The Art of Fast Dressing

What do you do on days when your heart says you need to shop but your mind shushes you with logic and reasoning? What do you do on days you feel you have worn everything you have in your wardrobe and have absolutely no energy to mix and match and create something that looks like a new outfit?  

Well, I might have something for you. Yeah, today, I have decided to be a fashion tip giver, and help you put together an outfit in a jiffy. 

Open your wardrobe, and pick any top and bottoms in the same colour. The colour doesn't matter. It could be white, it could be black, grey or purple, yellow, Fuschia for all you care. Now pick any one accessory - maybe a pair of earrings or a pretty neckpiece. That's it! You can stop right there if you wish. Though if you are feeling fancy, pick up those old sunnies or a bucket hat if it goes with your outfit.

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Fashion And Summers

When Mat, Gary and George from Masterchef Australia came to India a couple of weeks back, my reaction was: why??? Why couldn't you come a little earlier or a little late?  Don't you know how hot it is here at the moment?

I was behaving as if I was hosting them, as if they wouldn't get to stay in a hotel with an AC, and as if they were coming to Delhi instead of Bangalore. Whatever it was, it bothered me a lot. I felt as if an unexpected (and very loved) guest came just after I finished a dozen cupcakes or an entire cheesecake. My world collapses. It's too hot and the shops are closed. It dawns upon me that I actually didn't need to eat that much. I am cakeless and fatter on the worst possible occasion.

During Summers in India, I do nothing but fight with the weather. People get cold and fever during winters, I get them in summers. I get all kinds of skin rashes too, a bad tan, and mood swings and weight gain (yeah!) and what not. 

And I feel, is it just me? I open my Facebook page and i see people in Jaipur and Goa,and Agra, apparently having the best time of their lives (at least their Fb status says so), and here I am, in my room, with ice cream and cold water and an ice pack.

The only saving grace during summers is fashion. From summer dresses to short skirts to spaghetti tops, it gets better and better. See, I can be positive too.  For the next two months, I will post about some summer outfits that keep me sane.

You guys have a great weekend. Please follow me on GFC and Facebook and Instagram if you like reading the blog.

Pretty Evenings

Most writers write in mornings. Even the ones with the weirdest of routines and the worst of deadlines swear by the influence of mornings on their prose and poetry.

A few nights back I was watching this random Jennifer Lawrence movie in which her friend tells her that the place they live in is very quiet early morning. When Lawrence asks what does he do so early, he says, "I write stuff. In the morning, it feels like everything is new. Everyone is sleeping. It is like the best ideas are not taken yet."

Morning is indeed the time to write. But for me, evenings are prettier. The beauty of dusk, wrapped in greys and nostalgia is something I look forward to during the weekends. Yes, office life has robbed us off our evenings.

There is this one moment when it is almost dark but not quite and though you can see the lights in the city, near and far if you are on a rooftop or a mountain, you cannot hear the lights singing in your ears till its almost dark. That moment of transition from evening to night feels like a time of happiness for me.

More on mornings and evenings some other day...You guys have a great weekend!

Details: Tee: Van Heusen, Shorts: Done By None, Boots: Forever 21

St. John In the Wilderness

I went to Dharamshala. It was my first trip to the city I had heard so much about. I had a list of places to visit out of which I could not miss the church of St. John. 

The church was made in 1852 and is known for its gothic structure and Belgian stained-glass windows donated by Lady Elgin. Its churchyard is the final resting place of Lord Elgin, who served as Governor General of the Province of Canada, who oversaw the Creation of Responsible Government in Canada, and later, while in China, ordered the complete destruction of the Old Summer Palace.

As I walked towards the church, the first thing that came to my mind was: Now this is the oldest building I have ever seen! It was beautiful. Though I am not a religious person at all, I can go there almost everyday if I am in the city. 

There were some pretty flowers near the pavement you could not miss and if you walked a little, there was a graveyard too which I could not see much. Speaking of graveyards, I have always wanted to visit the place where Oscar Wilde was buried, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris..Someday…

Details: Shorts, sandals and bag: Done by None, Blouse: Primark, Accessories: Benaras

The Broke Days

So what do you do when you go to a shopping mall with your friends and you realize you are too broke to buy anything? 

You look at people instead of clothes, trying to believe they can give you more amusement than the latter. 

You deliberately walk through the stores you never buy anything from anyway. You keep suggesting your friends that you are hungry. You make a call or keep texting someone, flirting to an extent that your mind doesn't drift anywhere else.

You go to a bad store, a really bad one, talk about the kind of clothes designers make, their lack of imagination and how everything is such a waste of money. You even talk about serious issues of shopaholics.

Do you feel a thrill when you swipe your card at the register? Come home from the store with things you didn’t plan on buying? Buy things you never use? Run your credits cards up to the limit? If your answers to these questions are yes, you may be a shopaholic...straight out of the movie.

So far so good. Are your friends still buying stuff? You might like to have some water. Feel better? Get out of the mall. Take pictures of each other. Do something really crazy and see if people notice. If you are a selfie kind of person, go for it baby. The more, the better. 

How about going to a book store and reading a book, mind you, take just one book as the more books you flip through, the more are the chances of you spending money...on books if not clothes and shoes! Last, but not the least, you think about your favorite TV show that you might miss if you stay at the mall for long. A certain Mr. Caffery or McSteamy deserve all attention.

This could go on. So what do you do when you have less money in your wallet and more shopping pangs in your heart? 

T-shirt: Forca Jeans, Shorts: Only, Belt: Forever 21, sandals: Lifestyle, accessories: Benaras, Sunglasses: Juree got them from Goa