Aniesha's Musings

I am pretty much addicted to tea. In fact, there’s no chance of me ever saying no to a cup of tea. It could be the middle of the afternoon and I’d still be interested in a cuppa! But I also am in the habit of ordering coffee when I visit cafes, when I meet people in coffee shops. I can never bring myself to order tea. At the most, iced teas. But I stick to cups of coffee when I am in these cafes. I really don’t know why. I guess it’s a quirk I developed a long time ago and I’ve never consciously tried to change it. So, if I am sitting alone, reading a book in café, there’s no doubt what drink I’d probably have in my hand!

You know what I love most about songs? The lyrics. There’s a saying which says that, “With the right kind of music you either forget everything or you remember everything.” But the kinds of songs that I like, they vary. Anyone who goes through the playlist on my phone is bound to think I’m crazy. Because I listen to all kinds of songs. And it completely depends on the mood that I’m in as to what would be my favourite song.
I create playlists for the stories that I write. There are certain songs kept on loop to help me get into the heads of my characters. There are songs that remind of things I want to forget; of people I have no interest in remembering ever again. There are songs which give me a lot of hope and help me look forward to tomorrow.
Currently, my favourite song is Better Place by Rachel Platten. If you’ve not heard the song, check it out. It has a lot of positivity and happiness.

You know why people cannot seem to find happiness? Because they don't realize that happiness is not a destination. You cannot keep telling yourself, if this happens or that, then I'll be happy. The Universe is always providing you with reasons to be happy but you're stubborn. So you don't want to take the chance and just be happy! 
If you talk about on very personal terms, I have a list of things that can always make me happy no matter what I might be currently going through in life, (and in no particular order as such):
1. My mother  2. All my cats  3. Books  4. Stories  5. Conversations  6. Soul Mates  7. Friends  8. Traveling  9. Singing  10. Rainfall 
If you're feeling sad, just make a list of all the good things in your life. No, you don't get to be pessimist and tell me that there's nothing good in your life. You will have to learn to dig deeper and tell me what makes your life so uniquely yours.

“What is a friend?”
“It is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
- Aristotle


We live in a world where everyone is obsessed with trying to find their happily ever after. We are part of a world where it’s so easy to find someone when you’re lonely but equally difficult to find someone when you’re ready. We don’t want to feel alone and the lengths that we go to in order to make sure we’re never lonely, is sometimes pretty appalling.
In the world that has no time to stop, that has no time to really work towards building a relationship, it is almost a laughable matter to be in search of soul mates. But my dear, this is exactly where most of us go wrong.
Soul mates don’t always have to be people you’re in love with or who you might want to potentially build a relationship with. Sometimes the most perfectly matched soul mates are your best friends.
True no one wants to label one particular friend as their best friend because let’s face it we share different and comfortable equations with a…

“Sometimes it’s not about the happy ending. Sometimes it’s about the story.”


This was the prompt that made me write the book which actually helped my writing career, When Our Worlds Collide. I was honestly very intrigued by the story of two people who come together but do not necessarily end up together. I began asking people around me what they cherish the most about their lives. They always told me it was the stories that have stayed with them forever.
Stories have saved countless lives. Because sometimes the only thing that keeps you from giving up is the fact you read the words that would become your saviour at the right time. Stories don’t always have to come to you in the form of books. It could be a little incident someone told you about. A little story that you came across in the pages of a long forgotten magazine.
You have no idea how powerful one little story can be. They shape lives. They build us up, they help us realize even the most broken amongst us can rise again. There…

Childhood Memories.


Do you remember everything about your childhood? In crystal clear details or is your memory like one? Broken, fragmented. Some blacked out hurriedly with a felt pen. Or memories shining bright, Even though you’ve tried so many times to make it go dim. Ah, childhood. You were so filled with memories. The stuffed teddy bear that once comforted me, And the little pillow that has become long forgotten! The room I once shared with a sister, Is still filled with scattered pieces of when she once lived here with me. A part of the room, left untouched Because moving things around would feel – Well, too final. No one likes being an adult. No one wants to let go off being a child. So you find an in between, you fill up your room With all your childhood memories. 

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Topic selected by: Me!

“I love walking into a bookstore. It's like all my friends are sitting on shelves, waving their pages at me.” 

― Tahereh Mafi


Nothing has ever made me feel quite at home as much as a Bookstore has. Whenever people want to meet up with me in my city, I suggest coming down to Oxford Bookstore. Or Story. Or Starmark, South City. The bottom line is: I ask them to meet me at a place where I would be surrounded by books.
My sister was an avid reader and I think I picked up the habit of reading books from her. I don’t know when a hobby turned slightly into an obsession and I ended up with a cupboard full of books. And more books overflowing. I have stopped keeping a count on how many books I own. Because I am pretty sure the number is irrelevant.
When I went to Bangalore this month, I had to meet a lot of my friends. And all of them like me, love reading books. In fact I think our friendship is based on the fact that we love reading books. It was of no surprise then that all of us decided…

From today, there are exactly 100 days left for 2016 to end. So we decided (a writing/blogging group called Bibliobibulis) that we are going to challenge ourselves to blog everyday, for the next 100 days as we bring in the New Year! 
Further, while everyone chose themes for themselves, Leo da and I decided to do this project in collaboration. So everyday we pick topics for the next. I picked the topic for Day 1 which happens to be Hope. Now, on with the actual blog post: 
The direction defines hope as 'a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.' But according to me our very existences thrive on the fact that we can hope. I was rather tiny when I had my first brush with death and realized that not one of us would get to live forever. So I remember asking my mother, "But if I am going to die anyway, what's the point of trying to hard to survive?" And she told me, "To live a good life. And hope that everything will turn out to be exact…

"You're My Manhattan from the Sky" 
That song has been on loop for quite some time now. And as I listen 
Rather carefully to the words being sung 
I realize, that the sixteen year old girl would have smiled at me 
And thanked me. 
For finally letting you know that to her, 
You were the Manhattan from the sky. 
She loved you more than you'd ever know. Or I believe I'm capable of ever loving someone ever again. 
She held on to that love, even though it was never returned, and she drew happiness and joy from it, 
And a strength that knew no bounds 
That her future self learned to love again. 
The thing is: you never forget your first love. You can put out the flames but the fire somehow remains. 
So every once in a while, I do think about you. 
And I wonder if I've ever crossed your mind. I guess not. 
It's not your fault either. You didn't know. 
How could you any way? Because she was in love with a boy she'd never said a word to. 
When you're sixteen conversat…