Jamberry Circus

RenoTransformation: Week 6 – Lessons Learnt Part 1

We are now in the second month of the RenoTransformation. Despite the labour shortages, approval delays, shipping issues, we seem to be making good progress. One of the bathrooms is coming along well At the beginning of the year, almost two months before the work started, I drafted a list of guiding principles for the project. This is a habit from my former life as a business consultant. When…

RenoTransformation Week 5: The Devil is in the details

I’m not the most detail-oriented person. I’m more of a big picture, creative thinker than an industrious and meticulous doer. So while it has been super easy and super fun to work on the overall design, look and feel of my kitchen, completing the detailed design is driving me to tears. I express my creativity through my cooking – trying new ingredients or creating my own recipes. It’s a sacred…

RenoTransformation: Week 4 – To Smart or Not to Smart

I love Wirecutter. Before every purchase, I religiously check if Wirecutter has reviewed the category and let their recommendations heavily influence my decision. The people at Wirecutter are that good. I have referred to their advice on coffee makers, dishwashers, stoves and ranges, stand-in mixers, kid headphones, label printers, portable bluetooth speakers, bedsheets, backpacks, even umbrellas…

I recently read an article in the New York Times about the current state of global shipping and the havoc created by, you guessed it, Covid-19. It seems that shipping companies are focussed on the lucrative China-North America trade routes. Containers sent to South America and Africa with medical supplies are empty and idling at their ports with no one interested in fetching them. Ports are…

The house is barely recognizable! Hacking works in progress To transform first you must strip out what was. Then change a few things structurally; changes that will never be seen on the outside, but make for a sound foundation and also minimise future issues. The renovation is becoming such a metaphor for the transformation I’ve been going through in real life. My house and me, together on a…

Sometime last year, we decided to repair and renovate our beloved house. What started as a kernel of an idea has grown into a sturdy little plant. After our wedding, the birth of our children, and our move from NYC to Singapore in 2007, this is the biggest, most transformative event for my husband and me.  We were uncertain of embarking on a renovation journey during a pandemic. But it seems…

It seems unbelievable that we are now observing anniversaries of specific events and milestones of the Covid-19 pandemic. Reading my journals from that time, in February 2020 I was stockpiling wipes and hand sanitizer, on March 11, 2020 my husband took his last flight before we went to lockdown, etc. I remember discussing plans with friends for “when this is is over…”. What seemed like a quick…

The Mask: A Necessary Accessory for COVID-19

When I started graduate school in New York City, my very first assignment was to write an essay so that the school could assess my writing skills. I was considered a foreign student, even though my entire formal education had been in English, and I had spent three years working for an American company in India.

The topic for the essay was to discuss the ethics of administering the smallpox vac…

BUILDING A Writing Practice: Week 12

And it’s done. Or is it just starting? 

I have finished the 12-week Artist’s Way program. I’m slowly sinking into the most delicious feeling of accomplishment. Over the last several years, I started more than my share of programs, challenges, courses, routines, everything from the spiritual to the mundane. And each time I gave after a few days or weeks. But I stayed with the Artist’s Way, and…

Building a Writing Practice: Week 11

Thinking about change and nurturing myself were the key actions for Week 11. I reflected on all the ways I’ve changed since Week 1 and also made some commitment towards how I will continue to change. Reclaiming myself as a person, independent of the roles I play, has been the single biggest change I’ve made. Making time and space for myself, and teaching my family members to respect my time and…

Building a Writing Practice: Week 9 and 10

In the last three weeks, I fell into the Virtue Trap (i.e. deprioritized myself), got scared of my own ambitions as laid out in the Goal Search during week 8, and almost made a creative U-turn. 

I spent the major part of a week planning and preparing for my mother’s online birthday party. Being new to hosting Zoom meetings with more than 5 participants, I needed to educate myself about the…

The Power of Consistent Attention

I’ve spent my entire adult life thinking of myself as a plant terminator. I have killed off more house plants than I can bear to think of. Even plants that are impossible to kill have withered and wasted away under my care.

I absolutely love plants, and adore the trend of having lots of indoor plants of different shapes and sizes. The last time I bought indoor plants, they started dying quite…

Building a writing Practice – Week 7

Visual Arts and Practice were the two key themes this week. I painted, made a collage, watched MOMA’s Virtual Views on photography and the art of Yayoi Kusama, took photographs of things in my house, and viewed dozens of Van Gogh-inspired art projects on Instagram. I bought three small potted herbs two weeks ago and I’ve meticulously watered them, sheltered them from the storms, sent them…

building a writing practice: week 6

Week 6 is in the bag! This week I learnt to accept freebies – a pineapple from my neighbor, four online lessons from my yoga studio, a class making Salzburger Nockerl with a lovely woman in Salzburg, Austria, and a class learning about Roman winemaking and spicing up red and white wine with a real Roman. Oh Universe, I am ready and willing to accept your abundance!

Being in a lockdown…

Building a writing practice: Week 5

March 20, 2020 was a good day. It was a Friday and the beginning of spring break. Three people whom I have known practically my whole life celebrated their birthdays on that day. If not for COVID-19, we would be a on a plane to Hokkaido, Japan for some skiing. It was a normal Friday like any other. March 20, 2020 is also the day I felt a gentle nudge and I decided to embark on the Artist’s Way…

Reading deprivation is horrible. This week I was supposed to abstain from reading. I slipped up every single day. I tried to limit myself to updates about COVID-19 once a day, school emails, and Artist’s Way. No newspapers, books, recipes, blogs, magazines, online forums, online courses. Nothing. Bedtime was difficult, because reading is a soothing nightly activity. Because I couldn’t read, I…