Life of a Short Indian Girl

So this week I got my  certificate to say I’m certified to be a Pilates Instructor! It  seems like a pretty random qualification to have, and is not something I thought I  would ever do, so here’s why and how I ended up doing it…  As well as going to the main gym during summer, I tried lots of extra classes including Pilates and this really interesting class called Nova (a fusion of yoga and Pilates). I ended up loving Pilates and made it a weekly thing. Coincidently, I got an email from Groupon the next week. I have NO idea how my email was subscribed to Groupon as I’ve never used it before, and normally I consider them as spam and put them into junk mail, but one caught my eye. It said ‘Pilates Trainer Professional Diploma’ and was a course you could take online to certify to be a Pilates Instructor. Long story short- I wanted to do something different in the few weeks of summer I had left, so I went for it! You...

A couple of weeks ago I made a snap - and arguably stupid- late night decision to sign up to the Great Eastern Fun Run. Why did I do it? I am still asking myself. It might not seem like a big deal, but with my running history and fitness level it probably was not a sensible decision! Nevertheless, I stuck by it and attempted to train.  Now, I didn't really help myself here.. I left less than two weeks to confidently run 5k when I could barely run 50m.  I ended up going on a run 3 times before the race- gradually increasing my distance by about 1km each time, so by Tuesday I ran 4.5km... probably the most I have ever run, ARE YOU IMPRESSED? I am impressed. Disaster struck on Thursday morning when I woke up with an injured hip... not exactly sure how I managed to do it (I'm guessing from ballet the night before), but all I knew was it was very bad timing. This forced me to rest and not run until the race which was so annoying, but was better than not being able to do it ...

This weekend I am celebrating the biggest Hindu festival in North East India – also known as the Durga Puja. This 10 day festival (which in England we only celebrate for 3 days because most people are only free on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday) marks the victory of the goddess Durga over the buffalo demon king. In Hindu mythology, the origin of Durga was because of a need to vanquish a demon, which all other Gods could not defeat. So, they (Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer) combined their energies to create this supreme feminine being. Legend has it she went to war and slayed the demon- since then she has been a symbol of the triumph of good over evil.                                      Over the festival days, this ten armed goddess is worshipped in many different forms including fire ceremonies, prayers and cultural performances. I have act...