576, 575

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Here's the weekend in broad strokes...

Lots of food. LOTS. My mom was here so, of course, there was plenty of grub. But she returned to Bombay and left behind her cook in Pune for a few days. And she's awesome. So yesterday I had her make vegetable samosas (at home - samosas at home!), halwa made of wheat flour, a crushed chutney made of these dried rice pellets you get in Orissa (this was a huge hit) and small uttapas with a topping of onion, capsicum, and tomatoes. Called a friend over for chai, we ate all this, and then we went for a walk, and swung on the swing and I tried to forget that my shorts from Zara are tight.

Anyway, this month, I will be lax. Next month, I will get disciplined. 

The day before that I was a friend's place who was housekeeping for her folks because they're away. That place is posh. Like P.O.S.H. All gleaming ceramics and pretty stone artifacts, even in the loos, pastel, sandalwood theme everywhere, ornate copper bells hanging as separators between sections in the living room (and it is a multi-storeyed place with several rooms), a spotless kitchen, and just the genteel kind of rich hush that a moneyed place brings. (My balcony has a pigeon.)

They have two large gardens - one where we sat and skimmed through papers while my friend got us wine in wine glasses. There were twinkling fair lights around a shrub. We then went inside and watched T.V. We ate. We lounged and then I left.

It was so good! A home that is tended to so meticulously is so nice!

I'd like to be very, very rich. So much so that even the grass that grows in my lawn and peeps out of the earth, sings to the abundance that awaits it. 

It is now Monday and one is back to work. 




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