Simple Things

The weather in Delhi the best at this time and so I am barely at home. Good weather brings out the best of me. Don't have much to write. I am busy enjoying simple things like long walks, looking at people, working out and eating good food. 

I hope you guys are having a great time. And yes, do read my interview on CouponsJi here. 

Letter to Your 25 Year Self

Now this post is almost embarrassing because all my life I have lived with a pressure of doing everything right, the kind of pressure that is lovingly bestowed upon most eldest kids in this world. Anyway, letters to 20 or 25 or 28 year selves are one of those rare digital things that are trending and important at the same time. So, here I come, with a list of my own.

You shouldn't have burned yourself out. I am not saying it was all work and no play. But you could have found little ways to take it easy every one in a while and do something just for fun.

You shouldn't have tried to make everyone happy. It's exhausting and a recipe for disaster. While being accepted certainly feels good, but you should have done what felt right. If you managed to piss off some of the people you care, you should have remembered that they would come around eventually.

You should have eaten more Chinese food. They made you happy. Your obsession with waistline management is fine but you certainly missed out on enjoying a number of meals. So eat when you can. Your cheat meals should be planned weekly now.

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Would You Keto?

Like many other girls out there, the two words that I have googled the most in my life are weight and loss. And I have had my fair share of related disappointment and self-loathing.

Let me rant for another paragraph, I promise I will stop after that. So you see, I have never really stopped working out and for the last two years, I have upped my game as well - started working out twice a day. I lose weight at a snail's pace. 

And all this brings me to the other part of weight loss - diet. These days, almost everyone is taking about Ketogenic Diet, a diet porogramme based on fat. If you follow the diet, you need to get 75% of your calories from fat, 20% from protein and 5% from carbohydrates.

Even though the whole world is going gaga about it, I am a chicken shit to try it. 75% fat??? Are you kidding me? What if it works in reverse? I know dietitians would give an explanation for why that just won't happen. But I don't have the courage.

What about you?  Would you try the Keto diet?

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Nothing At All

Just realised that I haven't updated the blog in a while. Like a few times before, I have nothing to say. At all. Hope you are having a good weekend. Please follow me on GFC and Facebook and Instagram if you like reading the blog.

Black & White

I have a huge stack of white clothes. I live in a dusty city and have a flair for sweating at the most inappropriate occasions. I also happen to be a real clumsy person who falls so often, it can put a nine year old to shame. Yet, I buy whites like they will be gone next month from all the shop-shelves in the world.

They say a person who likes white, is humble and has a pure heart. Also, white can make anyone happy - not like yellow, but white has its moments - and gives out an impression that everything is fine. I have a friend who likes white hotel bedsheets. "They calm me and tell me that its a well deserved vacation, enjoy it," she says.

I have always wondered how it must be when a person who likes white, falls for someone who likes black. Do they compliment each other like the two colours? Or is the simplicity always at war with the mystery? Does white know when to make the black happy? Does the latter know when to come out of its shell and talk its heart out?

Are you a black or a white person? 

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P.S. Yes, my sister and I were trying to do the same pose :)

Floral Prints

When printed and embroidered jeans made their way into people's wardrobes during the 90's, many of us thought the trend was outright distasteful. I even argued that people never bought them. They wore them because someone gifted them a pair.

And this time when embellished denims made a comeback, they looked different. Like that mousy girl (you can't even remember) from school who is now a successful model. Is it really her, you ask.

It is interesting to see how we look at the same things differently after a period of time. When it comes to fashion, the ever changing outlook towards certain fashion trends is always at play before the launch of an SS and AW.

Is there a fashion trend you didn't care for earlier and are now considering?

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Call It A Summer Jacket

I always wanted to be a sweat-free child. For me, sweating was always for bad people who had done some terrible things in their lives and were forever paying back in salt water. I still hate it. For me, even the well-deserved, post-workout perspiration is just a punishment for pissing off the Sleep Gods.

The only thing that is worse than sweating is sweating plus oily skin. Now don't go anywhere, just don't picture it and be with me here. I am just looking for digital shoulders to cry on I guess. When I have to meet people on a hot day, deodorants and face-powders consume all the space in my chic but good-for-nothing satchels. 

What I hate the most about all this is that I cannot layer - like so many fashionable people on this planet - and I cannot wear those good looking white keds with summer dresses. So when it was a little less hot on a weekend, the first thing I did was to run my scissors through a newly bought kurta and wear it over a white top, even call it a summer jacket.

How do you, good readers, manage to layer up during summers?  

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Dear Bangs

Dear bangs, you make me look happy. 

When I have you, I look in the mirror and I know that I have got a hairstyle that is far from boring. Suddenly, even a white t shirt and jeans look like a complete outfit. And after a week or two,  when you finally settle down,  with each and every strand of hair knowing exactly the side they need to lie on, I am the one that looks the most rested. 

Everything is good and rosy and French chic till I decide to grow you out. The same strands of hair, they hurt when I try to put them right where they belonged all their lives. And this is followed by the torture of countless hair clips that I use everyday to tame you, begging you to grow fast. 

Then I see good hairstyle ideas everywhere, on Google, fashion blogs, movies, neighbours, everywhere. But I need to wait because it ain't the time yet. 

Dear bangs, you are like a handsome man I fell in love with. Some day I will grow out of you. Till then, I will write my way into sleep.

The pictures were taken in Bombay. Shilpi and I had some time to kill. Please follow me on GFC and Facebook and Instagram if you like reading the blog.

Write A Song For Me

Stand till I fade away
Don't go home
Not yet
Let the absence sink in. 

Use black ink today
Give me just a few words
Soft, warm, sublime
Write a song for me on your way. 

Save the red velvet memories
Don't sleep tonight
For one more time, buy flowers in the morning.
Keep them near the window
Let them bloom to your song.

When It's All Blurry

How did your travel memories look like, a few years before you started judging every frame on its Instagram-worthiness? It looked weird, red-eyed, blurry, badly contrasted and even badly-timed.

But mostly, the memories were nothing less than perfect. 

Being a blogger, I may have the least rights to talk like this. But one can always draw a line somewhere. Ten pictures followed by staring at the real sunset for an hour. Achievable, right?

Easier said than done. For just 2 or 3 pictures for a blogpost, it may take hours. The struggle is real. One has to keep working on the pictures. And what happens if we refuse to work on pictures and call it a day? We try to edit the pictures, which is exactly what I have done here:). Hope you have a great weekend ahead.  

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To Smile Or Not

So I read that if one smiles during a state of unhappiness, it uplifts the mood. Realising that I have been doing the same for a while - long before I read the article - I try to figure out if it really works.

Maybe it does work for some people. A smile, no matter how dimmed or feeble, does impact how people react around you. And maybe, sooner or later you start believing what's around (a state of normalcy) has seeped into what's inside. 

I hate pretending to be happy. More often than not, I feel I am doing it for others. So much effort to please others??? Maybe, at times. At other times, I smile for no reason at all. Whatever it is, it somehow doesn't feel right. 

And no, I am not Victoria Beckham. The way she doesn't smile, I do find it unsettling. But smiling even when one is surrounded by idiots or during any other loathsome situation, it creeps me a little. Maybe, time and age will teach me how to smile and be content, no matter what. Till then, I would just break a vase in my head and listen to Pink.

What do you think? Does smiling during adverse circumstances work for you? 

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No Shopping

I haven't shopped for a while now, and it feels good actually. I know it is just a phase and soon I will be in a shopping mall, screening every big and small store with absolute perfection. Till then, I am enjoying this non chaotic, decluttered time. Not much to say. Hope you guys are doing great.

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Stylish Librarian

Sometimes small things catch our attention - a note in a pre-loved book, a hint of sitar in an English song or the smell of fresh coffee when you pass a cafe. 

One of the best small things that I have noticed is the reflection of trees and plants on a house at night. It's like living in a different world, with soft lights playing hide and seek with your heart. Yes, that magical.  

Some of us manage to notice these things more than others. I guess some of us are crazier than the others. Or maybe we are simply blessed. When I saw Kiran, it was her anklet that caught my attention. She is a librarian, a stylish one.

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Off-the-shoulder

While the off-the-shoulder trend has been around for a while now, I have managed to keep a safe distance from it so far. Why? Well, first of all, it was everywhere. From 12 year old Instagrammers to kitty party goers. It was too everywhere to be not noticed. 

Secondly, whenever I thought of  baring a little bit of my shoulders, I would see weird scratch marks. Now I don't own a cat, nor do I have long nails. And I sleep all alone. So spooky as it sounds, the scratched shoulders acted as a major deterrent.

But beaches are something else. And this dress was yellow, the happiest colour on this planet. So I took it out, finally.

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Goa In Snapshots

In my previous post, I talked of backgrounds and how they add a lot to the drama of a fashion picture or any picture for that matter. Well, speaking of backgrounds, can it get any better than beaches? And speaking of beaches in India, Goa is usually the first word that comes to our minds.

Going forward, I would try to capture some images of the backgrounds as well. You guys have a great weekend.

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