Chiffonesque

Cousin's taken us out for a lovely meal to a small, little vegetarian joint in Lokhandwala or 4 bungalows (thereabouts). We've just polished off palak khichdi (my favorite, favorite type of khichdi), daal, aaloo gobi, pudina parath as, and a bowl of very nicely prepared raita . In fact, the raita was pretty simple, yet it looked and tasted so lovely! Just some chunks of cucumber mixed with beaten curd and topped with a thick slice of a juicy, red tomato. The bowl looked and tasted so wholesome and pure - like it had packed in all sorts of cool, soothing goodness that comes in handy during summers. The treat is in honor of some producer finally paying my cousin his dues. So, he and my mum are generally talking about how miracles happen and stuff like that. I'm thinking about my work and feeling a little blue. A lot blue, in fact. I'm feeling like the 20,000 league mid-layer of a deep ocean. "What happened to you?", asks my cousin. "You want jelly and ic...

A colleague forwarded this joke today. The best part was that this joke was titled 'Jungle Book'. Imagine a cuddly, fuzzy little rabbit running about like this! *************** A little rabbit happily running through the forest stumbles upon a giraffe rolling a marijuana cigarette. The rabbit looks at her and says, "Giraffe my friend, why do you do this? Think about your health. Come with merunning through the forest, you'll see, you'll feel so much better!" The giraffe looks at him, looks at the joint, tosses it and goes off running with the rabbit. Then they come across an elephant doing opium, so the rabbit again says,"Elephant my friend, why do you do this? Think about your health. Comerunning with us through the pretty forest, you'll see, you'll feel so good!" The elephant looks at them, looks at his razor, mirror and all, and then tosses them and starts running with the rabbit and giraffe. The three animals then come across a lion about...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/susan-boyle-britains-sing_n_186787.html

There was an office party at Vie lounge in Juhu. At first, I was not keen on going – but later, the thought of spending an evening by the sea was too tempting to turn down. It was a very nice evening. The lounge wasn’t too crowded and the tide was high. The al fresco dining area in Vie is so pretty. It overlooks the cleaner part of Juhu beach and is not choked with tables. There are a few tasteful seating arrangements, a small bar in the corner, some candles on dark, wooden table-tops, and that’s it. It was very humid. So much so, that even the stars looked moist. I absolutely love this about this time of the year. Humidity, I think, is very nourishing. I like the way it envelopes you, getting your pores to open up, making you sweat. I like the way it slowly, but surely, goads the body to respond. I like the moistness that shines on the skin – making one look like one has washed the face in moonlight. Humidity is like a sticky kind of love. It’s love that makes you glow, it’s love that...

Today I was in a meeting that ate up into my routine lunch time. I was so hungry, i could feel my insides gnawing on each other. Started feeling giddy and all. As soon as I stepped out, I opened my lunch and tucked into my risotto. Yummy, that was! Aah! Rice! The goodness of the world CAN be found in a grain...a grain of rice. Many grains of rice. Nice, happy mounds of rice. Sweet, little heaps of rice. Goodness is rice. Godness is rice. Rice is nice. And after that I ate some pedhas. A colleague was promoted and he'd got them. Sigh! In the most centered little crevice of any molecular structure is satiety. (Mine, at least.) That's the feeling I live for.

A colleague sent me a forward with an 'angel's message'. That's what the angel looked like. I happen to really like the people I work with.

I woke up to, what will be, a never-ending day at work. But the weather is just so pretty! It's like a great, sloshy cloud has come down and given this city a great big hug. It hasn't rained yet, but it's so wonderfully cloudy and humid that I'm hoping it will soon. Oh gosh, I hope it does. I wish it does. I am sure it will. Now, I'll go down for a chilled glass of mango milkshake. Coming to work is such fun!

I got the most adorable gift from a friend. It’s one of those tie-up diaries made of handmade paper, and the cover has little prints of elephant posteriors in green. It is so cute! I have been contemplating scrapbooking for a while, and this is the perfect book to start with. It’s not the regular scrapbooking size book, but I can already see myself filling its pages with small, interesting cut-outs, etc. I’m really looking forward to getting started on this! I wish a long weekend were here already! Yay!

This weekend ended in very high drama. I now realize that if I don’t control my anger, I will actually be risking the safety of my family. I don’t know why that’s started all over again. This white-hot rage, where I can’t see anything, my head starts pounding and I yell stuff all loud, pained, and garbled as if my mouth is full of blood. Anyway, it’s only temper. I’m sure I’ll control it in a matter of time. Last night was just a small incident. For now, I must think of more soothing things. Like the lovely weekend I had. It started with me driving to Anumita’s place at around seven in the evening. The sun was just about to set. Vashi bridge looked like this long slope at the end of which a huge, ball of lava - the color of marigold - was placed. The sun looked liquid, yet solid enough to have a shape – like this big globule that was going to tip over and splash into the sea any minute now. I was just thinking of what would happen then. A great big orange splash would usurp this mighty...

Some people you like instantly. You like them before you know much about them or before you have met them or, in this case, even before you have read what they’ve written. It is therefore strange that I like Elizabeth Gilbert. She’s the author of the novel ‘Eat, Pray, Love.’ It’s a memoir of her one year sabbatical after a difficult divorce. During her sabbatical, she went to three places to find answers. She travelled to Italy (in pursuit of pleasure), to India (in pursuit of peace), and Indonesia (in pursuit of balance.) I read about the book some place, then for some reason, I got really curious about the author. When I read about her, I realized why. I am subliminally drawn to everything associated with New York University. All good things and all good people and all good ideas and all good good comes from New York University. Elizabeth Gilbert studied there but didn’t do her MFA program. Instead, she travelled and ‘created her own program’. I read up some of her interviews and wat...

There's a site called blogged.com that rates blogs amongst other things. (I think the site does other things too. Haven't really checked it.) I got an email from them today informing me that they rated my blog at 6.4 points. This score, according to their scoring category, is 'Good'. Feels nice. I didn't think people I do not know were actually reading my blog, much less rating it. I shall treat myself to a nice cup of coffee at Bagel Shop tonight.

Nephew: I met one of my many nephews for the first time. He lives in Dubai and will soon be shifting to Canada. He’s one year and three months and is so cute I want to carry him in my purse all the time. He’s a very analytical child, keenly and quietly observing everything around him. But he took a certain hostile stance towards me initially. Took off his wee Nike sneaker and started hitting me. Later, he used the sneaker to pound a piece of banana and then hit me with it. At night when he’d fallen asleep, I took the chance to look at his pink fingers and toes and stroke his smooth cheek. He woke up, blinked, pointed at me and smiled the most precious smile! Then he spoke to me for the very first time. He called me , “baby.” The Wheel Work-out: On the days that I skip a work-out, I think I should drive from Vashi to the airport, and then from the airport to my office, and finally try and get a parking space in the premises. I did all that today. The signage in Mumbai is so weird! A...

See, here’s my take on skin…it’s a beautiful canvas that came with the body. It came so that nature and its elements could paint its story on you. Skin has a memory. It remembers being enveloped with the spray from a waterfall, the mist on a mountain, the dampness in a jungle, the arid heat of a desert, a clammy touch, a warm hug. It breathes, sweats, lives, dies, changes, and remembers. As far as possible, it must be allowed to do all this in its most natural and free form. If it must be tampered with, it must be done only with a tattoo. Because tattoo is an art form and it takes skill and precision to get it right. So, sun creases, dehydrates, and wrinkles. And all that makes the skin look pretty…with a soul and character. Flawless skin is lovely, but it is not my idea of beauty. To me, unlined and smooth skins belong to babies. For people who work, live, sweat, and bleed, the skin must record that trajectory. This is my theory. It is my opinion. I don’t think I’m abnormal for thinki...

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visit...

It was a good, satisfying birthday. Went to Hard Rock with Anumita and some friends, and on the way discovered how beautiful the flyovers in Parel look at night. Also, I think I just might remember the way to that place next time round. We also almost got clicked for some website, India-nightlife.com or something. But we decided to guard our celebrity status and said stuff like, “ No, not this time.”, “ Umm, we’re not very sure ,” etc. etc. I really like Hard Rock. The people there are so friendly and say the sweetest things, even when they make out you’re lying. I didn’t have reservations and I was meeting my friends there directly. I was the first to reach. It was reasonably early, around 8, but all the tables were taken. And it didn’t look like any of them were going to be vacated any time soon, considering they were heaving under platters of nachos, onion rings, and garanguatan pitchers of beer. I had just driven through horrible traffic and really, really wanted to sit. So, I wen...

While driving to work today, I saw a cab with a sticker that read, “ Sabka maalik ek .” Scribbled next to it was, “ Main.” Interesting thing – I come across a fabulous line for my obituary on the day I was born. Enjoy everyone!

I had the best morning! Woke up at 5:30, had a banana, and after what seems like an eternity, went running. Sometimes I wonder why I stopped getting out of the house at sunrise. I love going out to run. Although I have a long way to go to build up stamina, it’s great to move through the fresh coolness of the morning. As I walked to the promenade, I saw a couple of trees – laburnums and something else with little red flowers that looked like pouted lips. Near the promenade, there was a huge bush bursting with hundreds of white, crisp paper-flowers. It all looked so lovely! And in the mornings, one just feels that the world has spruced itself up only for you. The skies were getting clearer slowly, and the pond near the promenade was swirling with all these secret shades purple, blue and gold. From one part of the promenade, the water looked like shifting sheaths of rich silk. The herons were there too. Elegant, soft and pristine white. And when they flew about, their wings flapped with l...