Pretty things that lighted up my life this week

1. 
   A line from the song ‘Yeh Dilli hai…’ from Delhi 6. The line goes: ‘Yeh shehar nahin, mehfil hai.’ The way every little nook in Delhi glows like a jewel in the evening, the way domes and gardens light up like candles in front of a huge mirror, the way every season suffuses the city with easy, fragrant languor, the way you see a myriad interpretations of a poem each time you look up at the sky…this line sums up those traces of Delhi really well.
2. 
   One of my cook’s latest inventions – adding strong, black coffee to a caramel custard mix before setting it. Tastes heavenly!
3. 
   The Costa Coffee in Inorbit Mall in Vashi. I love that place…it’s cute, cosy, and a very friendly place to hang-out. Oh, and there’s the ‘White chocolate and lemon muffin’. That is the only dessert I have had in all the Costas I have been to – in Noida, Delhi, and now Bombay. Usually, in coffee places, anything that isn’t made out of chocolate tastes like it’s been prepared out of wet cardboard. But this muffin – it’s soft with a nice, lemony centre and topped with a generous smear of delectable white and dark chocolate. Very, very good.
4. 
   The second-hand bookstore and library inside Hiranandani. This guy must be scouring the world for some amazing reads. He has a graphic novel based on Homer’s Odyssey.
5. 
   The roads off Kurla. Man! The things that improve when you aren’t looking!
6. 
   Amazing cab rides from Vashi to Marol. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone’s eyes light up when I’ve said ‘Marol’ at 9 in the morning. Usually, they pretend as if I have snot on my nose and look the other way and whiz off. Of course, they are all autos! See, cabbies have class.
7. 
   A sort of a kitty party I was part of quite suddenly. It’s nearly 11:30 p.m., it’s the ladies compartment, and it’s pleasantly full. One woman peels an orange, another one tears up a packet of chips. Since I am sitting with them and looking hungry, they offer me their snacks. I refuse at first, but they insist. So I take some chips. One of them looks at me a little sadly and advises, “Beti, itna fight kyun maarne ka…shaadi karke ghar sambhaal. Aaaram se…” The other one says, “Apun ne bhi toh shaadi kit hi…kya hua?” To which the first one replies thoughtfully, “Yeh marad log bhi na...kya bharosa…” Ah! Kinship!
8. 
   Cold, cold mornings. There’s actually a bite in the air when I head out at 6 a.m. Just that sharp sting on the face when you run…that makes the horrible struggle to get out of bed so very worth it.
9. 
   Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror at midnight while getting water from the kitchen. Do I look good when I’m sleepy or what! Wow! My heart did skip a beat, and this time it wasn’t fear.
10. 
    Theories that can germinate and circulate only in New Bombay. One day, I was chatting with an auto-guy and mentioned that once the Metro is ready, life in Bombay will be superb! He said, “Hmm…lekin ab kya faayda madam, metro ko aur do saal lag jaayenge, aur Delhi-6 to agle hafte release karne waali hai.” I didn’t get the connection. The guy thinks that the Bombay Metro is being constructed for the promotion of Delhi-6. Hee hee hee! Maybe the promotion also involves Sonam Kapur travelling in a lovely yet forlorn fashion from Versova to Ghatkopar up and down the entire Friday that it releases. (And if that is the case, maybe Rakesh Mehra could make another movie ‘Pune Potholes’. We could definitely benefit from publicizing something like that!) So filmy we are!
11. 
    Line from another song I heard in an ad. In fact, the ad is about a man looking lovingly at his wife while she is buttering toast or something. In the background, there’s a song playing on the radio. It’s sort of a scratchy and Rafi-type number. It goes something like…Tu meri khwaabon ki taaveez hai.
12. 
    A little girl buying a huge teddy bear for her grandfather on Valentine’s Day. Both had the most glorious toothless smiles ever!