Here I am, this is me: 40 facts for The Hive

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Posted On April 06, 2015 / Posted In / Tagged The Hive, 40 facts, Hive15, European blogging conference

Text and image by Sarita Rajiv

I had decided I would not do the #40Facts4TheHive blog post for The Hive blogging conference in Berlin this weekend. Yvonne of The Hive laid down the gauntlet with her post, but no, I was not picking it up. Not me. I mean it didn’t fit with the theme of The Orange Gift Bag. And did I really want to share 40 things about myself with total strangers? Excuses, that’s what they were. In reality, getting personal and putting myself out there was a tad bit scary. I was being chicken.

But then I read Yvonne's and posts written by other bloggers and it was so much fun reading them all. I was part grinning, part chuckling, part solemnly nodding my head in agreement…the #40Facts4TheHive gave me a lovely insight into their lives and personalities. It couldn’t be so bad writing one myself, would it? And I thought it would fun for the readers of The Orange Gift Bag to know a bit more about the person behind the blog. So here I am with my 40 facts for the Hive. This is me, in all my glory, warts and all.

1. I wrote this list 5 times in my head before gathering the courage to put it down on paper.
2. I’m an Indian living in Denmark. Denmark has my heart, India my soul.
3. In reality I’m a petite 5 feet. In my mind, I’m more like 5.5.
4. Throughout my teens I wanted to be a lot taller. Until I saw a dwarf struggling to get onto the bus I was travelling in. Never again.
5. I love watching, listening and dancing to Bollywood songs. My way of unwinding.
6. I love romantic movies. Having seen many (bad ones), I’ve realised a good romantic movie is made just once in a while. While You Were Sleeping is my all-time favourite.
7. My language of love is gifts (no surprise there I guess!)
8. I think my daughter has inherited my love for surprises.
9. The line, “I was a better mother before I had kids” kind of sums up my assessment about my parenting skills.
10. I want to do a dance performance (on stage!) with my daughter once in my life.
11. My husband is more mature, more patient, more practical, more organised than me. He is the better half in our relationship.
12. In my next life, I want to be a professional singer or dancer.
13. I once fell into a pit of manure. On the day I decided to wear my new shoes. Worse, I thought it was sinking sand and yelled ‘help’ to my best friend who was rooted to the spot by the sight in front of her.
14. I believe in karma.
15. The prospect of an arranged marriage (quite the norm in India) did not appeal to me. I decided early on in life that I would choose my own life partner.
16. Kindness matters to me. More than intelligence or beauty.
17. I don’t know how to swim.
18. I went river rafting once in the Zanskar river in North India and it was one of the most thrilling things I’ve done.
19. I first moved away from home when I was 22 and loved the sense of freedom.
20. I cry easily. I cry when I’m hurt, when I’m upset, when I’m sad, when I watch sad movies or read sad books. I cry when I hear about tragedies on the news.
21. I make a mean chicken curry.
22. I’m a good example of an oxymoron because I love to plan ahead and organise certain things but procrastinate over others.
23. I’m writing a book for my daughter – about her growing up, about us, our life together, our family in India. It’s going to be W-I-P till she turns 18.
24. I love jumping on trampolines.
25. I love handwritten letters and notes and prefer them over anything digital.
26. I need to eat every three hours. I get crabby when I’m hungry.
27. I visited Paris once and thought it was overrated. I want to visit it again so it can prove me wrong.
28. My brain has an inbuilt fake-o-meter. I can spot fake people a mile away and avoid them like the plague.
29. I have always got what I wanted in life. Just a good period of time after I wanted it.
30. My husband cracked a joke while I was in labour. I wanted to punch him then. Hard.
31. I’m not a morning person. Or an evening one. I’m more a middle-of-the-day kind of person (I wonder why they don’t have a phrase like that).
32. I’m scared of getting old and being bedridden.
33. My husband and I are the same age. I hope I die before him.
34. I’m a trained Indian classical dancer.
35. I can speak 3 Indian languages. Now I’m learning Danish but, I suspect the Danes don’t understand much of what I say.
36. Now that I live in Denmark, I miss wearing traditional Indian clothes like sarees.
37. I have a driving license, but I can’t drive…not even a little bit. Thankfully, I live in a cycling city.
38. I’m not scared of cockroaches or spiders. But creepy crawlies like lizards give me the creeps.
39. The thought in my head right now is, “Damn, 40 is a big number, why did I agree to write this?”
40. Bridges of Madison County is one my favourite books. I didn’t like the movie even though Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep were in it.

There I did it. And it was fun! Hope you enjoyed reading it.

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