Explore India // I'm going to live in the mountains!

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How's everybody doing! I have been supremely busy with finals, having the time of my life spending all day with my books. TT_TT. There's also another reason I've been M.I.A. (Yes, I just used M.I.A., please don't disown me.) You must be wondering by now what exactly the title of this post means, and this is where I explain it - I'm going for an internship to the Western Himalayas! 

If you are familiar with my blog, you'd know that I am studying architecture at university. As part of our final year we need to complete an architectural internship and thesis project. I had mentioned previously that I was in the process of prepping my portfolio and sending out applications. One of the places I applied at was the Dharmalaya Institute, which is located in Himachal Pradesh near the town of Bir. Himachal Pradesh is a predominantly mountainous state, and this particular institute practises and teaches the vernacular architecture of the Himachal region, carried out mostly in mud, earth, bamboo and other natural materials. Earth architecture is a field I'm extremely interested in so I was elated and humbled, when I got selected!

However, my love for sustainable architecture is not the only reason I applied. Since for me 2015 is the year of saying yes and trying new things, an experience like this was something way out of my comfort zone, and therefore exactly what I was looking for. At first, I was quite unsure of my decision to go. I'd have to be extremely far away from home for several months, and I've never lived alone for such a long time, especially in an atmosphere which is so far removed from what I am accustomed to. I thought maybe I should postpone it to another time when I felt more 'ready'. But then one day I was listening to this song, by Asaf Avidan, and the lyrics of almost the entire song go like this: 

"One day, baby, we'll be old, oh baby we'll be old, and think of all the stories that we could have told "

 And I realised I don't want to think of all the stories I could have told, I WANT to tell them! So I mustered up my courage and decided to go for it, no looking back.

The motto of the institute is 'çompassionate living', which means they believe in causing minimal harm to other living beings. Obviously, this means that the routine and lifestyle followed here is completely different to what we are used to in the city. Located in the heart of a forest, this little community is entirely organic, vegan and minimalist. My time there will be spent in learning organic and natural architecture, how it benefits the earth and people , and majority of my day will be spent building with my own hands. It's going to be a lot of physical work from what I understand, and I am absolutely ready for it. 

It all sounds so exciting and scary at the same time! From the pictures I have seen so far on the internet, the geography looks stunning! I I am so excited to go stay in the mountains. The only other time I have been to such a region was my trip to Mukteshwar, which you can about here, and I had loved it. I leave the very same day my exams get done so it's been a real scramble getting all my things together. I'll be gone for a good four months, if not more! 

The more I think about it, the less anxious I feel.It's going to be the experience of a lifetime. Yes, I do not know anybody there, but I'm sure the people I'm going to meet will be amazing and what I will learn there academically will be priceless too. It's just the break I need after having a rollercoaster year at college, away from the busy life of the city and I am happily willing to take on the challenge of living as simply as possible.

So that's what's been up in my life! I hope to have a decent internet connection at least intermittently to be able to update the blog and share with you my experience. Four months is a long time without internet. Please let there be internet. Oh God. 

Meanwhile, stay inspired and do that one thing you keep putting off! It feels great! 

What have you done recently that scared yet excited you?

Minimalism : An attempt

Aloha folks!

The past two weeks have simply flown by and they have been exhausting! It's that time of the year again - the ever dreaded end of semester. I feel like I am in an episode of The Walking Dead, surrounded by sleep-deprived students desperately attempting to hand in their work in time. When we aren't laughing hysterically in a manner that might concern our parents, all we dream of are pillows. In all this hysteria, the thing that has helped me keep calm and composed (partially), is my amateur attempts at minimalist photography.

The concept of minimalism is to try and strip down everything to its most basic form, to make a composition that cannot be simplified anymore. This composition may be a photograph, a painting, an architectural structure, an outfit and even food. My earliest exposure to minimalism was through the study of minimalism in architecture. The works of architects like Tadao Ando and Luis Barragan just blew my mind! Ever since then, I have been exploring the works of artists who believe in this philosophy.

It might seem like an easy enough concept to grasp, but even a quick scan on the internet will show you that it's much more than blank walls and bare canvases. It's about simplicity, humility, spirituality, materials, order, repetition, the play of light and shadow. It's about the core essence of a composition, that one thing without which your creation ceases to exist. To find beauty in simplicity is much harder than one would anticipate, and it isn't something we do everyday. Minimalism can also be adopted in one's lifestyle, which I experienced briefly on a 2 week trip to Auroville in South India. That's an entirely separate post altogether!

Therefore, I decided to embark on this journey of finding beauty in the small things, in the everyday objects we probably wouldn't even give a second glance. So far, it has made me slow down, absorb and observe the little things going on around me and in general made me feel a lot calmer.

I adore Instagram and it is by far my favourite social networking app, and I have come across a lot of very inspiring and creative individuals through it. Some of my favourite minimalist photography accounts are:

Matt Crump

Connor Dwyer

Cimkedi

I think their photographs are stunning, and they each have their own very distinctive style. I am no expert when it comes to photography, but I genuinely admire their work, and want to work on my own photography skills. So I leave you now with a few attempts of my own! 

 I had a lot fun experimenting with this style and will probably attempt to get better! If you'd be interested to see more, head on over to my Instagram account @minnabee93, where I've shared more of what I've been upto the past few days. 

What have you guys been doing this week?

Have a great weekend! 

What I learnt from one month of Zumba

Hi guys! 

Firstly I'd like to wish any Indian readers out there a very Happy Holi! 

Holi, also known as the Festival of Colours celebrates the arrival of spring, good harvests and the symbolic victory of good over evil. A quick Google search will be able to acquaint you with the entire history if you would like to read more :) It is quite a colourful affair, as the name suggests and usually involves throwing fistfuls of coloured powder and water balloons at unsuspecting strangers. Ok, maybe not strangers. Unsuspecting siblings and mums and dads and friends is a-okay. Don't throw red and green powder into strangers eyes, just don't.

Anyway, the only relation between Holi and the topic of today's blog post i.e. Zumba is that both involve considerable amounts of running and jumping and exercise in general without one realising it. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Zumba, it is essentially a form of mostly cardio exercise that incorporates dance and aerobics moves into a routine of about an hour. I think it originated in Latin America if I'm not mistaken.

So recently my uni decided to hold Zumba classes at our campus, and after much deliberation ( five minutes ), I signed up for them. For reasons unknown, ( waddup Killers reference! ) they were discontinued after a month, but here are the reasons I joined and was quite glad I did!

Exercise, obviously. I had been on a bit of a health spree in the holidays and thought it was the perfect continuation of my exercise routine into my college schedule.

Now, I said earlier that I signed up for the class instantly. What followed was a few days of gnawing at my nails wondering if I had made a huge mistake. This might seem like strange behaviour, but trust me when I say I'm quite the uncoordinated human being. I DO NOT dance in public, unless the intention is to be an awkward mess. Hence I was terrified at the thought of attempting to sway my hips from side to side, leave alone move more than two parts of my body simultaneously, in front of strangers. Or worse, in front of people I knew.

I knew it shouldn't be such a huge ordeal and that I should learn to take myself less seriously and this was one of my prime reasons for joining. If one of my resolutions this year was to get out of my comfort zone, I had to do it the right way. Not merely get out of the comfort zone that is my bed.

So I went for the first class with a bunch of my friends, open to anything that was to take place. If I liked it, great! If I didn't I could think of it as the first and last dance class I would ever take, and have a funny story to share in ten years after overcoming initial mortification.

Fortunately, it was the former. The class was great! I realised I wasn't the only awkward one and for most of the class everyone was just so busy in trying to keep up with the instructor you really did not have any time to look at who was tripping over their own feet and who was making professional ballerinas jealous. Before we knew it, the hour was up and everybody looked like they had had a great time! I knew I had.

And so the classes continued and it became easier to get into the routine every class. I got a wee bit fitter. And then mystical forces intervened and the classes got suspended abruptly.

What I was most happy about though was that I don't think I'll hesitate too much to join another class in the future now. It really wasn't that bad, voluntarily putting yourself in the position of public humiliation. Quite fun to be honest, after the first few moments of awkwardness. Unfortunately, my exercise routine has undergone a drastic decline since then. I think it's time to bring out the old 7-minute workout app again.

Have you guys ever tried Zumba? What is the fitness mantra that you swear by? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

Un-seasonal showers ( of the rain kind )

Mini illustration

I am writing this while wrapped up like a new-born baby in my Finding Nemo duvet, which I needed to pull out since my otherwise not so thick blanket did not suffice. Why did I have to do this in March, you may ask? Isn't March supposed to herald the arrival of mangoes, the sun and all things tropical, here in India? 

The answer to that, ladies and gentlemen, is unseasonal rain. It seems like the weather gods wanted to celebrate the last day of February with quite a gusto. Perhaps it's their favourite month? Or their least favourite, and this is their way of compensating for forgetting to add two (or three ) days to its length. If I were February, I'd need cheering up too. But then again I am quite the mopey person and maybe February has a more optmistic outlook to life.

Or you could take the scientific route and conclude that the heat wave we have been experiencing for the past week has led to a lot of water evaporation and culminated in said rains. I don't think I need to explain the water cycle here, but plain logic points to this being the most probable answer. 

Dang. I think I enjoyed picturing an old man who in my head resembles Ariel's ( from The Little Mermaid ) father handing over a neatly wrapped present to a baby February to stop him from bawling.

Oh my god. I just thought of another possibility. Maybe the rains are baby February sobbing because he DID NOT receive a neatly wrapped present!

I can think of plenty more but I think I should stop this pointless rant now, for fear of driving away the few readers that I do have. All I can say is, whatever the reason, the cooling rain definitely improved my weekend! Sitting by the window with a cup of hot tea, wrapped up in a  blanket cocoon is what I was born for. 

I also happened to catch up on a lot of blog binge-reading and have discovered a gazillion amazing blogs! I am eager to share them with you and will probably soon do a post regarding that.

I hope the unseasonal rain hasn't destroyed the mango crop for the year. I can't do without my daily mango fix in the summer :(

How has your weekend been? Has the weather been causing the apocalypse where you're from? Let me know in the comments!

Bonus question: What do you think was the real reason for the spring showers?

Have a great week!

Happiness ǁ Try-to-be-positive Thursday

Happy Thursday guys!

Here are some wise words to start your day with. Keep at it, soldier!

Have a wonderful day :)

Happiness ǁ 100 things to be grateful for:

Hey there again!

So I have spent the last two days wallowing in bed and procrastinating, with a few, very short bouts of actually being productive. "Stop being such a useless slug!"shouts the inside of my head. What happened to my plans of staying positive? Staying motivated? Setting goals and then rewarding myself? They're in there somewhere. And so here I am, in front of my laptop screen, in front of my blog. A form of procrastination in itself, honestly speaking, but what I regard as useful procrastination. 

Since I did not put up an 'I was glad this week' post last Friday, I am going to sit here and write down a never-ending list of things I am grateful for.

1. The tea I'm sipping at the moment.
2. The fried egg my dad made me for breakfast.
3. The stunning yellow bird I spotted on a tree outside my window while eating the fried egg.
4. The Harry Potter poster in my room.
5. The Rajasthani puppet hanging on my mirror that my friend Sonam gifted me.
6. The mirror frame my mom let my siblings and me paint/destroy/do whatever we want to.
7. My mom for being awesomely supportive. And a little bit insane.
8. My dad for being awesomely supportive. And a little less insane.
9. My dad for teaching me how to drive.
10. My dad teaching my how to drive a second time, when I forgot the first time.
11. And the the third. -.- ( I don't like driving)
12. Windows Media Player for choosing my favourite Green Day song on shuffle.
13. Green Day, for being the first ever band I was properly obsessed with.
14. My obsessive personality, which makes me spend large amounts of time reading about whatever I'm obsessed with at the moment.
15. My headphones.
16. My ears, which work quite all right I think.
17. My fingers, which allow me to type this blog post.
18. My body, for being the most fascinating computer in the world.
19. Israeli architect, Guy Austern for bringing to my notice in a lecture he gave that the DNA in our body is the most complicated form of computer coding. 
20. DNA! I can't get over how amazing it is.
21. The water bottle next to me. keeping me hydrated.
22. The Vaseline lip balm next to me, also keeping me hydrated.
23. My siblings.
24. For being twins.
25. And for being awesome in general.
26. The bag hanging in front of me that I bought in Auroville.
27. It reminds me of my trip to Auroville. It was the best trip in the world.
28. The irony, or maybe blessing, that I call almost every trip the best trip in the world.
29. Auroville, for being seriously bloody amazing.
30. The friends I made at Auroville.
31. The friends I got closer to at Auroville.
32. My friends.
33. The ABBA song that just started playing on shuffle.
34. My mom and her brothers for introducing my siblings and I to ABBA.
35. ABBA. Oh wait, this was probably the first band I was obsessed with.
36. My phone which just buzzed.
37. The fact that I have managed to keep my room more or less tidy.
38. My architecture drawings and portfolios lying in the corner of my room.
39. The fact that I was allowed to go to architecture school.
40. And that I have made it to the fourth year.
41. Almost the fifth year. Couple of months to go.
42. Next semester, for being the semester I look forward to the most.
43. Photoshop, for being a really fun software.
44. My siblings for teaching me Photoshop.
45. Youtube, for teaching me Photoshop.
46. Youtube for being Youtube.
47. My best friend Ruchi for introducing me to YouTubers and YouTube as a profession.
48. Dan and Phil
49. Jack and Dean
50. Benjamin Cook
51. The Becoming YouTube series by Benjamin Cook.
52. The song Pipes by Tom Milsom, that I am currently obsessed with.
53. YouTube for everything really. For introducing me to the work of some amazing film makers, vloggers, animators and musicians.
54. My internet connection at home which allows me to watch YouTube.
55. The internet as an invention.
56. For allowing me to blog.
57. This blog.
58. The song Promises by Boy Kill Boy that just came on on shuffle. It reminds me of working out on the exercise cycle.
59. The 7 minute workout app by Johnson and Johnson.
60. My friend Aseem for encouraging me to download the app.
61. The purple yoga mat I use while exercising.
62. The yoga post I came across on Ella Grace Denton's blog, We Need To Live More.
63. Instagram for letting me discover her blog.
64. Music for making me think.
65. Music for making me feel.
66. Movies for making me think.
67. Movies for making me feel.
68. Intelligent movies for making me feel like I haven't wasted two hours of my life.
69. Background scores for making me realise the impact sound and video can have when used together.
70. The background score of Interstellar.
71. The Backstreet Boys song that just came on. It reminds me of old friends.
72. It reminds me of my friend Alisha, when we used to sing 'Larger than Life' together.
73. Alisha, who I hope to stay in touch with forever because her smile makes me happy.
74. Rituja, for bearing with me when I used to write down lyrics of Green Day songs in my notebook and force her to read them.
75. Dyuti for sharing with me the journey of discovering the beauty that is Muse music.
76. All the musicians who ever created something I loved.
77. All the musicians who ever created stuff I didn't love, because I sang along anyway.
78. The mysterious person playing acoustic guitar somewhere outside.
79. The crow who is trying to harmonise with the guitar playing.
80. The pain in my neck from sleeping wrong, which reminds me that the pain is just a way of asking for help. Everybody needs help.
81. Anybody who ever helped me.
82. The fan for keeping mosquitoes at bay.
83. The fan for being the sound I can't fall asleep without.
84. My hair, for still being there.
85. My hair, which will still grow back even if I cut it.
86. The framed picture of my family and me from 15 years ago.
87. The woollen knitted mouse on my dresser which reminds me of our family trip to Mukteshwar.
88. Mukteshwar for being such a breathtaking place.
89. Nature.
90. God for creating nature.
91. Humans, for being humans.
92. Humans for being different.
93. Humans for being inexplicably kind.
94. Humans for being amazingly strong.
95. Humans for helping each other.
96. The fact that I listed down 95 things to be grateful for without much effort.
97. The fact that I can probably type endless things to be grateful for.
98. The hope and optimism that exists in me that I will be healthy enough in body and soul to continue this list in the future.
99. My brain, for urging me to start working on my uni homework now. I should probably listen to it.
100. And finally, to end today's list, I am thankful to the book 'Children and their Environments' by Spencer and Blades, for assisting me in the research paper I am working on currently and shall proceed to work on now after this post.

Cheers,

Happiness ǁ I was glad this week #2

Happy Friday everybody!

Thank god it's Friday, seriously. Today was a crappy day. The week hasn't been great either. I'm sitting huddled up in my blanket surrounding myself with comfort food. But in the midst of the grey, black, sludgy brown splotch of this week, there were indeed things to be glad about.

1. I finished my design portfolio! I felt such a huge rush of relief the moment I saved the final draft. So I sent in my application to a couple of offices and hope to hear about my internship soon. The semester at uni just can't get done fast enough. I'm more than ready to get out into the real world now.

2. Discovered Hozier. Clearly, i've been living under a rock because I only came across this wonderful artist now, but his song ' Take Me To Church' has been a massive hit during the past year and has now received a Grammy nomination! It's beautiful. Period. I've been listening to it on repeat the entire week.

3. Watched the Republic Day parade; (on the telly haha). Nevertheless, it was a moment of pride to watch the magnificent Republic Day parade on Monday, Jan 26th. The parade takes place in Delhi every year and it's been ages since I actually sat down and watched the entire show.

4. Watched an AMAZING Ted talk by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor. It is amongst the 20 most watched Ted talks on YouTube. She talks about the day she woke up to realise she was having a massive brain stroke. She slowly felt her brain functions slip away one by one, but remembered every detail after the incident. Her description is truly fascinating and it makes  you think about what an absolutely beautiful organ the brain is. Please do watch it! I got goosebumps.

That's it for today folks! I should probably use my own advice and go listen to the Pick me Up Playlist ( click here to view the post). Or I could work on another blog post. Or I could go watch some Dan and Phil 

What cheers you up on a bad day?

Minna

Happiness ǁ I was glad this week #1

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY!

On my way home from college today, I was reflecting upon the week I had, and it was a pretty great one. There really wasn't any grand event that took place, just a collection of wonderfully happy everyday moments which made me smile a little wider, laugh a little louder. Because when you really come to think of it, we experience millions of precious moments everyday, so why is it that they are so quickly forgotten the moment we have a bad one?

If you have read my first blog post (click right here if you haven't), you will know that one of the primary reasons I started blogging, was to try and consciously be more positive and appreciate the little things in life, through the medium of this blog. So it was only appropriate that I do literally that - make a list of things that made me glad this week! So here goes:

1. Today! It's Friday, need I say more? Ok I will. Weekend! Oh wait, three day weekend! Not to mention that today was one of the nicest days I've had in a while. Meeting old friends, planning adventures together, laughing long and hard enough to draw strange looks and sipping sugarcane juice in a miniscule shed.

2. Finally making progress on my portfolio! So as part of our programme we are required to do an internship in our fifth year of school. I have been trying to put together my design portfolio for quite a while now, but procrastination won every single time. I'm feeling great about it and hope to finish it soon.

3. Reversing the car out of the my very narrow parking space without scratching/denting/smashing mirrors/squashing cats. I really really want to become more confident in my driving skills. It's a particularly unpleasant hurdle I need to cross. I do not enjoy driving at all (shoutout to Indian traffic), but it's something I can't get out of. I feel like I'll feel more confident after I do successfully venture out on my own little joy ride for the first time. Everybody has different skills and loads of people do find driving difficult, so why does it affect my confidence so much? Is that weird?

4. Getting back to Radical Face. In the process of putting together my last blog post, I listened to a lot of Radical Face after a fair bit of time, and of course I was in my happy place! (Click here to view the post)

5. Discovering the AMAZINGLY AWESOME T-Rex Google game thing! You know when your internet connection is down and the T-Rex pops up in Google Chrome? Press spacebar and prepare to be transported to pixelated awesomeness. (Thanks Kashmira!) I think I came across it pretty late but you cannot imagine how happy it made me!

6. Eating yummy imli papad, or atleast I think that's what it's called. It is exactly like aam papad, but green and tangier. It brought back memories of this sweet called Sunrays we used to get in our school canteen. Anybody else remember them?

So this is what I recall at the moment of the week that has been! I hope to make this sort of post a weekly thing. Let's see how that goes!

What put a sappy grin on your face this week? Let me know in the comments below!

Cheers!

Introduction ǁ Experiments in Optimism

1. 
   
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4. Sanguine:

   
   

   Optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation.

   
   

   Synonyms:   optimistic, hopeful, buoyant, positive, disposed to look on the bright side, cheerful, bright
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6. Antonyms:   pessimistic, gloomy

    

1. Hey there! Welcome to Sanguine Stories! I'm Minna, a twenty-something student from India and here's a little bit of my story.
   
   

   
   

   
   

   Close to four years ago, I started architecture school. The journey so far has been splendid, a rollercoaster ride might i say. I have had the good fortune to have met wonderful teachers, made fast friends, learned loads and created invaluable memories. However, for the past year or so I haven't been in the most positive headspace. I understand that nobody can be expected to have sunshine and rainbows beaming out their faces all the time, but I began to notice that negativity came to me much easier than being happy did. It didn't just affect me, but the people around me too. I made a conscious effort to keep a watch on myself, surrounding myself with positive people, even taking the 100 days of happiness challenge (which i failed at miserably). I  still don't know what was causing this burnout but I was desperate for change. 
2. Summer of 2014, I  stepped out of my comfort zone. My friend and I enrolled for a brief academic project in Jamaica. I was very very hesitant at first, but I decided to take the plunge. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life so far. Rejuvenated, the following months were better, but slowly the cycle started repeating itself. Boredom, procrastination, binge TV watching and finally stress. I became indifferent, stopped wanting to learn, which was an extremely scary thought.
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   A result of all the crying and the moping is this blog. This blog is my attempt to bring back  lost enthusiasm, establish a routine, push myself to get out, try new things and say yes to more things. There's so much to learn from the world! I can't stand myself for having done nothing for far too long. Ugh. 

   
   

   So join me in my little project, my own small space on the internet where I will share with you my experiments in optimism, stories of my travels, art and architecture, DIYs, food, health and lifestyle! I hope somehow, somewhere, somebody is inspired to explore the wonders around us.
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6. To 2015 - It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me. Feeling Good.
   
   

   
   

   
   

   Stick around for a while, won't you?

   
   

   
   
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