Tea & Dark Chocolate

They say, Fall has just started, two days ago. That it was the Autumn Equinox then. And that the colors will be beautiful for the next few days The air is all chilly, making me wear a pullover as I sit on my dining table, working away, and wondering what I'll do with the rest of my day. These are some of my favorite things these days... Am in a different mood these days. Its much different than what I felt a few months ago. I feel a strange sense of peace as I sit around the house. The couches make me feel like a romantic, the fireplace promises me immense possibilities, the fluff throws I bought from Costco make me feel warm around the house, the full bar (with our basics Whiskey, Wine and Bourbon) makes me feel that am ready for winter, and above all, all my books surrounding me as I sit anywhere in the living area make me feel safe. I think this is the strange peace I am talking about.

When you are young, and are looking for a partner to share your life with, you think of that person to be the one you'll grow old with. No? At least, I did. I was consciously looking out for the person with whom I could grow old. The one with whom I could talk about anything under the world, share minute details about how I have umpteen crushes in a day or detail every single feeling I felt when I was waiting for the signal to turn green or the one who knows how spiteful I can be if I want to. The one with whom I would not need to speak to without actually talking. The one around whom am not worried if am farting and can in fact, take pride in talking about our crap routines. The one who would be your family, your steady date, your everything. You know what am talking about now, don't you? The one person who will be your partner in everything. Call this person a soulmate, if you will. But I've grown to realize that unless you are friends first, you cannot be great par...

[Continued from Part 1 ] Yes, I felt like this till I saw the house of our dreams. (There were quite a few of 'my dream house' over the years we spent real-estate window shopping, which was soon becoming into a bad hobby we had to get rid of, but this place was from both our dreams. Till then, the husband and I hadn't agreed upon a single house/apartment. We both never liked the same stuff). This house was perfect - it was a cozy little place with 3 bedrooms, a balcony that overlooked greenery and nothingness, a kitchen large enough to actually have a small kitchen table for the husband to sit on and eat the Dosas I so enjoyed making, rooms big enough to enable us to have separate work areas... you know, everything a newly married couple looked for, in a house and it was our own. (except that we weren't newly married anymore by then, though life hadnt really changed in that department, but more on that later). We suddenly accumulated a lot more stuff than we imagined...

I tend to do this, associate the phases of life with where I stayed then. That also helps me remember where I met a specific person in my life, and how the phase I was in has impacted my friendship with that person. It also helps me remember how I was doing career-wise back then. As a 19 year old when I came to Hyderabad the first time and saw the city, I knew this was going to be home. It was love at first sight - the broad beautiful roads, the still-upcoming flyovers, the language spoken in the city, and not to forget, the beautiful view of Charminar I had at 5 AM in the morning among floodlights. I knew I was going to move here and this was where home would be. I didn't bother to think about marriage, career, education or anything at all. Hyderabad was home, that's all.

As I was making my bed a while ago, wondering whether the blankie was worth it at all, couldn't help but think of the comment a friend made about the short Hyderabad winters. A pencil and paper and this is my heart's anguish pouring out. ☺ You were here and Then you were not. Raising hopes and dreams Of together evenings and nights, Cosy, wrapped up like a breeze A cup of chocolate and the knight! You were here and Then you were not! Gorgeous sunsets, long evenings, shorter days Barbeques, bakes, soups and may be, a truffle, With friends, whiskey and laughter a gay All of it, gone in a trifle! You were here and Then you were not!! Oh, you wretched winter Lasting only 48 hours, Not a minute yonder Making me love my city lesser by the hour!!!

As usual, this was a good year too! I had loads of fun doing everything I did – work, friends, travel, photography, reading etc. Yes, absolutely no complaints at all. Travel - This was a great year for  me. We kicked off the year with a trip to Puri in February which turned out to be a trip for just shooting pics. I got to shoot such brilliant photos of the 12th, 13th and 14th century temples. There was a 10-day Vipasana trip I did in June to Dharamshala. Stayed there for 13 days, including the time spent in Vipasana course. Loved the course duration, but was disappointed by Dharamshala as a place in itself. There was this short trip to Maldives in July , and all the husband and I did here was laze out in our cottage in the resort during the day and walk by the clear waters in the evenings. And then there was this Europe trip with a girl-friend. A short trip to Goa in October proved to us that no matter what we did, we’d always make at least one trip to Goa eve...

Earlier this year, in September, I had the opportunity to make another trip to Europe. This time, it was with a girl-friend, and for 12 days, and we were headed towards the Central Europe – Czech, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, to be precise. From top left corner, in clock-wise direction - Tribute to the lives lost in Stalin's rule at Devin Castle, Bratislava; Heroes Square in Vienna; Prague castle at night; Heroes Square in Budapest This was something we planned very well, and yet wasn’t a trip that was planned to the last minute. This was something like a backpacking, but wasn’t exactly backpacking in the true sense. We knew exactly where we were sleeping every night. That was the only thing that was planned. Every evening, we’d both sit in our room and decide a list on what we wanted to do the next day – a rough set of places to see, things to do , food to eat, photographs/locations to shoot etc. We didn’t always finish the list, and we were okay with that. We prioritize...

There is this image in my head that I haven't been able to get over. In fact, I don't really want to get over that image, and so am not trying to. Its the image of someone reading a book.

A while ago, I realized that there are only two types of experiences in life - 1. the kind that will make for think back and chuckle with pleasure and 2. the kind that would be so appalling that they'll make people beg you to tell the story. So, in effect ,the outcome is just the same - you have a great story!   Now, don't go all out and tell me how we shouldn't be living for other people and shouldn't care for what they think of us, and hence a story shouldn't matter to me. Sorry, but it does. Not what people think of me. Not because it will increase my self-worth in my audience's eyes, but for the sake of the good story. Just that. A good story. Yes, am quite romantic that way!

As a teenager, I used to LOVE key chains. God alone knows how much pocket money I spent on buying silly key chains in various shapes and sizes ... that the money I spent on books, but the latter is something that gives me joy even today. The key chains, well, they don't... they make me realize the follies of youth. Those Chuimui-si-tum-teddy bear key chains, the ones that stick to the shirt, the shoe-shaped ones and what not... :) This love , I noticed, didn't entirely go away. Instead, there is a transformation in it now. I now carry items that remind me of happy times and sometimes people in my key ring at all times... and this morning, as I was sorting stuff in my handbag, I noticed that the bag was heavy only because of the heavy key ring, and just how many charms I carry on me! Presenting to you, the contents of my key ring...

Its become almost a tradition, I noticed, me writing my year in review post towards the end of the year. And yes, I kinda like it, though I intend to change the documentary-ish tone I’ve used in the old posts. :-) I’ve stopped saying if it was a good year or a bad one, because its all about perspective. I definitely had fun, loads of it in this year too. Some new friends and some old have made the year very eventful, and as usual, I am grateful for having met them - each one of them, even if I don’t talk to them as often as I want, or the ones that I see almost every weekend. I guess I’ve stuck to the mantra – Always have a non-work-related-side-project , pretty seriously. There hasn’t been a time in this year in which I didn’t have a side-project I wasn’t pursuing. There is a blackboard in the house that I log these in, to serve as reminders on what I should be doing if I ever tell myself that I am getting bored. And no, I haven’t been bored in a while, thank God, for that! So the...

Let me just start with a disclaimer that I am not a sentimental person. For a very short while in my early twenties, I thought I was but I can now safely say that those days are behind me. I don’t know what label you can give to a person like me now, but I am now someone who enjoys the moment in the Now without wanting to do anything else with it. Every relationship I get into, I take it with a pinch of detachment, yet being attached to it. I work on it with a full heart, but I know that nothing is permanent, or I keep telling myself that, so I don’t fall in love with the moment. I have stopped falling in love with ‘things’. Am trying to not be in love with people also, but then, we all know that never happens. Self-preservation or cynicism, call it whatever you want! That said, the above two objects mean a lot to me. They both remind me of two once-very-important people, both of whom I don’t talk to anymore. I have not lost a lot of friends over these years, in fact very few. Most o...

Oh, what a joy it is to finish reading a book you've loved. And yet, what a pain it causes in your heart at having finished it. A deep, numbing pain, and a wish that the book has a sequel . Or may be there are some pages of it left unread somewhere. And the hope you have as you are nearing the end, hoping it doesn’t end, hoping all goes well with the characters you've so grown to love and hoping that there is some more, just a little more. Yes, I am still in the hangover of this feeling. I just finished reading a book I thoroughly enjoyed and felt, and as I hit the 100% mark, I felt the longing and the wish that there was some more of the book. I wanted to share it somewhere. The husband understands perfectly how I feel , the passionate reader that he is, but I wanted it to be some place more permanent. And that’s when I realized I have a blog, a place I love yet something I've neglected a lot in the past few months. A place which I've stopped visiting myself because I ...

Has been good, I must say. For travel, friends, books, food, work and life in general.   Some friendships which I know will last my entire life have happened this year… Smart , intelligent women who will continue to matter a lot … I couldn’t have asked for more this year in terms of friendships. Visits to and from friends who don’t stay in Hyderabad have happened this year, strengthening the bond we share… This post sums it all!   Cooking, baking and shooting the stuff that’s made, all of this has taken a new level altogether this year. I’ve become more serious about what I cook and how I shoot it, which is a good sign. It might be that one thing that really interests me, even if it is for the moment. More focus on healthy eating, and getting in all the vitals into the food has been taken this year, and with the cook being around for help, kitchen is not an area am scared of anymore! All this is documented on the food blog, and pics are on the Flickr page. The Meal Algor...

  As far as friends are concerned, this has to be the best period in my life. Actually, I'll reword this sentence. This feels like the best period of my life, contrary to what I always thought - about life coming to a standstill once you are 30. No, trust me, it doesn't. I know I sound like one of those zillion women who tell you that age is just a number, and they feel no different before and after 30. Well, it is, and it isn't. It still pinches when I have to check a different box in application forms, or read articles like 'Life gets better after 30' or when I spot a new grey hair or two. But its a different feeling now. I feel much more liberated, much more at ease with everything around, so much more at peace with myself. May be it all comes from accepting things as they are, or atleast the trial to do so. Back to the friends topic, the last time I met anyone new or had great friends was in college. And that was a long time ago. Barring for one or two peop...