Life.

As I sit in this busy Starbucks sipping on my coffee, I feel overwhelmed.

I feel overwhelmed about so many things in life.

I feel overwhelmed by the fact that I don't know in which city of this world I will be 4 months done the line. Such is my job which keeps me on my toes with its uncertainty. Though I find it exciting most of the times, today I am scared of the same fact.

I feel overwhelmed by the fact how dependent we have become of technology. How connected we are all the time with our smart phones, laptops, television and internet. How many passwords I have to maintain for all these accounts (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yahoo, WunderList, Itunes, TripAdvisor, Amazon.com, Pinterest, etc.).

I feel overwhelmed by the fact that people come together, become friends, make beautiful memories and then move on with the life. You try your best to keep in touch and if you are lucky enough, the friendships survives the weather of time. Otherwise you gradually grow apart and ‘life’ takes over. Such is life. Such is the rule of universe. You can try hard to resist it, but eventually the only person who remains with you throughout is you.

I feel overwhelmed by the fact that I still haven’t found my purpose of life. You go about with your routine job, try to make it as challenging as possible, handle clients, get paid, receive accolades (and brickbats in equal amounts) and repeat the whole drill. All the while, a small doubt lingers in your mind: Is this what you really want to do with your life? Most of the time, you try to beat down that doubt and go on with the daily drill. Other times, you think hard and worry. But are we all destined to find the purpose of our life? I mean is everyone lucky enough to find and follow a passion in their life? I truly believe every one of us deserve to find the passion of our life. But at times I also wonder whether the whole idea of the purpose of life is fabricated. Maybe this is life. You struggle, suffer and drudge through; with a few moments of happiness thrown in. Maybe this is life all about. Nothing more or nothing less.

I feel overwhelmed by the fact that I am so far away from all the people I love. Everyone whom I have known for the most of my life is on the other side of the globe. My hubby stays in opposite coast of the country. Sigh !

I feel overwhelmed. Maybe it is just today. Maybe it is just me.

Simple Pleasures of Life - 4

Dance as if no one is watching

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Dance as if no one is watching, Dance to your heart's content and soul's desire. Don't let anyone deter you and tell you that you are bad dancer. Dance is a form of expression, enjoy it to the fullest. Dance as if no one if watching.

Elaine (of Seinfeld fame), you go girl. Let everyone make fun of you, but I find your dance quite interesting :)

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Simple Pleasures of Life - 3

An enchanting sunset

When sky is the canvas, there are not enough colours in our pallette.

Simple Pleasures of Life - 2

Watching rain

Watching rain through the window as it plays its owns ballet on the ground. A book and a coffee adds charm to the experience !

The Last BookStore

Famed as one of the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world, The Last BookStore is situated in downtown LA. Unless you checkout the exact same address in the map, it is easy to miss this gem of a place. It doesn't have huge billboards directing it to the inside of the bookstore nor does it have flashy exteriors. Only thing that distinguishes the bookstore is a writing on its huge glass windows.

I came across the list of 20 most beautiful bookstore in the world two months back and it instantly struck me that I haven't even been to a single one of them. Since the list spanned across various cities across the globe, I decided to first visit the one that is closest to home. The Last BookStore in LA began in 2005 in a downtown Los Angeles loft and is currently in its third location. They are one of the last bookstores in LA which still buys the used books.

The books are arranged in various shelfs by genre and author. All the books in the front room of the bookstore are priced at $1 and if you search hard enough, you are bound to find some rare gems. Though most of the books are used books which are prices reasonably, the bookstore house new books too; but those are priced at the stored prices.The bookstore also house music records, some rare ones at that too. There is an in-house coffee house which serves up a cup or two of coffee if you are tired from looking at the books.

According to the owner Josh Spencer

the coolest book to ever be placed on the shelves is a giant-sized sample of Taschen's "Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967." Only 1,500 copies were printed and signed at $2,000 a pop. The Last Bookstore's was the rarest because it was never for sale. Another gem is a vintage paperback of Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," inspiration for the film "Blade Runner."

There is a story behind its name too

The name was chosen with irony, but it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy as physical bookstores are dying out like dinosaurs from the meteoric impact of Amazon and e-books. With our constant turnover of stock, regular musical and literary events, and the addition of coffee and a vinyl LP shop, we book-lovers at the Last Bookstore hope to last as long as we can in downtown LA’s vibrant new community. Join the cause! Buy, sell, trade, and above all read real books…before they’re gone.

I love the last line "Buy, sell, trade, and above all read real books…before they’re gone". I hope they are never gone. I hope that even in the time of Amazon, Flipkart and e-books, the real books survive forever. To help the cause, I bought a second hand copy of the book "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, something I wanted to read for a long time now.

Which is the most beautiful bookstore you ever visited? Do you think real books are becoming extinct?

Simple Pleasures of Life - 1

Smell of books

How many times have your opened a new book and tried to smell its pages? Never ?!?! Then you should do it very soon. You can try it with an old book too. What you sense will be a rustic smell, sharp enough to tinkle many of the old memories. I wish I could put a name on that smell. Alas, somethings in life are meant to be felt and not explained in as many words. That's why it is called a simple pleasure of life. Doesn't all the booklovers out there will agree with me?

P.S: Starting today, Simple Pleasures of Life will be a weekly feature in dewdrops, in which we will discuss a simple pleasure of life every Wednesday. The criteria for an experience to satisfy as a simple pleasure of life - it should be rather inexpensive, simple to understand and heartfelt. Isn't that simple?

A Separation - The movie

One word - Brilliant.

I had been wanting to watch Separation for a long time now. I was fascinated by the trailer of 'A Separation' that I came across while watching the movie Pina, the Germany's official entry to the oscar. 'A Separation' went ahead and won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film.

When the movie started playing in my neighbourhood 'Michigan Theatre', it gave one more reason for go ahead and watch the movie. I am in love with the historical Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. Established in January 5, 1928, Michigan Theatre is a piece of art in itself. Majestic hallways, personnel playing piano before the start of the movies, rustic seating and red velvet walkways makes it a fascinating place to watch the movies. I feel that I get transformed into a black gown wearing, stiff upper lip English Lady with a hand-held fan (black indeed) and a cigar to boot, when I walk down its aisles. Haha, there is no end to the possibilities while you are day-dreaming, right !

A separation tells us the story of a couple faced with a difficult situation in which wife wants to move abroad for a better future for their daughter and the husband wants to stay back in Iran to look after his father who suffers from Alzhemier's disease. How the couple deals with the situation along with several complications added onto it along the way forms the essence of the movie. One thing that struck me instantly was the brillant performances by all the protagonists. The vulnerability of the maid, the misguided anger of her husband, the precocious and innocent daughters; I loved all of them. The two kids in the movie were adorable; they said so much with their facial expressions that the dialogues were quite unnecessary. As the movie progresses, all the characters are faced with moral dilemmas and each one of them have to take decisions that allow them to live with their conscience.

One of the scenes that I particularly liked in the movie is where the wife is driving the car and is speaking to herself. She says "Ten years of marriage and he doesn't tell me once to stay, he doesn't tell no to the divorce". She says this inspite of the fact that she is the one who filed for the divorce, which makes me think as women, why are we constantly looking for validation of the love? validation of yourself? Guilty myself, that one scene gave me enough food for thought.

A Separation is one of the most brillantly made movies that I have watched recently. It is also my first iranian movie. Please give yourself a treat and do watch the movie. In the meanwhile, have you watched any other iranian movies? Do you have any suggestions for me?

Tagged !

I am tagged by one of my best friends, Rash. She is one of my close buddies from school and we have known each other for the last 17 years. She has a way with words and etches out wonderful poems and stories in her blog. Thanks for tagging me Rash, I so much looked forward to doing this tag !

The rules of the game are:


You must post the rules.

Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create eleven new questions to ask the people you have tagged.

Tag eleven people and link them to your post.

And, let them know you have tagged them.

Here are the questions assigned to me and without further ado, let me dig deep into them.


1. What inspired you to start blogging?

Well, interesting question. I had always loved reading and it included all the online content too. Way back in 2005, I started reading a lot of blogs online. Somewhere in that process, I had this sudden urge to start a blog. Hence, Dewdrops were born. To this day, I spend more time reading other blogs than writing the content for my blog - something I surely need to change.

2. Who’s your favourite author and which book by that author do you like best?

My favourite author is Saumerset Maugham and a book of his which I absolutely love 'Of Human Bondage'. I believe anybody who have read this book will agree with me when I say that this is one of the best books ever written in English Literature.

However, if I can alter the question to read which is your favourite book of all time? then the answer is will be entirely different. My favourite book of all time is 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' by Harper Lee. If you were to read one book in your entire lifetime it should be 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. An all time classic that I can read many times over. My hero is Atticus Finch.

3. Do you identify with (or wish you were) a fictional character? Who is that?

Do I identify with a fictional character? Well, I don't think I do. There are many fictional characters whom I adore, but don't think I identify with any of them. Maybe because I think I am quite unique, ha ! But there sure is a fictional (comic) character whom I absolutely adore and that is Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes comics. I should proudly announce at this point in time that I own the entire Calvin and Hobbes collection and I find reading the comics quite stress-relieving. They put a smile to my face each and every time.

Calvin echoing my sentiments ;)

4. What’s your all-time-favourite food?

A difficult question because I love food across the cuisines and regions. But being a true blue malayalee, I should say that my favourite food is appam with vegetable stew.

5. What’s your favourite colour? Has it always been your favourite?

I love colours. I try to keep my wadrobe as colourful as possible. I love experimenting with a range of colours, however if I have to pick one colour for my clothes, it had to be black. Classic, elegant, yet stylish. I don't think I have even met one person in my life who doesn't look good in black. Everyone looks good in black.

6. Do you experience/Have you experienced mood-swings? How do you help / how have you helped yourself out of it?

I do experience mood-swings. What is the whole fun of being a girl/woman if you don't go through mood-swings ;) Best way to deal with them - Exercise. Move your body - go for a walk/run outside, breathe in some fresh air, soak in some Vitamin D from the sunshine and let the endorphins pump up your mood. I have always noticed that a little bit of exercise gives you more energy and takes you out of the slumpness instantly. Another easier way to get out of a bad mood is watch your favourite sitcom. Laugh out Loud and keep that smile on your face. Seinfield does it for me almost all the time.

7. What’s your favourite holiday spot?

Hard to choose one considering the fact that I love love travelling. At times I believe the whole reason for my existence on earth is to travel. Because I still call Kerala my home I don't want to call it my favourite holiday spot. If I have to pick a favourite holiday spot in India, it has got to be Goa for its beaches, awesome sea food and rustic charm. Another favourite destination would be one of the northeastern states for its untouched beauty. I had never known that north eastern part of India is so beautiful until I made a trip to Sikkim.
8. Do you have any favourite word in the English language? Which one is it?

My current favourite word in English Language is 'Petrichor', simply because it is my favourite smell on earth and I recently found out that there is a name for this smell.

9. Which of your posts do you like best?

I like all of them, hehe :D One post of mine which is very close to my heart is The War.


10. Is there any trait/attitude/quality that is an instant turn-on for you? Do share.

Yes, ability to hold an intelligent conversation is an instant turn-on for me.


11. Have you ever written about a crush you had? If yes, please share the post/s.

No, I never have. I need to do a post on my long standing crush on Hugh Jackman soon :)
Phew ! That was hard :)