ChirpyQuill

   Piping chhole(chickpeas) with fluffy just out of the wok bhature is our catch-all 🍴. Its for all emotions(Bored,Tired,Happy,Sad," kuch achha khana hai "," aaj khana nahin banana hai "..😃) and distances (FM,HM,10K,5k,1 mile and  0 miles 😴) . So, last year-end I signed up to train for a spring full marathon. Though I didn't believe that I was ready, my husband of 2 decades felt it was high time I spent more time outside pacing the pavement than indulging in my favorite nagging-at-home hobby ..whatever 😃. And thus began my journey at a pace closer to 15 min/mile. Sometimes walkers on the pavement would ask me"Aren't you cold dear" on my fourth mile and I would simply smile back thinking "Naa. just running in slow motion."   My lovely coach always encouraging me with her words of wisdom that slow and steady is good and on race day I would rewrite a different story. The story of me finishing 26.2 miles in 61/2 hours.. Naa scratch that.....

  A genie appeared in my dream and said ”two wishes I’ll grant you”  My husband said he heard me scream “That’s too good to be true!”  “Make my bank balance like my laundry basket, No matter how much laundry I do (withdraw), it seems to refill by itself” Said the genie “That’s an issue faced by so many girls, my dear Trust me you’re not alone” I then said “Wouldn’t it be great if my bank balance increases as fast as my weight? The genie laughed and said much as I would love to grant you this, there are something’s a genie just can’t do! And so I woke up from my sleep because sometimes dreams don’t come true                                                       ................................... Leena

I absolutely love and adore women, girls, the female form and all that it entails. From my daughter to my Mom to my lover, and everything in between. They are just so rich and complex and beautiful in their design and depth and color and beauty, that I cannot stop admiring them for who they are. Men too are fabulous creations for sure, but I kind of know them some, being one myself. Women, a different story. Just so lovely to continue to get to discover their beauty in all their avatars.   One such delightful avatar is my daughter and by extension her teenage friends. They are all wide eyed and bushy tailed about life, as they should be. They are discovering and exploring their femininity, it’s power, it’s travails and all that jazz. My teenage daughter would sit sometime in her room and color her nails or just do her hair this way and that way. The door is closed on the outside world when she does this, but am sure her inside world is wide open then. At other times, she tidies up ...

 Sound of Gong - Revisited When I'm tired, stressed and restless, I close my eyes and take a deep breath and everything comes live like a movie reel. I go back in time to early 90s and experience myself sitting in a meditative pose at the    Namgyal Monastery   located in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala, India.   Here comes the sound of GONG, the peace and sound of silence When I visited Dharamshala (HP, India) for the first time. I was visiting the Tibetan monastery library in McLot Ganj and in the evening I had the privilege of visiting the Buddhist temple. The Gong's sound was coming in and phasing out and I was feeling as if I had an out of body experience while sitting down in a meditative pose at the age of 22. Till date I go into a different state of mind when hear the sound of Gong. Maybe I was a Buddhist in my previous life as the sound of Gong makes me totally relaxed and calm. 

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; I hear people using this term in snarky remarks these days. DEI is occasionally used as a checkbox to make it appear as though a company achieved progress by someone's criteria.  Let's think about it for a little. Isn't DEI a quota system with no clear definition? Is meritocracy doomed? Why should race, gender, and socioeconomic status be relevant? Why is it that as leaders, we are unable to look past appearances and concentrate on the person? Why do we feel the need to label people according to their race, gender, interests, and a myriad of other characteristics? Are we losing the human element? Bureaucratic activities can overshadow the essence of dignified, compassionate individuals within the program definition of DEI. There are legitimate concerns voiced since these projects may not always follow the desired course and fail to include the human factor. One danger of a checklist mentality is that it might erode the basic...

 Hmm, so what's the easiest way to extend your vacation? Simple & Sweet: Rise and shine early 🌞🌞 Well simple yes but not at all sweet if you have teenage kids and a nagging wife.. Wife:" Ab vacation pe 5 baje uthna pade toh vacation thodee naa huee..Vacation hai yaa koi race. " Kid 1: " Bro, this is not fair.. who wakes up at 5 on a  vacation. " Kid 2 exasperated: " Do we even have to go to Miami...Why???? " Grudgingly all 3 squeeze in the early morning Uber ride giving menacing stares to the only person who is happy as a clam."Wait till you feel the Miami Breeze at 10:30 am"  our travel planner/husband/dad retorts gleefully.✈ ✈ Satya vachan From the cold winters of the Northeast to the tropical breeze of Miami in less than 3 hours...The palm trees felt like paradise on touch down. In a minute all the grudges of the early morning flight were gone. Having the whole day to spend in Miami felt blissful. Travel Gyaan-1 :Take early morning f...

It’s Jan 22nd, 2024 and finally I am resolved about an overarching blueprint for 2024 that is worth going after. That blueprint is to hold my ground and seek Alpha.   Whether it is financial, fitness, relationship or professional goals, we all start out with resolve, with specific objectives and with a game-plan. We even build resilience into the plan by incorporating some flexibility and/or hiring a coach. However along the way life happens. A debilitating flu and resulting loss of time and strength may throw us off from the entire season. A leaking roof may throw us off of our financial goals for the year. We essentially cede ground at a certain level of resistance from life and once derailed find it difficult to climb back onto the wagon again. A state of fluidity then ensues and we let go. We do not hold our ground.  This same phenomenon also plays out in our relationship world. A belligerent child, an aggressive boss, an abusive spouse and we buy peace by continually cedi...

                                              Lighted Naked Tree    Walking on a cold, winter late afternoon and deeply engrossed in my thoughts, I happened to look at the trees around. What could be interesting about winter? I wondered for a moment, “Cloudy, cold, dry, dull days surrounded by still naked trees”. Suddenly, I felt a strong connection between me and a dull wintry day.                              My personal life was going through an emotional roller-coaster and I was dealing with lots of health issues too. Together it was driving me nuts. I felt as if my life had turned into that cold, still wintry day. While walking, I reached at the end of my street and happened to notice a lovely gigantic, lighted nake...

  This came in my Facebook feed this morning, while I was twiddling my thumbs, literally and metaphorically. I give myself an hour’s writing time each morning. Sometimes I complete a prior piece and sometimes I try to figure out a new one. This morning I had nothing of consequence going on. My poem had lost it’s charm to me, so I had finally abandoned it. Then I saw this.  “The Face of Seti I. Seti I's face is one of the best preserved in all of Ancient Egyptian history. He died 3,298 years ago and reigned while on one of Egypt's wealthiest peaks. One of the most famous pharaohs of all time, II. He was Ramses' father. The greatest pharaoh of all time. When he died, Egyptian Mummification was at the pinnacle of absolute perfection. It is generally considered the best preserved mummy in the world.” First, the aesthetics of the face caught my attention.    The peaceful composure of it, the big nostrils, the cheekbones and perfect lips. A good looking man he was, with im...

Though time may shrivel our bodies some may our hearts yet expand and grow your skin and mine may lose some shine may our souls yet forever glow it’s not time’s toll on our body that we need fear the most it’s our heart and soul, when they dry up life’s curtain draws to a close a blossoming heart will forevermore shine through those wrinkled eyes a vibrant spirit will peek through no matter how much one hides the messy dirt, the soil of the land it harbors all that grows the prettiest flower and the sweetest fruit from it’s bosom they spring forth it’s our hearts, the soil of the land that need nurture, tending and toil the youthful skin, the gleaming smile then beam forever from it’s core some compassion and some gratitude  when we pour into our roots lasting are the vibrant hues of our radiant Heart and Soul