The year that was

This year was a mixed bag for me. I went from having a stable routine - morning rush to work, metro, office, back to my place - to an uncertain everything. I stayed at six places in total with no fixed income. My physical health got worse, and my mental health, well, let's not even go there.

But what I truly want to rant about in this blog post is the trips of this year that simply sucked. I was lost when I was in Bir; the place looked uninspiring in June. Dharmshala was even worse - all brown and dry. And then there was Varkala in December - beautiful but so, so hot.

Now that I am done with my first-world cribbing, I am uploading these beautiful pictures from last year's Goa trip with a promise to bring more such pictures next year. 

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New Things

In this blog, I want to share about small, almost dull things. Things that I have discovered only recently, and can't believe why I did not know about them before. Full disclaimer: I get excited about small things. So, here we go.   

I don't know why I never used deodorant roll-ons before. They are compact, have less chemicals (especially if you choose the right brands), and make you feel really good. Also, I frowned and squinted every time I used spray deodorants. I think it was the act of spraying that gave me mild anxiety. And with roll-ons, I am calm. No surprise element. a couple of predictable smears. That's all.

I have rediscovered the purpose of the good old clocks! Like several others of my generation, I am fighting phone addiction. And I realised that every time I wanted to know what time it was, I would pick up the phone. Once I saw the time, I moved on to the other apps and before I realised it, I was doomscrolling. So, clocks give me one less reason to pick up the phone.

For all the clumsy people out there, get some bowls. I got two IKEA bowls, and I am spilling a lot less. And if you judge me for not doing something basic, like buying bowls for the longest, join the party.

I had my first Berliner! Why on earth did I not know about this perfectly (less) sweetened, cream-filled, dusted with sugar dessert before? They are like doughnuts, but better. Much better.

Uploading an image of mine in the end for no reason. Thinking about Berliners. And manifesting a trip to Germany to get my hands on the real deal.

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Not a doughnut

Nine-step skincare regime, am-pm beauty routine, glass skin, blurry skin, edible (wtf!) skin. Trending skin goals and skincare routines to achieve these goals have overwhelmed me for a while now. And I, like several others, have been conditioned to want flawless, radiant skin. A part of me believes that everything will look good on me as long as I have great skin. 

I am well aware that the billion-dollar beauty industry just wants to shove things past my skin barrier and that my skin can only absorb so much. I also know that half of the beauty products that are out there can irritate my skin. And most importantly, I know that it is nothing but patriarchy that wants me to stay busy fighting my acne scars, brightening my under eyes, minimising my pores, tattooing my lips and whatnot. Someone benefits when I am insecure, when I buy bottles, tubes, and sprays of promises. And despite knowing all this, I wake up every day to check if my skin looks okay. It's just a 2-minutes check, but I don't need a reminder to do it. 

While I am not planning to not check my skin tomorrow morning onwards, I do intend not to fall into the trap of buying too much skincare. That is the least I can do. Three products - face wash, sunscreen and a night cream. I draw the line there. And when I apply my night cream tonight, I will try not to look at it like it's some magic potion that will make me look like a doughnut the next morning. I am quite convinced that I am a human and not a dessert.

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It's Always About the Sea

Late realisations are usually painful. This morning, when I woke up from my 5700th dream of the sea, I knew what was missing from life - the crying of seagulls, the sound of waves,  the smell of the ocean. And since I can't go to the beach anytime soon, I decided to use the last lot of images from my trip to heaven and publish a blogpost.

That's all for now. Will try to write a proper blog post next month. Whoever still reads blogs and is going through this one, may you have a great trip to somehere you have always wanted to go. Soon. 

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My Days at Sibang

No matter how hard I try, I don't think I can express what I feel about this café. Café - a place where people sit down to have a cup of coffee, read a book maybe, work remotely, hang out with friends, or go on a date. While I may have done all of the above at Sibang Bakery, for me, the place is far more than the sum of its parts. It was a place I went to just be, I guess. Every Sunday morning. Sometimes Saturday mornings. For nine years.

I may go to hundreds of cafes in the years to come. Not sure if I will  feel this way about about them though. Below are some pictures I am uploading to document my life when I could go there regularly before I decided to choose a more nomadic life. 

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Missing My Old Place

As I write this post, a sense of loss fills me. No matter how strong my resolve for writing a happy blogpost is, I find it hard to be all bright and chirpy. Anyway, so the update is that I just left my old place and I feel lost. In this post, I am sharing a few images that I took while I lived here.

The food I cooked there

Nothing special about them, I guess. But I would miss cooking in that house.

This wall

With this wall, I took the time and effort to create something meaningful. Never really got sick of it. 

This reading corner

I don't remember how many books I read here. But I will always remember the feeling.

My view at night

Beautiful.

A selfie

Just to document waking up in that house.

The way to the house

This may look like the odd one, but the view from the metro as I went home every evening was not bad at all. 

No Set Agenda

For the longest time, I held this belief that I could not get bored. That my brain would always find something exciting to catch fancy, and there would always be something to mull over. And that has been the case for the most part. And lately, after more than a decade of putting my brain to work 24X7, all I yearn for is boredom.

I want to wake up without any job list for the day; no pending articles, no fixing things around the house, and no set agenda. And I want this boredom to last for weeks, if not months. Sitting around and doing nothing but having coffee, reading random articles and books, and staring at trees for hours sounds delightful.

And while I do all this, I don't want to dress boring at all. The clothes could be monochrome, free of accessories, even repetitive, but far from boring. For example, this combination of black and denim, recreated in different ways for each day of the week, could just be perfect. Black t-shirt, short denim skirt, black embroidered blouse with black midi skirt, black bralette with pair or relaxed jeans...

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