I can do ‘something’ with this

Ever since I started working from home, I’ve been more aware of the amount and types of things we throw in the bin. Sadly more than 80% of it recyclable but due to lack of any recycling facility it usually finds its way into a landfill L So I decided to reuse and recycle as much as I can, collecting everything that I feel can be reused/ recycled in a cupboard.

I had been saving so many old wedding invitation cards, calendars, paper bags, cardboard boxes etc because I knew “I can do something with them”. Finally today was the D-day when I took them and my creative side out!

And here’s what I did!

Recycling Old wedding cards

One reason why I don’t like throwing wedding cards is that they usually have a religious motif on front so I feel it would be disrespectful to throw it in the bin. And second and more important is that they are usually very pretty… the paper is good quality, many-a-time handmade and the designs are elaborate. So I feel I can do something with them and this is what I did:

Recycling old wedding cards to make gift envelopes, bookmarks and gift tags

Every wedding and function we are looking around for gift envelopes and the good ones come really expensive these days. Most of the wedding cards had an outside jacket and 2-3 invites inside. I used the jacket to make gift envelopes. The invites had a lot of text but the empty space was enough to make gift tags and bookmarks .

Recycling Old Calendar

Even though we rarely go to the calendar to see the dates (what are mobile phones for?), every year we throw out the old and bring in a new. Last year I had got a handmade calendar from an NGO called Manav Sadhna at Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad. It had beautiful origami work and quotations. For almost the first half of January the calendar was still hanging until I decided to take it down and again it went in the drawer of things with which I had to do something!

My first thought was to again make gift envelopes or to use them to cover boxes and make gift boxes. But I didn’t have the heart to cut it when suddenly I realised that any two years will have matching months. May 2012 was same as Jan 2013; June 2012 same as Feb 2013 and there was the idea!

Reusing old Calendars as new!

Reusing Cereal Boxes

Our household of two people sees a huge turnover of cereal boxes at the end of every couple of months and throwing them out pains my heart and I wish if there was some recycling option. Then I came across this fantastic idea on the alternative where the lady had made gift bags using cereal boxes. And I thought why re-invent the wheel!

Reusing old cereal boxes to make gift bags

Reusing old bottles

Reusing old bottles have been going on since ages in Indian kitchens. Any plastic or glass bottle is properly washed and used as a storage container. So that one is a no-brainer. My neighbour recently asked me for a small branch from my money plant tree and I used an old Dettol bottle as a pot. I also hung around the neck one of the gift tags I made from the wedding invitation cards!

reusing old bottles as pots

There are many more recycling ideas bubbling and I’m sure to execute and post about them soon! I would love to see more craft ideas on how we can reuse/ recycle items. Please do share your ideas or websites/ blog posts that talk about it!

WWW Wednesdays – May 8

When I first saw this post for WWW Wednesdays on Dreamz and Clouds blog, my first response was what is this ‘world wide web’ Wednesday about. But only after a few lines I realized it was more of What, What and What Wednesday .

Started by Should Be Reading, WWW Wednesday is a simple game of telling (every week) about the books you have read, are reading and wish to read. I found it a great way of discovering new books, so I decided to play along. Now I love reading and I would love to write about the books I have read, which I why some time back I started writing about my book experiences but then it slowly came to an end. Not that I had not read books, but I didn’t get time to write about the book immediately after finishing it and later the experience was lost. So this game is perfect for me! At least I would write a few lines if not a whole post about the books! J But I am a particularly slow reader, so my list won’t change on a weekly basis, hence I have decided to play it every month. Here’s how it goes:

To play along, we just have to answer the following three (3) questions…

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?

My answers are:

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading The Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I have read the book as part of my English literature subject back in school. Some time back, I bought a second hand hardbound collector’s edition of this book from a charity store and it was lying in my book shelf since long. Recently when my 5 year old niece was visiting for her summer vacations, I had put together a lot of movies for her to see and one of them was The Little Women. I was watching the movie with her and realised that while I remembered the plot I had forgotten most of the details and the beauty of the book was in its little incidents. And currently I’m discovering a whole new meaning to generosity and kindness in my life and this book comes at the perfect time to remind me of how we should always make the best of what we have and that we always have plenty!

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. My sister-in-law Gazala suggested the book to me after I discovered the fun in long distance running. In her own words “this was the most amazing non-fiction I have ever read”. And I totally second her. The first 50 pages were a little difficult to get through but once that is over it’s just so difficult to keep the book down. Stories showing how we as a race are born to run and how we are born to run in the most natural state amazed me! I got answers to so many of my questions as to why we injure ourselves so much while just running. And reading the stories brought a whole new perspective to my running. I no longer run to achieve something (to get fit or to get a better timing); I just run for the love of running. If I’m not able to smile through my run, I stop. I think that’s my biggest learning from the book.

One of my favourite quotes from the book:

“You had to love running, or you wouldn’t live to love anything else. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We’re all running people”

What do you think you’ll read next?

I’ll read The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton next. It was a birthday gift from a friend. I had once told him that I want to write about all my travels (just like books!:D) but as soon as we return we get caught up in routine life and then its too late to write. This book was a sort of reminder for me of that wish. He said that the book tells you why you should write about your travels, hoping that the book will provide me enough inspiration to not let the memories of my travel fade away!

Now my birthday was long back and I this was actually the book I picked up after finishing Born to Run but during one my visits home I had forgotten it there and my mom just recently sent it to me.

Well that was my fairly long WWW Wednesday post. I do hope to keep to it once every month. Till then, Happy Reading!

Would you like to play along? You can either leave the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog).

Ahmedabad night heritage walk

During her last week in Ahmedabad, Mihika had planned a full Ahmedabad darshan for her mother and friends who were visiting her. I think it was for herself as well; as during the 3 months she was there she saw little of the city’s attractions . And I joined them in one of the outings which was the night heritage walk organised by House of MG.

Ahmedabad – heritage night walk – guide map

We all gathered at the House of MG, where we bought the tickets for the heritage walk (Rs. 200). We then moved to the mangaldas ni haveli in a shuttle car where we met our guide and other members on the walk. Our guide Viren bhai started with the history of the haveli – the haveli earlier called Duletia haveli is almost 200 years old. What impressed us first as soon as we saw the haveli from front was the intricate carving on wooden façade and the same intricate and colourful carvings in traditional Gujarati style, inside. We then saw another interesting thing – a water storage facility of more than 100000 litres capacity. Hidden pipes on the roofs feed rain water into the storage tank.

Mangaldas Ni Haveli. Image source: House of MG

The Haveli has recently been renovated and is now a coffee shop and also has a shop showcasing traditional Gujrati handcrafts. Viren bhai then told us how all the houses (or havelis as they should be called) were built according to vastu principles – each had an east-west entry and so all the main road ran north-south. Every home had a verandah (courtyard) with an open ceiling to let in sunlight and have natural air-circulation.

One would wonder how these houses stayed up in the face of the earthquake. Viren bhai told us, that the walls of these old houses were 18inch thick (while the new construction is only 9 inch) and after every 9 inch there is a wooden bar and since wood is flexible, it absorbed the shock and there was nearly no damage to these homes.

We then moved through the labyrinth of small lanes lined with beautiful havelis on both sides. Ahmedabad was founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah I and therefore the name Ahmed-aabaad.

a typical gate of a pol with cabin on top for security guard

The original planned city (5 ½ sq kms) was a walled city with 16 darwazaas (gates) and approximately 600 pols. A pol is like a closed community which is a walled locality within the walled city. Each pol like patel-pol; sheikh-pol; navi-pol etc had an entrance door and a security cabin on top. What is left now of the structure is mainly the doors and the security cabins.

Every few meters we would enter a new pol with new stories of how the carvings had elephants and lions as symbols of strength. How a house that looked tiny from outside, actually housed 22 rooms or how a rich family’s

lady built a haveli for her husband – a haveli with 60 rooms that is maintained but unoccupied right now.

The bird feeders were another interesting feature. As the city grew there was shortage of space and trees were cut down in the walled city. As a result birds didn’t have a place to go and so the residents made bird feeders. Raised platforms where they put grains and water for the birds.

Through the lanes, we finally entered manek chowk, which comes alive with the bustling night market. At the other end of the market is the mausoleum of King Ahmed Shah. On top of the door of the mausoleum, a family has been playing live music at 11pm every night for 600 years. In older days it was a signal for the closing of the gates, but now it’s a tradition they are not willing to let go and also a tribute to the original king. During the end of the music, the drummer’s son came in and the father gave the sticks to his son. It was an act which showed that the son was equally proud and eager to carry on the tradition .

Musicians playing drums at the Tomb of Ahmed Shah at Manek chowk. Picture by Aditi

Our guide told us all the facts but what it missed was the personal stories of the people who used to live in these lanes and these huge havelis. Even if the stories were nothing but fables, it would surely have added to the experience. The wonderful shenai and drums music was a fitting end to the walk. The music was beautiful but more than that I was amazed by the fact how the family finds pride and purpose in the tradition. They are not getting paid for it but every night without fail they are there and on Thursday and Fridays they play 5 times.

The only regret I have is of not having carried a camera and my bad luck that my phone gave up on me just then L. All the pics I have been borrowed or stolen . It just means I have to visit those places again, in better light and with a camera!

Details of the walk:

Organised by house of MG; from 10:00 to 11:00pm; Rs 200 per person. You have to reach House of MG by 9:30pm and buy tickets. Prior booking by phone id preferable. The guide leaves you at Manek Chowk and there are no return arrangements. However you can easily find an autorickshaw at the chowk.

The SMILE Deck game

Every trip to Ahmedabad gives me something new to write! There is so much that I receive there that I can just not let it pass without sharing and giving back I shared it on Volunteer Weekly, but like the Seva Cafe volunteering experience, I wanted to share it here as well. But this one is a shorter version of the original article.

Last month when I was in Ahmedabad; Mihika gifted me a SMILE deck.

Four suits of the SMILE deck

The smile deck is like any other deck of cards – 4 suits with 13 cards each and 2 Jokers – with a twist that each card has a unique kindness idea. These decks were created by a group of volunteers, people just like you and me.The four suits are four categories for kindness towards people you know, stranger, yourself and for the world. You can view all the ideas here:

    Clubs: For People You Know
    Hearts: For Strangers
    Diamonds: For Yourself
    Spades: For Our World

My SMILE deck has become a game now. I started with the Joker card as soon as I opened the deck – telling a joke to the person who gifted it to me. For a week I thought about how to use it. And then I decided to pick one card at random every day and do what it says. I have to confess that I haven’t been able to stay one-a-day with them as I had initially thought but the game is on till the deck gets over and it has been fun and rewarding. Here are some that I have picked till now and what I did .

The first three days – Smile deck cards picked

8 of diamonds:

Visit a place of worship other than your own.

I don’t usually visit any place of worship, so for once I thought it doesn’t matter even if I go to a temple, but I decided to go to a place where I haven’t been before so went to a Gurudwara. It was nice, had not been to that particular Gurudwara ever before. I sat there for some time in silence and came back.

3 of Hearts:

Next time you are in an auto-rickshaw, buy a cold drink for the driver.

This was easy; I bought a bottle of cold drinking water and a chocolate for his kid. And got a huge smile in return .

9 of clubs:

Give a tulsi plant to someone you know

I did a slight change in this one. My neighbor had asked me for a cutting of money-plant some time back (Don’t know it’s biological name). So instead of tulsi, I gifted her that.

The next 3 cards

J of Hearts:

Feed a beggar and spend 15 min with him

We normally go and five our leftover food to beggars; but for this one I cooked a meal especially for them and it was great fun!

Q of spades:

Find a plant that has wilted and nurse it back to health

This one was difficult. I decided I will have to find a plant in my colony itself so that I can water it every day. I filled up water bottles and went around the locality to find a wilted plant and to my despair (or happiness!) there wasn’t one wilted plant!  So I came back, filled up more bottles and watered all the plants in a lane. And did this for a week every day.

8 of clubs:

Tag your house help by doing the dishes today
I couldn’t do this the day I picked this card because she had already completed her work, so I did this the following day and gave her the day off!

In between, I have done other acts like giving discount coupons to people behind me in the supermarket queue and saw the smile of how we sometimes find money in the pockets of an old denim   ; I always carry candies for the kids of my vegetable vendor or that I always carry my bags for shopping. One day I’m planning to sit with my vegetable vendor with lots of cloth bags and give one to everyone who comes there without a bag. But I still need to ask him if I can do it.

Till now I’ve just done 7 (including the Joker card). I can’t wait how it will go with the remaining.

Check out Help Others for more kindness ideas and stories on how people have used their smile cards and smile decks

Atithi Devo Bhava: A mantra I saw in practice at Seva Cafe

I first wrote this volunteering experience for Volunteer Weekly. But then I had to share it here as well!

This post combines three of my favorite tasks – cooking, volunteering and writing!

Last week I went to Ahmedabad to volunteer in Seva Café. I was introduced to Seva Café almost a year ago during a training in my previous organisation. Since then I have wanted to come back here. Even though Ahmedabad is just a couple of hours away, it still took me almost a year to return.

It is difficult to explain Seva Café – it’s an experiment in ‘Peer to Peer Generosity’ run by volunteers (and a small staff) from diverse backgrounds. At Seva Café, volunteers offer meals to strangers just like they would to guests at home. At the end of your meal your bill reads 0.0. The café runs on gift economy.

Even though I love cooking, I have never cooked for more than 15 people at a go. I wanted to see how it is in big kitchen and so I decided to volunteer for both food preparation and later in waiting, serving and cleaning dishes. It was an amazing experience! I realized the cooks in restaurants must have solid arm muscles because even mixing such quantities and holding such big pans (with food) was a task !

The day began with me making tea for everybody. Then Raghu bhai and Raju bhai decided on the menu for the day and we all got busy. Since I was a novice I was mainly peeling and chopping and passing things. Then Bhaskar bhai decided to teach me fried rice and red sauce for pasta. I was all excited! Yeah! I get to cook!

What followed is something I will always remember.

As soon as a picked up the pan; Bhaskar bhai asked me to look up and read:

“अतिथि देवो भव” [meaning ‘The Guest is God’].

I said okay and I said it loud “अतिथि देवो भव”. He then said – don’t just say it; believe it. Believe it from your heart that the stranger you are cooking for today, is your guest; is like God. Cook like you would cook for God. Leave all the negative emotions that you may have aside; if you had a fight with someone earlier in the day and you are angry; throw that anger out. There is no place for it in this kitchen. Cook with a happy heart; cook with love and its only then that your food will be delicious. He said – there is no technique in cooking a great meal; the only essential ingredient is love. If while cooking you are thinking about any fight you had then those negative emotions are bound to travel to your food also.

The thought was so simple, yet so profound. It’s the reason why no restaurant can match mother’s food. Mom’s make food with love which a restaurant chef rarely remembers to add!

Setting up Shop

The first customer for the day…

I arrived at 9:45 for a 10:15 bus and while the bus was there, the driver had not yet opened the door. So me and a few more early birds were just standing outside, close to the bus.

A bus stand is always bustling with activity… The newspaper guy has all his dailies spread out; one the side he also selling cigarettes and tambakoo. The water bottle seller, also sells juice and biscuits and chips and candies. The ticket counter is busy as usual. Two little girls are roaming in tattered dresses and begging for qualms; one mother is dragging her child away from the candies; few people are buying water and newspaper for the road.

But the cobbler caught my attention. Maybe because while everyone else had settled, he was just opening his shop for the day. He had a big suitcase like wooden box; a big umbrella; a big jute bag and two wooden poles. After coming to his usual spot, he puts down everything and takes a look around as if sizing up his day from the morning crowd. The then opens his box, which quite smartly opens up completely and become a raised platform which is more or less his entire shop. He then carefully places all his items, the spare rubber soles, the nails, the glue, the cutter and the hammer etc on the “platform”.

Just then he noticed that one of the screws of the box was loose. So he first attends to that. After fixing the screw, he gives it a nice push with his hammer. Thak thak thak…

The sun by now is a little harsh. He puts his hand on his forehead as if to protect his eyes and looks in the direction of the sun. Time to put up the umbrella. He has a fairly bashed up grandfather umbrella whose black colour has now turned to grey after long hours of sun exposure. He opens up the umbrella and I can see the tears here and there… The tears don’t bother him as he uses the umbrella only for protection from the sun. He ties it to the shorter pole and tilts it in the direction of the sun.

All set. Well, almost.

Chotu comes from the tea stall across the street with a tea kettle in one hand and three glasses in another. He gives one to the cobbler, one to the newspaper guy and one to the water bottle guy.

The cobbler sips on his tea when his first customer for the day arrives with a bag repair and he gets down to business. At the same time our bus driver opens the bus.

4 days in the tropical gem – Sri Lanka

We have been thinking of going on a group trip since sometime. RGs wedding couldn’t have been at a better time! Since everyone was meeting up for the wedding, it was easy to extend the vacation. I don’t remember if it took long or short to decide, we finally agreed upon Sri Lanka.

And the trip was almost cancelled just 10 days before when Sri Lankan airlines cancelled the flight and gave an alternate option for 3 days later. After almost 3 days of constant fight with cleartrip and SriLankan airlines all the tickets were back in order.

On 6^th Feb, we left for our 4-day trip to the tear-drop island. We didn’t have any itinerary fixed except for the hotel on 6^th night as were landing at 10:00pm. The itinerary developed as the trip progressed.

The Highway Project: It’s my Truck!

If you have ever taken a long road trip, you would have noticed the long-time “canvas on wheels” of Indian roads.  I have always been fascinated by the colourful and kitsch pictures and messages at the back of a truck. To the extent that I have at times asked my dad not to overtake until I’ve read it all .

This Diwali, when we took a road trip from Vadodara to Udaipur to Jaipur and back, I decided to take up my highway project. Here are some that I captured

I’m big and I am the king of the road. I don’t see you so if you want my attention you need to BLOW HORN. OK?

I can’t see you! Blow Horn

Step back in time – The Royal Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara

In front of the grand Laxmi Vilas Palace

Laxmi Vilas Palace is my most visited place in Vadodara. Initially I knew of only a few places to see in Vadodara, so whenever somebody visited us, Laxmi Vilas Palace was the one place where we definitely took them. Last week was my 5^th visit to the palace. Every time I go there, I come back thinking I should write about the palace and soon forget about it. But not this time .

Named after the wife of Maharaja Sayaji Rao III, Laxmi vilas Palace combines the architecture of 4 religions – Hinduism, Sikh, Christianity and Islam – as you can see on the front façade itself! The clock tower of the ‘church’ is visible from long and far across Baroda. The tower, though, built for a clock, didn’t end up having it as the architect thought that the tick-tock of the clock will be very irritating for the royal family living in the palace. It has a red light which is lit up when the royal family is in the residence letting the people of Baroda know that the king is in town!

I dream of a library…

Growing up, my first library was the local kirana(grocery) store that used to keep a big stack of Hindi comics like billu, pinky, chacha chowdhary, phantom, commando Dhruv etc.

Characters from my first ‘library’ books!

Then from 2nd grade onward it was school library, where I got introduced to Noddy, Ruskin Bond, Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, Heidi, black beauty, little women and many more. That was also when the nearby book club had Tinkle, Champak and Chandamama. In junior classes we had to sit on the ground around a low table and in senior classes there were proper table and chairs… I so looked forward to library period, half an hour of stories!