Stuff

Yesterday I went to a charming little shop called Honey Dough. Or maybe it is Honey and Dough. I got myself a ham and cheese croissant. It came in a light blue box with a print of some English neighborhood. The print was in white. The box was sky-blue. The snack was a ham and cheese croissant.

The croissant was really good though. It was buttery, light, flaky. The slice of ham was tender. The cheese was salty.

This first part was written a month ago when I was working in Defence Colony and I was non-vegetarian. I am no longer in Delhi and I am no longer a non-vegetarian. Both these situations may change. I just wanted to get a lot of stuff out of my head.

I am back in Bombay and I am sitting in a very sweet nook in my mother's bedroom. Behind me are these long drapes in aqua silk and white tissue with silver embroidery. So it is pretty and all. But I haven't really gotten around to actually doing any work.

I met some friends the other day in Juhu and it was nice. But you know, when you live and work in a different place for a bit, you feel a certain staleness leave you. It comes back when you are suddenly back in a circle where people make different choices - where they are building homes, careers, lives in one city only and travel to simply get away. It is not a lesser way of being but I wonder if I will ever feel comfortable in that kind of a set-up again.

I don't know. Maybe it is early days now. But I feel I belong more in Delhi now, especially Noida - with its crowd of people from outside, living on rent, everyone figuring out the quickest way home from the station, etc. That familiar clump of uncertainty that blooms like a chrysanthemum.

The only thing that I am really enjoying or rather that I am so curious about understanding more deeply is family. It suddenly strikes me that I am so different from my parents. It then follows that there is such huge amount of love and acceptance on both sides. That is a huge, shimmering prize - to be with family.

You know what I found really surprising - just how little I am reading now. And whatever I am reading now, I am putting up a few lines along with the picture of the book on Instagram.

The other fun thing that has happened is that I have started running. I go in the evenings to the neighborhood promenade built around the lake. I like the way the water shimmers with reflection of city lights. It looks peaceful even as my heart pounds and I sweat.

I had planned to write more. In fact I had planned how I have not wanted to write for a long time. But I am meeting a friend for coffee. She has just returned from Paris.