Silly Things That Make Me Happy

Since over a decade my birthday has become an event of sorts. It all started with a dear childhood friend who flew down to spend a few days and celebrate my birthday with me. My sisters and family would also be around. And on the actual day a few local friends would drop by and we’d end up being a group of highly inebriated people, eating, drinking, senseless talking, dancing, singing etc. 

One of the years we did multiple shots along with our regular drinks, which of course had us so high that after a point everything was hazy. Including the pictures that were taken. We named it the 'epic year' and since then we’ve been slightly more mature but not considerably. 

As time went by the group of people that would come down and spend near a week with me for my birthday grew, with friends and family flying in from across the country and in 2019, my niece from the US also joined us. It had now became an international affair. What used to be an unplanned week became much more, with my Man Friday and I making the menu and sourcing the ingredients for every meal ahead of time, meals being sponsored from restaurants we love, additional household help being hired, a WhatsApp group that would plan flights so multiple people would land in Bangalore around the same time, logistics, sleeping arrangements at my sisters place, since my 3 bedrooms were no longer enough etc. We joked about hiring a ‘Birthday Planner’ maybe the next year.

This however, is not the silly thing that makes me happy. This is a huge thing that makes me extremely joyous. It’s probably my favourite week of the year and I feel truly blessed for having all these people in my life. 

Sadly the next year was the year of the pandemic that continues to screw up our lives and our minds. Thanks to which the birthday event could not happen last year. Instead everyone was masked up or cooped up in their homes. A multi hour virtual call where a cake was cut and drinks were drunk was the best we could do. And while it wasn’t close to the experience of all of us being together, thank goodness for technology. My sister and nephew drove down from Chennai, my sister and family in Bangalore organised a little party and we made the best of what we had. 

On the morning of my birthday last year, I was sitting in my living room, answering the many calls and texts that I was getting when all of a sudden two sunbirds came into my balcony. 

I should probably talk about my balcony a little bit here. Unlike most balconies that have plants and flowers, my balcony has trees. I have two large frangipani trees and a lime tree with a mango tree thats grown to about 3 feet or so now. There are also smaller to mid-size plants all over, which makes the entire space very lush green. 

Unfortunately until that day, as far as I was aware, the only birds (pests) that would visit my balcony were pigeons, who we were always trying to get rid of. Occasionally there would be butterflies but never any other birds. And then on the morning of my birthday, these two sunbirds hopped from branch to branch, having conversations with each other (and I like to think) attempting to communicate with me. As sneakily as I could, I got up from the couch and brought my camera from the other room, worrying the entire time that I would scare them off. 

And while I couldn’t get the greatest shots since I had to observe them from a distance and with them constantly moving, they stayed on and kept playing. The mini forest in my balcony has been around for a few years now but I’d never had these visitors earlier. Were they trying to fill in for the folks that didn’t have the freedom to fly in that these beautiful creatures had? Were they the carrier of wishes from the group that couldn’t make it to our annual event? I like to romanticise things so thats what I believed and its what I continue to believe. 

It may sound silly but for me it was a big deal. Silly things make me happy and thats what matters eventually. There are always degrees of joy that we feel. While it may not have made me as happy as travel does, it certainly made me happier than material acquisitions. 

I don’t need the big home, the swanky automobile or an expensive phone. Just give me more of the silly joys that I can treasure, store in my memory and smile about forever! Meanwhile, I have my fingers crossed that we can at least have a portion of the group back in my home this year, bringing back a sense of normalcy and loads of laughter. 

Unsent Letters

 A couple of years ago I decided that I would publish a book of short stories and began writing them as and when I came up with an idea. Well, I haven't made too much progress and with all the uncertainty we've been going thru this past year, who knows what's in store tomorrow. And so I figured that I would begin sharing the stories on my blog instead. Here's the first one. I hope you enjoy it. 

Dear Vinay

I can’t remember the last time I actually wrote a letter using a pen and paper. There’s a perfectly good reason why I am handwriting this. Or at least it sort of makes sense to me. I don’t want to go back and change something or make corrections to what I’ve written, like I could on my laptop or phone. The first words that come to me are the words that I want you to read. Yes, I could trash the page and start again but this is beautiful hand-made paper that I’ve bought and it deserves more respect than being in the trash.

It’s been exactly one month and three days since the two of us decided to take a sabbatical from our respective jobs so we could think about our situation without being distracted by work emails and conference calls and deadlines and our self importance in organizations that would replace us in no time if we quit. 

It’s been almost a month since we’ve taken a sabbatical from each other. Every morning when I wake up, I think of you being somewhere in the hills and I can’t help feeling a teeny bit jealous. Not because I wish I was also in the hills - you know I’m too much of a city girl - but because I feel that the surrounding beauty may make you forget me. As for me, I’m back in our apartment where everything reminds me of you. Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? Of course, I could be elsewhere, just like you but after a couple of weeks of scampering around, I needed to be back in my comfort zone.

Six years of being together isn’t very long. Our parents have been together a lifetime without seeming unhappy or restless. Does ‘restless’ best describe how we’ve been feeling about being with each other in a committed relationship? Should we have become a habit by now and be satisfied with going through the motions of everyday life? Is it unrealistic to expect us to continue to be madly in love after all these years? I’m aware that the answer to the last question is that of course it is unrealistic and we should have transitioned seamlessly into the next phase of our relationship. 

I just wish we knew what that phase is supposed to be. 

Together we made a decision to not have kids, since we seem to be missing the parental instinct that most couples apparently have. It hasn’t been easy with all the questions and the probing, but we were prepared for all of that. ‘Our lives our choice’, right? We’ve always been very sure about the two of us being enough for each other. So then what happened all of a sudden? Why this strange restlessness?

I was talking to Aarti about us yesterday. You know I tell Aarti everything, so yeah I told her about our current situation also. Don’t worry though - everyone else thinks that you’re off to write a book and I’m just taking some time off from work. Aarti on the other hand gets regular updates about what I’m feeling. She said to me that she has never been more sure about any couple as she is about us. And that you and I were meant to spend our lives together. While I usually don’t take such comments seriously, it made me wonder a little about the day that we first met. 

It was on the day of Aarti’s 25th birthday. After being the one who had planned the party, I found out the day before that I had to travel to Mumbai the very same night as her birthday for an early meeting the next morning. Makes me smile now but I was so mad!! So I booked myself on the absolute last flight and found myself sitting next to this charming young man who I ended up marrying. Just like in the movies!

The meeting got scheduled at the last minute. Never one to take a red-eye, I made an exception on that day. I reached the airport at the last minute, didn’t do a web check-in and ended up getting seated next to the cutest guy on the flight. Who I may remind you, had missed his original flight thanks to traffic! Coincidence or meant to be?

Last week I was watching a show on Netflix in which a couple with two young children, were discussing their marriage and how the spark had gone out of it. The woman asked her husband how invested he was in their marriage, which really made me laugh. How does one even answer that question? It’s not a retirement fund that you can decide on a percentage of your investment. The husband, in typical film jargon (or is this how people are talking now?) said that he was processing what she had asked and would let her know the answer when it came to him. I honestly could not stop rolling my eyes.

Vinay, I don’t know when you’re coming back home and if this will still be home for you when you return. I’m trying really hard not to overthink but this mind doesn’t take a break. I try to think of each day of those 6 years that we’ve spent together and the ones that come to my mind are some exceptionally good days and some not so great ones. The ‘not so great’ ones seem silly and immature and I honestly only have a fuzzy recollection of them. The good ones on the other hand, I remember clear as day. 

There have been times, I admit, when I wished that I was still carefree and single. And knowing you as well as I do, I’m sure that you have the same thoughts. We’ve always known that we aren’t like conventional couples and we like being who we are. They say that opposites attract but it’s our sameness, our way of thinking, what we both expect from life (to continue to evolve and be happy) that makes us such perfect partners. I honestly don’t think that the restlessness is in our marriage. It’s in everything else around us. 

Without a doubt, it’s time for some changes. Those changes though are not in how we are with each other. We’ve got into a rut that we have to get out of. How did our careers and earning money get in the way of what we really want in life? We both want more, even if it means that we have less. I have no doubt in my mind that you feel the same way. 

Our time apart has made one thing completely clear to me. I definitely don’t want to wake up next to anyone besides you. I miss having you around. I miss your presence. I miss our conversations about everything and nothing. I miss our silences together. I miss going to the movies with you. I miss not agreeing on which movie to watch. I bought a chocolate covered ice-cream bar and missed sharing it with you. I could go on and on. I just miss you and I want you back. Our marriage isn’t broken or breaking. We just have to figure out what the next phase is. 

I will accept whatever decision you come back with. Or I will fight for you to be mine forever, though I hope that it won’t be necessary. Please come back home.

With all my love

M

*** 

With a smile on her face, Maya watched Vinay sleeping without a care in the world. She folded up the letter and put it back into its unaddressed hand-made paper envelope. 

I Need To Make a New Friend

I’ve been watching a show on Amazon Prime called ‘3 Caminos’ about 5 strangers who become friends while walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. What used to be a pilgrimage of 800 kms in ancient times to the tomb of St. James, today attracts people from across the world to walk either in its entirety or to cover a portion of it. 

A few years ago when I was planning my trip to Spain, this was something I really wanted to do for a week, which would of course only be about 1/5th of the actual walk. As exciting as it seemed, I didn’t end up doing it because I was nervous about being in a new country and walking the distance by myself.

The past year has been difficult for most of us in so many ways. While I really have nothing to complain about having work that I love, family and friends around me and all the comforts that I could want, I go through days feeling incredibly restless for adventure, for seeing places and for meeting new people. 

I put the show on pause so I could write the following lines and share them with you in poetry form. A form that I’ve rarely written in. 

An overwhelming feeling went thru my heart

For something new, for an interesting start

To create a story and make a new friend

The beginning of something and memories to tend

An adventure for me to come across and explore

In a place I’ve never gone, never been to before

I want to make a new friend

Who laughs easily or even drops a tear

Unafraid to follow his heart

Goes thru life without a fear

I want to make a new friend

In a bar that I happen to find

Exchanging stories over a beer

Filled with wealth of a different kind

In a place that I don’t live in

In a place I only have in my mind

I want to make a new friend

Sing songs at a karaoke

Or silently listen to the sounds of the sea

I want to make a new friend

With someone who is most unlike me

Leading a life that I’ve never known

In a place that I don’t live in

In a place I’d like to be shown

This isn’t the life I choose to know

The smile behind the mask

We’re afraid to show

You may be happy within your home

With people you love

And people you’ve known

But I need to make a new friend

A friend I’ve never met before

In a place that I don’t live in

In a place that I so wish to go

Accepting 2020

Dec 31st, 2020

It’s finally December 31st, 2020. A year that has created a lot of havoc in our lives. The kind of havoc that has consumed us every single day and quite obviously something that I don’t need to get into. A year that all of humanity has wanted to end so desperately, as if it was the year that has caused this turmoil and not us humans. 

Several months ago when the virus made an appearance and we were under ‘lockdown’ (definitely a word that has never been used as much in all my living years collectively as it has in 2020), social media began getting filled with very creative videos and posts where people in the future talked about how, after the pandemic, humans became a kinder, more loving and caring breed, how they realised what their real priorities in life were etc. None of that has happened of course - we are still greedy for money, power/fame hungry and as racist and sexist as ever. Sorry to disappoint you, future humans!

As most of you are aware, travel is what I live for and 2020 has obviously been the year of least travel. I did manage to sneak in a couple of small trips to places that were within driving distance, even made it to the beach for a few hours. However, I don’t consider any of it real travel and accepted that I wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Acceptance is important as it calms you down considerably. I stopped fantasising about my future trips, as while we need something to look forward to, it also makes us frustrated, anxious and impatient about them not turning into reality as the days go by. 

If I could pick one learning from this year, it would have to be ‘acceptance’. This pandemic has proved to us that we can make all the plans we want but there is only so much that is within our control. 2020 showed us that a much larger plan was in the works that eventually affected all of us, leaving us with no option but to accept. It was up to us to whine and bitch and complain all through the acceptance. Or make peace and go along with it. 

Yesterday I was speaking to a dear friend who is a lot more social than I am (yes it’s possible) and wants his old life back of hanging out with his hundreds of close friends! On the other hand, I feel like I’ve got into this groove where I meet my friends and family a lot less than I used to, but still enough to feel energised and satisfied. And while I’m not a lover of routine, I feel fortunate to be someone with enough interests that make each day different from the previous one, even if it is in a small way. A lot of this has happened because I accepted the situation and focussed on today without thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. We’ve heard about the present being our present enough times. It’s only lately that I’ve truly begun experiencing it and realising that living in the present can actually be pretty damn cool, even within the confines of our current limitations. 

Yes this year has been extremely harsh with death, disease, job losses and many more struggles. So for those of us that have made it this far, we really do have much to be thankful for and to keep ourselves going. If we think about it, each one of us can come up with a list of blessings that were favoured upon us. As the calendar year changes, let the previous year be a reminder of the many lessons that we’ve learned and how they will help us become stronger and hopefully better people in the future. Let us not forget, even for a moment, how fortunate each one of us is in so many ways.

So as I sign out, wishing every one of you health and peace in all the coming years, I’ll end with a little quote that I made up about how it’s eventually up to us to make our lives better.

Let the Past make you smile 

Let the Future keep you excited 

And most importantly

Let the Present make you shine

Each one of us can do our bit to make the world, our world a better place. Happy 2021 and much love!

I'll Have Another Adventure (To Go) Please

Who would have thought that a time would come when almost everybody across the globe would pretty much be living the same life, masked in some kind of viral terror, wanting for human contact and appreciative but tired of having to depend upon technology to get through the day. Welcome to life in the times of covid-19.

In India, as we enter into the fourth month of this new way of life, I am wondering how I will get through the next who-knows-how-many-more-months before life returns to the way I have seemingly recklessly lived it. Yes recklessly hugging my family and friends, sharing food out of the same plate, crammed into a car, shaking hands with people I’ve never met before, travelling without a care - is life as we knew it only in the past now?

When the lockdown began, I really didn’t give it much thought. I was grateful that unlike 4 years ago when I was recovering from an accident that had me laid up in bed, I was able to move around and take care of myself. I began cooking new and fun dishes, the camera came out of its bag after a couple of years and within the limitations of my confine I took so many photographs, I wrote short pieces and sent them out to my contacts on the phone, I began my vocal lessons using YouTube - the days were flying by. Until the enthusiasm died and I didn’t care about what I ate, ran out of subjects to photograph, couldn’t think of anything to write and stopped singing. I desperately needed to go on a trip but while I had begun stepping out of my home and meeting a person or two here and there, spending an hour or so at the mostly empty cafe, I was aware that I wasn’t going anywhere further. 

Each time I start to feel low, I begin thinking about how my life has been so full of adventure. Sometimes I feel like I have lived so many different lives in just this one, with the best memories of growing up in Calcutta, building my career amongst the most wonderful people I came across in Chicago, my return to the motherland in a whole new city, Bangalore, the love affair with New York City, living up on a high rise in Hong Kong followed by a higher rise in the mountainous state of Himachal. 

With the close shaves I’ve had with death, I’ve never believed in having a ‘bucket list’ - if there was a place I wanted to visit, there was no waiting to do it. I’ve never planned too far ahead - a few months at the most and in the past 3 years - it probably has been no more than 2 months. Having chosen to retire at a younger age and being single, I had the freedom to do things without having to wait, uncaring about how many vacation days I had left and because I rarely travelled lavishly, without having to worry about whether I could afford it.

Every travel adventure I have had has the people I met associated with it. Like there was this time in Granada, Spain when I was walking around with a map, no data on my phone, completely lost. A young girl travelling from the US, equally lost, also not speaking a word of Spanish, ended up spending the afternoon with me, having lunch at a charming Turkish restaurant and finding our way back to our respective Airbnb’s. Or the artist that was selling his paintings at San Marco Square in Venice, who, after exchanging many laughs together, took me to his favourite pizzeria for dinner. Or the quirky camel rider in Jaisalmer, who invited me to his home in the middle of the desert to meet his family and who I am still in touch with on a regular basis. 

How can I not be thankful for the adventure of starting a cafe from scratch, the freedom to run it the way I want, without the financial worry? For being a part of the short film that I had a hand in. Sometimes I feel like I’m the luckiest person with life having given all kinds of opportunities to do the things that I used to always fantasise about.

These stories and so many, many more have given me the most heartwarming memories that can actually help me get through the rest of my days. There is absolutely nothing I would change about my past, including the accidents, a life threatening illness, being almost pushed out of a running train and being a hostage in a bank robbery, as every one of those experiences has changed my life in positive ways. 

Thanks to my semi-vagabond lifestyle that has had me believe that my home is where I am at the present time, I feel all the more restless and imprisoned. Making it even more important to keep the memories of all these adventures alive and hoping that things will get back to the way they were. Where I can once again eat a meal with a stranger sitting just two feet away, where I can breathe without a mask on, where I can leave the house without worrying about getting sick. 

I hope that each and every one of you, who is most likely leading a life very similar to mine, is able to stay happy, to drive away any anxiety that you may be experiencing from time to time, to appreciate all that you have now, the life you’ve lived so far and to believe that you and the rest of us will come out of this stronger and a better version of ourselves. 

Who knows what life has in store but I am certainly ready for a new adventure. An adventure that is a lot less restricting than this current one.

The Dying Art of Eating without Guilt

Quite honestly, I’m super tired of conversations revolving around what people are not eating. 

“17 days of no sugar” (as I’m on my second chocolate tart)

“I’ve given up gluten” (where's my toasted sour dough bread with loads of butter?)

“It’s my 1 year anniversary of turning vegan” (are we celebrating that now?)

“No carbs for me please” (no rice? what do I eat my curry with then?)

Imagine going for a meal with one of these people (I hope my vegetarian-turned-vegan-off-gluten friends aren’t reading this). I’ve learned the hard way to not get annoyed though, by pretending that I’m at the table by myself. In fact I’ve now made it a fun activity by ordering all the ‘wrong’ things when I’m with the people eating ‘right’. 

I have to say that, having grown up with parents with healthy habits (more dad than mom), such as eating early, consuming balanced, mostly vegetarian meals, lectures at the table when we kids would refuse to eat something that didn’t taste good but was good for us … you get the gist, I’ve been brainwashed into eating right most of the time. 

‘Most of the time’ is the key phrase here. There was the usual cheating with deep fried foods, desserts (Bengali sweets are healthy is what we believed) etc. Eating out was never healthy - you ate what you desired without a second thought. Ice-cream sundaes and Flury’s cakes were not frowned upon. Binge eating happened at the big festivals and birthdays. My parents lived fairly healthy and long lives until almost the end. 

The other day this girl, who’s a regular at the cafe and who is always careful about what she eats, said to me.

“I’ve been fantasising about your carrot pineapple cake for weeks now,” she said.

“So what’s stopping you from eating it?” I asked.

It was the calories, the sugar, the cream cheese frosting that looked so decadent.

I thought about it for a second, wanting to somehow convince her to eat it. 

“Well,” I started off saying. “I’m not going to push you to order it but if you do decide to, it’s very important that you eat it with a 100% pleasure and 0% guilt. Otherwise it just won’t taste good.”

She laughed and asked if I would sit with her while she ate it. It may sound like a strange request but I totally got it. Pretending however, to not have got it, I looked at her questioningly. 

“If you sit with me, it’ll be a constant reminder of what you just said about eating without guilt,” she said to me. 

“How about I join you with a slice of my own?” I asked, suddenly wanting cake.

Her eyes lit up. “That would be awesome!”

A second later she added, “I’m paying for your slice too.”

I laughed and asked her why she would do that.

“You’re eating that cake to help me enjoy my slice more. It’s only fair that it should be my treat. I absolutely insist.”

So we ordered an extremely generous slice of cake each and savoured each bite together.

“I’ll never forget this cake,” she said as she licked her spoon. “It’s been a while since I ate dessert without guilt.”

“Tastes a lot better, doesn’t it?” It was a rhetorical question of course. The pleasure on her face was telling me all. 

While writing this, I got really hungry and decided to treat myself to a bacon and cheese frittata. 

Yeah I know it’ll kill me. Just like living will. 

2018 - The Year that Was

Each time we enter into a new calendar year, we tend to reflect upon the one that just went by. Or at least I do. And my verdict for 2018 is that personally, it was a pretty good year for me. I ended the past year with my friends in Kolkata, with laughter, food and travel and began this year with a minor surgery, left over from the accident I had a couple of years ago and something I had been putting off for a while. 

Bringing in the new year with friends

This information was shared with you, not to get sympathy or attention (honestly!) but to talk a little about how working on my mind the past 2 years has helped me to treat the entire hospital episode as just another day (or two) in my life. Of course, the fact that it was a minor surgical procedure helped but it’s never fun to be in an institution where everyone is broken or ill. Or being under the knife. Thankfully I stayed calm through the two days earlier this week, slept like a baby (without aid) and enjoyed the surprisingly good hospital food!

Now going back to last year - it really was a landmark year of sorts for me as I officially got into the ‘feeding’ industry. When I met Ranjeet almost exactly a year ago at the Kolkata airport, I honestly did not think that I would be running a brand new cafe, with so much of ‘me’ in it. While I’ve always enjoyed cooking, feeding and taking culinary lessons, it was always treated as a hobby. In 2018 it became more than that.

Close to my heart - Terra Bites

Cooking for family and friends, and cooking for strangers who are paying for their meals, is like night and day. The former will always appreciate whatever you lay out in front of them, many people from the latter group will try and find fault with everything. Believe me when I tell you that it’s really hard to be judged constantly. 

Thankfully and knock on wood, the response by and large has been fantastic. There will always be some I won’t please, regardless of what I do but as long as I’m seeing happy faces leave the cafe, many of who are returning often, I am nothing short of thrilled. That’s all I’m going to say about it right now because although I’m working on eliminating fear from my mind, I am still afraid to jinx it!! 

Besides the cafe, the year also had me being involved in a story I had written that a friend of mine, Aditya, wanted to turn into a short film. Writing the screenplay together and then being a part of the shoot was an experience that has made me understand films from a completely different perspective. Hopefully the movie will be released for all of you to watch sometime in the early part of this year. 

Coming soon - Fingers crossed!

Although I travelled a fair amount, it took a little bit of a backseat due to these other activities. After three years I went back to my favourite place, Ladakh, and got close to the mountains that I so dearly love. A trip to Varkala during the devastating floods in Kerala, made me realise once again how vulnerable we are to losing our lives. 

Ah Ladakh! How I had missed you

And I have to thank this vulnerability, that I experienced all through 2016, for helping me turn my life around. To do the things I kept putting off, where I can proudly say that I’ve mostly overcome this disease called procrastination. Where into my middle ages I feel like I’m starting life once again, being thankful for every opportunity to learn, grow and enjoy from what life throws my way. My goal for this year is to forget the meaning of fear. 

Once upon a time, when I was a young boy, my dad had my palm read by an ‘expert’. While I have no recollection of what he predicted from those lines, the one thing that (strangely) stayed with me was that I would become famous in the food industry. I’ve always wondered why this piece of information made such an impact, even at that age, that I never forgot about it. And although I have no interest in fame, I think I would like to feed more people and have them appreciate and enjoy what comes out of a kitchen that I may run. 

None of us know what’s in store for us this year, this month, tomorrow or even the next moment. I’ve given up making plans for the future and have never believed in having a bucket list. The future is now and the bucket is going to get kicked in any case. Make the most of the present and have a rocking 2019!