The Mystery of the Mysterious Paw Prints!

I walked into my new, pristine, freshly painted house. Looked around, took a deep breath and thought "This is mine!" and jumped up and down in excitement. little did I know that the house was already occupied!!!

I sat down, waiting for the plumber to come, so that he could fix some leaks my flatmate and I had identified. I looked at the wall next to me and let out a little squeak. There were paw prints on the wall. Like actual paw prints where you could see the toes and the pad. What the hell. Now I live on the ground floor. First reaction - it is a RAT! We have giant rats in Bangalore called "Perchadi" in my language, or Bandicoot rat. Not like the cute Australian one. These are GIANT gutter rats.

The other option of my mystery flatmate was a cat. Man, was I hoping it was a cat. Or even a Mongoose. That would have been okay also. Just, no giant rat. I took pictures and sent it to everyone I knew who had cats, or knew anything about them. Everyone responded with "I am not sure" or "I doubt it's a cat". Now, I was psyched. Maybe it was a one time thing. who knows, the house is empty, whatever was running through my head. I purposely left the wind open and went back to my mum's place. The next day when I walked in, there were more paw prints. Shoot. 

I then told my mum about it and she very calmly said, oh they are bandicoot prints. I freaked out. I was moving in that day. At 5pm, I shut ALL the windows in the house and when it was time to go to bed, I shut the kitchen door, went up to my bedroom, shut that door too. I couldn't sleep. I live in an apartment where there is SO much noise coming from everywhere that I couldn't distinguish where the noise was coming from. Gah! At around 3am, I texted my flatmate, who was moving in the next day, and she, being the evil creature that she is, told me "Maybe it is already in the house, hiding in the cupboard under the stairs". I flipped out. I needed to sort this out. So I took a broom, put on all the lights and went downstairs, checked the cupboard and the entire house. It wasn't there. Phew. I have no idea what I would have done if there indeed was a rat in the cupboard. Screamed and then tried to chase it out the main door I guess.

There were no new paw prints after that, and I calmed down. As the weeks went by, one day, I noticed four cats in the apartment compound. I asked the watchman and he said that they live in the building and near by. Mystery solved. It was a cat. It definitely wasn't a rat because with four cats around, then the rat population should be non existent. So yay!

It was fully confirmed this morning, when I came downstairs after I woke up and saw a cat chilling on my divan. It bolted out the window when it saw me. I had forgotten to close one window last night and it had come in. Therefore, I can now proclaim that the mystery of the mysterious paw prints hereby resolved!

The battle!

This is basically a rant and some self counseling about being positive! 

Of late, there has been so much negativity going around, with so many people harping on the misfortunes that life hands them. It's so easy to fall into that trap and I've seen myself doing so, worrying about things that aren't working out, blaming people, cribbing and bitching and I've realised that I've missed out on being happy about the MANY good things in my life!

The other day, I visited my dog Gypsy at the cemetery and I wanted to scream and cry at life because she isn't in mine anymore and that it just wasn't fair. I became depressed and was in such a funk, trying to be cheerful and not go to my room and just hug my stuffed monkey and sulk. Yesterday, I spoke to my aunt about her and I realised that though she was sick, she passed away before she could feel any pain. She lived a happy life and was at her doggiest best when she left and I need to be happy that someone I loved so much went through life with maybe the regret of "I wish I had more Kaju Katli!" She is brighter than the sun in my life and I need to get to a place where I have nothing but happy feelings when I think about her!

The battle to stay positive is hard when all everyone talks about is negative. My friend was in a really bad accident and I was so happy and relieved that she was okay and her usual fun self! But it was almost wiped out when all everyone else could talk about was how much worse things could have been and how bad it was!!! And I just wanted to shake them and go but it's not! Now leave it! I really don't get the need to say stuff like that or think about it with that thought even!

Another big crazy thing that's going around like some epidemic is the whole "Do you think that person likes me?/Does that person still love me?". I am definitely am/have been a part of it and it is exhausting trying to figure out someone else's head! Sometimes, it's fun and distracting, but when you let it become your be all and end all, dude, you get whiny and repetitive and obsessive and not in a good way! I feel if you like/love that person, you should just do so and stop worrying about what the other person is feeling. If they like/love you, they'll let you know! We need to stop cribbing about stuff and just be happy that he/she called or texted and enjoy spending time with him/her.

I truly believe in the power of thoughts, vibes and energy. I believe that the more we want something, with just the thing that it makes us happy driving it, the Universe will give it to you! I believe that the more negative we are, the worse things can get.

I'm trying to write ten positive things about my day (since March) and it's getting easier to do so every day. The first time, I could find only 3, which was pathetic, because it showed me how warped my thinking was and how cloaked in negativity I was. Today, I can write at least 8 without thinking about it.

I feel like my mindset is changing, slowly, but I'm happy I'm working towards it. I need to start working with energy and try to figure out ways to focus mine. It's quite all over the place right now, so even daily life feels hectic. Now that I'm back at work, I feel like I can get into my routine again and get some order in this chaos!

I hope things get better as the days pass and happiness overtakes all that awful negativity!

Bucket List - 26

Every year, on/near my birthday, I make a bucket list for that year. I made one for when I was 25 and I'm making one for my 26th year on this planet. I struck off a lot of things from my earlier bucket list like - visiting a new country (Singapore and Malaysia), I got a second chance at love, I got a job, I made truce with the bovine, I kinda met an internet friend, I rode the metro, I tried new cuisines and new things, I started whining less and being more positive and a whole bunch of other stuff. But most importantly, I walked AND DANCED in heels!

Here is the list for 26!

1) Get an apartment
2) Get my MBA degree
3) Learn to drive
4) Visit a new country on my own
5) Learn one thing new every month
6) Get guinea pigs
7) Learn to sing at least one song well
8) Get better at ignoring the drama
9) Read poetry at Urban Solace (this is a scary one!)
10) Keep a "good things" journal. Write in it EVERY DAY!
11) Join yoga class and then contortions
12) No broken bones
13) Get published.
14) Get back in touch with an old friend
15) Visit Mumbai (Swats, Swaha and Tony!)
16) Learn to dance
17) Get a toned body
18) Do one huge arty thing that is NOT writing, no matter how shitty it is, just do it!
19) Learn to be patient and not react instinctively.
20) Be more forward with thoughts and opinions.
21) Write fiction. Prose. Can be an essay, a story, whatever. But no autobiographical stuff.
22) Do something once a week that will make someone really happy, but expect nothing in return.
23) Stop being afraid.
24) Learn to cook Indian food.
25) Take mum out on a vacation
26) Learn to let go and not plan obsessively.

There you have it. I hope things work out this year!! :D

Romy's wisdom

Things I've learned over time and would like to pass on this wisdom.

1) You will always have one species of animals against you. If it's not cows, its moths.
2) No matter how much you promise yourself that you wont, you will walk into a large vehicle once a month.
3) You will get into a tiff with Aloka once a week, but you will still continue to be good friends.
4) You will fall off the bed, at least once a month.
5) You will have random dreams about people that you talk to a lot that night.
6) You will always have spelling issues. You will look at a word like referral and convince yourself referal is the right spelling.
7) You will start to not be able to finish a dessert.
8) You will become mildly allergic to everything you love, starting with pineapple, chocolate and so on.
9) You will start to get organised. More so than you already are. Then you will match your clothes.
10) You will learn to love, but you will also learn to define boundaries.
11) You will not get your fourth wisdom tooth for a very long time. But it's a good thing because you can blame all your silly mistakes on that.
12) You will have "old friends". They will be both, people you've known for a long time and friends who are your mum's age! Who knew.
13) You will still love butterflies, colours and shiny things. They make you believe in the good that the universe has to offer.
14) You will still prefer animals to humans and you will avoid interacting with children at all costs. Apart from Dhruv, but seeing him twice a year isn't too bad.
15) You will discover people who are mini yous. This will be a little scary as your first reaction will be "Hey! Give me me back!"
16) You will suddenly worry about nutrition, and a full meal.
17) You will start hoping your metabolism holds, and when you gain that one kilo, you will worry that it will be the one of many! And you don't want to look like a building.
18) You will wear heels and feel great in them. But you will still hesitate to wear them again.
19) One day, you will feel comfortable with yourself. Then you will be content with life. I'm still waiting for that day.
20) You will get a dimple and smile lines from laughing a lot. Embrace them because they only depict the joy you've had. Others are not so lucky.
21) You will still want a deeper dimple.
22) Your favourite colour will still be purple, but you will like fuchsia a lot more. You will learn new colours like fuchsia that you will have to Google to spell.
23) If you dream big and are determined, it will happen.
24) You will still wish upon 11:11 and mail vans and cross your fingers at ravens.
25) You will be afraid. Afraid that you wont succeed, afraid at the little you've accomplished before you're 26, afraid that you aren't ready to be an adult, afraid of losing love.
26) Last, but not the least, when you truly, truly look at yourself, you will be happy with who you are, with what you've done with your life and feel lucky to be alive and loved!

Evicted!!

If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you'll know that I had a new roommate for four days. If you don't, well here it is. I had a roommate for four days.

The difference between this roommate and my previous roommates is that she only occupied the bathroom and she wasn't exactly the two legged variety. She wasn't even a four legged furry roomie. She was what you would know as a common leaf insect. If you were being particular, she was a Euphasmida. I called her Leafy.

She gave me an awful shock when I first met her, staring at me, all bright green! I didn't really want to share my room and especially my bathroom. My most memorable moment with her was when I was taking a shower, the lights flickered and she flew around. I screamed and pretty much sat on the floor all scrunched up hoping she would go away. It didn't happen. Of course, I was an idiot to hope because, have you met me???? I have no such luck!

I had to get Leafy evicted. She was tormenting me too much and I really didn't find it "cool" anymore. There in, started the process. 

First, I shooed her towards the window, hoping that if I got her close enough, she would go on her own. Apparently that was being too hopeful. She wanted to fight me every step of the way. She flew onto my towel and clung onto it for deal life, while I clung onto my racing heart as it threatened to run away from me. I pulled my towel down from off the rack, wrapped her up and with an arm's distance, ran through the house with her till we reached outside. 

Now that she was outside my house, I still wanted my towel back (it's my hello kitty towel!) but there was no way I was going near it. I then asked my maid, hoping she was braver than I was to help. She walked over, unwrapped my towel, picked up Leafy (like it was no big deal), laughed her behind off at me and my stricken face and then let her go in a tree. 

Then, after this dramatic, traumatic escapade, I had to get ready for work. What a morning.

Dear Leafy, I hope you are well. Take care and please DO NOT come back. Much.... yeah well. Romy.