star signs, I completely and vehemently oppose his certain thought processes. I am on the other side of the boat and I say that if anybody slaps you on your one cheek without your fault, he/she should be slapped back on both cheeks. Period. You have to stand up for yourself every now and then, lest folks start taking advantage of you and your un-offend-ability!

I am talking more about the people who insult you intentionally. Whose main goal is to upset you... offend you. The best way to handle this is simply by refusing to become UPSET or get OFFENDED. This not only stumps your insulter, but it also makes them feel completely powerless and useless. It’s like someone trying to kill you by shooting you point blank in the chest. But, how do you think they’d feel, if the bullet just bounced off, Rajnikanth style, and you responded with nothing more than a raised eyebrow?

Well, I do know how that feels.. its feels ABSOLUTELY Amazing! Liberating. Relaxing. Uplifting.  

*In case you are wondering, what's with the "Spare Tyre" Reference, well... as they say.. Samjhne wale samjh jayengay!

Why so Angry?

Yesterday, I was driving around in my sister's Peugeot, because my Wrangler was slightly low on fuel (read EMPTY) and for the sheer laziness on my part to wait in line to get it refueled. Its a Saturday Morning, low on traffic, a five lane road, and all of a sudden, a polished silver Merc comes zooming from out of nowhere and keeps flashing his headlights, honking and zig-zaging,  all in continuous succession. All of the 5 lanes are empty, he is being spoilt for choice, but he decides to stay BEHIND and continue his shenanigans, what I now see as a strong indication of repetitive compulsive behavior. After a good 10 minutes of following me from one lane to the other, he finally swerves my right and wags his index finger and shakes his head and I thought, God, What a Joker! He could have killed me, and I assure you, he wouldn't care a hoot.

Recently, I read somewhere, that a man was killed for using his cell phone in a movie theatre.

Seriously, he was killed, just like that. Mind you it's not one of those cases wherein we yell "Oh my god, please shoot that guy." Someone actually shot him. Shot him DEAD.

A Large part of this is attributed by our increasing deteriorating rhetoric. Words of violence tossed around casually: KILL. ME. NOW (about a slow moving traffic jam), or like my colleague Prat screaming "I COULD KILL SOMEONE" or even a "Neelu, let's Kill someone", or an even worse can someone please strangle the child having a tantrum in the middle of a mall? All of [person, community, place... take your pick] should be bombed. A slightly more language up-ed person, will more likely be more careful about the words they use, insert a "In my opinion," or "seemingly" to distance them self from the words of hate and anger and violence. However we do it, we are all sending a wrong signals to our brains, over and over again. That it is okay to kill people.

Trust me I know, I myself fall into the above mentioned category! In fact, I had unknowingly, subconsciously said, to someone, who was deducing what the issues are in MY life and how I could go about sorting them out and my instantaneously shocking reaction was, "The problem and the solution is not very different, is a certain someone needs to DIE". Just like that.

The other half of the problem is the idea of self importance. Your time being MORE important that mine. This is bandied about often enough for it to become a cliché. The worst that will happen if you miss the green light and have to wait a minute is that you'll be a minute late. So? So what be late. Had you had the foresight, you have started early in order to be on time. Which brings me to yet another question: where are y'all going off to in such a hurry? What's the emergency that makes someone blare his horn at the car in front of him if it's not rolling the minute the light turns green, like some kind of race horse? Who is dying, how much money are you losing that just the idea of waiting, chilling for a second brings upon such teeth-gnashing, pull out a gun and shoot someone in the face anger? 

I have a special knack at being short tempered, and god knows, well certain other's do too, that I've had the odd violent urge every now and then, biweekly if I may. So angry with stuff that sometimes life, things around me are all just a blurry mess. Momentarily Blind. All I want to do is rage, vent and be, as my mum calls its, Hitler, unleashing my tyranny on the unsuspecting mortals. But, I'm trying to let my reasonable brain take over, and not being a socio/psycho path, I have access to a very reasonable brain, and I'm working through anger by analyzing what makes me so mad. What is the a trigger? Why is there a trigger? Why am I frustrated over things I cannot help? Why is that guy in the Merc, so angry? And I find as I think through these things, two things happen--I get much calmer, and much more tired, worn out like a leaf, a dry yellowing leaf, but not Hitler anymore... that for sure.

BTW, I know my trigger, now, but what I don't know is what I should do to it!