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July 8 - Besabriyaan



The song talks about how you are in a situation where all your dreams are slowly starting to come true and how you should trust these instincts and follow where life takes you. Besabriyaan means impatiences. When things begin to start falling in place, you tend to get impatient in wanting to see it all - I feel a part of the song means that, but for me besabriyaan also means the drive to do something - almost like intuitions that you follow. 

My favourite stanza is when the songs "why be worried about the play of darkness and illuminations, your destination lies ahead of both these, why are you searching for the light outside, your torches are within you". I of course relate to that bit about seeking for and finding that gorgeousness and belief inside you.

I have to watch the movie once I head back to India for sure. Just for another boost of inspiration. Those who know me know that I am a little crazy about the movies and songs and lyrics. But they affect you, they stay with you for a really long time - sometimes sadly in bad ways even. I also feel that they are an amazing people connector and a great way to bond. I can, for example, immediately bond with someone who likes the same movies as me or sees the same things i do in certain songs or appreciates the way a certain actor delivered a scene. I remember someone mentioning in a party that they liked Tamasha and this was my first time meeting this person. Instantly I could feel a kinship. I also feel that here in France. Over dinner the other day we were talking about Forrest Gump and in spite of being a table full of different nationalities, everyone awwed  about that scene that was being spoken about.

Tonight at dinner we started to speak about sports, which again is an awesome connector - we mentioned American Football, Soccer, Tennis, Cricket and we all had things to say, tournaments to name, sportspeople we admired, championships we are looking forward to and sadly also drug scandals in a few of these games. I mentioned comedians immediately after we started speaking about scandals and corruption because Hasan Minaj has recently done an amazing video on Cricket and how the Indian cricketing body - BCCI is corrupting the game - it was hard to watch but it is true. Hasan Minaj, Trevor Noah, John Oliver - amazing comedians talking about current issues, with crazy wit of course, is another one of those awesome things that connect people. In India my favourite ones to watch are : Varun Grover, Aditi Mittal, Kunal Kamra, Rajeev Nigam, Sanjay Rajoura - both the list of comedians above and the Indian comedians are a tad bit political - but well, what is not political these days. At least they have the courage to take stands and speak about stuff when most of the media around the world is sold. 

Food. Another thing that brings people together. I honestly can not trust someone who does not like food. It is the thing in my life that gives me MOST joy - cooking, baking, eating, drinking. In fact talking about food is such a high too. Thank goodness there isn't a stigma about girls liking food and eating like normal people. I remember growing up in times when girls used their cutlery to push the food around on their plate because it seemed un-cultured to be seen as someone who enjoys eating and ate a lot. On my yoga teacher training, my breakfast partner was this lovely 60 year old Aussie man - whose name I have sadly forgotten now - and he in his farewell on our last day of training said to me "I am always going to remember you as the girl with the biggest appetite in the group", I almost died in shame, but it also kinda made me very proud. After 3 hours of morning practice from 6:30 -10:00am, I would be starving and if there was ONLY vegan pancakes and salad served then I made sure that I took a huge helping of it and seconds. I am sadly still this girl - I am writing this post at 11:18 pm with my belly full of two big bowls of potato and leek soup, carrot salad, beetroot hummus with freshly baked bread. Go ahead judge me. I am washing all of that down with a big cup of "Camomile and mint digestive green tea", which is the picture I started this post with. I have a lovely friend living in Singapore who I miss a lot - he and I once spoke about how we would not travel abroad without a ziplock with Taj Mahal or Red Label tea bags in our bags because who wanted to drink weak English Breakfast first thing in the morning, we wanted our chai. It wouldn't be made the proper Indian way, but at least it would have that familiar flavour and that kick we needed in the morning!

I can go on about food. I'll end by saying that when I leave France in two days and head to London, I will bring back with me freshly baked baguettes, goat cheese from the market the previous day, organic money and Bergerac wine and maybe some lovely local ham for my friends in London, who are as mad as I am about food.

The last thing I could not not include in this list of things that connect people is books. Talking about books - all kinds brings you closer to the other person - there is an immediate exchange of knowledge. You recognise the thirst for curiosity in your fellow human being and are eager to learn everything they have learnt from book, but you are equally eager to share with them your top picks and the precious tiny drops of knowledge you have come away with after reading some gems. I had that experience a couple of weeks back when I spoke about my blog posts on Sleep after reading Matthew Walker's book on Why Sleep Matters, and a lady immediately said she had read it and loved it and was trying to then talk about an example Matthew has quoted about a particular incident and i chipped in because I had only read it two days ago and we instantly felt as though we had hi-fived each other from across the room. It was that uplifting. The picture above also shows me drinking tea in a lovely mug by Penguin Books called The Pursuit of Love, a book by Nancy Mitford - I am yet to read that one! 

Anyway, my digestif tea is over and I need to go sleep for an early morning rowing practice tomorrow. May you always find topics that connect you with people rather than those that take you away from them and may you always have your intuitions guide you.

Bonne Nuit my friends.

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