Within My Universe - Leslin's Blog Journey

I just recalled an interesting anecdote that I wish to share over here. I had been out to the mall with my parents roughly a year back, a few weeks after the Lockdown 2.0 had been lifted and when life was just crawling back to normal again. We made use of the opportunity to finally go for a small outing. We had lunch outside after what seemed like a decade and then decided to visit our local shopping mall for a bit of "window shopping". As we were walking by the shops, I stayed back at a clothing store as a line of cute Indian bridal wear caught my eye. I admired the clothes from the shop window for some time and was turning back to rejoin my parents, when a lady who was passing by walked up to me and smiled. Just as I began scratching my head (figuratively of course) trying to recall whether I knew her from somewhere, she broke the ice and said, "I really love the skirt you're wearing! Could you tell me where you purchased it from?" I have to admit I was taken ...

Our next door neighbours have recently had a new well dug at their house. The construction of the well was done a few weeks back (shortly after the diggers reached water), but the pulley/ropes, pipes etc to actually draw the water out were installed just yesterday (thank you, Lockdown 2021).  I have a clear view of this well from the first floor balcony of our house, and earlier this evening, when I was standing in the balcony, checking on my newly planted potted seeds and sprouts, I spotted my neighbours' approximately 12 year old son busy in the process of drawing water from their newly constructed well. I looked on as he carefully lowered the pot into the well using the rope and pulley, and then I could hear the familiar "plop" as the pot fell into the water. He then proceeded to pull it up, slow and steady. Watching him immersed in this process took me back to the simple days of my childhood, spent at my grandmother's house.  With the advent of modern living, comp...

This is a post I started writing a few weeks back, the morning after a dream I had the previous night. Procrastinator that I am, I am finally coming around to posting it today! Sorry about the delay, but please do read on. I wasn't in the best of moods when I went to bed that night, thanks to some personal issues and the overwhelming mood that has been this year, 2020, and it was a while before I finally managed to fall asleep. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am someone who tends to dream quite a bit. It is a different story that I hardly remember any of my dreams once I open my eyes, no matter how much I try to recall them again, but yes, there are exceptions to this. Today was one such day. It was one of the very few dreams that I can pretty much recall every detail of. If you wish to ask me why, well, your guess is as good as mine. How much about the human brain is known and understood, anyway? I am thankful it was just an interesting dream and not a nightmare (tha...

Being stuck in the midst of this global pandemic for well over half a year now, I can't help but go back in time and reminisce on the happy moments of what feels like the good old days, when life was so much better, simpler actually, and we had the freedom to go out and about, do as we please (well, at least sometimes and some of us, anyway), and most importantly, go on trips and travel.  Sadly, this feels like a far-fetched luxury we humans can't afford to have at this point. Lost in these thoughts, I found myself browsing through my phone gallery earlier today, going through pictures of good times and fond memories of last year, and I happened to find pictures of my trip to Goa, in December 2019, a few weeks before Christmas. Goa has always been one of my favourite tourist destinations, but for some reason, it's always been the one destination that has always eluded me.  Every trip planned to Goa seemed to get cancelled at the very last minute. Every single time. Cliche...

Corona Lockdown Diaries  Cactus Bloom 2020 My chronicles of the Cactus plant at our house, in bloom this year. It is about 12-15 years old, and it blooms into flowers every May, for about a month. The flower bulbs open around 10:30 pm onwards, and they close up by the next morning, around 8:30 am. It's one of the miracles of nature that I feel incredibly blessed to be able to witness, each year. I will try to post regular picture updates of the flowers that bloom this year, on this page. Night 1 2nd May 2020 3:00 a.m. One flower 🌸 🌵 The second time they bloomed was sadly when it rained very heavily for the whole night in my hometown, as a result of which the flowers were ruined and I couldn't get any pictures. More pictures and updates to follow.  Picture credit: I, me and myself. 😌

Quarantine Anecdote - 1 Sunday, 29th March 2020. I happen to be a self-confessed animal lover and I love animals of every kind, dogs and cats obviously included . However, I have heard numerous tales about cats being downright evil. Being in lockdown for nearly a week now, no thanks to the not at all dear Covid-19 pandemic, I saw this with my very own eyes today (I mean the part about cats being evil, of course!) We happen to have quite a few cats around our house in Mangalore, which me and my parents often feed, and I love playing with. My dearest jealous dog, though, who sadly happens to have a thing against the cute felines, has a field day chasing them daily. Earlier today evening, I was busy watering the garden, with my trusted doggy assistant by my side, when I saw her attention suddenly shift to the bushes nearby. Looking in that direction, I spotted a pretty little tomcat, almost hidden in the shrubbery near a young coconut tree, keenly eyeing Munni (that'...

SUCCESS AND FAILURE There are certain times In each of our lives When anything we venture into Just disappears into the blue; When all our sweat and toil Is simply destined to be foiled; When even our best endeavour Is acknowledged by none whomsoever. It hurts to not be appreciated; It hurts to have our aspirations deflated; To see people ignore your virtues And jump at the slightest excuse To point out our imperfection; To leave us in utter dejection; The look of defeat in our eyes Brings an apparent glow in theirs. We learn the hard way That effort is never lauded; Only success is of significance No matter how that success has been achieved; This world is not a place for a dreamer Or so it seems to me; It is for the ruthless competitor; Someone I don't think I can ever be. -Leslin Sushma D'souza

Do feelings even matter? In this era of internet and smartphones Where relationships begin with a like on a picture And end with the blocking of a profile Does fondness matter? Where emotions are considered a joke Where tears are considered a sign of weakness The mark of an attention seeker; Just worthless drops lost from our soul; Do tears matter? Does attachment matter? Attachment causes misery It's the source of all hurt and pain Affection only makes you feel inadequate Do sentiments ever matter? Gone are the days Where we waited days on end For a word from that special someone; A little hi brought tears of joy to our eyes We live in times Where relationships end with a one line text Is life that simple? What is the way to be happy And never get hurt? Will we ever have an answer? -Leslin Sushma D'souza

My mother taught me To be strong in the face of adversity My mother taught me To face all my problems with a smile My mother taught me How to survive in this cruel world My mother taught me How to not let myself be taken for granted My mother taught me What true happiness is all about My mother taught me How to find joy and laughter in little things. My mother taught me How to be a WOMAN My mother taught me How to be ME. LOVE YOU MOM, More than words can say. Love you mom, Although I know it is something I never say. Happy Mother's Day To my mom and all the amazing mothers out there. It's your day, not just today But every day. 💖

When the going gets tough, How do you convince yourself to get going; How do you tell yourself that you are tough, strong; How do you not let yourself just crumble under pressure and stress????? How do you prepare for the difficult times That lie ahead How do you make yourself realise That you can get through this; That this too, shall pass? That you will emerge even stronger? That this is, but, a mere hurdle To reach your journey of success? That all it takes Is just a bold step ahead? How? How? How?

I am in the bus on my way to God's own country, Kerala, as I pen this down. It's 1:00 a.m ., a fact I realised just now while looking at my phone clock. Sleep, amusingly, loves playing hide and seek with me when I travel, hence, while watching the trees (and buildings) pass by and thinking I should have probably been an owl 🦉, I thought of writing (typing?) down a few thoughts. The original destination that had been selected for the trip was Delhi, अपनी दिल्ली... But plans have a habit of not working out at times, and given that I live in Mangalore, we finally decided to travel slightly closer to home this time, and thus Kerala was decided upon. You'll have to wait a bit longer, Delhi... Kerala has always been on my list of travel destinations; however, for some reason or the other, this is my very first trip there. I somehow used to end up on a trip to a totally different destination every time.. Oh well, better late...

The events and happenings of the past two months have made me realise something; you can have the whole world vying for your attention, you can have tons of guys waiting to try and charm you, to win your trust; to have you for themselves; you can be among a crowd of even a thousand people who do their best to keep you entertained nonstop. However, you will still only feel nothing but lonely, sad and abandoned if the one person who really matters is no longer in your life. Have him near you and you feel you can conquer the world. Even the biggest hurdle seems trivial if he is by your side. But once circumstances take him away from you and once you are forced to part ways, nothing will ever be the same again. You will finally realise what it feels like to feel alone even among a crowd. 

It is right now 1 a.m. and I am in the bus, on the way back home from a whirlwind trip of sorts to Hyderabad.  There are people snoring all around me  but being the insomniac that I am (and given the fact that I hardly get any sleep while travelling in overnight buses), I am wide awake, hearing songs on my dear cell phone (hurrah for technology!). The fact that the bus I am in has a charging port that actually works for a change is only inspiring my sleeplessness. So I finally thought I would jot down a few lines in my blog after what seems like ages. I love going on trips and visiting new places. Sadly, though, working in an industry that gives you just a one weekly off and not many holidays doesn't really give me the opportunity to travel often. This time, however, I was determined to make some time for myself for a change. I finally picked up the courage and got leave for two days; adding in a Sunday meant I'd have a three day trip (yayyy)! The next question was, whe...

Early in January this year, on a warm Sunday morning, I was walking by our garden when I spotted my dog curiously sniffing at something. My dog, sweet as she is,  isn't very "creature friendly" and loves chasing and terrorrising cats, so naturally I rushed to her, expecting to find a poor scared kitty. With her favourite teddy But a very different sight met my eyes. Huddled in a corner under a coconut tree was a teeny-tiny baby pigeon! I was surprised, to say the least, to find it there. Although we have numerous pigeons nesting on various window ledges of our house, this was the first time I found a live baby on the ground. The fact that it was very far away from the nearest nest was another surprise.  It had a clearly visible wound on its little head, which led me to guess it must have been probably carried away from the nest by an eagle or crow, which might have dropped it by mistake.  I am no bird expert, but I would say it must have been within a month old. ...

I must admit I have been bitten by the gardening bug lately. I have absolutely no idea how this happened, but one fine day I woke up and realised that I wanted to have a teeny tiny vegetable garden of my very own! At the outset, let me tell you, I am completely new to the gardening world and have no farming/gardening/planting experience whatsoever, so I turned to the one and only source all of us think of in times of need-- GOOGLE the all knowing. After going through God knows how many blogs and innumerable videos, I decided I would have a potted garden on my house terrace to grow my veggies. Now that the type of garden was decided upon, I arrived at the next step- deciding what to start with. The first and most famous/loved/used kitchen item that came to my mind was Coriander, also known as Cilantro. It is a well known fact that coriander is among the most commonly used herbs in kitchens all over the world, and it is no different at my home. And well, the idea of having your...

D ocumented below is my attempt at preparing a cake this past weekend..The results impressed me so much that I felt the need to blog it! :D To be honest I am not much of a baker and am a complete "newbie" when it comes to cake making..I have prepared it once or twice in the past, and it turned out okay taste wise (NOT shape wise!) I set out to prepare a cake this Sunday, thanks to the immense inspiration I have been getting from Masterchef Australia of late.. :D Ive never been a great viewer of cookery shows in the past, but Masterchef Australia has always been an exception.. Every series just happens to be better than the last.. and I do love the MasterClasses! Anyway getting back to my cake, I originally wanted to make a cheesecake (like the one prepared on last week's episode) but had to change plans at the last minute due to lack of a variety of cheeses (and fear that it wouldn't come out right). I then decided to make a simpler vanilla flavoured cak...

The sea during Monsoon... Someshwar Beach has beautiful surroundings, with rocks of all shapes and sizes..mesmerizing.. See what I mean? Tidal waves reaching the very edge of the beach...

Sea at high tide The beauty of nature.... Very beautiful beach.... Rocks in the sea...

Someshwar Road block... :D Something I have wanted to capture with my camera lens for a very long time... Sultan Battery.. Tipu Sultan's fort..

Bird's eye-view from atop Sultan Battery fort Lake (?) near the Fort Pretty lake, ain't it? A church that could be seen from the fort.. A fisherman on his boat