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Yay its August! Yay its my favorite month of the year! Yay its my birthday month! Okay, you can see that I am excited. Of course I am. Finally after a year of waiting, here it comes again. My birthday. Gifts have already started appearing and I am thrilled to see how this unfolds. More on that later, but for now its all about what happened in July. July was a pleasant month, with hell loads of work and more hell loads of learning. July started off with a bang with a visit to Hyderabad for Cal's friend's wedding. I went in there with zero expectations but came back with a bright smile and a relaxed body. Yes, I loved the City of Nizams. Hyderabad is the only city that comes close to Bangalore. In terms of lifestyle, fashion, infrastructure, people and most importantly weather. Luckily for me, we went on the onset of monsoon and the weather was divine. I've heard of tales about how hot it can get, but thankfully was spared of it.
We stayed in a service apartment at Banjara Hills. This apparently is the poshest area of Hyderabad and it shows. The apartment was cosy and surrounded by greenery. There was even a lotus pond below our balcony! Cal and I are nature lovers and we just like to sit, relax and talk during vacations instead of trying to cover too many places and getting drunk. So, this was a perfect vacation for us. We explored the basics of the city like Charminar, Hussein Sagar lake, Birla temple, Salarjung museum and the pearl market. The museum was a bad idea as Cal and I got bored in ten minutes. The veiled Rebecca was a masterpiece and we left once we saw her. Charminar is beautiful but poorly maintained. When we walked up the stairs there was not an inch left on the wall without inscriptions by visitors. Reena loves Ramesh, Ramesh loves Beena etc etc. Its sad, but there is hardly something that one can do about it. You can express as much as you want in 'Satyamev Jayate' but people will only learn and abide if they want to. We went to an ice cream place called 'Creamstone Concepts' and Cal lost his mind there. They bash the ice cream with chocolate chips, Rocher balls, chocolate sauce and everything chocolate that you can think off! Its heaven in a waffle cup and we went there twice! Mocha in Banjara Hills was another favorite of mine! The ambiance, the food, the ice tea, everything about that place was divine. Yes, I will definitely go back to Hyderabad soon.
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July was epic in terms of learning. I have learnt to never trust anybody apart from myself, my husband and my friends. Some of them that is. I learnt the hardest way possible that the knife that was stabbed in my back was handed by me to the person I trusted. Trust is one thing that just comes crashing down, never to be rebuilt again. I felt betrayed and cheated. But then it was already expected, considering what the crowd had to say. Well probably it was meant to be learnt the hard way and so I did. Once bitten, enough. Not anymore. Feelings never fade. They either are treasured or thrown. The latter is what I did. I have this wonderful ability to block people out of my life and walk through them. That is exactly what I am going to do from now on. When people have already categorized you as the villain, you might as well as live up to the expectations!
In terms of writing, it was joy and more joy. My story 'Mistress Of The Night' was published in Femina fast fiction, and is currently in the running for winning the short story contest. Fingers crossed! Also, I now have a dedicated column in Tamarind Rice for my posts. Yes, 'Love Potion' is now a regular feature on Tamarind Rice and will feature stand alone short stories written by me. Also, my poem 'Love' was published in the July issue of Writer's Ezine. Yes, I am thrilled. Fiction had taken a backseat suddenly, as I wrote a lot of poetry and contest based posts. But now I am tired of them, I don't know how people write a hundred posts for a single contest alone. It gets monotonous after a point of time. Unless and until a contest entices me, I will choose not to write about it. I need to get back to doing what I do best. And that is to weave tales.
BlogAdda selected me to review 'The Deliberate Sinner'. I did and the book was below average. I can never forget a dialogue by my blogger friend, "Indian authors ke book padhke lagta hai ki koi bhi author ban sakta hai". Translates to "After reading Indian author books, you feel that anyone can become an author". I totally agree. The book was high on sex and low on everything else. You can read my review of it here. I like doing reviews, more so because I can write my honest opinion about it without being judged. Since every word on my blog will be dissected and passed through the microscope thousand times, reviews make me feel awesome! I have been an avid reader since the age of five and hence I do know the difference between good and bad books. Reading is an awesome therapy, it takes you to another world altogether. At times you don't want to come back from that world and at times you can't wait to get back from there.
Just received a mail now saying that I am selected to review another book. Little things like this make me happy. Cal and I have started a new thing from this month. We have decided to explore all the cafes in Bangalore and review their food. He does that on Zomato. I am just an accomplice to test the non-veg food while he binges on the veg fare. Follow us to get the best reviews on restaurants of Bangalore and the places we travel to. I love his reviews. They are precise, straight to the point and comes from the heart. Just like my posts. No wonder we are partners in everything. People drop their jaws whenever they hear that we still go out on dates everyday even after a year and half of marriage. Some people complain about it too. But we do not care. We do what we want to do, the way we want to do.
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Like I said, July has been a month, heavy on learning and I'm only taking the positives from it. Tongues can wag as much as they want but I am going to be the way I am. Work is heavy this month too and I would hardly find time for anything else. I like being busy as it makes me feel satisfied. But I shall try to update my blog whenever I can. This is my birthday month and I am so excited! My last birthday was magical and I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for me.
All I know is that your instagram proves that the Birthday month has arrived. GOD BLESS YOU LEO!! :)
ReplyDeleteJuly taught u a lot!
Thank you my dear Red!
DeleteSome bad juju there but what is a speck of dust on the lioness' shoulder :)
ReplyDeleteThat ice cream shop in HYD sounds like I definitely need to pay a visit.
I saw Cal on Zomato and I was like I KNOW HIM, I KNOW HIM to no one in particular, I don't know why :P
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! They are the very best :D
You should visit. Hahaha, now you know why :P
DeleteThank you so much love! :)
I was also stabbed in the back by the friend I trusted the most and even considered a soul sister ! Well its good to have such experiences , to learn not to trust anyone blindly and to always expect the worst. And when it happens otherwise we can experience happiness. And even surprises! Happy Birthday Soumya...Read all your posts recently and your instagram pic has made me jealous !
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I had such an experience, else I would have remained foolish. Thank you so much my dear Anita! :)
DeleteYour birthday is coming up? When is the date exactly? I wanna know when the Leo was born. Advance wishes my dear.
ReplyDeleteAnd you have done so much while others have talked so much, so why bother? Let them keep doing the talking, maybe that's what they are good at. Pathetic but might be true. You keep rocking like the Leo you are :)
Congrats on the eventful month :)
P.S: I loved the veiled rebecca too but other than that the museum takes some effort and patience.
It is on 8th August! :)
DeleteThank you so much! The museum sure was a test of my patience.
The days of good friendship are gone i believe and its good i think to get stabbed because we learn and learning is always good. it hurts when the people we trust do this to us.
ReplyDeleteAugust is good to me too I have a couple of birthday's coming up my sis and my mom's :) Happy birthday nad many happy returns of the day to you ... and may all your wishes always get true... and heyyyyyyyyyy dont forget my piece of cake pleasee :)
I have been to hyderabad and stayed there for over a month when i went to my attachement camp for ncc with the air force :) have some lovely memories ..
Bikram's
August has always been a month of birthdays! :)
DeleteYeah you will get your cake too! Hyderabad gave me some lovely memories too!
That's been quite an eventful July and good that learning comes along.... Waiting for the big day, eh ? That's nice ;) All the best and enjoy :)
ReplyDelete*makes notes about the ice cream shop while she types this comment* :D
Thank you my dear Sreeja! You are super adorable :)
Deletequite an eventful month no? Hope you have a great b'day this year too :)
ReplyDeleteOh you bet!
DeleteThank you Naba :)
Gosh!! this is the first time I've stumbled upon your blog and I regret for not finding you sooner. The statement to assuage the feeling - Better late than never. You have an amazing blog and your writings are fantastic !! Let's say I'm voracious reader as well, and definitely agree with the statement you mentioned about Indian authors. That is the only reason for my transition to other country authors. Glad that July has been a productive month for you!! :)
ReplyDelete-Ini @ Ini's Ravishing Reads
Thank you so much for this wonderful comment and welcome to my space :)
DeleteIt's my birthday month too!!! What's the date?
Deletei love the way you summarize your month, it's a great way of looking back at things and being thankful for all the little mercies!
The date is 8th! Yours??
DeleteThank you! :)
it was 15th....belated birthday wishes Soumya....hope u had a good one..... i did too!
DeleteAh Independence day baby?!? :)
DeleteHappy Birthday month to you!! I was away almost all of July. Hope to be back. Your recap posts inspire me, S! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you darling! I hope you enjoyed your vacation! :)
Delete