Sunday, April 11, 2010

Spring time of the Year

8am on a Saturday morning and the sun shines bright in to the bedroom. Eyes half open and hands crawling under the pillow grab her phone to check the time and tucks back into the duvet telling that it’s too early for a Saturday morning.
10am drags herself away from the bed to a cup of steaming hot coffee. 11am finally sets off the venture into the little town, to see clear skies with partially empty roads. She walks over the bridge as she walks beneath it she finds a pair of swans playing with their beaks travelling together aimlessly. Smiling faces with shopping bag in their hands hang around everywhere. End of every street there's a pub filled with youngsters trying to socialise, network and get ready for the busy night.
Markets filled with fresh and colorful greens; cabbages, spinach and courgette says pick me up and the onions and potatoes says I am your necessity; bright red tomatoes say “I am the last but not your least”. She walks further down to hear the hawkers say “Everything for 2 pound “ “Young Lady how can I help you” She stops to smile and say “eh…… can I have a kilo of oranges please”; she was lured by the salesmanship of the fruit seller. Old ladies and women accompanied by children try to make their best bargain; Saturday morning is the best day of the week for them.
Further down she finds the "inside market"; a huge building with tall roofing protecting her from the cold wind outside, rows and rows of shops fulfilling every need of a household. Fresh fish on a bed of ice, merchandise for baby, young and the old, tools shop, stationery, vegetables, fruits, cosmetics, flowers, plants, parlours and cafe you name it and you will find it. City Market shall always be the Old people's charm of this place.
Not too Far away from the city "look it’s a Football Ground!" She exclaimed; the lush green meadow with a net on either ends of the ground; young football lovers were trying to practise their skills on it. Besides it is a playground for children she could stand there for hours watching the kids play. Zoom.... goes a cyclists showing off his acrobatic skills."Did they get trained on these skills or were they born talented?" She wondered. On the public library is a huge chess board on the floor where the black and the whites are on for a fight. As she walked along the footpath she was excited looking at the young fitness freaks on a sleeveless top, cycling shorts with I pod gear for music and bottle of water in their hand.
The High Street! She could never miss that, one of the busiest streets in town. Shoppers and shopaholic grabbing Pizza slices, Mc Donald, Burger king and a coke in hand waking in and out of branded shops like Next, Marks & Spencer’s, Debenhams, Gap, Austin Reed, The VQ and so on. As she walks her ears tune into song "look into my eye.... “With a smile in her face she walks towards source of the song to find the violinist do a public performance. Every nook and corner of the street she finds various artists exhibiting themselves on a public forum.
Green Leaves spurring out of the brown bark, Yellow Purple and Red Flowers all around the city. Cheerful faces lost in their own world, bright and sunny skies and chill wind that blows though it. That's Spring time of Leeds in short.
Leeds Live it Love it

Friday, April 9, 2010

For a friend

Brave are your thoughts
Courageous are your actions
The vigour to fight and to
say "Let's do it now"
Is what I learnt from you

Timid little girl
You have a long way to go
Live life every moment
With smile in your face and
Joy in your heart.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Shopping Stuff or Junk?

During my Holiday in India, of course ventured out on a lot of shopping and once I got back home, I would be back with loads of plastic covers as a result of walking in and out of several stores. When I had to re pack into suitcase, I started ripping them of the nice fancy package and just the stuff went into my suitcase.

In the end when I finally felt like I am done and looked around to see that I am surrounded by unwanted plastic, cardboard boxes and paper. OMG! I said to myself, it seemed be a lot more that the goods that I shopped, which just goes into the bin.

When will these big brands stop emphasising on looks and package. Of-course I realise that the goods travel from the production house to the warehouse to the retailer and then to the consumer. But isn't there a better way of distributing these goods? I directly do not have an answer for this but then I realised what I could do is say No to Plastic Covers.

So from the next day I walked into the Mall and tell the cashier that I Don't need a bag, and I make sure to carry a small fordable carry bags either from Tesco or the one one my cousin gave my mom (and I flicked it from amma :P) from www.smallsteps.in and trust me I feel so good about making this decision. Now there is less junk that goes into my bin :)