Tea & Dark Chocolate

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...

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...

After having built, maintained and tested huge and complex systems for almost 5 years now, the first thought that enters my mind when I see any design is – Can it be rolled back? How much of an effort it is to roll this back? Can we make the rollback easier? What is the damage to the system when we rollback? Call it a personality trait or work-seeping-way-too-much-into-life , I have started thinking about a rollback strategy for most of the things I do in my life too. A small change to the house layout or design, and I go ahead on thinking about it only after I am assured that it can be rolled-back. A change to the way I dress up or get my dresses is also considered only after my mind quickly calculates how to roll it back if it were to go wrong. Any item of furniture that I even consider buying would be thought about after I find out multiple uses of the same, and I know that the look it gives to the house can be rolled back! Even the ear and nose piercings I have had, I got th...

  Permanently! Yes! :-D And as my friend A puts it, I am now The Girl with the Music Tattoo! :-) I finally mustered the guts, got over the initial cold feet (little did I know what real cold feet mean! More on that later!) and went to the next most famous tattoo studio in Hyderabad (Hakim’s Aalim) and spoke to the artist there about getting this tattoo. I spoke to him about the design, location, the price he’d charge, and the safety measures he would take, and thought about it for 5 full minutes, standing right there, in his studio. I figured out I was confused about the location, and did not want to do this in a hurry. I told him I’d get back to in exactly two days, and came back home, thinking all the while if I can do it at all. I SMSed/Mailed all my girl-friends asking them what they thought of a tattoo. Some said they hated it, some said they have always wanted to get one done, and some said its not worth the pain. I then threw the option of me getting it done, and like tr...

  So that’s one item off the bucket list! Yeah, putting an item as silly as this on The List is downright silly, I agree. But it still means a lot, for someone who grew up in a small town and could not step out of the house without male company. (Most times it was my brother and we thoroughly enjoyed that short time off from studies, but then Dad once sent his watchman along with me and my friends to the movie, he was plain scared that some harm would befall his precious daughter, you see!) And the item was – Watching a movie alone. And yes, I did it today! :D Well, I watched a movie all by myself quite a while before , during my stay in Hong Kong, but then, that was HK, and I literally went every place by myself (blame the ever-busy-not-today-I-have-a-call-why-don’t-you-go-by-yourself-here-take-a-100-HKD husband!). So one afternoon I get out of the apartment to walk two blocks to the nearest movie hall showing, guess which movie – Twilight New Moon (Twilight is my only literar...