May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 31. Four things!

The Day 31 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 31. Four things: Choose four things and take a photo. They can be anything. 

Phew ! I can breathe now . Finally the last prompt and the easiest of alllll. Thank god its Friday and thank God its over. I feel relaxed as I can rest and do some thing else now ;) . The marathon of every day challenges ends for me as of now !

Coming to my four pics today, they are just random clicks. Who doesn't like soft toys and key chains ? I have a penchant for them. NOT TEDDY BEARS though. Some how I never liked them much. I like different kinds of stuffed toys. I was mad about angry birds till some days back. My hubby got me my favorite red bird and also the yellow bird in the second pic. The one you see in between them is a character from "THE CROODS" movie by Dream works. Its name is belt. My husband got it at office when the movie got released. Perks of working at a creative place ;)

It is an adorable character. Look how he is trying to make angry birds- the smiley birds. The first pic is of\a key chain I bought in some exhibition . The back side of it has mine and Imran's (my husband's) names written on a rice grain ! The third pic is of a watch I got as a gift on my birthday last month. The last bouquet and the cute teddy were couriered to me by my husband when I had to go to Hyderabad on the valentine's day. A teddy , bouquet of red roses and a hand written note which is so unlike him made me smile broad. No we don't celebrate Valentines day. Hence it surprised me . May be he missed me :p!

angry birds key chain , stuffed toys, Birthday and valentine's day gifts

Check out belt here -  If you havent watched "THE CROODS" do watch !

Ya I know its just four photos but had to flaunt our names on rice grain below ;)

My Instagram dashboard looks some thing like this ! I like it 

Thats all friends. It was fun to know you all through this challenge. Meet some other time in some other challenge. Till then cheers!

Love

Afshan

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 30.Tool

The Day 30 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 30. Tool: A tool in the garage or something useful that helps you get through life. Perhaps in a cooking tool. Find one and share it.

There are many tools  and appliances with out which I can't live. We are surrounded by machines and tools. We depend on them more than we depend on fellow humans. A mobile , lap top , stove , tread mill , T.V., , fan , AC . Phew ! If you think of it you will realize that your life will be hell even if one tool is missing in the list!

First and foremost tool/ appliance which I remembered is my oven with out which my life is sure is painful. For a simple cook like me oven is a life saver. I love my LG oven which conjures delicious food in no time. I am too lazy to spend hours on cooking . So, most of the times I boil vegetables or dal or go for grill at times :)  I love my oven

Can you guess whats cooking ? :P

If you guessed it right you like me love maggi. Yes it is the 2 min maggi. Not exactly 2min but may be 6-7min if you don't want it liquidy. 

Any one for maggi ;) ?

One more magical tool with out posting which this challenge and my post would be incomplete is my Nikon - L810 camera. I went crazy clicking pics the day I got it. I used I phone for clicking most of the pics in challenge but for few special clicks I used my lovely Nikon!

Nikon

Nikon and the first ever click by it!

Thats all for now folks! 

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 29. KISS!

The Day 29 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" 29. Kiss: This is our charity prompt. We’re going to kiss MS goodbye. So wear red, or pop on some red lipstick and show us a ‘kiss’!

After reading on "Chicky's blog" I came to know  that "Kissing MS good bye" means Kissing Multiple Sclerosis good bye. Click on the hyper link to know more . I thought a lot as I don't have a proper click with red lipstick other than me in my red wedding dress and red lipstick. No I didn't kiss the groom . I mean I didn't click the pic of it :P
After too many thoughts I remembered a pic I clicked in Nehru zooological park - Hyderabad . Thanks to FMSphotoaday group on FB which gave me too many ideas.

Taken through the glass window

They are not actually wearing red lipstick and their skin is green but a Chameleon changes colors right? So please imagine them in red and I left a red lip stick mark on the photo too. I patted my self for my timing that day! There was a glass barrier hence I was able to click otherwise Chameleons do give me goosies ;)

One more click which I initially wanted to upload is of me kissing Ayaan and Ayaan kissing his mom. Both are my favorite clicks. Here you go ! This was clicked in a house warming party. Not sure who is more mesmerized here ,me or Ayaan :) The one below my pic is the click of  mama(the one in blue chudidar is Ayaan's Mom) - baby kiss which is the worlds bestest kiss!

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.

Ingrid Bergman 

Please pray for the patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis !

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 28. What you’re doing now

The Day 28 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 28. What you’re doing now: Choose a moment in your day and take a photo of it.

Ok this challenge is getting on to my nerves now. It is really charging on me like the DINOSAUR in the below smiley :(  I questioned my self today as to what to reply to what I am doing now?

There are many possibilities you know. If I take the moment now I am actually typing for the post. Other than that I do anything and everything which every other person does. Irrespective of what I actually am doing the thing which I do forever with out any pause or rest is to DREAM! One should have dreamz unlimited is my life's funda but sometimes my dreams are just crazy and can range from me entering a wonderland- Afshan in the wonderland and ruling that land to being a super woman- No not the elastic woman or the one who can shield the attacks from the opponent. I would love to see my self as the dangerously lovable woman who can charm others with an arrow. A lady cupid may be in a pink costume!

lol :)

 Don't laugh. It doesn't end there . As I would be the queen  obviously I would be treated royally. I would relish the royal cuisines. May be I will have a huge cup cake and may be I would sit on the throne wearing a crown embedded with flowers :)

Used piccollage to add the effects:)

Every one is happy in my kingdom. JUST LOVE and no WAR! We only spread pyaar you know. Ok I know this is a very cheesy line but every thing is allowed in a dream right. So Afshan and her people in the wonderland live happily ever after! If the prompts get more crazy I promise you to show the wackiest side of mine :P

Till then you are saved. Have a good day!

Read it some where : 

One day Dreams asked Life : “When will we all come TRUE?”

Life smiled and answered : “ Never! Coz the day U all come true i will LOSE VALUE”

A poem I wrote ages back for some blogadda.com's competition"Dreams Unlimited"

Few lines from the poem - 

I Dream of a fairy land. 

Me the fairest Fairy with a magic wand!

A genie all time ready for my command.

A life so colorful , bright and so grand!!

I felt there is a real magic world.

There are stories and mysteries untold,

 A kingdom which i ruled.

A warrior who can fight and be very bold!

A castle which is strewn with all gold.

When no owl arrived and nothing caught my hold,

I had to back off and my dream had to mould!

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 27. Can’t live without

The Day 27 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 27. Can’t live without: What would you rather not live without?

As I am done with too many posts on people who mean a lot to me I am going with things this time. I can't live with out books and music. Music soothes me , changes my mood instantly and makes me think. I am not much in to English songs. I enjoy hindi bollywood songs and other regional songs which I can understand. I am particular about lyrics and just let each and every word sink in to me. Javed Akhtar , Majrooh Sultanpuri  and Gulzar Saheb are my heart favorites. A.R. Rehman , Mohit Chauhan , K.K. , Sukhwinder Singh, Kailash Kher , Alka Yagnik , Shreya Ghoshal, Nikhil Paul George and Amit trivedi steal my heart too! There are many names which I am not taking here but I absolutely respect the musical talent. It needs heart mind and soul. Those who naturally have it are truly god gifted.

A day doesn't pass by with out some kind of music. I have my Ipod with 3000+ songs which is like an organ in my body. We both are inseparable. Plugging an ipod and shuffling the songs is all I need if I want to divert myself. I randomly enjoy few English pop songs too :) Akon, Celine Dion , Elton John (Hakuna Matata after all; )) , MJ,  Britney , Ricky Martin and Enrique are few known names to me who frequently come in my playlists.  Its fun to recognize the music in our songs which is copied from their albums! 
MUSIC is much needed even when you work out!

A snippet from a poem I wrote long back - 

The moon lit sky is music to our eyes,

With music the world seems to be beautiful and nice!

The voice of our loved ones' is music to our ears.

A single word can dump all our fears!

I usually listen to songs on Dhingana.com
This is the pic taken by my phone :)

My I-touch which I got as a bday gift.
I was hooked the day I got it

Books - “So many books, so little time.” 

― Frank Zappa

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” 

― Jane Austen

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

― Mark Twain

3 favorite quotes and 2 favorite authors :) That is all I can say to explain my relation ship with books. It might not be a book as such. I love reading any interesting article.I love feeling the gist of a poem or enjoying a piece of art or a creative blog which can keep me glued to it. My pace is slow but my style is like that. I just can't run with the books. Some read library by library every day .I go line by line :( but ya so many books and so little time hence trying to fix a time table and read!

Above are my freshly arrived set of books and my book rack. Eagerly waiting to continue reading Sea of poppies and cant wait to lay my hands on "And the mountains echoed" as it is written by Khaled Hosseini!

 Thats all for now folks ! Have a great day

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 26. Fave thing to do on Sunday

The Day 26 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 26. Fave thing to do on Sunday: What’s your favourite thing to do on Sundays? Sleep-in? Eat out? Party? Share.

"Sun"day is meant to be a LATE day when you don't feel like watching the sunrise and you don't feel like having your usual 7O'clock tea or 8O'clock bath. When I was with Infosys Hyderabad I used to wake up by 10 or 11 on a sunday morning and have brunch (breakfast+lunch). Even now my sundays start late and end late. We switch off the alarms and lose track of time. When I check the mobile it will already be 9 A.M. and I hurriedly go to gym. After coming from gym I am  always treated royally by my husband. I sprawl on the sofa and wait for the master chef to serve the break fast which obviously is delicious, hot and just the way I like it. My sundays are incomplete if my husband doesn't cook. Even on weekdays he interferes and customizes the dishes. I don't mind unless until he doesn't judge my cullinary skills!

In the above pic tomato+capsicum sandwich and tea+biscuits were made just today morning by him for a diet conscious me and French toast for himself who is not so diet conscious :p.What amuses me most is the time taken by him to make each dish. I exactly take double the time he takes and I am not very artistic when it comes to cooking. I just finish it for the heck of it. Below is the pic of fried chicken and home made virgin mojito by husband on one fine sunday morning or may be I should say noon!

Trust me it was better than the restaurant stuff. A virgin mojito is around 100-150 in KFC and at home it was better , cheaper and wowwier :) He usually garnishes the dishes very artistically. The above were done in a hurry! My husband who has a dream to open a take away or a restaurant. He is very skilled and just waiting for the right time to pounce!

The real fav thing to do on a sunday is to sleep but I don't want to click it . The other different things I love to do on sunday are below!

Going to any mall or a bookshop and getting lost between the racks. I love window shopping and also the actual shopping . In book stores I sit and browse through the books before deciding to buy but I never actually sit there for long and read like many others. I get easily distracted!

.  It is an interesting store - Reliance time out .Clicked in a mall in Bangalore

 I am a big movie buff. I don't miss a chance to watch the movie on a sunday evening and luckily we have malls and theaters at a stone throw distance from home. Of course ticket price is too much on weekends in Bangalore. Weekdays are cheap but sometimes when I can't resist watching a movie I don't wait for a weekday :)

"Q" Cinemas

Sundays are meant to be lazy but still they are so happening. As always I got up late today, went to gym pretty late and after watching Kai po che on tv posting this sleeping on my bed. Now don't want to waste more time on a sunday!


Ciao you all. Meet you tomorrow!

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 25.Us.

The Day 25 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 25. Us: Us could mean your workmates, family, friends or otherwise. How will you show everyone your ‘us’?

Have posted too many pics from the past 24 days which represent "me" , "us" and "we" . Yet again I want to show "Us" . Us here doesn't mean me and my husband or me with my parents. 

In the below collage in the first pic its me with my friends who were a part of that folk dance in which we prayed forest Goddess for rains :P . Can you recognize me in it ? We all were in jubilant moods so jubilant that it actually rained the next day :D 

The best "us" is when kids get together. Its a racket and a perfect entertainment show to people like "us". Hence the remaining pics in this collage are of the kids / bachoos - Bacha party as I would like to call. The second pic of collage has Sami, Danish and Ayaan (L-R)

When the third pic was clicked Ayaan was not born. Sami and Danish were tiny and the one in red (Tabish) is the eldest of all cousin bros and sisters who came from the U.S.A. along with his younger brother in white (Suhaan) to meet the cousins in India. He is coming this month end again after 5 years. He was just 6 then and now he would be 11 years old. I am all excited to meet him and see the transformation both physical and mental :) Cannot really favorite any one here but a little partiality is allowed as it is my blog. My heart favorite is Ayaan ! In the last pic I am enjoying the ruckus he usually creates.

Good day to all of "US!" :)

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 24. Go

The Day 24 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 24. Go: A green light means go, but what else symbolises this energetic word?

Nature symbolizes a "GO". What else? Nature gives us resources which make our life easy. It is our duty to protect our water bodies , forests , trees and vegetation and every thing which is natural to stay happy. Nature gives us pleasure and rejuvenates us. Below are the pics from Hogenekkal falls which is called "India's Niagara." I was spell bound by these humongous falls. Its a delight to watch water falls which are always going and flowing non stop :). We are nothing compared to these nature's wonders! Check them out. They are divided between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states.

Breath taking

This was clicked from the view point. "Panorama" view!

Coracle ride is must if you happen to visit. It was
raining when I went which added to the bliss

When nature calls , no not that nature call. When THE GREEN nature actually calls U can only "GO" !

Deviation from nature is deviation from happiness  - Samuel Johnson-

By the way the song Dil hai chota sa from Roja has been shot here . Check out the last two minutes of the video ! My heart jumps in joy when ever I hear or watch it;). In my opinion Roja is A.R.Rehman's bestest music.  Hope you also enjoy!

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 23.PJs.

The Day 23 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 23. PJs: Pyjamas, we all wear them? {Except you nudists!} so share them. Please.

You will laugh if I say I groomed my feet with extra care and applied nail polish to just click for today's prompt. :P I usually wear them before I sleep . Do not wear them regularly though- doesn't mean I am nudist :P. I am not particular about wearing Pyjamas before I sleep. I am in anything which is comfortable enough to sleep. Some times if I am sleep deprived I can even sleep on the floor wearing ^_^ ^_^  anything and everything ahem :p  .Today I am wearing them since morning and yawning as I am continuously feeling its time to sleep :) Anyway below is the pic. I didn't want to put a high resolution pic of my polka dotted retro pyjama and scare you all. Hence modified it a bit on instagram and PicCollage!

"The tender touch of a pyjama makes me feel I landed on a flower.

The way it lulls me makes me feel it is my lover.

The pyjamas do not make me fly or give me any super power.

But they make me write this silliest poem making me a clever!"

Clever or not clever I can't believe I wrote a poem on Pyjamas today. Don't throw rotten tomatoes at me. You can for sure throw a pyjama party though ;). it is the bestest party. I would be glad to join!
Happy day all of You!

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 22.Change.

The Day 22 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 22. Change: This can be a hard one, so put your thinking cap on. How can you show change in a photo?

I changed a lot in a decade. A decade- my God!! I didn't realize when it got over. 2002-2012 just flew and I entered twenties from teens and as the clock is ticking I realize even thirties and forties will hit me :( I feel scared at times thinking of all the things I want to , need to and plan to do ! One of those things is for sure travelling and travelling a lot.

Today I will talk less and share a magnificent pic taken during one such travels. I went to Agra in the summer of 2010 and went again in winter 2012. Below pic shows the stark difference between Taj in summer and Taj in winter.

Wah Taj!

Nope I didn't modify the pic. You can clearly see the fog in the second pic. The magical and mystic Taj was invisible till we approached it where as in the first pic you can see the bright Taj basking in the sun light. Actually Taj remains intact. It is the season which plays with it and shows it differently. I wish I went to Taj on a full moon night. People say its a treat to eyes. The luminescent stones will shine and you can get lost watching it. Unfortunately I couldn't stay to watch it. Even the ticket price shoots up during the full moon it seems. One more speciality of Taj is the VIP seat. Lady Diana, Musharaff , Aishwarya Rai and many others adorned it. 

I am not  a fan of Aish but still feel like sharing the below pic which I like a lot.

and no points to  guess that one more person adorned it. Check it out in the below pic ;)

Taj mahal always surprises me. Even the second time I visited I keenly observed the surroundings and enjoyed the intricate designs ,patterns and symmetry. It surely is a wonder! I wrote a post on Taj few months back with few more pics. If interested  read at-"The beautiful and controversial Tajmahal"

"To the mahal of the Taj- Say oye Say Oye  Say oye
To the minar of Kutub -  ------
To the kumari of Kanya--------
To the panjim of Goa- ----- Say oye Say oye"
we all just wanna say , we all just wanna say "-------- I hope I got the correct lines. Remember the continuation of this song ?? This used to be our engineering anthem and an anthem even now ;) Let me know if you recognize it. 

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 21. I care about this!

The Day 21 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 21. I care about this…: What do you truly care about?

I banged my head on this prompt. There are plenty of things which I truly care about. I care about my husband , mom  , dad , close friends , cousins etcetera etcetera but I have done many posts on pics of people I love the most. I thought about issues in society which I really care about - atrocities on women, rape , having no civic sense etc etc! I really cannot and do not want to show it all in pics. The very thought of all these happenings boils my blood and a pictorial representation is some thing which I am staying away for now!

I finally came to a conclusion that if you really want to care about so many things you must and should care about yourself! Yes - Self love is the best. Being  narcissistic is advised some times. The love you have for you should bring a good change in you. It should inspire others to be like you. It should make you feel awesome about your self. You should feel that you can compete with only you and no body else. I know I know its very tough to follow but it is definitely not tough to implement. This post might sound simple and silly but it is actually not so silly. I am trying to keep it short and simple. 

I really care about my body. I am no zero size and I am not aspiring to get the shape of so and so. I am addicted to gym and I don't want to stop going there (*touchwood*). When I used to go to office gym many aunties (sorry for the terminology) who stick to their seats as if its fevicol ka jod  used to mock or discourage me. I used to pay deaf ear and bask in the glory of their jealousy :P

If some one pointed out the change openly I used to be so happy. It motivated me to run more on treadmill, to increase the rpm on my cycle or to bend more to touch my toes. I am not flexible like madhuri dixit or Hrithik Roshan but work out definitely increased my flexibility , strength and capacity to sweat out more!

Taken just today in gym ;)

• Daily regime of exercise makes you feel good. The feel good endorphins are released when you exercise. Of course sex and even hot peppers release endorphins but that is just not enough :)

•  Endorphins areneurotransmitters, chemicals that pass along signals from one neuron to the next. Neurotransmitters play a key role in the function of the central nervous system and can either prompt or suppress the further signaling of nearby neurons. (source : google). Endorphins give you the kick which a drug like opium or morphine also cannot give. Isn't it a good kick ? ;)

• Exercise keeps you fit and fine and healthy. You all know that for a person who works out there is a low risk of heart diseases, brain diseases and in short you can develop immunity and fight any disease !

• Exercise even helps in preventing cancer. CANCER is the biggest enemy of India now - a - days!

• Arthritis and Osteoporosis - two more enemies of India can also be shooed away with a proper pattern of exercise!

• It improves your sexual life and helps you stay stress free! It is the best stress buster. It can be a 30 min walk , gym , aerobics , pilates , yoga what ever suits you. Important thing is you should enjoy what you do and do it in combinations otherwise your body will not respond to a routine pattern after few months!

• Exercise also clears your skin and keeps pimples and blemishes away. The sweat glands and sebaceous glands (oil glands) do their work. The glow is better than any facial :)

• Last but not the least before you realize your weight will drop. It will not happen over night for sure. You need to be realllllllly patient for this! 

Stay away from people who pressurize you to undergo their treatments which have sky rocketing prices. Stay away from gyms and trainers who take butt load of money and guide irresponsibly. Enquire properly before you join some where. If you cannot join a gym walk or buy any equipment which you can use at home. Buy and use it . Do not dust it every weekend :)

I don't want to list all other GOOD REASONS to exercise daily. You can google and know them. We all google them but we never really implement. Even I was dormant for an year and got lazy after wedding. Now I woke up and realized what I was missing in my life. Once I realized there was no looking back. I joined the gym near by and I am almost regular other than a day or two in a month or I take a holiday if and only if I am really sick! I am hoping and praying I continue this :) 

Yesterday I saw something shared on facebook . It was an ad outside a gym which said - "You want to be a whale or mermaid this summer ?:)" - Think ! Some ads just hit where it hurts ! People are going gaga over maintaining a perfect figure but going overboard is dangerous. The gym personnel always feel what you do is insufficient or you have flab here or there. Do what all you can and don't over do it and go to extremes till you fall sick. Let people blabber. 

Some one replied that mermaids don't exist and even if they do they are always confused and live in pain thinking whether they are humans or fishes. On the other hand whales are smart and happy! So true but my honest opinion is even if whale is smarter and happier than mermaid one need not be in the size of a whale.:) You need not become a set of bones but you should know what will make you feel good and what will improve your health:) ! No need of doing it for others. Do for yourself and see the difference!

So what are you waiting for. Get up and get going. Care about yourself. Don't be a couch potato!

Last but not the least hygiene is important too.Listerine helps me to maintain good breathe and I feel using dettol as a disinfectant on your sweaty clothes and once in a while during your bath does help!

Have a healthy day today and everyday all of you ;)

May Photo A Day Challenge : Day 20:Light!

The Day 20 prompt for "May Photo A Day Challenge : A challenge that will change your life" - 20. Light: Light makes a photo beautiful, so how can you play with it in your photo. Could you find a little sunflare, play with light inside or something else. Lets make magic!

As and when I read this prompt a 100s of pics came to my mind where I played with sun or experimented with Diwali crackers and simply clicked the reflections , candles so on so forth but for now I am choosing the below pics. The below one is taken on my reception day in Vizag. Don't you think that the lights adorning the trees look like stars adorning the sky. This was a brilliant shot. It is not taken by me :)

This is the dining area of the function hall. I absolutely loved this shot :)

When I read magic in today's prompt I remembered few clicks which were clicked long back. I stayed in Bangalore for a month as I was temporarily sent to a client office from Hyderabad in 2010. Me and my friend who are Harry Potter maniacs wanted to literally create magic on a boring Sunday evening after watching Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire for the nth time. We planned to play with camera flash and create certain spells :) and watch our futures in the crystal ball. We succeeded to certain extent. We were so happy that  as we might finally qualify to enter Hogwarts ;)!!

Only getting letter from an owl is needed now:)

In the first pic my wand from the Ollivander's. No. Don't run away. Its not Avada Kedavara. I am just practising my patronus. Can you see it's shape?? I always wanted it to be a dove some how;)! Me and my friend Manaswini checking our future using the art of divination. Not sure what was so funny in my future :P In the last pic I am engrossed. Looks like I am very keen to know what I will be doing in the forthcoming days. One thing I didn't see that day for sure was the fact that I will be using this pic this way today :D

Have a magical day!

PS: Sorry to all muggles / non- Harry potter folks if you felt out of place :)