The Lazy Minimalist

Pic credit: Sigurd Magnusson (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)

A friend has recently bought a new house and is in the process of decorating it. She is busy putting up sweet family photos on the walls, placing beautiful antiques in strategic corners and hunting for one-of-a-kind knick knacks to add to the décor of her new home. I must say that she has a good eye and fine taste from what I have seen and her home looks lovely – cozy, stylish and welcoming. I looked at all the pictures and then I looked at the walls in my house. Stark.

My walls are painted a neutral cream colour. Apart from that, I have not put up any photos or paintings and neither have I beautified the house with carefully selected artefacts. Strangely, whenever I used to dream about my perfect house when I was growing up, I always imagined that I would do it up with classy décor. However, thinking back to all the different houses that I have lived in from the time I started staying away from my parents’ home, I notice one similarity. I did not do any sort of personalization to any of my homes. Of course, the basics are there – furniture and the like - and I like things clean; but beyond that, zilch. The only exception being our bedroom door, which has stickers of Disney characters that the previous occupants left behind and I haven't even bothered to remove.. If we were to move out tomorrow and a stranger drops by I doubt if they would have any clue as to the kind of people who were living there – except perhaps for a faint smell of Indian food and a misconception that we are parents, maybe?

I think one of the reasons behind my approach is because I know that this is going to be my temporary home. Since it is rented and we have really not been involved in actually designing or building the home, perhaps I don’t feel that personal connect. Having said that, I do know many people whose houses are so artfully done up despite them being in rented accommodations. Secondly, I feel that more the objects around the house, more the dusting and cleaning involved. And frankly, I am too lazy. I try to avoid buying too many things unless they have a specific use. I guess I would prefer to maintain a minimalistic abode if it means less chores! Plus, when you need to move homes - or as an expat even countries - there is lesser number of stuff to pack or dispose off, which means less work for me. 

What about you? Do you enjoy customizing your home or do you lean towards minimalism?

What Does Chennai Mean To Me?

This post is part of the blog tag titled, The CBC Tablog where CBC stands for Chennai Bloggers Club. About 35 bloggers from Chennai are participating in this blog tag; everyone will write about their favourite city Chennai and what it means to them. So here's my post for the CBC tablog titled, What Chennai Means To Me. Thanks for passing the baton to me Susan!

If I can describe Chennai in one word, it would be home. Indeed, that’s exactly what Chennai means to me. I was born here, I grew up here, studied here, worked here – and in fact, have even married here. 

I’ve lived almost my entire life here. Most of my special memories have been formed in Chennai. After spending more than 2 decades here, it is only reasonable that anyone would think that I would know Chennai like the back of my hand. Unfortunately, that is not so. I am not familiar with too many routes – and most definitely cannot claim to have visited every nook and cranny of this city. I am no expert on Chennai – I am still discovering the myriad delights it offers.

I think that one either loves Chennai or hates it – there are no inbetweens. Actually there is lot to dislike in Chennai – the hot and humid weather of course topping the list. When outsiders say that they don’t prefer Chennai I can totally understand their reasons. I don’t jump immediately to Chennai’s defense and deny any of its shortcomings. 

Sure, Chennai has many drawbacks, yes Chennai has its dark side. But so what? I don’t claim that Chennai is perfect. Rather, we Chennaities have simply learnt to accept its faults. We have chosen to look beyond the flaws. Afterall what is life without a few imperfections, right?

For the past 5 years or so, I’ve been living abroad mostly. Whenever I think of Chennai, I get this warm and fuzzy feeling inside me. Every time my flight hovers over Chennai, I look down eagerly at the glimmering lights, winking at me from far below and try to guess which area we are flying over (even though I'm mostly clueless!). And as we touchdown, I think, “I’m home”. Yes. Chennai is home. Home is Chennai. Yesterday, today and always.

This post will be succeeded by Aravind Kumar, who says, "Too many blogs kill the blogging spirit atleast it did mine! Crazy Traveller, Flour Miller, Lover of Food Politics."

*Photo credit: nanda_uforians (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)
 

A Restaurant With A Difference

We just got back from a lovely trip to India and I am still getting over the vacation hangover! We had a pretty good time with family and friends, inspite of the sweltering heat and power cuts! But still it is “namma Chennai” and it was indeed a lil bugging to come back. Nevertheless what needs to be done, needs to be done and so it was done ;-)

Coming to the topic of this post, one fine evening my husband and I were planning to head out for dinner and I wanted to try out some new place which we hadn’t checked out earlier. Since I am the one in the travel planning business, the onus of picking a good restaurant was on me. After some enquiries, we decided to go to a restaurant called ‘Kipling’s Café’.
And boy! Are we glad we did!

Kipling’s Café is located off ECR. If you are heading from Chennai then it should be on a small lane on your left, just after Hot Kitchen, Malgudi, Delhi Dhaba – before the Toll Gate. It is a large bungalow, renovated charmingly into a pleasant and welcoming restaurant. There is a terrace but we chose to be seated at one of the dreamy, Goan style cabanas/huts in the garden. Surrounded by lush greenery, listening to frog’s croaking in the distance and with a cool sea breeze gently ruffling my hair-the ambiance was just perfect! The food is a mix of Mediterranean and Asian and was scrumptious. The service was pretty polite and friendly too.

I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this place as it is tucked away in an unassuming corner literally in the outskirts of the city. But it is a wonderful place to have a cozy, romantic dinner or a fun lunch with family or a small group of close friends. I wouldn’t recommend it for larger groups – for one thing the place leans more towards 'Elegance' rather than 'Boisterous' and for the other, food is slightly on the expensive side. Also be aware that if you only like spicy Indianised versions of international cuisine, you might not particularly enjoy the food here-because the chefs at Kipling’s Café try to maintain the authenticity of the food, with regards to both taste and ingredients.

A word of caution: The restaurant is located in a posh area and is surrounded by huge bungalows with high walls. Apart from that, it is pretty deserted and lonely. We went there a little after dark and it was kind of isolated. So I would advise you to go a little early

But on the whole, we had a memorable time and will definitely go back. If you are looking for a peaceful experience away from the hustle and bustle of the vibrant city, then do check out Kipling's cafe!

Some reviews from Tripadvisor if you are interested.

Image Courtesy: Dreamstime

Love to Travel + Love to Write = Travel Writing!

When I tell people that I am a freelance writer, many ask me “So are getting paid for that or is it just for fun?” I guess it really reflects the state of how most people view their jobs. You get paid for working not for having fun, right? Wrong!

If you know me then you also know that I enjoy writing as well as travelling. And now I found a wonderful way to club both together! Yep! I work as a freelance travel consultant/writer with a Bangalore based travel website called Mygola. It is a relatively new and pretty small company but I love it that I can work from home. And to answer the above question – I get paid AND I have fun! Isn’t that just great?! (Also I think that I can be a very knowledgeable geography teacher soon ;-))

Have you tried to google something and ended up with an avalanche of data which probably confused you and made you feel like you were searching for a needle in the haystack? Some people may not know the tricks for an effective online search, some might just not find it interesting to dig in and sift and sort thru all that information and yet some others might simply not have the time to do so. That is exactly where Mygola steps in.

Mygola is basically a travel website, where registered users can ask questions regarding their travel. And as a guide my job is to understand the traveler’s requirements, research online using the tools, tips and pointers that they provide, gather information and provide my suggestions and recommendations in a complete and thorough answer. What’s more I simply love the flexibility that Mygola offers me. I can choose any question that I would like to answer at anytime I wish to. Although once you have claimed a question you do need to answer it within 24 hours. There was a small test initially after which there were a couple of practice sessions and tutorials. After which I am all set :-)

So would any of you like to join the bandwagon? I must state here, that only if you like travelling and writing would you find this interesting and worth your efforts. If you do not like either, then chances are you may find it a little boring. But if anyone of you would like to give it a shot, you can do so by clicking here.
If you get selected then I get a bonus too! Yay ;-)

Okay so ciao! Am off to share my words of wisdom with a few travelers!

Image Courtesy: www.dreamstime.com

Dilemmas Of A Domestic Diva

I know a lot of people who are career-oriented and ambitious. But unfortunately, due to some weird wiring of my system I don’t fall under that category. So here I am – The Domestic Diva.

I do appreciate the fact that you all out there are busy saving the world from the aliens or educating today’s brats to be responsible citizens of tomorrow or playing dice with stocks and shares or simply writing software for the next model of the mobile phone that I am using now or even pretending to work and reading my blog (Ha! Caught you!). But on behalf of all the domestic Goddesses out there, I would like to state here that we have our own share of dilemmas too! Cynical? Well wipe that superior smirk off your face and read on mon ami(e):

Dilemma No. 4: Which idiot designs the cobblestone pavement encircling the supermarket to be sloping?!?!?! For those of you who know me, I am a poor little petite lady. I find it almost impossible to manipulate a shopping cart loaded with about 2 weeks’ worth of groceries against the slant of the land. It is an uphill task (pun intended) all the way! I step out of the mall and hang on for dear life to my cart, lest it rolls away and bangs into a car or worse on some unsuspecting soul. Recently I was pushing and prodding my way to the taxi stand without much success. A kindly Good Samaritan offered to help and helped me till the taxi. But while I was loading the stuff into the trunk of the taxi, the taxi driver blew his horn and turning, to my horror, I saw my cart rolling down the pavement. Dropped the bags in my hand and grabbed my cart. Thank goodness I was not holding onto the eggs basket! Sheesh!

Dilemma No.3: My nephew plays a game in Kindergarten called Wood, Paper, Scissors. Well I ask you- Wood, Plastic, Glass?? I am talking about chopping boards. Sometime back I was advised to use wooden chopping boards instead of plastic. But on a recent visit to a friend’s place, I saw him using a plastic one. He is in the catering industry and so what with him being the man in the business and all that, I posed this question to him. Isn’t a wooden chopping board better to use than a plastic one? Because if you notice on your plastic chopping boards (if you use one), there would be many grooves and cuts formed while chopping whatever it is that you chop. Which probably means that you add a few particles of the plastic too alongwith your chopped stuff, right?
Well turns out that all major hotels use plastic chopping boards-and what’s more they even have them colour coded-Green knives and green plastic boards for veggies, red ones for meat, blue ones for seafood, yellow ones for ready-to-eat things like cut-up fruits and so on. It seems that since wood has pores in its surface, juices/water from whatever we are chopping may seep in and the dampness would serve as an ideal ground for bacteria and germs to breed.
I am guessing that glass might be a good option-but then if you are endowed with butter-fingers like me, chances are you would break the glass AND prick yourself with the glass pieces too! Not safe! So finally I just decided to settle on wood anyway. I figured that with the high temperatures involved in the Indian style of cooking that I mostly do, all bacteria should be effectively destroyed. Better than eating plastic I presume.

Dilemma No.2: Can somebody please, please, please teach me how to use the can opener?!?!?! I have been trying to figure this out for the past couple of years all to no avail! (Shut up! I am NOT dumb!) Wahhhh!! Back in my childhood, we never had any can openers at home. I remember my mom holding a sharp knife vertically on the rim of the can, hitting it with a hammer and going around the whole circumference of the top of the can. If you lose your patience mid-way and try to pry the half-open lid-stop right there and don’t waste your energy. That approach hardly ever succeeds-you will probably end up with a bent lid, half the contents stuck within the can, not to mention scraping your finger on the serrated edges of the can. Trust me I have given blood all for a few yummy drops of Milkmaid. You got to go the whole damn way! Or they could just stop producing cans which need can openers and instead just manufacture the ones which can be opened by pulling at the hook on the top-like Coke or Beer cans…Sigh!

P.S: Hey BG, if you are reading this I remember that you had written something about this on your blog a long time back... But I couldn't find it now....

Dilemma No.1: This exalted position goes to the ubiquitous question “What to cook for the next meal?” There are innumerable cuisines around the world and a zillion dishes to make. I agree. I could cook that dish that I was thinking of trying out for some time now. Only I checked my pantry (or the fridge) and the one important ingredient for this particular dish is out of stock. Well okay…then let me cook this other dish-oh wait! Somebody (or the other) doesn’t eat this vegetable/meat. Fine then what about this one? Oh no! Not that! I just made that a few days back! Apart from all that, it should also be nutritious and healthy and tasty all at the same time, not too oily or cheesy, not too much of sodium, not too sweet, not too bland, should not require too much effort or money, should not be boring and repetitive, should be different but not too adventurous, should not contribute to the ever-increasing waistlines and love handles, should appeal to the eyes and nose as well etc etc etc!

Okay I hear you say, "Well these are common to both the working and the stay-at-home women!" But then the working woman can always say "Well I am too busy to worry about such trivialities! I have to think about stopping the sky from falling down and the earth from caving in!"
On the other hand, what lame excuses could we domestic divas give?!?

So there you go! Now don’t you agree that the life of a domestic diva is as bad as braving rush hour traffic, handling pesky customers, uncaring co-workers, irritating bosses, ever-shortening deadlines, impossible targets and uninspiring projects!?! All I can say is ….. You’d better ;-)

Image Courtesy: http://www.dreamstime.com/

Classified Info ;-)

Haaa Sundays! Sundays were always lazy days for me back home. Everyone used to get out of bed a little later than usual and are relaxed without the hustle and bustle of the weekdays. Since both my parents were working, the weekdays usually go in a blur and even Saturdays are busy days with some chores to do and errands to run.

So come Sunday, the house seemed lively with people, noises of Sunday programs like Aratai Arangam, Top 10 Movies, Swaptha Swarangal drifted in from the neighbours’ TVs , the vegetable vendors and fish vendors would come calling at the gate with their loud, hoarse voices and by noon the pressure cooker whistles, signaling that amma has made some tasty dishes for lunch and the whole house was filled with a mouth-watering aroma. I used to hover around the kitchen, waiting for amma to offer me a bite of this or that on the pretext of checking the salt ;-) Afternoons were filled by a siesta and evenings were spent at Church. Once night fell, there would be groans of “Oh tomorrow schooooll!” or “Office tomorrow!”

But after moving here, the whole spirit and tradition of Sundays has been sadly lost-because Sunday is a working day here :-( Boohoo! Also since I have to do the cooking, it is not as satisfying as eating amma’s food… My parents are planning to visit us next month and I am eagerly waiting for them! Am sure we will have a great time! Yeah!

Anyway coming to the point, I didn’t mean to write this post as an ode to Sundays. Actually with the Sunday edition of The Hindu newspaper, come a load of supplements, one of which is the classifieds paper.(Yeah and you thought I was going to share some secret with you ;-)) And of particular interest to me was the Matrimonial section. I always used to read it on the sly lest my parents thought that I was searching for a groom for myself. Nay that was definitely not my intention. Rather I always found the matrimonial ads interesting. Some were weird, some were snobbish, some were silly and some were outright funny! One common thread that was present in almost every ‘Bride Wanted’ ad was “Wanted slim, fair girl”! So what about chubby, dark-skinned girls??! India and its fair-skin-favouritism! I suspect that I became biased myself after reading countless such ads-no, not towards fairness but away from it! In fact, after my grandma met my husband for the first time, her first comment to me was “Payan konjam colour kammi…”, meaning “The boy is a little on the darker side…” Okay….So?!?!? Didn’t you notice anything else worthwhile for God’s sake!?!? If only you had opened your eyes, you could have seen that he is also tall and slim and healthy and that he has a great set of teeth and a charming smile!

So yesterday, I was flipping through some magazine when I landed on… you guessed it! classifieds again. Reading the ads there I honestly did not know whether to laugh or cry. Here are a few gems. I am typing them exactly as printed, with my comments in italics:

Wanted Bride:

Hello Girls! Are you searching for honest, sincere and trustworthy smart guy? (Well who isn’t? BTW one of your strengths is definitely not written english!) I am loving, caring and highly romantic guy 32 years searching for good-looking, slim and sincere girl for long-lasting relationship. My hobbies are music, watching movies, dancing, long drives, going to sea beaches (Um..Really would like to know if these”sea” beaches are different from “ocean” beaches?!) and hill stations. Girls willing for committed relationship reply with their details and photograph at: urluversa***@********

Okay firstly the email id sucks big time! And do you also like to do the laundry, wash the dishes, take the girl for shopping, cook, lend a listening ear to all that the girl talks even if they might at times be frivolous?! Because all the activities that you have listed seems to be for a “fun” relationship not a “sincere and committed “one!

Handsome teetotaller businessman desires an extremely beautiful, fair, slim, honest, affectionate, passionate, committed, elite, sophisticated and fashionable female, not interested in issues. (Whew! This person is living in la-la land!)

Handsome, tall young boy travelling worldwide like Kerala and western culture (!), romantic, sincere, caring seeks pretty girls for lifelong relationship or acting on movie/modeling (What is this? Orae kallula rendu maanga?!? Make up your mind dude! )

And this one from Situations Vacant:

Lonely businessman seeks unencumbered, clever lady assistant. Who can also assist in business. (“ A clever, unencumbered lady assistant for a lonely man who can also assist in business?!” So exactly what job is this ad for?!?)

Having said this I know that there are also many sincere advertisements placed in the classifieds. It is upto us to sift and sieve and separate the riff raff from the genuine ones. I really wonder, did any of these jerks above get what they advertised for?!?

Image Courtesy:www.dreamstime.com