A letter to my best friend

You and me. We wanted to live our lives in a tree. We played ‘aiming the ball inside the basket, hiding ourselves from professors while bunking classes, joined swimming classes just to enjoy the open shower (with our swimsuits on!). We walked every evening discussing what we’ll be, where we’ll be and who we’ll be with. We loved udhari ka vada pav with ketchup & green chillies. We named the trees. We scribbled Arabic bad words on the walls of our college. We love Bishop’s & singing at sunday mass. We love Pune. We lived together for 5 days in the mountains. I enjoyed getting wet in the rain and you hated to see me sneezing. You loved wine & I loved its color. You were my bodyguard & I was your lucky charm saving from dad & mom's scolding. We ate Bournvita powder late in the night. We loved Titanic and sang “Every night in my dreams....” during pyjama parties. I was like of your first love and you let it go. You supported my act of pretending to be a conceiving lady to run away from the cops. You desired to have a daughter like me & I wished a boy who would pamper me more than you. We rocked the dance floor and slapped may boys. We enjoyed spending our weekends with those cute looking orphan kids. Daydreaming of how we would seduce our love by wearing orange bikini saree while walking on the beach. My test car drive & you sitting next to me saying your final thanks giving to Lord. Pulling Bahadur uncles mustache, plucking roses from your neighbors garden & screaming out our favorite DJ’s name at the DJ war….gosh we have done it all. I have lived many lives in this time and enjoyed all that I never dreamt.

Yes, even if you are away from me…. you are in my every smile as I enjoy the rain
… you are in my every tear when I miss you in the dance floor
… no more credit cards can buy me the taste of our udhari ka vada pav

I hate new people loving you. You love new people loving me.
Jaannn Thank you for these memories.

Your handwriting is your mirror... know yourself

I was always told that I don’t know how to judge people… I have this hobby of blindly trusting people and believe me it has never harmed. 2 years back my friend pulled me to Graphology learning workshop.

60+ aged cute looking and totally in love couple hosted the workshop.

Graphology was their PhD topic & were in India to spread awareness about this science. First day we were asked to submit our sample full paged handwriting. During the introduction round I said, “I wish to learn as I want to judge & know people I am dealing with”. On this my teacher told “Dear, u first need to know yourself & let that be the focus for your learning”.

He analyzed my handwriting and it was 95% true. After each class I was getting to know myself better & that was so satisfying. This workshop not only certified me as a “Graphologist” but did change my life at a crucial stage & I can say it is doing wonders for me.

Graphology is something that I have been interested in since then. Graphology simply means study of handwriting to reveal an individual’s personality.
> You can tell about a person’s nature, whether he or she is an extrovert or introvert,
> Whether the person is impulsive, artistic, materialistic,
> Is the person what he really appears to be or are there layers to his/her personality,
> Their strengths, weaknesses what they really are like
> Signature itself talks about you, parents, relationships, career, passion
> Yes, it can also predict future

Handwritings reveals SO much….I am so obsessed with it that I start off as soon as I look at hand written envelopes, receipts, medical prescriptions and even notes scribbled during a meeting –basically anything hand written and I can tell certain things about that person. Certain strokes correspond to different characteristics. A person’s handwriting is more or less consistent with the way he/she is as a person. If you are angry it will reflect in your handwriting. If you are sad, that too shows.

From my graphology experience I have seen people’s life getting more meaningful as soon as they work on their handwriting. Graphology is a science. Hand writing is a neuro-muscular function of your brain. Therefore every thought, and every emotion you feel reflects in your writing. Your brain is used to certain patterns which are pre programmed and it reflects in your writing. We are socially conditioned to be behave in an accepted way, which very often conceal our true nature. But our writing never lies. It is fascinating how much our writing reveals and Graphology continues to enthrall me.

so much so that a love letter becomes a sample in my term of Graphology

Be right in appearance wherever you are - part 2

For a special date:

- Stay natural & look hygienic
- Study the persons taste and select your color & style accordingly
- Preferably red, orange, purple, black colors
- Don’t overdo that’s what will make u sexy
- Let your outfit depend on the venue & time of your date
- Do something with your style which makes u memorable eg: Tattoo,piercing, designer sleeves or scarf, unseen hairstyle, any unique accessory that define u and only you.

Attending a Wedding:

- NO red & too not much of gold jewelry
- Don’t dress up like a bride or groom (even if you are looking out)
- Respect the culture and dress up according to their respective tradition. Eg: don’t drape your saree in a gujarati style in a maharashtrian wedding
- Dress rehearsals is a must if you are the Best Man or Best Woman at the wedding
- If planning to get drunk and plan to rock on the dance floor: Men: avoid layering clothes and blazers go in for Indian ethnic wear. Women: No heavy or lengthy lengha, saree well draped (hope u get what I mean :-))

Getting ready for a Party:
- Birthday, anniversary, house warming, get-together, bachelor, pyjama party, divorce etc all sorts of parties...
- It’s difficult to list down the dress codes as each occasion is different. So ppl have this theme style dressing.
- While sending out the invite do mention the dressing theme eg: Bollywood, Jungle, Traditional , Tribal, Towel, Disney, Geeky, Historical, Rainbow etc

Visiting spiritual places:
- It’s a very sensitive issues, so lets be very careful while dressing up
- Tikkas & Bindis : NO – Church, YES – Gurudwara, A Must – Temples
- Westerns clothes still not well received in south Indian temples
- No designer or branded shoes & sandals… you'll know why

Traveling:
- Be comfortable. Avoid layered cloths & too much of accessories
- Long flight or connected flights carry an extra pair of cloths
- Avoid hairstyles & plaiting of your hair girls
- Shorts, Capri, spaghetti, tunic tops or flowery scarf and a jacket is a must

Movie/Theater show: - The funkier the better… go ahead with all ur experiments. In Spain I had seen bunch of teenage girls with painted face, lovely hats, uniform frocks with pencil heel sandals walking in to the theater… u see how it builds in the right excitement :)

And what for trekking? Well I really don’t know. Allow me to come back to you after this weekend as I am heading for an adventure camp.

“Keep experimenting… Style is something you cultivate when you know who you are”

Be right in appearance wherever you are - part 1

It’s hard fact that most of the people including you and me judge a person based on what he/she wears. In my case most of the time my judgment has failed badly, as I said in my previous post, styling is more of experiments.

Sharing with you’ll some style tips for these special occasions:

Attending an Interview:

- No oily hair and don’t afford to have a bad hair day
- Avoid red & pink ties/shirts/skirts
- Girls please tie your hair, we are not here to win best hair award
- T-Shirts with bold slogans & prints plzz NO
- Pin your dupatta well & place it in the right position
- No dark makeup & strong perfumes
- No rolled sleeves & appreciate your shirt tucked in

As an Interviewer:
- Dress up causally & just try to be yourself
- Avoid bold colors, preferably White/blue
- Girl interviewing a guy “Please no lip gloss or dark eyeliner”. It’s distracting most of the time
- Stay away from drinks or smoke for a day before the Interview
- No raised colors…let Australian cricketers enjoy that style.
- No red eyes, don’t scare the prospective employee with the company work culture
- Guys don’t go extra miles or fall for doing stuff for your favorite female candidate
- Don’t smell as if you have jumped out of perfume shower, girls like me will faint

First week in new office:
- Don’t try outing new cloths; carrying something which you have always felt comfortable wearing.
- Be sober & not like F-TV models. Take time to understand the company culture & people’s taste with whom you would be working
- Avoid too many jewellery, exception to newly wedded bride :-)
- No bright colors – preferably black, dark blue, off white outfits
- Hair well pinned & no shinny headbands or clips

Participating in a conference:
- As you would be closely interacting with prospective business leads keep your nails clean & use mouth fresheners every 2 hrs
- No deep neck shirts or gowns
- Girls with long hair to be more comfortable go for French braid
- Avoid too much of colorful & mix & match outfits
- Cotton with thin border & no embroidery sareer are total YES.
- Black spegitte with blazers on formal cotton trousers looks NICE.

In a customer Meetings:
- Formal shirts/skirts tucked in with a combination of nice leather belt. Closed shoes a must
- If your presenting use gel to assure that even if you move your hair does not take weird shaped & makes you look funny
- Apply lip moisturizer or lip balm to avoid liking of your lips during the meeting
- Today I see most of them wearing denim jeans and its well accepted but with a formal color shirt or blazer
- Owning side & front slit skirts like me don’t worry - wear leggings. Yes back slit shirts are said to be formal in Europe.

While in a NGO activity:
- No fancy or branded cloths
- No formals just dress up with a simple nice quoted T-Shirt with pair of jeans
- Girls go with traditional Kutras & cotton churidar
- No skin show

Blog is getting lengthy hmmm…. Dressing up for a date, workshop, wedding etc all coming up in the next blog post.
*This is totally based on my experience & my conclusions. You’ll are totally welcome to put in your comments if you’ll disagree.