The 'Mumbai'an essence

The royal necklace 

Any video on Fb is bound to go viral and I recently came across the one titled 'Shit Mumbaikars say'. Filled with epic lingos as well some fake ones, it was quite an interesting watch.  Bomabayites are extreme loyalists and obviously am no exception to the rule. Most of my friends call me the pseudo Bong as I apparently don't fall into their perception of a 'conventional Bengali' as they put it. And my favourite comeback is, 'Thank God I grew up in Bombay as I dare not think of any other place as home!' It's the city which moulds you and shapes the distinct mindset.Majority of the junta generally associate Bombay with glamour and the finance boom but there's so much to the city beyond that. Three years away from it made me realize that the most trivial things makes one yearn for the warmth and coziness of home. On numerous occassions, I have thought about penning my thoughts about maximum city which I love to the max, but just didn't get to doing it.

Anyway, here are the things which I definitely miss out on in a completely random order..

1) Colaba causeway shopping sprees and classic bargaining
2) K rustom ice creams
3) Marine drive soul searching and ofcoure the people watching sessions
4) Queen's during the rains
5) the kiddies at Akanksha volunteering sessions
6) Walnut brownies at Theos
7) coffee sessions at Barista's
8) re-inventing random games with Crystal green gang- right from bakery bakery, corner corner and king kong..the list's endless ofcourse.
9) the 7 30 pm deadline when I called Ma in anticipation of a playtime extension and all the Aunties peered out of their balconies
10)Auntie's awesome Southie delicacies at the most unexpected as well as expected times :)
11) the cycling trips to the apparently haunted house during vacations and mapping the treasure hunt route
12) getting drenched in the first rains and the awesome khichuri-ilish mach bhaja accompanying it.
13) the Sunday multicourse fare
14) Monday sessions with Anks and Mashi- both of whom I miss loads..apparently first of the few Bong friend with whom I get along
15) Dabelis at every street corner
16) Mumbai locals and the awesome travel group which came as an accompaniment.
17) phone tag a.k.a missed call and gossip sessions
18) the fact that every shopkeeper addresses you as 'baby' as if it's an established fact!
19) Prithvi outings
20) Discarding my daily dose of Bournvita off the 6th floor balcony ( trust me this could be another write up in itself)
21) Potato shells and closed pizza of Open windows fame
22) the building toh right mei girega kinda GPS directions :P
23) dance rehearsals
24) Classes at Shahana's where I excelled in singing a song in another's tune
25) nallis!!
26) Candies
27) the priceless look on the men's faces when the ladies local arrives
28) Brush of the wind at door of the speeding train

Phew that's quite a brainstorming session..will add more as they come up! Till then adios :)

Miniscule spurts of creativity

Back back back after a windy detour!! "Life after quals is rosy"- as my friend put it. On a rather candid note, the stretchy prep time deprived me of this instant high :). But yes, am making no qualms about basking in the warmth of fleeting moments of glory.

I have an achievable checklist of stuff which I had vowed to delve into in the post-exam phase. And foremost of that is splashing colours on a crisp sheet of drawing paper. Sure enough, a trip to the craft store took care of that and I am reliving my painting days as I write this! 2B-4B pencils, charcoal strips, multitude of shades of primaries mingling into secondaries on the palette with sparkles serving as the icing - fun times indeed! 2 hours of frolicking with colors lead to a new artistic creation. I hope I can recreate my touch with the current landscape am attempting. Next on the list are blade painting and some funky glass paints for the candles!

Next in line is the Ladakh travelogue. Procrastination really got the better of me with this one. The memoirs of the blissfully rugged environs definitely deserve to be penned down. Stay tuned in for that :)

And last but not the least, is my sincere attempt is to bank upon my bong origins and learn some awesome desserts. With the reputation of not being too graceful in my culinary endeavours, this specific aim might need a couple of attempts to reach the desired level of significance! Sorry, but the grad student in me had to chip in ;)

Glad that my current priorities extend slightly beyond getting an experiment to work (limited margins though)!! :)