Back to babble part 2 :)

Back to babble with a time leap on leap day!!

First a flashback ----
"While babble has always been intermittent, this time the pause has stretched on for quite a few months. During the pause, S and me moved to a bigger apartment. Then there were a bunch of business travel related to S's job. In the midst of all this, we managed to sneak in a rainy Thanksgiving camping trip to redwood forests of California. I still need to upload camera clicks from the rainy adventure. The year end holidays saw get-togethers with friends and all the hustle bustle finally got to me. Being under the weather for a while only seemed to add to my laziness quotient. I became too lethargic to even check out the lovely posts on other blogs let alone post something of my own. And now as winter recedes, as cold is ready to be wrapped up and tucked away, as the flower beds are aching to burst out in blooms, as the birds are out early and chirping joyously as day breaks, I too return to babble (hopefully as a regular)."



These were my thoughts last February and they were promptly relegated to the draft post. Why? Because there was another thought that was engulfing my mind overpowering all of my other thoughts, the thought of getting to hear my baby babble back to me. S and me were blessed with a little cherub just in time for our birthdays making September my most favorite month of the year :)

Since then little R has made me look at life from a whole new perspective. So almost six months into motherhood, I now restart my own babble even as my dear little princess delights me with her's. Hopefully I will resume posting on a fairly regular basis.

Sleep-deprived occasionally but smile-endowed often, motherhood sure makes me leap with joy, smile blissfully and feel blessed!!

Pictures are from google images

Thank you!!

As I had indicated in my earlier post, August meant travel time for me and S. It was time to feel patriotic in part because of the Indian Independence day on 15th August and in part because S and me were back in India after two years. Ah the blissful feeling of walking on the soil of your Motherland is unparalleled, even if this bliss lasted for a very short while. The bliss was powerful enough to override the much detested jet-lag. The mere sight of family after 2 long years was like an elixir. S and me escaped the American summer and savored the Indian monsoon. It was a very memorable albeit short trip and it was time to hop on the jet again. A few days with family and a few more for VISA related work sprinkled with visits to a couple of temples and festive celebrations summed up an awesome August. For the time that we were in India, I felt 24 hours in a day were too less. There was so much that I wanted to do but so little time.

While heading back to US, our flight was delayed and so we were fighting against sleep as we waited for our flight in Mumbai. We caught a glimpse of the King Khan of Bollywood aka Shah Rukh Khan as he was being escorted on an airport buggy. He looked like a regular traveller but the crowd of luggage tugging fans that followed the buggy as it chugged along gave away his cult status. I must add that the multiple security checks in Mumbai were by far the most that I have come across. Luckily, the delay was cushioned by our long layover in Europe and we managed to catch our second change flight to reach Portland safe and sound. Strangely enough while the visit to India was exciting and fun-filled, a feeling of relief and joy was what I felt as we unlocked the door we had locked a few weeks ago. There is no land like homeland and no place like home.

September has also meant many celebrations, both S and me turned a year older and wiser. Cerebral babble too celebrated a silent blogoversary a couple of days ago :) Following in the tradition of a blogoversary, I would like to thank all the fellow bloggers who continue to encourage me with their comments and opinions. I have learnt a lot from all of you, listing my learnings would call for a lengthy post and I do not wish to bore you with my babbling. So I'll keep it short and simple, THANK YOU!! 

August absence.

August happens to be one of my favorite months of the year, the others being the months from September to July :P August has an auspicious touch to it since it usually coincides with the holy month of Shravan in Hindu calendar. For us ordinary mortals, this means puja and 'pet puja' or in other words, festivals, fasts and feasts. Also August coincides with summer here in the US and this translates to outdoor activities and travel. S and me have been soaking ourselves in the festive spirit of August and so my blogging has taken a small sabbatical. I'll be back to babbling by September.

Y for yonder

Yonder lies delight,

just past depths of dejection.

Yonder lies light,

just beyond deafening darkness.

Yonder lies the answer,

just past the quandary of questions.

Yonder lies peace,

just beyond the chasm of clamor.

Yonder lies hope,

just past the abyss of doubts.

Yonder lies life,

just beyond point of existence.

Yonder lies a place like never before

a place to satiate our need for more,

a place where your dreams come true,

a place you can be just you,

Yonder lies....

PS: Although the challenge ended last week, I'm putting up this post for the sake of completeness.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for the alphabet Y

Picture is from Google images

X for XOXO

X is an another of the alphabets that leave you flummoxed in A-Z challenges. After thinking about X for Xerox, and the usual wordplay of masking the 'e' that occurs in most words to get an 'X' word, I just decided to go for the symbol XOXO.

Does this image bring back familiar memories? Yes, it is the good old game of tic tac toe on paper. Many of my college notebooks had this scribbled on their last pages, the outcome of sitting through some very boring classes. I was a regular student, writing down notes diligently, bunking occasional classes and struggling to look alert in some of the not so interesting classes. And this game along with doodling was something that did its best to make us look like model students :P

Of course, there is another XOXO that comes to mind, the one we use to sign off our personal mails to mean hugs and kisses.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for the alphabet X.

Picture is from Google images

W for winterhawks

Winterhawks is what the junior ice hockey team based out of Portland are known as. Just a few weeks after we moved to Portland,  S got a couple of free tickets to watch an ice-hockey game as a part of employee benefits at his workplace.We had zero idea about the game of ice hockey, but when you get free tickets, you indulge yourself. So googling about it informed us that Portland Winterhawks are one of the most successful teams that play in the Western Hockey league(Canadian-american cross country league). They are the only Oregonian team out of 5 US teams that play in that league and all the other 4 teams are from the neighboring state of Washington. Wikipedia also told us that a typical ice-hockey game lasts for about two hours and has six players including a goal keeper from each team on the rink where they aim to put the puck into the goal as many times as possible. On game day, we drove with a couple of friends to MODA center or Rose Quarter which is a multipurpose arena for indoor sports, concerts and the like in downtown Portland. It was a lazy weekend evening with crowds strolling leisurely outside the arena, but once we entered the actual arena, we could smell the sporty spirit in the air. Fans dressed in team jerseys, holding horns and flags were excitedly clicking pictures with Tom-a-hawk, the team mascot.

last minute touch-up of the rink

Game ON!!

Fun game during the breaks

Score board

As we settled into our seats, we were greeted by a giant ice-rink being cleaned and readied for the game. The crowd cheered as the team skated onto the ice to line up for the US national anthem. The opponents were from neighboring state of Washington and when the puck was dropped by the referee, the game began. For three sessions of 20 minutes each, the two teams battled it out on ice. Ice hockey is a very fast-paced sport and players were flying on ice it seemed as they maneuvered the puck, passing it, shooting it a the goalpost aiming to score a goal. There were a few skirmishes on the rink which the referees handles deftly, handing out penalties appropriately. Whenever the Winterhawks scored a goal, entire stadium was up on its feet, with fans pumping up their fists to the shouts of "T.N.T". Apparently the song "T.N.T Dynamite" by a hard rock band AC/DC is a sort of team anthem. Similarly power-play periods had the crowds chanting "Let's go Hawks" to drumbeats. There was the usual cheering squad that performed during the 20 minute breaks between each session. Fun games and raffle contest added to the fun quotient. With cotton-candy, popcorn and other munching goodies available, it was an indoor picnic of sorts. At the end of nearly 2 hours, when the final whistle blew and our team won(we are Portlanders after-all), it was time to cheer the victorious home-team as they took a victory-lap around the rink. All in all, it was a wonderful experience to watch a game of ice-hockey, in stadium for free :) We were lucky to get to watch two more games later in the season and needless to say the Winterhawks flag flew high victorious on both occasions. "Let's go Hawks!!"

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for the alphabet W.

Click on the photos to see enlarged images.

U for undo

'Undo' is a command in most computer programs that allows the user to erase the last change made to the document and revert it to an older state. It is a very useful command for it allows us to rectify the mistakes we make. I have wondered many a time how would it have been if there was a undo button or command for our lives. At first thought, I would have wanted to undo many many things, but on pausing and pondering if I really wanted to undo, I honestly feel I would rather not undo anything. I owe what I am to all those moments and events in a way, for they have shaped my thinking, moulded my perspectives on life, toughened me, softened me, sharpened me, changed me. Basically they have influenced me in many ways to make me a better person and helped me evolve into the unique person that I am.

I cannot imagine the confusion that it would cause with each of us trying to undo a different aspect of an event that has already unfolded. No wonder, life does not have a 'Undo' command.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge and today's alphabet is U

Picture is  from Google images

T for transistor

The moment I hear the word transistor, the first thing that comes to my mind today is the semiconductor device, a building block of most of the modern electronic devices. But this was only after I took up engineering. Up until then, transistor to me was that little black box that relayed morning news while we brushed our teeth half asleep. It was the magic box was offered music lovers a chance to enjoy music even when they were traveling. Cricket buffs would get their dose of excitement via the airwaves as commentary rattled out from a tiny pocket transistor.

Aakashwaani or voice of the sky is what the national broadcast service in India is called and this voice was as angelic as it got for not everyone had television for entertainment. I remember listening to wonderful programs on Vividh Bharati,  chaaya geet, sangeet sarita, bhule bisre geet, ek hi film se, aap ki farmaish. The regional service would also air interesting programs, every saturday around noon we would tune in to listen to "baal jagat". I remember when I studied in the 2nd standard, a group of students from our school even recorded a program that was aired as a part of the show a couple of weeks later. The trip to the recording studio was something I remember even to this day for we sat in a glass room with lot of microphones and we could not hear anything from the outside. It was quite an experience. We sang a few songs and delivered lines of a student-teacher conversation sort of play. I remember some of the songs we sang for we had practised for months before the recording. As for the the play, I don't remember a thing. Soon television started airing more programs and we kids weaned away from the radio and got glued to the idiot box. Much later, in the early days of my engineering, FM radio started gaining popularity and with private channels joining in, airwaves offered more variety to the crowd on the move. City travel is now a long drawn affair with traffic jams and the FM channels offer commuters a chance to relax and unwind on their way to/from work. Only now, the good old transistors are replaced by cell phones and i-pods.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet T

Picture is  from Google images

S for salt to taste

"Salt to taste" is a phrase we often see in most recipes and it means the recipe you have prepared needs to be seasoned with salt as per your taste. And no it does not translate to adding so much salt as to actually make the dish salty but just enough to enhance the other flavors. Salt is found on every food table and in every kitchen across the globe. While today salt may not be all that expensive, there was a time when it was prized by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Wars were waged over salt. In fact the word salary originates from Latin word "salarium" which referred to the money paid to the Roman Army's soldiers for the purchase of salt. And of course how can we forget the role of salt Satyagraha movement in Indian freedom struggle. Salt is used as a preservative, to de-ice roads in the winters and a whole host of manufacturing processes.

The stand-out feature of salt is too much of it can ruin the dish, while its presence in just the right amounts can make a simple dish taste heavenly.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for the alphabet S.

Picture is  from Google images

Q for quirky Q

The alphabet 'Q' is the second rarest alphabet to be used after 'Z' and for most part it is invariably followed by alphabet 'U'. It really is a queen of rare letters. Whenever I picked up the 'Q' tile in scrabble, I have fervently searched for a 'U' tile for that seems to be the only logical direction to proceed. I'm quite sure, many of you have been stuck in the same quagmire. Think about this queerness. Can you list out words that begin with 'Q' but are not followed by 'U'. Take quick peek into the dictionary in the quest for "q" words and you will no longer question this quaint quality or quirk of Q for your doubts will be quelled by the quantity of words with q followed by a u.

Don't quit, the answers to the quiz on Q (some of the words that begin with Q but not followed by U)-
Qat
Qawwali and a bunch of words with arabic origin like Qaid, Qadi, Qasida
Qi
Qintar
Qiviut
Qigong
Qwerty

This was a quibble (a play on words)!! Ok I'll be quiet now, no more quips :P

Just one more , couldn't resist putting up this quote from Ambrose Bierce.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet Q

Picture is  from commons.wikimedia.org

P for paper

Call me old fashioned but I would rather read a book made of paper held in my hand than read the same content on a tablet or kindle. The feeling of holding the page between your fingers as you read the book, pausing a while before flipping it as you continue your read is something that is out of the world. If it is a new book, the paper feels very smooth and somewhat crisp and in case of a book that has passed through many hands, the paper feels different, worn out in a way. There is a distinct smell of new books and a typical moist odor when the book has been re-read umpteen times. In case of e-books, this sense of smell and touch is missing and makes the reading experience a tad incomplete. 

Same goes with writing, the satisfaction I get when I scribble on paper with a pen or pencil in my hand is absent when I type the same on my laptop or cellphone. Not that I have a beautiful handwriting or anything, my writing is fairly neat and legible. It is just that it feels more complete when you feel the paper while you put down your thoughts. Yes, I know and agree that we need to minimize wastage of paper for ecological reasons. I only hope that the future generations too get a chance to savor the experience of reading from paper they can feel and writing on it with a pen in their hand. Technology and time have revolutionized  a great many things and simplified life, but at the same time they have taken away simple pleasures and added invisible complexities in our everyday existence.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet P

N for neighbors

Yesterday when I was sipping my evening coffee looking out from the patio, my mind casually went back to my days in Bangalore. Those were the days when on weekends we would savor our morning cup of coffee (I miss that filter coffee big-time now but that's another story) out in the balcony. Appa* would be engrossed in the day's headlines, while me and my brother would be eagerly waiting to get a dekko at it, while Amma** would be busy putting rangoli. Now and then we could hear the occasional milkman or newspaper-boy cycling on the road and the flower-sellers rattling of the list of flowers they had to offer. Soon it  would be the turn of the vegetable vendors to start the day's business, pushcarts and cycles laden with fresh vegetables would ply about. One constant fixture while all of it unravelled on the street, our front door neighbors. No matter what time of the day or even night , OK not dead of the night but late in the night even up-to midnight our front-door neighbors could be found chatting amongst themselves or soaking in the sun. Their loud voices would sometimes wake me up just as I had settled into a pleasant dream. They would shout at the top of their voices even over the phone almost as if they were in direct conversation with the person at the other end without the support of the telephone network. They were friendly no doubt but quite nosy and sure enough had an enviable know-how about the neighborhood. In a way, they acted like a security system for there would always be a pair of eyes on the lookout. I used to get annoyed by their presence sometimes, but many times I even felt reassured that they were there.

In the apartments that we reside now, we do not even know who resides in the adjoining apartment. Sometimes while climbing the stairs, we see people who we know reside on the same floor as we do and we just exchange smile some times or just go about our work indifferent to human presence. I know with changing times, outlooks have changed and people realize the need for privacy. Then there is the proverbial busy life, no time for others logic. I wish there was a balance between nosy and indifferent neighbors. All said and done, man is a social animal and this means we need human contact beyond social media,  more of a face to face interaction and acknowledgement than boxed lifestyle.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet N

*Appa- Father 

**Amma- Mother 

M for mango

Mango is one fruit that has a special place in Indian homes. The leaves feature prominently in all auspicious undertakings. The fruit finds its ways into our mouths in a wide variety of forms whether in its sour yet sweet raw green form or the juicy and sweet ripe yellow version. Nothing tickles the tastebuds like slices of Totapuri with a sprinkle of salt and chilli-powder. Or you can choose to gulp down a glass of aam-panna to beat the heat on a scorching summer day. Bowls of aam-ras being polished off or slices of this yummy fruit disappearing in minutes is a common story of lazy summer afternoons. Many homes also stock up on their annual pickle quota by bottling up mango slices and pulp with a special mixture of spices. To cater to the sweet tooth, Jams, morabba, gulamba, avakkai, maavinkai thokku whatever be the form and name, just their very thought makes my mouth water. Many a times, these recipes are treasured and handed down for generations, off late this annual event is on the decline for today we can get a mind boggling variety of pickles in the market in almost all parts of the world.  Mango flavored rice,  chutneys, pickles, aamra-khand(shrikhand with mango), the list can go on. In fact, raw mango is used in place of lemon and tamarind in many preparations to bring twist to routine cuisine.

It is the national fruit of India and more than half of the world's mangoes are cultivated in India. The hindi name for this delicious fruit is misleading if you ask me. "Aam" as it is called in hindi also means common, but this fruit is anything but that. It should be renamed "khaas" aka special. There a nearly 400 varieties of mangoes to choose from and though today we can see mangoes in the market almost all year long, the taste is unparalleled only during the season of mangoes. So between late march and early july it is time to go mangoes about this king of fruits.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet M

J for Jungle book

The first movie I watched in a movie theatre is Jungle book. Naturally I hardly remember much of the movie for I was a little under two years of age and . I only recall it had something to do with a boy in a jungle where there was a talking bear, tiger, a snake, elephant and some huge dogs which I now know were wolves. And of course a tiger which was quite scary and evil looking.

Years later, Jungle book returned to enthrall me as a kid, this time on Door-darshan or the national TV channel of India. So every sunday morning, my brother and me would eagerly look forward to the adventures of Mowgli. This was a Japanese anime that was dubbed in Hindi with noted lyricist Gulzar penning the title track and Vishal Bharadwaj composing the music. Nana Patekar was the voice of Sher Khan. It was fun to watch Mowgli learn new things about the jungle with Bagheera, a panther and Baloo, a bear. For mischief, he had his fellow wolf-brothers Akdoo and Pakdoo and his pet red-panda Pappu for company. Sher Khan, the villainous tiger and his side-kick, a hyena called Tabaqui used to try and corner Mowgli in almost every episode.

I still remember bits and pieces of the theme song of this lovable animated series. Listening to it reminds me of the carefree days of childhood. You can relive those memories by checking out this youtube video

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet J

Picture is  from Google images

I for inked

She had turned eighteen and there was nothing she looked forward to more. She strode purposefully into the building, making her way to the room. She flashed her ID card, walked nervously into the booth. Out she stepped with a satisfied smile, inked and proud of it. She had just cast her first precious ballot.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet I

Picture is  from Google images

G for Google

What do you do when you want a list of all flowers that start with letter 'Q'? You Google it!
You want to know what are your options for a quick lunch you to treat your friends to, no problem, Google will help you find one. Not sure which movie your girlfriend was talking about on your last date, but you remember the actor, well then ask Google and you'll get the answer!! Want to impress your guests with a home-made delicacy but you don't want to ask your mother, Google will dish out the recipe for you. Basically Google the search engine is nothing short of Google the know-it-all when you need any kind of information. Of course, you cannot always trust what Google tells you but by and large it points you towards the right direction in your quest and seldom disappoints you.

The search engine first started off as 'BackRub' (this was what Google was known as during its initial days in Stanford) before its creators Larry Page and Sergei Brin zeroed in on the name "Google" which is derived from the mathematical term for a seemingly infinite or large number Googol(1 followed by 10 zeroes). Today 'Google' is a verb that means Search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet using the search engine Google according to Oxford dictionary.


You can even get a search engine that has your name instead of "google", try this link funny google
Google also comes out with interesting variations of it logo to celebrate holidays and lives of famous personalities. Some of these doodles are interactive too. You can check them out at Google doodles.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet G

F for fairness creams

'Fair and lovely' is a name of a popular fairness cream that promises lighter skin with regular use. There are a dozen other fairness products all of which strive to provide its customers with "fair, blemish free, glowing, beautiful skin".Over the past decade, fairness cream advertisements have attracted a fair share of criticism for promoting the idea of fairer (lighter complexion)skin-tone being the key to securing a job or a much-sought after affection and interest of the most eligible bachelor in town. If a girl is slightly dark or dusky, it is the end of the world for her, her future is a million shades darker. Funny thing is nowadays even the men have been sucked into the black-hole of "fair skin". There are a bunch of fairness products for men and equally ridiculous ads where Bollywood actors and cricketeers endorse a xyz brand and advise distraught, love-lost young men that they too can win the affection of the girl of their dreams by dabbing themselves with a cream. After all life is all about glitz and glamor, and hogging the limelight, right?  Ridiculous claims and rubbish advertisements aside, I often wonder what is the connection between lighter skin tone and beauty. Does merely lighter skin color make a person beautiful? What of the dark thoughts, cruel intentions that lie hidden beneath the layer of "fair" fat? The obsession with fair skin borders on the ridiculous in Indian mindset.

Fairness also means being free from bias, dishonesty or injustice. Will people ever realize that there is more to fairness than just complexion? Beauty is not just skin-deep. Real beauty lies hidden deep within, visible only to the hearts that realize this subtle truth.
I want the whole world to be fair and lovely, give me a cream that can turn the world fair and make it a lovely place to live in.


This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge for alphabet F

D for Donald Duck

Think cartoons and almost immediately we think of Mickey Mouse and his disney bandwagon and Tom and Jerry. My favorite cartoon character is Donald Duck. He might not have the star-power of Mickey Mouse but he certainly has a charm of his own. His happy-go-lucky nature and the strange blend of mischief and naiveness makes him affable. For most part he goes about his own business but he is easily distracted. And boy when he looses his temper, which he does quite frequently, it is time to just roll on the floor laughing at the goof-ups that follow. The way he whistles as he works by himself, mumbling to himself, how he flares up when riled by silly happenings, how blames his bumblings on Kismet in his inimitable style make me feel he is more like any normal person and less of a cartoon.

Sometimes he is joined by his nephews, the pesky trio of  Huey, Dewey, and Louie. His love interest is Daisy, a duck in her trademark pink dress and bow. When S and me visited Disneyland in LA, California, we managed to get a pic taken with the lovable Donald. But I can't share it in my blog for I generally don't share personal photos in my blog.

Did you know :
- Donald Duck first appeared in a cartoon released on June 9th, 1934 and so that is his official date of birth.
- Donald has a star on Hollywood walk of fame in Los Angeles and his footprints in front of the nearby Chinese theatre.

-Donald has appeared in more films than any other Disney character, Donald has 178 versus Mickey's 137 theatrical films.

And if you want an Oregon connection, you get that too. Donald Duck is an honorary alumnus of University of Oregon J

On a closing note, I thought I'll include the theme song of Donald Duck from youtube here : Donald Duck theme song

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge and today's alphabet is D.

Donald in Disneyland picture is  from Google images and the other two are sourced from Wikipedia

Click on the photos to see enlarged images.

C for coffee

Coffee is my elixir, there I said it. It is not like I'm addicted to this heavenly beverage, just that the aroma of coffee lifts up spirits and adds a spring to my step. Mere aroma of coffee works its magic on me, though I do sip on it every once in a while, certainly not multiple times a day. But when it rains, I crave for a cup of coffee almost subconsciously.

Back in Bangalore, one comes across 'coffee works' shops that roast the coffee beans of your choice and blend it with a proportion of chicory to suit your taste before selling it to their customers, most of whom are regular customers for tens of years. It is favored over tea in most parts of South India. In fact, aroma of fresh filter coffee wafts through most kitchens first thing every morning. Today, there are hundreds of CCDs or cafe coffee day outlets and Baristas that have mushroomed in most Indian cities  offering a variety of interesting variants of the brew, namely cappuccino, expresso, cold coffees in various flavors. They serve as hang outs for the youth and even act as venues for informal business meetings.

Portland, Oregon is home to impressive number of local coffee houses and coffee bars that cater to the coffee-loving crowd. I feel the rains that are typical of Pacific Northwest are partly responsible for popularity of the brew that comes from bitter brown beans. Starbucks, world's largest coffeehouse company began its humble journey in the early 1970's in Seattle, Washington. Today, it boasts of outlets on all inhabited continents of the world.

Sipping on coffee and sinking into a comfy chair by the window with a book in hand when it is raining is certainly my idea of pampering.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge and today's alphabet is C.

Picture is  from Wikipedia

B for baggage

All of us have used some kind of a bag to hold and carry our belongings at some point in time. Whenever we travel from one place to another, we carry one or multiple bags of various kinds such that all that we need is accommodated in a manner convenient for us to handle it. In case of air travel, there are restrictions on the type and weight of the luggage allowed per passenger and even on the contents allowed to be in the baggage. For an additional fee, a passenger can take along extra baggage but even that has limitation.

If we consider life to be a journey, what about the baggage we would like to take along? While we should be carrying our hopes and dreams, we should pause a while before carrying along worrisome thoughts and fears. We should not burden ourselves with misgivings and grudges. Instead we should just take the lessons learnt from each experience along with us.  While some memories are harder to leave behind,  most of the time it is no use lugging around memories that pull us down with grief and sorrow. In fact some of the thoughts in our minds fall under the prohibited luggage category, toxins of all kind are banned on flights, similarly negative feelings have no place in our lives. It is only natural for negativity to creep into our lives but like a smart traveller we should take care to check what we carry in  our hearts during the journey of our lives and weed out unnecessary thoughts. Of course, this is easier said than done, but a little conscious effort will go a long way in making our journeys meaningful. Traveling light is the smart way to travel and enjoy the beautiful journey of life.

This post is shared with April A-Z blogging challenge and today's alphabet is B.

Picture is  from Google images