September 2020 - Brighter Alleys

It's My Birthday! My Previous Birthday vs This Year

September 28, 2020
By Gauri
2 Comments

Hi all, it's me, Gauri, back with a new post. It's my birthday on 30th, and I am really excited for it!

I would now be a year older (of course) and become a 4-teen year old girl. When I was younger, I always thought that "fourteen years is a big age", I thought that a fourteen-year-old guy is the BIG GUY! Now I am going to be that BIG GUY?!

Well, it doesn't feel like that!

But I am definitely not small anymore.. You see, I am grown up to the level that I can eat food without dropping it on my dress! (expected a laugh after this line, but no problem...)

Well, I have had a party on my birthday last year, and had planned a bigger one for this time. But undoubtedly, this year's birthday is gonna be different than previous year. It won't be just different, it would be A LOT DIFFERENT! -thanks corona :)

Okay so my previous birthday, I had invited a few friends at my place, and we definitely had fun (except that one of my friends came after the fun was over). We played Housie, Puzzles, Passing the Parcel, and UNO Cards. It was a 4-hour-long gather, and we hardly realised it was 10!

On my previous birthday, I had a delicious dinner with my friends (manchurian and rice, if you wanted to know). We had chocolates, cold-drinks, candies, and chips as beverages. Plus, we all ate BIG chunks of cake with other yummy eatables.

PS: I was salivating while writing the above line! Guess, you're feeling that too!

In short, the previous year's party was amazing; it was fun-filled and would always be in my memory.

But this year's won't be like this...

This birthday, I have invited my friends VIA ZOOM! I don't know if it would be fun that way, but I hope for the best. Then, the second thing, the party would end in 40 minutes (zoom won't allow more!), and that's really too short.

And the worst part is this: I won't be eating the delicious manchurian-rice and cake with my friends! I can't imagine how my friends would feel when I would cut the cake and they would not get a bite! I think I would have to end my zoom-party before I eat something.

Then, talking about games, I don't know what would happen. A birthday party without games?!! I can't think worse than this. So, I planned quite a few zoom-games, that might go flop due to internet problems. I have planned to play Pictionary, Charades and maybe the classic name-place-animal-thing. But the winner won't be getting a candy-gift, again not great. Let's still wish everything goes fine...

I don't want this corona to last any longer, CORONA GO! I didn't actually expect it to last till September, but it really stayed so consistent (and bad) and has now influenced every corner of my life. Really, my daily routine and school life is just changed! I want to go back to normal! Let all of us wish this pandemic to end... Most probably, we could get a vaccine by January next year, but that's still far! Uhh!

Well, I thought you might not have read the whole post so carefully, so I've made a chart to summarize what stuff I talked here. You might have a look at it:

That's all for this post, I don't want to bore you by putting all boring nonsense here. This post is not so long like my previous posts, because one of my friends said that I write too long, and she can't focus all at once; so I had to reduce the size of this post. If you have a suggestion too, please reply in the comment section. I would be more than happy to read your comment.

Have a great day ahead,

Cheers,

Gauri :)

Books and Studies

My Favourite Books of All Time

September 25, 2020
By DK Singh
7 Comments

Hey Guys, I'm delighted that you found this blog! This time, I'm a bit late than my normal routine (I always post every third day, but today is the fifth day from my last post). The reason isn't that I became lazy this time. Actually, I was writing this post, but it was going to be long, and I had to spend nearly six hours in editing it. And that's a big deal time for a school-going teen, who has got tests the next week!

Okay, so now, when I have happily written it, I am posting it. This post has 1500+ words, so make sure you have atleast 20 minutes of reading time (speed-readers, any?) Let's (formally) start this post:

Do you like reading novels and storybooks? I love them too! Despite the fact that some super-long books can't keep my attention, I still like reading them whenever I get time. Certainly these books aren't from the school course; and that's why, when my school tests begin, I have to skip reading other books.

Anyways, I enjoy certain books so much, that I can't skip them for even one week! And today, I'll be telling you about all those favourite books of mine.(and maybe give you the spoilers you didn't need!)

Okay guys, now, I must list my all-time-favourite books, which is the objective of this post.

Books, their classification and their authors:

1. Story Books :

2. Science and Environment:

3. Selp-help:

Brief Detail with Remarks*

*PS: All the books which I'm describing below are my personal opinions. Please do NOT consider my opinions as any advice for yourself! I'm sharing just my personal experience in this post. There might be books you don't like at all, so that's just a difference in choice.

1. Story Books :

The Geronimo Stilton Series by Elisabetta Dami

I've read quite a lot Geronimo Stilton books so far, and it is really engaging and fun. My most-read books are the Secret of Cacklefur Castle and Meet Me in Horrorwood, which I've read thrice each. Talking about the story, each book would take you to an adventure of Geronimo, the mouse-cum-newspaper-editor of his town. The book took me so deep into it that I was always thinking what happened next. Moreover, the book is so colourful with vibrant new mouse-words, like 'fabumouse', 'New Mouse City', and so on. And these add to its fun! Visually attractive with excellent stories, it is a must-read for kids (and teens, if they didn't read yet)

The Magic of the Lost Temple by Sudha K Murthy

This story (or perhaps I should say 'this long-story') was what I read just a year before. It is thrilling and mysterious to some extent, and is just fit for children and young teens (like me!). In this story You will meet a girl, who, has gone to her granny in her holidays, and she encounters strange things in her granny's village. She, along with some friends, discovers a "hidden temple" from beneath.

In the beginning, it seemed to be a non-fiction novel to me, but as pages turned by, it became much of a fiction book, and I loved that! Highly recommended if you have got good deal time for reading and are less than 16 (you might not enjoy it so much at this age). This book is written by Sudha Murthy, one of my most-read books' author.

If you didn't know Sudha Murthy, probably you are living under a rock because she is such a famous author! Apart from being an amazing author as well as social worker, she is also an Indian engineering teacher. She is also the Chairperson of the Infosys Foundation.and wife of Infosys co-founder Mr. Narayan Murthy.

2. Science and Environment:

Planet in Peril by Anita Ganeri

Written in bright colours and eye-catching format, Planet in Peril taught me far more than what my Environmental Studies book ever taught. It made me too motivated to save earth and go-green, and I was only thinking 'green' everywhere.

It is filled with extraordinary information which might fill you with awe, and might get you thinking about the environment all at once. It is written chapter-wise, and is most suitable for 18 below (18 aboves might enjoy it still).

While reading this book Planet in Peril, at some point, you might feel as if the world might end due to pollution, while at others, you would get sure that the world is getting better. So, it is overall an excellent source for knowledge and not boring at the same time.

Brief Answers to Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

This book unveils the mystery of the universe to some extent and if you are above 16, you might just love it! Because smaller kids and teens like me would not get that well and also, it has certain things only physics-lovers would enjoy more.

I bought a copy of this book last year, when I was in 7th grade. After reading some pages of this book, I realised that I won't be able to complete reading it. Reason is simple: I don't understand any of the chapters well! It is a cosmos-related science book, written by one of the greatest physicists of 21st century, Mr Stephen W Hawking.

But that also means that you have to have enough knowledge before starting to read this book (although this book does not include any formula except e=mc²but still I got confused in some terms).

Well, it would still be good source of knowledge, if you are interested in space and astronomy. So go ahead! It's gonna drive you crazy (and make you smarter than others!!)

3. Selp-help:

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

Perhaps the best self-help book I've read so far, it has the capacity to drive its readers into a new, positive, and brighter world. The chapters of this books are all extraordinarily written, which would have a deep impact on you.

Not so hard to read and understand, it is suitable for all those who are willing to read (and understand) it. Moreover, it has its own aura, which has the capacity to fill you with every form of happiness you ever wanted. This is amazing! And an important line from the book : 'You hold in your hands the biggest secret' drives me crazy to read all of it.

What is an important aspect of this book is that, to me, this book seems so 'perfect' and I can't think of a more perfect book than this one. Must-read!

The Art of Being a Brilliant Teenager by Andy Whittaker, Andrew Cope, Darrell Woodman

This book would surely helped me get more motivated, and focused about my life. It has been extraordinarily written and is hard to stop reading, once I start one chapter of it. Amy Bradley (the illustrator) has done a wonderful job, by putting down all her creativity in this book; all the vibrant cartoons, colors and bold words helped me not to feel overwhelmed at all while reading this book.

As the name suggests, this book is mainly for teens and tweens. It is truly the most engrossing book I've read till now. (How much engrossing? Even if I want to read just two pages of it, I won't be able to stop reading until I've read over twenty pages!) This book is very colourful, to-the-point and I would give it 100/100 in terms of usefulness. If you read it well enough, it can really make you Brilliant! The title in itself coaxed to buy this from a book fair. And no clickbait, it really made me less dumb than before!

What Are You Hungry For by Deepak Chopra

If you are willing for a healthier lifestyle, and a slim body (without exercising much), then this book is for you! This book is not a dieting book (I mean this book does not tell you about daily food intake, calorie intake blah, blah). Neither does it have a list of exercises for getting a flat belly. All what it is is that it would tell you the 'key to ultimate weight loss'

Truly, it might help you get a feeling of optimism, happiness and content which would finally, help you improve the 'mind-body connection' (the words in italics are not mine, I said what's written in the book)

Overall a great book, most suitable for adults (because teens like me might find it boring). Anyways, reading this book won't be so boring if you've got will and are wishing to become a better version of yourself. Good, anyways. Also its author is very renowned, so getting a copy of this book is great.

The End:

Well, I am a fan of all those authors, who use "not-so-hard" words in their books. Let me tell you, back in class 5, I always kept a dictionary beside while reading any book (and opened it probably every ten seconds!) But now, things have got easier (maybe I've started reading the easier books!)

Hope you got some benefit from this post, tell me if you really did. What books from the above list have you read so far? What are you planning to read this year? What is your opinion for the above books?

All these questions will keep going in my head, until you answer them in the comment box. So, do your bit by dropping a comment down here (I will try my best to reply). Thanks, that's all for today, stay tuned, SUBSCRIBE if you haven't already (I know you haven't!)

Bye!

Gauri

Life

My Silliest Mischiefs as a Kid

September 20, 2020
By Gauri
0 Comments

Hey Guys, I'm delighted that you found this blog! Today's post is quite similar to one of my previous posts; except for the fact that today, I am writing about my childhood mischiefs (whereas in that post, I had written about my school life).

As an infant, I was a very calm girl (as my mom says), and I hardly cried for anything. She says that I would quietly eat all what was put into my mouth; except for cerelac, which she says that I puked out all time!

But it was when I was an infant... When I grew to be a 4-year-old, I was really naughty (like most kids) and did crazy mischiefs! Some of them were so insane that I haven't forgotten till now!!

And today, I'll be telling you about two of the 'silliest mischiefs' I did as a kid. Recalling them made me laugh, and that's why I guess that you might find it funny too. Be sure to comment if you like them!

Starting my list of 'Silliest Mischiefs I did as a Kid':

No. 1 : Shot Random People with Crumpled Papers

When I was 7, I was always searching for fun at all places. I finally found it in my school bus, which took me home (from school, of course). I was always waiting for the school to be over, not to reach home, but to reach my bus!

I was in that fun-land for about two hours, not because my school was too far from my house, but because my bus took a lot of turns before dropping me home.

These two hours were just enough for all kinds of fun! My two friends and I were always willing to interact with strangers (we wanted to talk to people on road, but ourselves being inside the bus). So, for the first few days, we would peep out of our bus window (we shouln't have done that right?). And when the bus got moving, all three of us would shout at other people, "Hello Uncle!"

But after some days, we were fed-up of saying 'hello'. So, the next thing we started saying was this : "Uncle, aapke aage gobar hai, bacha Ke chaliye" (uncle, there is a cow dung in front of you, please mind your steps!) Although there was no gobar (dung) anywhere near, but those innocent strangers believed in us. Until they would realise our prank, we were far ahead in the bus!

But our pranks did not stop here. We were planning something bigger, something more daring, something more of fun! And can you believe, we decided to shoot paper balls at the head of others! My God!

We (me and my two friends) wasted around 40 pages in all, by tearing them from our copies, crumpling them and throwing them at others ('Others' means the unknown people going on the road).

It was so fun! People got hit, they would become furious and try to figure out who did that; but by this time, our bus was already gone far ahead of them!

This was perhaps the most daring thing I ever did. But the sad part comes here : We had to stop after some days, when one of the furious strangers stopped our bus, and scolded all the kids for being so mischievous. And from then on, our bus driver took care that none of us threw anything outside.

Well, if we were not stopped by that guy, we might have ended up wasting our complete copies by tearing the pages!

No. 2 Got Stuck in a Window

The topic might sound confusing, because it was meant to be longer, but I cut it short. What I meant to write is : Got my head stuck between two grills of a window. Honestly, it was so scary, and I thought that I would never come out of there! Let me tell from the beginning:
I remember very well that I was four-year-old when all this happened. It was 5 in the evening, and I was waiting for mommy to return from the university (where she taught back then). When I grew too impatient, I decided to go to the balcony and search for her car coming home.

I was waiting for a grey-Maruti Suzuki to appear on the road and enter my house. But since I was just four, I was told NOT to go in the balcony alone, or I might fall down. And I, as an obedient kid agreed not to go in the balcony. But I wasn't patient at all, so I decided to look for her out of a window.

That window had grills in it, still then, the outside was clearly visible. When I was looking for her, I became enchanted by other cars and started observing them. Suddenly, a red-colored car crossed by, and red being my favourite colour, I wanted to keep watching the car...

And to keep watching that car, I don't remember how, but I got my head out of my window's grills! I could not realise what I had done, even after that 'red-car' had gone far away. I was just observing other cars.

Within sometime, my mum came home, and called for me. Now, I was thrilled and decided to run and hug her. But my head was still out of the window! It was unable to come inside from that grill!

I tried to pull my head, and was unable in pulling it, so I started crying in disappointment. I thought that I would NEVER get my head in! My mom rushed when she heard me crying, and finally saw my mischief. She also got tensed at this point.

Me still crying, my mommy trying to get me in, but nothing was happening. After some minutes passed, my mum thought to pull me differently. She made my head up, down, right, left (like a toy), and I did not stop her. Finally, after about twenty minutes, she managed to get my head inside that unruly window! Thank God!

Well, my head pained for hours after it came inside the grill, but I was happy with that pain. Final lesson: I must never peep out of a window, ever!

The End.

I think this is all what I remember from my childhood (weak-memory!). I was so engaged in writing this, that I missed my project! Now, I'm going to complete it (so that I can submit it in the school). But let's get back here, and ask you, did you like this post? Was it relevant to you? If yes, then make sure to reply below, I would be so glad to read them!

Thanks for now,

Cheers,

Gauri

Life

The Most Epic Failures of my Life

September 17, 2020
By Gauri
0 Comments

Hey guys, I'm thrilled that you found my blog! Today, I wanted to share some of the biggest failures I have seen in my life so far. Definitely I am quite young to say that (13 years, if you did not know), but FAILURE HAS THE SAME MEANING no matter the age.

I have never wanted less than victory, and I do get that sometimes. But more often than not, I have also seen rejections, disapprovals, and what I say 'failures' in my life.

PS: In case you are thinking that I am writing all this out of depression, don't worry dear, everything is fine this side 😉. In fact, I am glad to share all things with you!

Let just start now, with my "list of failures"...

1. I could not win the Champions Trophy

In our school, Champions Trophy is awarded to the student, who performs excellent in athletics and sports. I was highly ambitious for getting that. But there was one obstacle I could not overcome to fulfill my dream...

I remember the day when I participated in the race competition; it was this very year in January, when our school's sports day took place. I was excited yet nervous.

It was the 24th of January, my one and only chance to get the Champions Trophy. I had practiced running for months; I ran about a kilometre everyday in the chilly winter of December. I was getting faster, stronger and improving day by day. But there was one girl always ahead of me.

I could have been a challenge for her, however, I was slower no matter what... When the 200m race started, I realised that I am not gonna get the trophy today. She was way too fast!

But I had practiced for so long, would that go waste? Yes all those efforts did not pay much. It was a failure I was very sad about, but I had got a silver medal too, and that kept me up.

2. The 'two marks' which held me back

The heading might sound quite exaggerating, but a few years back, I really bothered about every single marks I lost. This story is from four years back, and that time, I was just too concerned for getting 100% at all places (never got 100% though!).

Ok, so I had participated in a Talent Search Olympiad in fourth standard and was really wishing to score good in it. (Reason for participation? I was attracted to it mostly because of the amazing prizes that winners would get! I wished to get a Tablet and a Scholarship too.)

When I gave the first level of it, I could correctly answer almost all the questions. Then I was qualified for the final round. Here, the questions were from the same syllabus, but were slightly harder than before. It was a chance for me to get 75 out of 75, because I knew answers of all the questions. But, I had become so nervous at the time of exam, that I answered two questions wrong. (The degree of my silliness : In one of the questions, I answered that wings are used for breathing!)

Ok, so two marks don't matter much, right? Well, when the results were announced, I got 73 (out of 75) and the topper (who must have got a Tablet) got 75! Two marks matter! I was awarded the 26th rank in India, and given a set of CD-Encyclopaedia (which I hardly ever opened).

I was happy with my result, but imagine losing the National Rank-1 by just 2 marks! Uff! Moreover, the two questions which I did wrong were from the workbook I was preparing the exam!

3. I was disqualified before the Final Level

I had participated in a National Spell Bee competition through my school. It had four different levels, which finally lead to the Grand Finale. For getting qualified for the grand finale, I had to first learn ALL WORDS POSSIBLE (I also had to remember the idioms, synonyms, antonyms, homophones and one word substitutions).

All these might not sound that hard, but they were definitely tough for me, bcoz I was just a third-grader then! Anyways, I was still trying to learn as much as possible; I would spend my maximum free time in learning all the stuff I could; for example, I would be learning words, their meaning, synonyms and antonyms.

I was an average student in English, but I was still able to qualify up to the fourth level of the competition (great!). But the Finale was just terrible! For the pre-finale level, I was asked to learn not only the words, but also their phonetic symbols!

What's phonetic symbol: Phonetic Symbol indicates the way to correctly pronounce a word.

Where to find a phonetic symbol: Whenever you search the meaning of any word on Google, it shows the phonetic symbol of the word just below the word, in light grey color)

When I first saw the phonetic symbols in the study materials I got, I felt blank., I thought it was another language! I was hardly able to understand all this in third standard...

But during the exam, I managed to spell out some of the words by seeing their phonetic symbol (of course I had practiced a bit!). But I did one silly mistake: when I was asked the meaning of the word "scripture", an already-nervous me replied: "it is a drawing drawn by old people" (lmao😆)

And the same way, I lost some more marks. This was my exit from the competition... I got 13th rank in my state, which definitely made me glad, but soon I realised that only the top-10 made to the finals! What a luck!

That day, I was feeling so blue, I could hardly focus on anything else. But I was a kid that time! As of today, I think it was better that I didn't qualify, or else, I had to learn all the boring stuff so much more!

The Conclusion

Ok, so this was all wanted to write for today. I am more than happy if you liked this post. And if you read the whole of it, wow!

What failures did you face in your lyf? How did you overcome them? If you are ok to share them, please do so. I would love to read it in the comment box!

And one more question (which you might feel bored to answer) : How are you spending your corona lockdown? I have shared my lockdown story in this post : My Experience In Lockdown. So, I told about mine, and now, I would love to hear your stories too. I'm waiting!

Alright, I would now say bye-bye to you, and wish everything is fine your side. Be safe.

Cheers,

Gauri

Life

Craziest Things I did at School

September 14, 2020
By Gauri
2 Comments

Hey Guys, I'm delighted that you found this blog! Yesterday, while I was going to sleep after the day's work, I all of a sudden started thinking of my school (where I've not been for the past six months). I started missing everything that the pandemic took from us, and thought how fun it was when I was in school. Then all the thoughts from my school days started revolving in my head.

I kept thinking and thinking, and could not know when I started dreaming about everything. Then today, I woke up and suddenly thought that it would be so much fun to tell you about the craziest things I did at school. Wanna hear all? But make sure to share this post to all your school-friends, so they might enjoy reading too.

I have made a list of everything I could remember (it took a good deal time to extract all that "forgotten stuff" from my brain). Everything below is as true as I remember and I did not add any additional spice to it. Now, I'll not waste your time anymore, let's just start now. So, I'm writing below the best of what I remember...

CrazyStuff 1. I sold stories for money

You heard it right! I was in class four, when I thought that I was old enough to earn. I knew nothing, but I loved writing stories (which I now find out were all bizarre). So I thought of a plan: I would sell self-made stories to my classmates for 1 rupee per page.

I advertised my "story-writing business" throughout my friend circle, and got an order too! My closest friend, Arya was the first one to ask, and she paid me two rupees for a small story I wrote. I was thrilled at that moment, and planned to make a group of the "best writers of class" and we would write and sell our stories to others. What more? I thought that after earning enough money, I would start printing my stories and sell to the world!

In short, I wanted to start my own storybook shop, from where I would earn millions of rupees! But after my first order, I stopped selling stories, because a jealous girl... She found about my "business" and threatened me that she will tell to ma'am about this☹️

I was so much scared at that point, that I just stopped everything. But anyways, my first earnings did not go to waste, I bought a candy from it!

Definitely I was a crazy (and stupid) girl back then, otherwise which fourth-grader ever starts a story-writing business?!

CrazyStuff 2. I spit on my Classroom's Wall

This incident happened when I was in fifth grade. I had come to class after eating my lunch and all my friends had gathered around me (center of attraction, maybe?). We were discussing useless stuff when one of my friends burst out laughing. I could not understand what happened to her, perhaps she saw something funny outside the class window.

While she kept laughing, I drank some water (nothing happened when I took the first sip). After sometime, she stopped laughing to tell us that funny incident.

So here's what made her laugh: One boy was walking in the school verandah. Suddenly the bell rang (which meant that the recess was over now) and he started running. Reason? Maybe he wanted to reach his class before his teacher scolds him. So, while running, he crashed upon another boy! Boom! Now, the lunchbox of this "victim" fell over a girl, and all his sabzis (vegetables) were over her hairs! She might have shampooed her hair the same day! lmao🤣

This was the "story behind the laugh"; and while the time my friend started telling me all this, an idiot me took some water in my mouth. You already know what happened next, right?

Yes, I could not retain that water, and it came out through my mouth (and through my nose!) and landed on the nearby wall! I still kept laughing on that story (but as of today, the incident of the boy seems rather boring).

After some minutes of wild laughter, I realised what I had done. I was now concerned because if someone (not my friend) would see it, he would surely tell our teacher. And for that, I would surely get a dose of scolding from her.

But my ever-helping friends saved me, by standing in front of the wall (to cover the spit) and behaved as if nothing happened. Huff!

CrazyStuff 3. I fell down in overconfidence

This incident is quite recent, just two years old. I was attending my Taekwondo classes in school, along with other girls of class 6th. We were new to this martial art, and knew nothing except a few punches. So, this day was a normal school day and I was waiting for the Taekwondo class, which took place during the last two periods of school. When the bell rang, I rushed to the ground (to stand ahead of other girls) and talked with some classmates. Everyone assembled in the ground in the next ten minutes, and were all set to start learning some kicks.

Our Taekwondo teacher taught us how to do them and warned us to not push too hard while kicking. But we hardly heard him because we, girls were simply enjoying kicking our friends and dirtying their uniform! And then I took over the girl-clan (I was a monitor back then, and had my own rule over others!). All the girls circled around me, as I told them that I'll show them how to kick. Filled with confidence, I showed them a not-so-high but "perfect" front kick. They all were filled with awe and asked me to repeat it again.

This time, I felt so proud of myself and thought that I can do anything (overconfidence? of course!). So, I planned to kick higher than before, and get more admiration from my classmates. Forgetting that I was still new to front kick, I kicked hard and as high as I could. But suddenly, my left leg (which was till now balancing the whole of my body) lost balance! It slipped and made me fell on the ground! Smash!

My uniform was dirty now, plus all my overconfidence also went away. Still, I stood up to show them the right way to kick, but by that time, all the girls were giggling in themselves and slowly left the area. 😞

I was disheartened because I had insulted myself in front of everyone, but soon I was normal again. I was normal not because I consoled myself, but because another girl, who fell down the same way! She was probably trying to compete me and show other girls that she is the best. But overconfidence took her too!

|| End of CrazyStuff ||

I hope you liked this post, and hopefully you weren't bored while reading. I just felt so good while writing this, and I would wish that I didn't make you sleep while reading all this. I'm sorry I could not add many pictures over here, actually some memories aren't possible to show in pictures🌈✨

Recently, I posted about The Most Epic Failures of My Life (you can click on the blue text to see it). I would love if you could have a look at it. It's true as much as I remember. You might enjoy that!

Now, I give you a formal thanks, for reading this post (thanks not to those who just scrolled to the bottom😉). Just tell me how you enjoyed reading this post, in the comment section. Will be waiting for every single comment!

Cheers,

Gauri

Life

I did the 30 Day Split Challenge

September 11, 2020
By Gauri
2 Comments

Hey Guys, I'm delighted that you found this blog! Ever since I found that the '30 day split challenge' is taking rounds on social media, I decided to test it all by myself. I felt that splits were something impossible for me because I am not flexible at all! For example, if I had to sit in a pike position and try reaching my foot, I will only reach a few inches above it (not joking but you might find it funny) and in such a state, imagine me doing the splits!

But anyways, it would be kind of cool if you can do something that your friends can't. It is the only reason I took up the challenge…

How I did the Stretches:

I started on July 21st, and did the stretches on an empty stomach, right in the morning. Well, I stretched almost everyday without taking any rest days.

Also, I did not go on any special diet. My routine was also the same like everyday, I have written about A Day in My Life, and you might read there that I do nothing special (like walking 10k steps or running for 30 mins etc.)

Note:

I have listed all the stretching videos I did throughout the challenge. None of them are my own, and there are no affiliate links in this post.

Now let's head right into the progress:

Week 1 : Far From Floor

Video I followed: Splits in 30 days (video below)

I started on July 21 2020 with some basic stretches like mountain pose and butterfly posture. The stretching was for about 15 minutes and I felt very sore and thirsty after doing it. My joints were badly paining after I completed my stretching.

When I started doing the stretches, I realised that my muscles were not flexible at all! But I kept doing the ‘killer stretches’ because I had promised not to give up.

Well, if I don't give some numeric data, there are chances that you might assume everything to be fake. So, here is how far I was from the ground in the first week : 12.4 centimeters

Note: I would suggest warming up before any moderate or intense stretching. But, for the first week, I was a newbie and did nothing like warm up.

Week 2: Still Far Away

Video I followed : The same as previous week + Warm up (on my own)

The second week, I added a warm-up to my routine and was a little bit more flexible than before. I could bend a little more during certain postures and was already proud of myself! The stretching time was increased to 20 minutes because of the warm-up. I was not so sore like I was in the first week. The challenge was actually about getting the splits, so being less sore was just a small part. That tougher part was to improve leg flexibility and I was not feeling too flexible yet.

Distance from ground: Nearly 11.5 Centimeters

Week 3 : Almost there

Video I followed : The same as first week + Surya Namaskar (video below)

I inculcated Surya Namaskar in my routine replacing the warm-up. In the beginning, doing Surya Namaskar was rather confusing, because I could not understand some postures. But it got easier as days passed. The stretching time was 20 minutes every day and I took no rest days. I can't believe my flexibility almost doubled this week! It's probably because of Surya Namaskar that my legs were becoming quite flexible. The Surya Namaskar also helped me to reduce my overall tiredness throughout the day.

Distance from ground: Slightly more than 7 Centimeters

Week 4: Results

Video I followed : Anna Mcnulty Splits Workout (video below) + Surya Namaskar

So as to win the challenge, I was expected to attain my splits by this week. But I was sure that it is not possible to get my splits in this very week. I wanted some change in my routine, therefore I changed my stretches and started doing "Anna McNulty Splits Workout".

About Anna McNulty: Anna is a teen Youtuber who mostly posts videos on flexibility and stretching routine. She is totally amazing and has unimaginable flexibility!

I was definitely more flexible than first week, and was delighted that my pain was all gone! But the results weren't so promising...

Final Distance from ground: About 5 Centimeters😞

So, I didn't "win" the challenge, and was very disappointed. But I had promised myself to do the splits... So I continued to do the stretchings and DID NOT STOP. In short, I kept doing the stretches after the 4th week.

Week 5 and 6: Obstacles in the Journey

Video I followed : Splits Stretch Workout + Surya Namaskar

I wasn't as energetic as before, and that was the first time I took rest days. I started skipping certain stretches and got lazier. I was thinking myself as incapable, but more or less, I knew I can improve. I shifted from Anna's stretching videos to another one on Youtube, which I am doing till now. I tried to keep going somehow, and was still feeling unhappy. And at the same time, my unit tests started and I got lesser time to exercise and do stretching.

But I was improving still, as I was closer to the ground now...

Distance from ground (at the end of 6th week) : Slightly less than 3.5 Centimeters

Week 7: The Best I could Imagine!

Video I followed : Same as previous week

I continued doing the Surya namaskar and the "stretching video" for the 7th week (In August). But I did not realise that I had advanced so much in my flexibility!
Now I was quite sure that I will get my splits within a few days. I went on and on, and finally was able to make it by the end of this week.

So, on 7th August, I was able to do my splits. Wow! I think it was the best part of lockdown for me. I'll keep doing yoga and stretching, so that I don't lose my splits. And also, I can now show-off my skills to my friends! Yippee!!

Hope you enjoyed reading my journey to Splits,

Bye,

Gauri

PS: I took the splits challenge in the lockdown, and I am sure that you too might have done something new during this period. I would just love if you drop a comment and tell me which challenge you took or what special you did in lockdown. I'm waiting! Come on!

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