Day 29 :- Thursday Challenge(58) – LIGHTS

Thursday Challenge :- “LIGHTS” (Candles, Street Lights, Fire, Ornamental Lights,…)

Day 27 :- More Awards

Awards are always a good post to post and show-off 🙂 as I mentioned in the previous award post I been lazy and not picked them up for ages , So here is another couple of awards that I need to share.

1. Soumya awarded me a TRUCK LOAD of awards , last year . Thank you so much Soumya for that.

Here are the rules of receiving the Award

1. Display the logo in a post.
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back.
3. Using the alphabets describe yourself in a word or a phrase.
4. Nominate at least a few bloggers

Since 1 and 2 is already done, I shall move straight on to the third one.

My Response A- Ass 🙂 B- Bikram C- Clueless D- Dodo E- Enthusiast -Food F- Friendly G- Golf Hater H- I was going to say Honest.. But will change it to Hopeful I- Intrigued – Idiot -impulsive J- Jovial K- King L- Lonely M- Musical N- Nice O- Odd P- Perfect Q- Quiet R- Realist S- Sensitive T- Tough U- Unique V- Vulture in context to Food W- Wild X- Y- Z-

Couple of Friends here have to say A- Amazing, B- Beautiful,Bugger C- Cheerful D- Destructive E- Extra Terristerial F- Fantastic G- Great H- Holy I- Interactual (yes spellings i know 🙂 ) J- Joker K- Krazy L- Lonely – Lazy M- Mann N- Nostalgic O- Octilius -No idea what this means P- Polite Q- Queer R- Rock and Roll S- Stupid T- Tango charlie Victor U- Ugly V- Very Idiot W- Wierdo X- X-ray Y- Yo Yo Z- Zulu

Any of you readers have anything to Say 🙂

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Chitra Jagdish who puts such lovely recipe’s always and makes me drool and jealous of all that food has showered me with a few awards ..

I got Wonderful readership Award

This is very special award to thank and pass gratitude for those fellow bloggers you have really connected with, who stop by often and leave kind and encouraging comments. Those “team members” who help make your blog what it is.

And She has also awarded me with a Versatile Blogger Award Which I am so Proud to display

And a third one, a Dragon’s Loyalty award

This requires one to nominate fellow bloggers and friends who are loyal to us by always commenting or liking our blog. It requires us to recognize and encourage all the bloggers who have always been kind enough to give their sweet suggestions about our blog/recipes.

Rules for this award:

Add the Dragon Loyalty logo :- Done That

Give 7 facts about yourself – 7 random facts about me, Well I use to have a lot but over the time , it seems everyone knows everything about me now.. so there is nothing left as random, but please do have a look here just in case you are curious

Nominate Bloggers :-

Tell the nominated people on their nomination

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One common rule of the above awards is to Nominate bloggers.. SO

I would love to Nominate a lot of bloggers here Especially those who are standing with me now, I had not blogged for almost 2 years and many friends left me , so when I started blogging again some lovely human beings still stayed and I am so very thankful to all of them from the bottom of my heart for this. God bless you all ..

So all you Lovely people PLEASE CONSIDERED YOURSELF AWARDED AND NOMINATED.. Now dont think that If I have not named you , you are not .. YES YOU ARE.. The whole of the Blogathon Team participating in the Blogathon. Everyone Who clicks the link to come to this blog and ALL THOSE WHO ARE READING THIS POST.

If you don’t take it up, I am going to WRITE the names and embarrass you all .. I promise 🙂

Day 26 :- Playing Volleyball with…..

Writing everyday of the month is becoming very very difficult, missed yesterday did not want to do it today too, so the easiest thing was to take up the Tag that Visha started, Although I was not tagged, I am still taking it up, Sorry Visha for that. She herself has done the tag here

So here we go, I love sports hence the topic of the Tag also sounds very sporting “Play Volleyball”

Rules of the tag:

Answer all the questions. No ‘pass’ or ‘no idea’ type of answers.
No cursing me if you found the tag to be difficult while attempting.

Here is the tag –

1. List all the ingredients which went into making the most interesting dish you ate today.

Well it is bright and early in the morning, being a Monday(this post was supposed to go yesterday) , rushing to work and as usual had a late night, hence am running a bit late so this one is very easy for me to answer, especially since I am very retarded in the field of cooking 🙂

SO here we go, this is what I have had and its easy to make .. Take a bowl, Pour the contents of the pouch in it, Add some Milk .. Put it in the microwave and after 2 minutes it’s all done .. EASY PEASY 🙂

2. What is the current wallpaper of your laptop/phone/tablet?

My laptop has the picture of my home in our village.. , Phone has the picture of a sea beach .. nothing fancy

3. How do you wear your hair when at home?

I have got the shortest possible haircut done just a couple of days , so nothing to WEAR them as .. again easy peasy.. keep life simple 🙂

4. When you visit any restaurant, what is the first thing you search for, in the menu?

The ice-cream or dessert they serve 🙂 …

5. What is the advertisement from your childhood that you recall even today.

Glucose D biscuits… especially the GABBAR KI ASLI PASAND… here drool at the following pic and remember those good old days

6.Have you implemented a beauty tip/hack which you were told to, and been mortified by the results?

No, I doubt if they will work on me .. and believe me I will be myself MORTIFIED if they work , hence i keep away don’t want to be mortified.. 🙂 and also don’t want to MORITFY any of you who come and visit this blog, I am positive you will all stop visiting.

7. At your home, where do the newspapers find themselves to be the most useful?

In a pile , beside the outside door, end of the month they go in the recycling bin ..

8. During a visit to any mall, what do you find yourself searching first?

Where is the nearest Eating place.. 🙂

9. This tag is over now. Explain your state of mind.

MORITFIED 🙂 that i managed to complete the tag and have a post for today yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee err on second thoughts HAPPY..

So thank you so much Visha.

Musical Monday (21) – Mera Desh

Reviving the Musical Monday Tradition, you can see old entries here (1 ,2,3..,9,10… 18,19,20 ) .. 26th January today .. so happy republic day to all Indians..

A song very close to my heart .. very old..

Lagi nazar PUNJAB nu Ehdi nazar utaro Lai ke Mirchaan kaudiyaan Ehde sir ton waro	An Evil eye has befallen PUNJAB Someone come and help Take some green Peppers and use them to ward off evil
Jeeeen Mere Vatana Diyan Maavan Tai Ghar Ghar Jeevaaan Putt Jawan Oh Kurriyan Chirian Dheyan Bhena SABH JEEVEN Kushian Manaan&nbsp Kikli kaleer di Di Pagh Mere Veer DiDuppata Mere Bhai Da Fittay Mu Jawai Da	May all the Mothers in my nation live Long  And may each household have a son All the Girls Daughters Sisters All HAVE A Fun and a Enjoyable SAFE Life
Mera desh mere dildaran daa Rishiyaan Muniyaan Avtaraan Da Mera desh mere dildaran daa	My country is for all my people  My country is full of all saints, lords and holy people My country is for all my people
Itthay rehmat peer fakiran di Mere desh mahobbat heeran di Sanu maan Hai  Ranjhen Yaraan Da	My country is blessed by holy-saints My country has lots of love stories like that of HEER We are proud of friends like RANJHA
Mera desh mere dildaran daa Mera desh mere dildaran daa	My country is for all my people  My country is for all my people
Sada haal muridan da kehna Meri kaum ton karza nahin lehna Guru gobind jihe sardaran daa	Punjabi’s cant pay off what they Owe To Guru Gobind Singh and others
Mera desh mere dildaran daa Mera desh mere dildaran daa	My country is for all my people   My country is for all my people
Itthay ghar ghar pooja oye rabb di hai Iss dharti te akh jag di hai Par dar vi aa talvaran da	In my country households pray to god ..Every other nation has an eye on our nation BUT they are afraid of our SWORDS
Mera desh mere dildaran daa Mera desh mere dildaran daa	My country is for all my people My country is for all my people

Day 23 :- Friday Sky Watch

Friday Skywatch, My entry for this week

Barnmouth in Wales

Day 22:- Thursday Challenge(57) :- Trees

Thursday Challenge : TREES (All kinds,…)

Here are some of the pics that i have taken over time 🙂

Black tree

Ways Of Nature

View From My Window- Summers

My Window again winters

Day 21 – Wordless Wednesday (51) – What is Funny

This is clicked at one of the parks while going on a ride, Can you see what is funny about this notice.. 🙂

Day 20- Week 3- Family

52 weeks of Gratitude .. Week 3 is here and the topic is Family

I have a big family, hence i have a lot of people to be thankful to. While I was growing up I have always been taught the values of Family, now grown up I have my own lessons learnt. To me family is most important, when everyone leaves you , when no one has time for you it is family who stands by you always, As they say Blood is thicker than water always.

Yes we have our ups and downs, some nasty experiences with some members of the family have also taught a handy lesson especially when things like property-money come into the picture, but still I do feel that Family is and should mean the most always.

As I have mentioned in a few articles since 17th Dec to 13th jan things have been going very bad and it is usually during the bad times that one tends to realise who is how close to you or who genuinely thinks about you and feels about you, I have been lucky that the phone or the emails or the whatsapp messages have not stopped at all, It never felt that i was alone here in uk or that almost all of the family is back home in India.

I have wished many a times that family was nearby so I could at least sit and Cry my heart out, I have also thought that maybe I need to stop everything i am doing and just go back each time there has always been someone on the other side of the phone ready to listen to me, yes I have friends here but it’s not enough, people have their own agenda here , will give you an example my supposedly BEST FRIENDS in uk came once to see me on the 3rd january and one of them had exactly 6 minutes to spare for me. YET we are the closest or so I thought all these years. Have-not had a Single phone call not that any of that would have helped , All that had to be done had to be done and I did do it all But not having enough family here in UK hurt a lot.

One of the disadvantages of living so far away from family :(.

I mentioned above that I have a big family but sadly now the number is dwindling , many of the older generation have passed away, that’s how life works I guess. I will need to go to India very soon for a few days to fulfil a religious duty and I have promised myself that I am going to Meet EACH AND EVERY member of my family where-ever they are in the country. I am going to forget for the time being the bad blood we have had or spilt especially after my dad passed away, and Just go meet them all and HUG them, Don’t know when the next time will be.

I must say that I am thankful to everyone as each and every member of the family has been so good to me, I am one of the lucky ones who has got Love from everyone, Since I was the first male child in the family I have been spoilt rotten .

My grandfather (both of them)

My Nani spoils me still , I talk to her on phone sometimes she is hard of hearing so can’t understand what I am saying, but she is sweet to say I should shut-up and listen to what she is saying, and she will listen to my replies when I come to see her in India.

My Maasi’s are lovely and my youngest Maasi is so adorable , I made her cry so many times as there is not much of a age difference between us, whenever I went to the village for summer vacation she made sure that i got Hot food, would put an extra dollop of Butter in my food compared to my sister’s or my cousins. The day she got married I remember going up-to her husband and threatening him to make sure he takes care of her or else :0..

All my cousins they are all such lovely human beings, being the eldest had an advantage, in Punjab we have this tradition calling veerji to elder brother, I miss that here in uk not many call me Veerji here. I have bullied my cousins at times, even shouted at them or maybe even slapped but never ever have they retaliated back even now I can vouch they have all grown up to be fine young men and women yet they just listen to my rants when I go on a tangent sometimes.. (Yeah I have my moments too )

I would not have liked to talk about my Chacha(Father’s brother) or Bhua’s (father’s sisters) but that would make me a hypocrite after what i have just written above, They are family too , whatever they have done for obvious reasons after my dad passed away is probably their thoughts, I can’t change that maybe they need the money property etc more than us, so its fine. I still want to say thanks to them because Chachu use to be a good man, he taught me how to ride a scooter and drive a jeep in my early days , he also taught me how to fire a rifle. Bhua’s got married and went to USA, but whenever they came to visit us , they brought a lot of goodies for me jackets,toys, sweets etc. etc. Dont know what has happened to all that love they use to have , maybe something wrong with me , maybe I did something wrong.

My Grandma (Dadi) – I had never ever felt she was my step Grandma, when I was growing up, so much love she had showered upon me, when I was in hostel She would come almost every other weekend to meet me , pampered me , during festivals give me so much money – gifts. My mom was only 16-17 when she had me so its my Grandma who practically raised me as a child, My bhua still complains of the fact that Once me and her daughter were playing in the garden – a snake was seen and my grand ma PICKED me up , running to safety leaving my cousin behind. But again sadly since my grand-pa and my father passed things have changed dramatically, I am no more even welcome to the main house we had when everyone live together.

But still this time when I go , I will make sure I go and take her blessings, even if the other side of the family have threatened to harm me. That doesn’t bother me because my parents my mother and father have always taught me to respect the elders no matter who they are , and the BEST thing they taught me was that no matter what fights the Grown ups had I should always respect them as I did before the fights.

My parents well all i can say is I am thankful they are my parents , WHATEVER,WHOEVER I am is because of them, Whatever I have learned – Earned – Got is all because of all the hard work they both have put in raising me. My parents have both worked very very hard especially since the day they were asked to leave the family house to start in a new house from scratch about a year after my Chacha got married. We started from a humble beginning One room house , as my father did not want to take anything from his father. I have seen some poor times but slowly through hard work my parents raised us. I can proudly say that I have studied in the One of the TOP 5 schools of India in those days.

I am so very thankful to them both, I hope I can live up to their expectations. I pray to god to never let me do anything that would hurt them, and hope sometimes that I have been a good boy in the family and have not hurt anyone deliberately.

I am thankful to god for making sure that I was born in such a beautiful family.

Day 19 :- Retail Therapy Not just for Ladies/Women/Girls

I know I know I missed two days now .. DAMN!!! This writing a post every day of the month is so hard, plus it does not help that it is in the month of January. Too much has happened in the last 3 to 4 weeks, been under tremendous pressure due to some reasons which I am not very comfortable sharing at moment on a public place, Although some of you have been absolute Darlings and been emailing me, I am thankful to you all. I just hope and wish no one goes through it all, tragedies strike in three’s they say so one thing after the other ANYWAY forget that all 🙂

Right then ladies and gentlemen Who said that retail therapy is only for Ladies, OH NO . no no no Noooooooo it is not .. and Who said Retail therapy works .. OH YES. yessssssss yes yes yes yes it WORKS and worked a treat yesterday for sure and by the looks of it , IT is still working although when the credit card bill comes I am not sure how well it will work then.

Saying that I am a good boy I don’t misuse my credit card, since I have a gold card I get lots of points , other benefits , privileges if I use it , so YES I use it for every shopping I do from buying grocery to fuel BUT what I do is at the weekend I make sure I pay the money into it from my Debit account, So usually when the monthly statement comes it is 0.00.

Anyway this is not a gyaan post its on what I did at the weekend, On Saturday I had a phone call from an old old friend Jason who has now shifted to Coventry, hence we don’t get to meet often, he was in town with his little daughter and wanted to meet up, The daughter wanted to watch a movie Taken 3, We organised to watch the movie and then sit for a bite later on. Once all that was done, after the good bye’s I was walking to my car when I happened to walk by the Nike showroom that had an irresistible offer, Everything in there was on 40% off, I RARELY get excited about sales , don’t know why I had this urge to visit, since it was late, the shop had shut by then, I made a mental note that Tomorrow Sunday I will make a trip.

So Sunday afternoon I went to the shop to buy a pair of good shoes, I must tell you here that offer was 40% but because of my job I can get another 10% on it .. so the 50% off was a juicy deal. I was looking for the high-end Lebron or Kobe, But there were none on the shelf, there were some Jordan’s-flights etc, But I already had a pair of them so did not want to spend any money, I felt dejected ,walking back I just happened to ask one of the store guy if they had any Lebron or Kobe in size 10 or 10.5, at first he said No sir everything is on the shelves, but later he asked me to wait to go and see in the back.

After about 5 minutes he came back saying yes they have some in stock but they have not been checked yet or tagged, so will go on the shelf only Tuesday or Wednesday, to which I just said I can’t come back again , I finish work around 10pm , shops close at 5:30, don’t know why or what made him do what he did, maybe my sad-ugly looking face 🙂 , he said wait , he will ask the manager and see if anything could be done, so again I waited..

After another 10-15 minutes he came out holding about 6 or 7 pair of boxes, and believe me when i say that EVERYONE in the shop looked at me, or rather at those boxes being carried to me , I mean I could FEEL THE GAZE of every individual. You know sometimes when you can feel Someone is watching you, a few of the men I could see coming towards and just standing a couple of feet away , looking at each box being opened , so I tried a pair

I liked them, kept that on one side, tried the other one and another one .. For some reason I liked all of them .. and Guess what I did , I bought all of them .. YES you read it right, ALL OF THEM, I am not sure if it was the right decision but I did like all the shoes, could not choose which ones to keep, and the moment I said to the Store guy “I will have all of these”.. the horrified look on everyone else around, as if saying HOW DARE I BUY THEM ALL. They were almost going to jump on me or at the boxes after I had chosen. I really felt I was in danger especially after the way PUBLIC had behaved on the Black friday sales in December, People had gone MAD and that too on a sale which is STILL GOING ON TODAY.

I don’t know what’s wrong with people anymore they are becoming vultures and in-human, TV footage shoes people actually pulling each other’s hair, kicking others, snatching abusing each other to get hold of an item that was on sale.

Anyway coming back to me, Yes I bought all the Lebron pairs , a couple of Jordan flights pair.. 7 pairs of shoes I bought.. you can call me STUPID-IDIOT-SHOW OFF anything , and I have no answer to if you ask me , Why I bought them. I just did. The last time I had bought a pair of shoe was in India , Bangalore in 2012. yeah its been that long.

The problem is my shoes don’t get spoilt that easy because for work I wear combat Magnum shoes and NOTHING happens to them, I got two pairs that I have been using for a few years now. , The other job of computers is sitting job , so shoes are hardly used for anything. Its only when I go running or to a gym or sometimes if I go to parties etc that I wear good shoes, but since last year I have hardly gone to any parties because of my health and all. So I have so many pairs of shoes, Which again brings us back to the point I have no answer why I bought all the pairs. Maybe because they were going cheap.

So to end the story I had a smile and my heart-felt excited, you know bubbly I cant explain the emotion it was like , I wanted to come home or go to a friends and say come come everyone Look what I bought, see see seeeeeee.. I am sure you all know that feeling of excitedness (is that a word)…

Let me conclude here saying that YES retail therapy works and I woke up HAPPY Today, I had post scheduled to be published for the whole week, I stopped that schedule and Wrote this post. 🙂 🙂 Now I am going to publish this and go to Work wearing my New Shoes, One each day yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Here have a look at these lovely shoes ..

The bill was whopping .. But 50% off made the smile broader .. I don’t know if I did the right thing or not, But then that’s ME…..

Day 16 :- Friday Sky-Watch

Friday Skywatch, My entry for the Topic