Days 13, 14, and 15 of 14,600

I am going to write a quick post here because I am in the middle of work and I have to get started on something. I had lots of ideas that I wanted to write about. I will pick one for now.

I have been freelancing for a while now. And sometimes, I work with experienced freelancers. Some of these people I have worked with in the past. In fact, some were my seniors. They trained me. And now, when I see their work, I can't imagine that I ever thought they were stellar. The work is stodgy, jaded, routine, with no application of anything fresh. It is very disappointing and disturbing. But it has led me to consider my own work.

Now, I don't know. To me, in the field that I work in, a person is good is you cannot guess what his or her last two or three projects or assignments were. But when I see the work of a few of my friends or really experienced people, you can totally tell what their last few assignments were - what kind of domain they had worked in. The styles are the same. You can predict where the gaps will be, etc.

I think about how this is such a bullet to dodge - to have a signature, yet not feel stale or stereotypical. Sometimes, I notice that creeping into my work too. Of course, as an outsider, it is always easier to detect that in other people.

Of course, experience is very valuable. But it helps if you can use the experience to do the routine things quickly and free up your mind and heart to think of something new, something fresh, something else, and hopefully something better.

I wonder how I can avoid this pitfall. So far, I have some thoughts that I will write about.

Five things I have enjoyed:
1. The rice and veggie strips bowl at KFC. They have improved radically!
2. I jog in the complex close to midnight. There is one spot where the air is very, very fragrant. I can't spot any flowers around. But the scent is heavy. Intrigue!
3. There is a poha dish that my friend taught me - you mix it with curd, little milk, very little salt, chilli powder if you fancy, and a peanut-chilli-coconut powder (or pudi - as it is called here.) No need to cook it. Very tasty and a very quick snack.
4. There is a fruit beer (some malt) in Pizza Hut. Quite nice - not too sweet and refreshing. It gets really dry here and the throat actually gets parched. That's a good, fresh drink to have, even if it is aerated.
5. Shark Tank. I. love. it

Days 11 and 12 of 14,600

So we have already entered double-digits. Double digits are easy to enter into and longer to stay at.

Yesterday was a good day - in as much all days are good.

I had been wanting to go to a Japanese store called Usupso. I love stationery and then, I love Japanese stationery! I love it! In Bombay and Delhi, I usually shopped at Muji - I love that place. I really like the creamy paper and the wood-brown palate they have. They are expensive, though.

I had also adored the Hobonichi stationery when I had seen them at an airport somewhere but I can't order it online. Yesterday, a pal told me to check it out on Ali Baba, which I will.

So we went to Usupso yesterday. It's in Jayanagar and that is SUCH  a pretty place. You can walk and there are these huge tall trees. The trees in this city are something else.

We ate in a place called Nandini. We had a vegetarian thali and it was so yummy! The hot rice, ghee and rasam - awesome it was. Eating rice after the Navratri fast was heaven! Also, what I loved about the place was that I saw a bunch of guys eating rice and sambhar with their hands and also chugging beer out of those beer glasses. It felt so homely. I love a place like that - where you really can eat the way you do at home.

Took a bunch of photos and they are up on my Instagram page.

Anyway, life is good. Some parts are not yet figured out but that's okay.

On that note, trust everyone had a beautiful Dassera.

Over the years, different aspects of Dassera have appealed to me. But today, it's this: The asura attacked. He gets killed. Durga kills the asura. And on the ninth day, she is gone too. There is comfort to be derived from that.

Days 9 and 10 of 14,600

It has been raining for a few days now. It's cold. Last night I was late at the co-working space. There was no cab or auto available for a good forty minutes. But I waited and came home finally. I felt good with the work I finished yesterday.

Today I slept for the most part but my mother had sent over two items of clothing. There's a thin, right red top from Chumbak. It has very pretty, colorful and embroidered cuffs. The other piece is a lovely military green jacket with a hood and a waist tie-up detail. Again, the cuffs are interesting - black and white stripes.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend and she said that she would not hesitate to date a married man because she owes nothing to the man's wife or the marriage itself. The man has taken the vow and it is his responsibility to honour it. I somehow don't agree. I would not go out with a married man and I also think that if a partner has started looking out, that marriage is very vulnerable. It may be saved if it did not have the weight and the complexity of a whole, big thing of a third person being involved. Sure, I am not married to the guy or that woman. But surely, I become complicit if something goes wrong?

I have a lot of friends, it turns out, who are okay with dating married men. This had somehow never occurred to me before. But I suppose it is what it is. The same values that may be difficult to take in a partner are perfectly okay to accept in a friend. Is that, maybe, a certain kind of hypocrisy? Maybe.

Anyway, I have only this much to write today. Have to start working now.


  

Day 8 of 14,600

I just finished writing a storyboard and am quite pleased with it. I also just signed up for a seat in a co-working space. That was good.

Today is Shoshti and there is a lovely Durga Ma idol in the building complex.

I have doodled a few things and they are up on my Instagram account.

This girl at the co-working space - one of the admin people - was wearing a really nice top. It was a kind of a jersey material. Bluish-gunmetal shade with lace epaulettes. Very distinctive.

I didn't get a lot of clothes when I came to Bangalore and although I am pretty much sorted, I still wanted a pair of denims. I ordered for a Newport pair from Flipkart. Just wearing it now. It's okay. Nothing fantastic but I suppose it can be styled to look better.

Am having coffee now. Tasty coffee.

Days 6 and 7 of 14,600 days

They began. They ended.

Day 5 of 14,600 days

I am working out of a collaborative working space now. Well, working is a funky term for what I'm doing here. But here I am in any case. I have a call at 8:30 p.m. and where I stay is a little busy with a lot of people in the house. It's fun, on the whole but working steadfastly becomes a little difficult. Actually, I had to work on one other assignment before my call but I don't really feel like working. I feel like typing. I came late today for this free trial at the co-working space so I don't think I can come and work here over the weekend. That is a bummer because I really needed to work over the weekend. Never mind, if that doesn't happen, I will probably go to a cafe near my house.

Today I made a spicy curry-soup with sprouts, corn, soya nuggets and potatoes and another basic jeera aalu. My friend is a very good cook as are the other people who stay at home. But they work etc. so they usually eat out. Last week or so, I have been making something or the other at home - using millet and potatoes mostly, no onion or garlic - the general stuff that I make when I am by myself. So it was a little surprising that my friend's daughter likes my food. Actually, I think, in the whole world only my father thinks I am a good cook - mainly because I cook very, very simply. So, the fact that I got someone else to like the food is also nice. I do think I have improved.

Anyway. That is that. It is almost time for my work call so I will go now.

Day 4 of 14,600 days

I will make this quick.

1. Worked through the night yesterday and slept at around 5 a..m.

2. Got good feedback on my work.

3. Went with my friend to Meenakshi mall. I had fries and Pepsi at Tacobell.

4. Talked with Ma. She seemed happy. Always good.

5. As part of the fast, there is this thing that I found (I used to eat that in Pune) - Barnyard millet. It's called Samak rice or variyaacha tendul in Marathi (I hope I am pronouncing it correctly). Actually, I find it very tasty. I eat it even when I am not fasting. You soak it in water for 10 minutes. Then you wash it really well. You take ghee and add the general tadka of jeera and chillies. If you eat onions, then you can add that as well. Today I also added soya chunks, salt, mirchi powder, haldi and boiled potatoes. Tossed it about. Added some more water and pressure cooked it on high flame for  whistles.

6. When I used to eat this on non-fast days, I would add capsicum, spring onions, regular onions, beans and some soya sauce and make a Chinese version out of this. It was really tasty. A low-fat alternative to rice, if you're looking and it's gluten-free. Of course, I belong to the school of thought that believes that rice is not fattening. In fact, a steady staple of rice, daal and ghee is necessary for weight loss. It has happened with me - long before I came to know that Rujuta Dwivekar had said the same thing in her book.

7. Weather was good.

8. Checked out this store in Meenakshi mall- Sapna. It's a LARGE, LARGE , LARGE stationery and book store. Shweta Nanda's book is out and I want to read it. Paradise Towers.

Day 3 of 14,600

Karavaan is an excellent film. I loved it! Dulquer Salmaan is so very good!

There is a scene where Irrfan Khan (is that how his name is spelt? Too lazy to google) is watching a bunch of people smoke, drink and splash around in the pool. He's a conservative guy and he's overall very disappointed with humanity as he sees them do things that he would never do. He's talking to a musician (for the wedding) and he asks (loosely translated), "I don't know what sadness these people are experiencing that they need so much to feel a little joy!" The way he says it is gold!

Sometimes I feel the same way when I see people so enthusiastic about going to new places, travelling, etc. What do they so desperately want to escape from? I don't know. Maybe same reason why I want to go and live in different cities - almost like starting from scratch but with no real guarantee of a return. Maybe that's why I never really fancied travel so much. It feels like a cop out. You want to get away - go and live there. Scout for a house. Argue with the rick guys. Haggle with the local help. And do it so that you can be part of them. Not coast around, have pina coladas and come back.

I guess travel for me is like skirting around commitment to living. Actually, in a way, any form of distraction where you are not fully in the present moment (for me it's Netflix, coffee, or general roaming around streets) is not being committed to living. LIVING. (in capital letters.)

Hmm. Wow! That is quite judgmental.

Moving on to something that is not judgmental - a new dish that my friend prepared for me.

For Navaratri, I am on this fast where I do not eat grains. There is this thing that my friend made called cauliflower rice. She grated the cauliflower so that they were really tiny (the usual consequence of grating, I suppose - I was thrilled to see it, though) and then soaked them in salted water. Then she rinsed them. Heated some ghee in a pan and sauteed them with salt, pepper, and then garnished with curry leaves. I loved it. Now, I am not really a purist so I don't even know if cauliflowers are allowed. But it's a very super dish and if you're looking for an alternative to rice, this is great. If you are really particular about the calorific aspect of it, then you can skip the sautee in ghee or butter and simply steam it and eat. Of course, if you don't like the smell of cauliflower, it's an issue. I happen to love it.

Some very interesting dishes are being cooked here. Will write about them some other day.

Day 2 of 14,600 days

On the 8th of August, there was an Amavasya puja at the Kali temple in Electronic City. It is actually quite close to where I stay but the roads are tough and it gets dark and deserted fairly quickly. The first time I had gone there, it was around 6 p.m. But there is a stretch in the road that feels like outer space. The land gets barren and dusty with red earth. There is construction going on in places but I never really saw anyone in the building. It felt like this empty futuristic world where buildings are just making themselves. 

But then you come across this thicket and tangle of large bushes, large trees and small dirt roads. The temple is inside one of these lanes but it's hard to tell which one. 

The temple itself is in a pink building that looks like the pink of a mithai-box. There's warli painting as you enter and there's a cool, narrow corridor. Then there are these small alcoves inside which you have different deities. Kali herself is very fierce-looking. The face is different from what I have seen in Ram Krishna Mission - where her face is rounded and almost smiling with her tongue stuck out. Here, her face is more gaunt and her eyes more strict.  I don't remember very clearly but I think she is very similar to the Kali I had seen in a temple in Cuttack.

I love Kali temples because not many people go there. You can sit and even read a book there in peace. You aren't rushed or asked to explain herself. The priest, however, was surprised to see me the first time I'd gone there. He told me about the pooja on the 8th.

It was really late when I started from home - nearly 9:30. I haven't really gone out of Electronic City that late at night. I go running at 11 p.m. but I go inside the complex where I stay. Or I go to a cafe or the grocery store nearby. So, heading out that late made me a little nervous. Also, it had rained a lot that day There were huge potholes filled with water, roads were almost broken, and as I neared the temple, the paths were really muddy. The cabby asked me if he could stop outside on the main-ish road (there is no main road close to the temple). I got out and it was cold, marshy, and this sounds strange but the darkness was sort of blazing. I can't explain - it was not the kind of darkness that you can't see in. It was the darkness that could blind you. I could hear frogs, night insects, and the low growl of an angry dog nearby. There was a strong wind. The building of the temple seemed dark. It seemed to be closed. The cabbie was so sweet - he offered to wait in the lane with his headlights on so I could go up to the building and check. 

I went to the gate and a man peered out. He told me that I had come to the wrong building - the temple was in the next lane. (I had made the same mistake the first time I'd come. GPS is pretty faulty in that neighbourhood, I feel.) The idea of trudging up and down the lane with the marshy ground and leaping frogs and growling dogs seemed a bit too much. But the cabbie was really nice and he dropped me to the next building.

And the next building seemed to have erupted wih colours, music, people, food and light. It was a beautiful puja - quite different from what I've seen in Bombay. There was the priest and his son. There were lots of days it and there was this huge brass plate with a hundred black wicks. Lots of hibiscus and rose garlands for Kali and lots of roses and rajnigandha for Durga and lots of marigold and leaves for the Shiva. There were quite a few kids running around and beating the drums. It was so hard to imagine that this place was so noisy but you wouldn't know it all from even a lae away - until you came real close to the temple. 

I think you really need to enter the darkness fully to get a sense of the joy that it holds.

DAY 1 OF 14,600 DAYS

I am writing am writing a blog post after really long. I remember that when I was in Pune last, I had started a countdown indicating how many days I had to stay there before I moved out of there. I left Pune before the countdown ended.

Since then, I have stayed in Noida and worked in Noida and moved back to Bombay and am having a tiny stay in Bangalore. I don't quite know how many days I will be here but I sense that something interesting is right around the bend.

I think that I may reasonably be living for 14,600 days more. I have no way of being sure and I have no way to say that I am wrong.

So...here it is. I begin again.

(I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS IS GETTING TYPED IN ALL CAPS. MAYBE IT WILL SORT ITSELF OUT LATER.)