Hi, from India!

As I mentioned in last week's post I will be taking a month long break off of blogging while I'm away in India!

I did have scheduled blogposts planned ready to put up till the end of the new year. However, since I've arrived in India and been super busy with wedding and family stuff, I realised that I just won't have the time to reply to comments, and be as present and dedicated as I want to be with blogging!

SO, I am leaving you with a couple photos from my first week here in India ☺️ 



Just some of the preparation before wedding functions!



And I'm sure that I will do a few updates on my Instagram during my time here!


A photo posted by Raashi Agarwal (@raashiagarwal) on


 But otherwise - I will see you all in the new year!!! ☺️

(And I just know I will be stalking people's blog and commenting on posts from weeks ago, sorry not sorry :P)

Hope you all have an amazing and safe holiday season filled with lots of love and laughter!

Until then, you can: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or follow me below at - 
They're all linked so you should just be able to click on them! :)

Have a great holiday season!

❤️Raashi

Share 23

Ethnicity Tag: I'm off to India!

A long time back I mentioned I had a specific post planned - and here it is!

This week I am heading to India!!! So excited! We usually go every 2-3 years because ALL our extended family is there. This year it just so happens that we also have a wedding in the family - my cousin is getting married :)

Guys, Indian weddings are honestly the most epic experiences, I'm so excited to share as much as I can with you!


The clothes are a major part of why I love weddings :P


Anyways, when we do go to India we go for about a month because we travel all over the place to spend time with family, pretty pumped to blog all about it when I'm back!

Until then, for the month of December I do have scheduled posts ready, but I may be a bit more absent in the blogging world in terms of commenting (don't be surprised if you get spammed with notifications from me in January, sorry not sorry :P).

[UPDATE: I won't be uploading posts in December 2015 and will see you all in the new year ☺️]

However, to celebrate my upcoming trip I decided I would do an Ethnicity Tag post to get to tell you guys some more! :)

I am so blessed to have an Indian background, I love the fact that I know where my background lies and I feel like it's so important for people (especially younger generations) to be aware of where they're from and embrace that!

I am so proud of my culture and country of heritage, and as an outsider (having been born in Australia but travelling back to India) I get to have the unique perspective of seeing all the beauty in the culture and also recognising the struggles and things that need to be overcome.

Let the questions begin!

What is your Ethnicity?

Haha so many people joke that I've got some Persian and Greek in me, which, hey! I'm not complaining! :P 
Truthfully though, I am 100% Indian.

When was the last time you visited your country?

The last time I visited India was two years ago, after I finished high school and normally all our trips are so family-oriented that we don't explore India, but last time we made a point to cover some Tourist-y sites!




And we also got to explore a very popular hill station in India that has a massive lake in the middle of it. It also happened to be where my mum went to college, not a bad view for college I think :P




Name one ethnic food you enjoy the most.

SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM. Indian food is amazing!!! Haha, so I'm definitely gonna say chicken curry, cause how could you not?



Via

Some lesser known food dishes that I love are:

Kadi (which is almost like halfway between a curry and a soup, it's slightly sour, but completely delicious!)
Via

Kulfi (I always call this indian ice-cream - because it essentially is! It is sweeter than usual ice cream and is often garnished with a sprinkling of pistachios and almonds).
Via

There are honestly SO MANY, I can't even remember all of them right now. And the thing with India is North and South India are so different, which means two totally different sets of food dishes!

One of my favourite South Indian dishes is dosa - it's like a thin, savoury crepe, stuffed with spiced potatoes, served with almost like a masala soup and chutneys, and it's just YUM.


What part of your country are you from?

My mum is from this small town which is closer to the Himalayan Range side of India, called Pilibhit. I just ADORE going to mum's hometown, I can't really describe the feeling - it's just so, so lovely to be there. It's so grounding and I think because I am so close to my mum getting to be where she grew up really means a lot to me! :)

Via

What song reminds you of your country?

Guys, India is the homeland of Bollywood, and if you haven't seen anything Bollywood before - it's epic! Haha. Legitimately all Bollywood movies are musicals, so I have a lot of choice. They are most definitely incredibly cheesy, but they are so fun to watch! Haha. I've even gotten my friends into some movies :)








Desi girl, the video just above, means indian girl, and man this song is catchy! Haha.

Can you speak the language of your ethnicity?

Can I speak it? Yes. Fluently? Debatable. Haha. So, when I wasn't around my family used to go to India for even longer periods of time so my brother was able to fully pick up the language - by the time I came around my brother was in some of the higher grades of school, so when we went it was for shorter periods.

I legitimately learnt Hindi from watching Bollywood movies with subtitles, haha. Resourcefulness for the win! I can understand the language pretty completely, my speaking isn't at the exact same level but it's definitely quite decent now!

All my cousins speak really good English, it's more so my aunts and uncles that I need Hindi to communicate with.

Name one household item that best represents your culture.

A diya (a lit candle, more so an oil lamp with a cotton wick in it) is a form of blessing.


Almost every morning the diya is lit in our household, and it is an integral part of all auspicious occasions/ceremonies. They have deep spiritual and intellectual significance. It signifies knowledge and how all that we do in our lives should be governed by knowledge (dispelling ignorance and darkness). Lighting the diya signifies that we know that knowledge is the greatest form of wealth.

It is purposefully not just an electric light or bulb (although these would also remove darkness) because:
The oil in the lamp symbolises our negative tendencies and the wick symbolises our ego. When lit by spiritual knowledge, our negative tendencies (oil) get slowly exhausted and the ego (wick) too finally perishes.  Because it's a wick and the flame burns upwards, it implies that we all strive upwards towards the right values and higher ideals. Illumination of the mind, soul and spirit.

I love diyas, because they represent enlightenment, hope and prosperity.

 
Anyways, really hope you guys enjoyed reading this little bit more of a personal post of mine! ☺️
I'm sure I will be posting some photos of my trip throughout on my Instagram , but hopefully there will be one or two pretty posts for you guys to look at in January!

New blog post will be up next Tuesday!!! 

Until then, you can: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or follow me below at - 
They're all linked so you should just be able to click on them! :)

Have a great rest of the week!

❤️Raashi



Share 34

Our world needs love

I think we all know something happened recently in Paris; and in the world, to be honest. 
I don't want to say much about it, but I do feel the need to share this because it's...brilliant. 

Waleed Aly is one journalist I respect and admire a whole lot, he is incredibly intelligent and well-spoken, he knows what he is talking about - and that is powerful.



ISIL is WeakWaleed talks about how we can stop ISIL #TheProjectTVWritten by Waleed and Tom Whitty (@twhittyer)
Posted by The Project on Monday, November 16, 2015

I know videos can feel like effort sometimes, but it is truly worth watching if you have a spare 5 minutes, it really educates and speaks to you. They are by no means saying that any specific person or group is behind what has happened (you'll understand fully if you watch the video), but, I have taken what really hit me and popped it below:

“They want you to fear them. They want you to get angry. They want all of us to become hostile and here is why: “ISIL’s strategy is to split the world into two camps. It is that black and white. Again we know this because they told us.” It’s that black and white…They want societies like France and here in Australia, to turn on each other. We as a society, as a community, need to be very mindful of maintaining and protecting our social cohesion, our sense of harmony and standing together. They want countries like ours to reject their Muslims and vilify them. ISIL’s leaders would be ecstatic to hear that that Muslims have been reportedly threatened and attacked in England, America and here in Australia, because this evil organisation has it in their heads that if they can make Muslims the enemy of the West, then Muslims in France and England and America and here in Australia will have nowhere to turn but to ISIL…That was exactly their strategy in Iraq. And now they want it to go global. Saying that out loud, it is both dumbfounding in its stupidity and blood-curdling in its barbarity.

We are all feeling a million raging emotions right now. I am angry at these terrorists. I am sickened by the violence and I am crushed for the families that have been left behind, but, you know what, I won't be manipulated. We all need to come together. I know how that sounds. I know it's a cliche but it's also true because it's exactly what ISIL doesn't want. So if you're a member of Parliament or a has-been member of Parliament preaching hate at a time when what we actually need is more love, you are helping ISIL. They have told us that. If you are just someone with a Facebook or Twitter account firing off misguided missives of hate, you are helping ISIL. They have told us that. I am pretty sure that right now none of us wants to help [them]."

I think the main thing to take away from this is that in a world where things like this can happen, where some people feel like they can do things like recent events, 
we need to create so much love and so much light. 
So much unity. 
So much power.

And on a related note, again I don't want to add to many words to it, because these images below speak for themselves.

(I apologise in advance for the blurry photos you are about to see, I will fix them ASAP, but until then - the words are readable and that's all that matters).

An individual by the name of Karuna Parikh, wrote this poem:



And then there was this...

When I was talking to about this to my friends, one replied with this:

 
To be honest, there's a lot of truth in all the things above. Look - anything that unites us as a front, shows our support for those going through tough times, helps educate people and gets a message across, is something I'm all for.

I don't think any of the thoughts above are judgemental, but I do think they have been written to point out a very important issue - one we should all be aware of.
Social media posts, DP filters, hashtags - they're all well and good, but our thoughts, words and actions speak even louder; how we conduct ourselves as a united society is what speaks volumes.

 Love and light to every single corner of the world, 
whether a spotlight is being shone there at the moment - or not. 
Every part of the world needs and deserves it.

If you managed to make it to the end of this rant, thank you. I would love to hear your thoughts more than ever, share this with people who you think would want to contribute to the discussion. 
Random, personal, more lighthearted note if you can be bothered reading even more stuff from me - after I've put a whole essay of a post up :P

-LIFE UPDATE BEGINS-

To fellow bloggers: I just want to start out by saying I apologise if your notifications got spammed with comments from me on your posts from earlier on in the week. 

I have just finished all my exams, so needless to say - I've been attempting to catch up on life! :P 

For some reason, this exam block I was strangely motivated?
I was pulling 8am-8pm, sometimes 10pm, days at my uni library. 
Like I said, strangely motivated, but hey! 
Wasn't going to question it, was just going to roll with it :P 

That being said, I was sooo concentrated on studying and I may have driven myself to the point of exhaustion...because once exams ended, I was in such a weird mood!?! 

I wanted to sleep for sure (but that is me, always :P). However, does it ever happen to you guys that if you've been super busy and focused on one thing, or have been having a busy, exciting week, you get almost withdrawals or hit a massive slump after?

Anyways, hopefully once I get some proper rest, I should be good as new!
I do have a crazy hectic week coming up which you're sure to hear about in the next few posts :P 

-LIFE UPDATE ENDS-

New blog post will be up next Tuesday!!! 

Until then, you can: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or follow me below at - 
They're all linked so you should just be able to click on them! :)

Have a great rest of the week!

❤️Raashi





Share 41

What an adventure: Team L.I.F.E!

All photos included in this post via Facebook/Overload Stories

Earlier this week my friend (thanks Kav! ☺️) sent me this story, and it's just SO incredible - I have to share it with you guys!

Basically, this family of four (who call themselves Team L.I.F.E - Little Indian Family of Explorers) went on a road trip from Bangalore in India, to Paris, France. 

You know, casually.
Dhriti (8), Punita (36), Anand (38), Yash (12).

111 days.

11 countries.

50 cities.

22, 780 kilometres.

One car.

One family of explorers.

Absolutely insane!!!

India ร Nepal ร China ร Kyrgyzstan ร Uzbekistan ร Turkmenistan ร Iran ร Turkey ร Greece 
ร Italy ร Switzerland (Alps)ร Spain ร France.



Anand had just quit his job, his wife had two months of holidays and they were able to convince the kids' school for some extra time off.

It started as a joke on the way back from a within-India road trip they had done, saying that that was just preparation for their world tour ;) 

And then they thought of what an actual learning experience something like that would be for them and their kids - they worked on making it a reality.

Before they began they said, 

"I'm a believer of transcending and not arriving at a destination. We want to see different landscapes, and meet people. We hope they'll hear our story and invite us to stay with them. Language is a barrier, which makes it more exciting. And all this is happening live in front of the kids - that's the adventure"."From the beginning I was clear that this is not a trip to tick things off on a checklist; we didn't want to have an agenda. We are going to see what we like and enjoy it."

Eight months of meticulous planning and organisation, reading travelogues, contacting travel agencies and embassies for visas, and over 2,500 emails later - they were off!

"You know that saying, when you want something, the universe conspires in helping you achieve it? It might seem cheesy, but this trip was something we were destined to do".

I mean there are so many factors at play with a journey like this! 
Firstly, how many of us could even say we could sit in a small car with our family on a 111 day road trip? Yeahhh, me neither. 
I love my family beyond but, I would probably want out after 2 hours.     

But, chuck in two young kids, such an array of different countries, crossing borders, visas, safety, weather - craziness!!!

So, it was inevitable that a trip like this didn't come without its challenges...

They got stuck in their car at the Nepal-China border, with lots of army personnel around, for 5 days due to an earthquake (which frustratingly pushed their plans back by 15 days).

 Boulders the size of trucks were normal for those few days.


The vegetarian family carried their own cooking equipment (which they made good use of!), as they knew not every country would be able to meet their dietary requirements.



However, from making friends in China.


To visiting the "Door to Hell" in Turkmenistan.




Going from sunny skies to sheets of snow, within hours in Kyrgyzstan.


And passing through just a couple other countries on their casual drive :P

Uzbekistan.

Iran.

Turkey.

Greece.

They reached Paris! ☺️

Understandably they decided to fly back to India and have their car shipped home :P
Didn't feel like another 111 day road trip? #arewethereyet?

The intelligence and planning, and the physical and mental strength that went into this,
SO MUCH RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR THEM - it's absolutely insane!

The sheer amount of exposure that these kids would have gotten to countries, cities, cultures and, just life, before even becoming teenagers, I bow down to their parents!

An experience of a lifetime, for sure!

To see more of their adventure, visit Facebook: Overland Stories☺️

If you couldn't already tell by how inundated this post is with exclamation points, I still can't get over this and just really wanted to share it.
 I hope you enjoyed seeing and reading about this amazing story.

New blog post will be up next Tuesday!!! 

Until then, you can: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or follow me below at - 
They're all linked so you should just be able to click on them! :)

Have a great rest of the week!

❤️Raashi



Share 46

Some strappy, sophisticated heels

A bit of a different post from me on here today! 

If you guys follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a really lovely event and fashion show this past weekend!


This was my outfit for the night, I wanted it to be pretty simple with just a pop of some colour 
(Hello, orange earrings, clutch and nail polish)!
I apologise for the blurry photo below, it was completely fine before publishing and I just can't seem to make it work now, no matter how much editing I do *Sigh* Haha.

Copyright Portpholio Photography

With that being said, my favourite part of my outfit is for sure my heels! When I first got them I wasn't sure whether they were what I wanted or if I should keep them. But, obviously I decided to stick with them and now, I love them! 

These are the first pair of pointy toed heels I have ever owned and I'm so glad I finally have a pair - I've been wanting one for so long now! 

They are from Nine West and have quickly become one of those items in my wardrobe that instantly makes me feel very stylish and sophisticated as soon as I put them on. Always a good thing ☺️
 They are strappy black heels, and to me they have a medium height heel, but that's also just because I'm a bit of a shorty and normally love massive heel heights :P



Pointed toe, strappy, technically a bit of a bootie heel with a gold zip up the back and a golden heel stem. So, in short, if you couldn't tell I am a bit in love with them at the moment!

The fashion show was lovely, I may do a post on it later! 
I was pretty tired by the end though, just because I had work from 8.45am that morning and didn't finally get home till 11pm. So when I came home, I sat on my bedroom floor for a bit just chilling (does anyone else do this? :P), and then I saw all the mess I had made on my bed in the process of getting ready. I'm sure you guys can relate to this photo below, right? Please tell me I'm not the only one who ends up with a room like this when I'm getting ready to go out somewhere! :P



Anyways, that was my outfit for the night! Let me know if you liked this post, I do adore fashion but I'm still not very confident with blogging about it.

Do you guys have an item in your wardrobe that immediately makes you feel sophisticated and chic? Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear about them! ☺️

Hope you all have a lovely week ahead everyone!

New blog post will be up next Tuesday!!! 

Until then, you can: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or follow me below at - 
They're all linked so you should just be able to click on them! :)

Have a great rest of the week!

❤️Raashi


Share 87

What's your Love Language?

Love is such a beautiful chaos.


We all have such different ways of expressing our love to different people. Proper expression is just as important, if not more important, than the sentiment behind it (and this applies for so many things in our life).

Perhaps some of you have heard of Gary Chapman's book and concept "The 5 Love Languages" before?

It is essentially five ways people experience and express love:

1. Words of Affirmation
2. Physical Touch
3. Acts of Service
4. Gift Giving
5. Quality Time

I love figuring out, or properly finding out, what kind of love language my family and friends are, so that no love gets lost in translation. The books says we should focus on using the love language that your loved one will receive best, as opposed to the one we like the most.

Learning to love people the way people need, want, appreciate, recognise and actually register is such a good lesson in life.

I could talk about this more, but I so encourage you to take the quiz for yourself, it takes anywhere between 5-10 minutes and gives you such great understanding!

Click here!


At the end of the quiz they email you your profile, for example, mine is below!

"The 5 Love Languages® profile will give you a thorough analysis of your emotional communication preference. It will single out your primary love language, what it means, and how you can use it to connect and deepen your relationships with others.

The highest score indicates your primary love language. It’s common to have two high scores (the highest score being 12), although one language tends to have a slight edge for most people. The lower scores in your profile indicate those languages you seldom use to communicate love and which probably don’t affect you on an emotional level in your relationship.

9
Words of Affirmation
8
Quality Time
6
Acts of Service
5
Physical Touch
2
Receiving Gifts

Words of Affirmation
Actions don't always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, "I love you," are important – hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten. Kind, encouraging, and positive words are truly life-giving.

Quality Time
In the vernacular of Quality Time, nothing says, "I love you," like full, undivided attention. Being there for this type of person is critical, but really being there – with the TV off, fork and knife down, and all chores and tasks on standby – makes your significant other feel truly special and loved. Distractions, postponed dates, or the failure to listen can be especially hurtful. Quality Time also means sharing quality conversation and quality activities.

Acts of Service
Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an "Acts of Service" person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: "Let me do that for you." Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don't matter. Finding ways to serve speaks volumes to the recipient of these acts.

Physical Touch
This language isn't all about the bedroom. A person whose primary language is Physical Touch is, not surprisingly, very touchy. Hugs, pats on the back, holding hands, and thoughtful touches on the arm, shoulder, or face – they can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. Physical presence and accessibility are crucial, while neglect or abuse can be unforgivable and destructive. Physical touch fosters a sense of security and belonging in any relationship.

Receiving Gifts
Don't mistake this love language for materialism; the receiver of gifts thrives on the love, thoughtfulness, and effort behind the gift. If you speak this language, the perfect gift or gesture shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring the gift to you. A missed birthday, anniversary, or a hasty, thoughtless gift would be disastrous – so would the absence of everyday gestures. Gifts are visual representations of love and are treasured greatly."

As you can see, Words of Affirmation and Quality Time are my most prioritised languages!

Let me know if you have heard of this before, take the quiz or what your love languages are in the comments below! And if you feel like, pass this onto your loved ones, I know I have and it really helps you understand each other better!

Have a lovely week ahead everyone!

New blog post will be up next Tuesday!!! 

Until then, you can: Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Or follow me below at - 
They're all linked so you should just be able to click on them! :)

Have a great rest of the week!

❤️Raashi




Share 46

Follow

Instagram

Powered by Blogger.

Pinterest

Contact Me

Name

Email *

Message *