Monkton Mondays!

Monday again! How regularly they turn up! Oh well…it has been a quiet weekend and although Hubby returned from a week-long absence and entertained Junior for a couple of hours…well that’s just it…it’s a couple of hours out of the 24 and not nearly enough…but hey! I’ll take what I can get. I’m a little out of sorts…can you tell? It’s how I typically react when Hubby gets back from being away…there’s the return to a more intensive routine that bugs me for a while versus the joy of having him home. It takes a few days to get things in balance again. The achievement of that equilibrium is however a delicate process – easily derailed – often by silliness and randomness 😛 You know what I mean…having to make a cup of tea when I’m deeply engrossed in a book…that sort of thing 😉 Also, is it just me or does just the one extra person mean so much extra work and planning?!

Oh I know I’m cribbing…who cares! It’s Monday and I’m entitled…especially because I’ve just received a phone call from my maid’s Mom saying she isn’t well and won’t be coming to work today…so as soon as I get breakfast for said, now unsurprisingly, even more irritating Hubby, (this is a very Asian thing me thinks; this getting all het up with the Hubby when the maid disappears!), it’s off to do a sink full of dirty dishes and other ‘housework’, when I’d rather be writing! See what I mean! Well, at least she called which is more than some others do!

But there is one thing I did this morning that might just be my ‘Happy Fix’ for the day…took a picture of the beautiful, luminous moon at 6 am as soon as I got up 🙂 Just writing about it brightens my mood! So I guess it’s true about the Deadly Donkey then…

Well now! Isn’t that a deep rhyme to be living by! Sounds a lot like my Granny actually 😛 Thank you Mr. Monkton for your deep insights!

So today…I choose the Moon in all her wonderful lunacy! 

Isn’t she beautiful? 🙂

And you? Choose well People!

Happy Monday 🙂 

Monkton Mondays!

It’s that time of year again! February’s here and the World will go crazy in  or at least pretend to 😉 Come Valentine’s Day, all those who are lucky in Love will celebrate and those that are not will hang down their heads and cry…I suppose…or hold them high and celebrate for all I know 😛 I have no problems with Love and even less of a problem with celebrating it, but these days, it seems like everyone celebrates it because it’s what’s expected somehow, because they want to feel like they belong. I also don’t like how Valentine’s Day has become almost exclusively about ‘romantic’ love! Just my personal opinion – feel free to hold your own!

I have known my husband for 25 years. We’ve been married 22 of those. Our love has been fluid through the course of our relationship – as a lubricant when there was need for compromise; like water – for dousing out those infernal arguments; a fuel – for you know when 😉 It’s also been the glue that has held us together; the rubber band that has allowed us our space when we needed it; and the hope that keeps us afloat in the many storms that Life sends our way. And that’s how it been in ALL my relationships – with my Parents, my Gran, my friends and now with my Son…Love does what it can to show me a good time if I let it! If I don’t interfere too much, it generally knows best, even if I don’t see it at the time 😛

And so here is a collection of Valentine Day messages in inimitable Monkton-style…messages that I would love to send and receive on VD if I were into that sort of thing 😉 

Especially because you are 😉

Mon 10.03 am Just after I finish writing this post 😛

Let’s not!

Let us be Monkeys I say 🙂

True dat 😛

Me Biscuit, You Potato!

Happy Monday People!

Celebrate LOVE…Everyday! Always & Forever, Won’t you? ❤

Happy 2014 with Monkton Mondays!

So here we go again! A New Year is upon us with endless potential or pitfalls depending on how we choose to look at it 😉 and how well we learned last year’s lessons.

This year end has been quite spectacular for me! I spent Christmas and New Year in Goa surrounded by family and friends, music, dancing, much laughter and more alcohol 😛 I love the upbeat mood a good, hearty celebration puts me in 🙂 There’s promise in the air – of good times to come, of obstacles overcome, of dreams fulfilled and goals achieved…and even if it is fleeting & largely illusionary – who cares 😛 It’s good while it lasts and I for one choose to savour the feeling.

2013 as I said in my previous post or I think I did, (it’s too long ago to remember!) was another transitional year for us as a family. We moved from Bombay to Bangalore and are just beginning to find our footing in our new city. 2014, will hopefully see us getting more comfortable  – in our city, our home and in our skins! It’ll be a journey as always, a roller coaster of a ride I have no doubt 😉 But I feel good about it in this moment and that’s what I’m holding on to. I don’t make resolutions anymore – I never keep them anyway, but I do have a few things I hope to achieve this year. I’ll share them when and if I do 😉 Wish me Luck! 

And so in keeping with all these good vibes and positive feelings, I thought this simple message from Mr. Monkton a great way to begin the Year with, not in the least because as I grow older, my ongoing endeavour is ‘To Keep it Simple.’ I find that more often than not – it keeps me out of trouble 😉

So here we go Folks without further ado…2014…LIVE IT 😀

 

Monkton Mondays!

This will be my last Monkton Monday post for a while. The next one, with any luck will be on the 3rd of June, since I’m away for the whole of May! YAY Me 😀 Am rather busy getting all the last minute stuff organized at the moment. Closing house for a month at a time is no joke! And although I have great plans of updating the blog regularly, at least with pictures, while on Vacation – I know myself too well to believe I will 😛

So, I thought I would leave you guys with a rather sweet thought from Monkton to brighten up your day and in deed your Summer 🙂

I have no idea if indeed Elephants find Joy and Wonder in each little thing they do…but I’m not about to argue with Mr. Monkton?! 😉 Are you? 😛 Especially, when he does look rather Joyful doesn’t he 😉

Have a Wonderful Summer People and Happy Holidays 😀

Monkton Mondays!

Have had a lovely weekend 🙂 Friday night at the Jehan Numan Palace Hotel in Bhopal…a wonderful place to rest your head after a tiring day! Saturday evening at Van Vihar, Bhopal watching a couple of lazy tigers and busy birds (this time I carried my zoom!) and back home on Sunday, spent the entire day having a ball with the family 😀 Oh! And as I type – the doorbell rings and my driver is back from a week-long vacation that turned into a month-long sojourn!! It’s nothing short of a Miracle! Hallelujah!!

Life is good except of course for the heat that is worsening and makes me want to hurt someone, anyone 😛 Perhaps I’m overreacting but I think not! I blame it on The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning – my 4th e-book (Go Figure ;)), a darkly hilarious, brilliant book that I’m having a hard time putting down – digitally speaking 😛

And so since the heat still continues to set the tone for my week…I’m satisfying my need for the cooler climes vicariously as always through the excellent Mr. Monkton. 

Uh huh!! And that’s where I’ll be ending up soon, if the heat continues 😉

Happy Monday People! May it be cooler than mine and remember there are worse places than the Bonkers House 😉 So if counting snowflakes is your thing – don’t let anything stop you 😛

Have a wonderful week ahead 🙂

Monkton Mondays!

I’ve had a fun weekend – Saturday I attended my first Bookclub and met a lovely set of women and Sunday was restful – lounging at home, trying to cool down, escaping from the muggy, oppressive heat that has taken over Bombay 😦 I shudder to think of April & May – still to come, before the Monsoons (if they are on time!), bring us some much needed relief. If all goes well, won’t be here in May 😀

Weather like this makes me lazy, as in lazier than I already am 😉 I feel rather British now, seeing as this post is going to be almost all about the weather 😛 Well, “In for a penny, In for a pound!” so why stop now? Anyways, it makes me lazy and languid and somnolent – the perfect combination for thinking deep thoughts! No?! You sure?! I can imagine Mr. Monkton being in just such a state when he wrote this little pearl of wisdom 😛 What do you think?

I’m feeling rather like a chicken myself right now! One that’s being rotisseried to a golden crisp for others to enjoy 😉

I hope the weather’s better where you’re at!!

Have a cool week ahead People!

Monkton Mondays!

What with Women’s Day just gone and Mahashivaratri celebrated yesterday, I thought I would keep the whole Man/Woman theme going for another day 😉 It’s always an interesting…mmmm, lets see…is ‘battle’ the word I’m looking for? 😛 Maybe I should be polite and say ‘encounter’ 😉 Oh whatever! Who cares?! It’s yet another Monday and time to roll up our sleeves and deal with the week ahead!

Here’s a little Monkton Magic to set you off on a great start 😀

To all the ‘silly little men’ & ‘magnificent women’ out there…Have a good week People 😉

Monkton Mondays!

This last weekend was so typical of how my days tend to be – a peculiar mix of chaos and quiet. Saturday was busy and chaotic – culminating in Ishaan’s Annual Day, at the Iskon Auditorium. It was a wonderful celebration entitled ‘Choo Mantar’, which is loosely the equivalent of ‘Abracadabra’ 🙂 and which focused on the things fast disappearing from the lives of our children today – healthy food, healthy habits, playing outdoors, family interactions. Through little skits, the children showed us guilty parents what they really valued and what is truly precious! From the mouth of babes 😛

There were dances too and Ishaan’s class danced to one of my favorite kiddie songs of all time, ‘Ladki Ki Kaathi’ from Masoom, one of my favorite movies of all time 🙂 They were so perfectly angelic and their innocence so palpable – how could I not cry? 😉 So I did and enjoyed the therapeutics 😉 That was Saturday. In contrast Sunday was quiet and except for a bit of grocery shopping and finally placing an order for an iPad (notice how I slid that in there so smoothly? ;)), we just relaxed at home. Hubby left late afternoon on a business trip, while Ishaan took a much needed nap and I lost myself in Wild by Cheryl Strayed – an excellent book to be lost in! The review will follow shortly on The Reading Habit.

And so that brings me neatly back to Monday and another encounter with Mr. Monkton. This week I was inspired by ‘Wild’ and I thought this gem from Mr. Monkton captured the essence of the book perfectly! The theme of the book is indeed ‘Anything is Possible!’

Have a wonderful week ahead, pondering those possibilities People! 😉

Monkton Mondays!

This Monday’s illustration caught my eye because I’ve finally finished reading the surreal, fantastical, Booker prize winner The Famished Road by Ben Okri. It’s a profound read, in some of the most gorgeous descriptive prose I have ever read, but it’s also overwhelming and at times overbearing, like Life itself!!

So it’s with a sense of relief that I read the final page and turned to Mr. Monkton who has his own take on Life matters and philosophy of the most import and thankfully doesn’t need close to 600 pages in which to present it 😛

Sometimes…a line drawing is all you need 😉

I rest my case!!

Have a good week ahead People 😀

Monkton Mondays!

Yup! It’s that time of the week again…the Beginning…and I’ve decided that since I love Monkton so much and think he’s a great way to start a day, a week, most things in fact; and because I love the cheesy alliteration…Mondays will henceforward be ‘Monkton Mondays’…well at least until he stops creating new stuff which I hope is a long long way away 😛

Before I post this week’s Monkton pearl however, let me share with you a rather startling thing that happened last evening. Ishaan and I were downstairs playing cricket and having fun as we always do, when he does all the running around ;), when there appeared a Monkey!! No!!! Really!!! Ishaan had hit the ball for a six and as I was following it in the air, there it was, a Monkey, walking along the ledge of the house next door, bold as can be! I couldn’t believe my eyes and my shrieks brought Ishaan & the watchman running over to see what had happened! Mr. Monkey meanwhile having reached the end of his jaunt, calmly leaped onto the coconut palm in our compound and then onto a fruit tree of some sort in the neighboring one, where he settled down to eat, oblivious to the curious if rather nervous observers below 😛 That done, he leaped on to the wall again and disappeared from view, as suddenly as he had appeared. The whole episode was so surreal, I only believe it coz I saw it with my own eyes! How does one solitary monkey find it’s way to a Bandra neighborhood far from the  National Park (here in Mumbai), or the valleys and mountains, which are its natural home? I’m sure I don’t know! Ishaan was excited though and kept calling to it to come bowl 😛 while I kept yelling at him to stop lest the creature suddenly obliged 😉 Now I can’t bear to leave the windows open for fear of a Monkey invasion!!

And since Monkton is the best way I know to explain the inexplicable, here we go 😛

Couldn’t find one in a larger size 😦

As I type, I remember, I’m a Monkey…well in many ways 😉 but more specifically in a Chinese Horoscope kinda way…I was born in the year of the Monkey…that I have a rich & rare genius is obvious by the fact that I married a Rabbit 😛

Cheers to the Inner Monkey, People. Revel in it’s Genius, Glory and yes – in its Madness 😉

Have a Great week ahead 🙂