Less is Better!

Hi. As I said this blog would be about anything and everything that I want to share with you so here goes - Cut the clutter is a media term we constantly use in advertising to describe communication that stands out from among the thousands of adverts that we see. But it's a need in our daily lives as well. If we need to achieve more in less time, with less energy and less effort, there is only one mantra we need to remember - cut the clutter. That's because we tend to clutter up everything in our lives - our minds, our bodies, our living space, our wardrobes, our tables, our food habits, our time. You name it and it's full of stuff that's more suited to a landfill than our lives.
In our lives we need a minimalistic kind of approach. In short focus on the essentials, on what you want at that time and leave the rest alone.

Mindspace: THINK LESS!
We all know that there is only so much we can focus on at a given time. Can we therefore have shorter, most discrete goals daily/weekly goals, so that we can achieve them without distraction?
I know gurus have been saying this for years but it's the cluttering up our minds with unnecessary thoughts that gets us to lose direction. Think only about what YOU WANT. not about what XYZ wants or even about what you DON'T WANT! That's clutter. Get rid of it.

When you focus on exactly whatever it is you want rather than what you don't want, it will be easier to get. Less clutter in terms of goals; less confusing neural activity. Lots of intense neural activity all focussed on getting ahead to achieve those few goals. A little at a time does it.


Our bodies: EAT LESS!
Here of course, we fill up ourselves with so much clutter. I've realised we need very little to really keep us going. Eat what works for you. But be particular about quality not quantity. Eat a little less than you need and it'll keep you light and active to focus on other stuff.
For me, I've found dals, sabzi with very little spice, yoghurt, salads, boiled pulses as in beans and chickpeas etc with a dash of Olive oil and lemon really work. Rotis or whole wheat bread as opposed to rice. I'm partial to thaeer sadam tho - curd-rice. Just love it.
The pharamceutical lobby does not spend as much on advertising prevention as much as it does on curing disease. LIFESTYLE DISEASES!!! In poorer countries, lifestyle diseases are called malnutrition and stavation. Get real!!!
Living one year in Dubai on my own made me realise how little we need to eat. Eat to live not vice versa.

By the way, I will be putting up recipes on my blog that will tell you how to make the most of your time by whiping up easy to eat nutritious foods. We really don't need as much food as we think we need. No wonder diets and obesity are so prevalent. GREED. it's really our undoing.

Our wardrobes: WEAR LESS!
We women are really guilty. How many clothes do you need? CUT out everything you haven't touched in the last year/six months. Unless it is wedding finery kind of stuff - collector's items such as Kanjeevarams etc.
Else just be ruthless. Do not keep things in the hope that they wil fit someday. Discard. Caps, jeans, tops, blouses....when they come back into fashion, buy some more. You'll keep the economy going. Bags, shoes - how many feet do you have???
The fashion industry will regard it as sacrilege but they're not here to help you achieve and get ahead. They're just here to make money off you!!! No wonder they have 2 collections a year and a whole vocabulary that thrives on keeping you unsure of what you are wearing. Ignore Vogue and Seventeen and Elle and what Hollywood is wearing. They are focused in getting your money - you have to be focussed in doing what matters to you - Cutting the clutter! The less you own, the less you have to look after. And looking good has nothing to do with whether you own 10 pairs of trousers or twenty!
GIVE AWAY MORE! earn goodwill and donate stuff to friends, charities, maids, neighbours. In short declutter your life but if someone else is willing to clutter his or hers, pass it on!!!

Our Living space: OWN LESS!
The less things you own, the less time you'll have to spend on things like dusting,maintenance. Think about what you're buying. Do you really need that table. Airy, well-ventilated apartments with open space are far more aesthetic than cluttered, crowded apartments that are crammed full of collectibles. Own one fine painting instead of five frames of crappy art. Plants and flowers are more enjoyable than tons of crystal and brass and wood and tons of cushions ......
Spend on making your apartment easier to maintain. Better quality fittings, ergonomic spaces, etc are more important. Spend your extra money on taking holidays in exotic locations and DON'T bring back tons of mementoes. Unless they're give-aways!
Life is too short to spend dusting and cleaning and washing.
The less clutter you have around you, the less clutter you are likely to have in your life as well! Believe me, it's true. Do you need that wedgwood dinner set. If you must have it, buy it and shove it in a bank locker or in storage!!!! Don't clutter your life with it.

Live like a monk. If you can fit all you have into a couple of suitcases, you are a free, enlightened soul and I salute you. If you can do it in one, I need to learn from you!!!

Don't bother about what peers think: WORRY LESS!
Focus on what you want. Don't bother about what friends, neighbours, colleagues, the boss think you should have. Secretly, everyone admires focussed people who know what they want. This is not a put-on. This has to come from within.

And don'tbother about what society tells you. Society wants you to keep up with the Joneses. That's how economies are kept lubricated and stocks and shares are kept high.

The music companies want you to own more gadgets, more music
The car companies want you to own more cars
The food companies want you to eat more
The gyms want you to work out more
De Beers want you to have more diamonds
The insurance companies want you to fear more
The fashion industry wants you to own more clothes
The publishing industry wants you to buy more books and newspapers and magazines
Jewellers want you to buy more jewellery
Brokers want you tobuy more stocks and shares
Moviemakers want you to watch more movies - most of them crappy!

Start the movement for less among your friends. because LESS IS BETTER!
That's more or less enough for today. try it over the next 3 months and tell me how it feels. Maintain a blog on how it feels to Declutter your life. really! I want to know.

Have been doing the same at home - just chucking away stuff. The more I throw, it seems the less I need. In fact did so much clearing up recently that my dust allergy has flared up badly. In the middle of peak summer, my nose is running, I sneeze incessantly and I am sipping hot water to keep my inflamed throat quiet.

the sixteenth of May!

The sixteenth of May 1948, is in part why we are here today.
It's the day Dadu and Dida (my parents got married).
From what I know, Dadu and Dida were neighbours in Akola's Civil Lines area. Mom's father was a school teacher and Dadu's dad was a lawyer who didn't want to be a lawyer. He sent away clients whom he thought were gulity, with a flea in their ear. Anyway, they sort of grew up together and decided they wanted to get married. No one has told me the details but Dadu refused to marry anyone but Dida and in spite of the fact that it created severe angst in Dadu's mother, they prevailed. And on the 16th of May, 1948, they were married.
Imagine had they not, we would have been different people.... or would we have even been here...????? Any guesses....??
Dadu and Dida were therefore a bit ahead of their times in this as well as in most other things. Dadu's mother was a mother-in-law in the traditional mould who didn't believe in equality for daughters-in-law. I guess she wasn't ahead of her time like Dida.
In those days, they used to know the names of seven preceding generations. I don't... I will need to find out. So if any of you know better than me, please let me know. Welcome your comments, additions, suggestions.
I think my Dida was Janaki and my Dadu was Venkatesh; Father's Dad was Ramchandra and I don't know his Mom's name.....! I have never seen either of my grandparents. I believe my great grandfather, Nanabhau Mudholkar, my Father's mother's Dad saw me when I was a few months old.
Peculiar, isn't it to have been blessed by your great-grandfather and not by any of your grandparents???? Well all of you have been lucky in that respect... you have seen your grandparents.
In fact, most of you have spent some time with them. Vids and Shvets have been the luckiest in this regard.
Do tell me what your fave three memories of Dadu and Dida are. They may be individual to Dadu and Dida which is fine. Waiting to hear from you guys.

Mum's the word

Hi guys,

This is a new blog for just us.

I want to share stuff with you all. Stuff about me, my childhood, my parents, my family. There's so much you should know. I wish my mom and Dad could have written a blog for me. I wonder what they would have put in it. I know that there's so information, so many half-memories, so much knowledge that I have lost just because I didn't put it all down.

So I'm going to write something for you guys everyday and it's going to be a voyage of discovery. I don't know where we are going or what we are going to accomplish but if we get to know a little more about each other this way, it will be enough.

Sometimes, it will be about food, other times it will be about religion...oops!!! have I started a riot there?? It could be about bedtime stories and I heard some pretty good ones as a kid. It could be about books and bookshelves.. about marriage, about sex, about rite and wrong ...(psst it's not a spelling error, it's a pun).....it's a blog-about-anything. Anything to do with you and me...with us.

Love,
Mom