From Santosh to Magnolia....with love!!!

A friend suggested that we should not miss the cupcakes at Magnolia in NYC..we did go..so this is all about that....though I hope no self respecting New Yorker reads this one or then I hope he or she has not seen Santosh Bakery in Pune...chances are that most would not have and so I'll go on...

Actually what happened when I entered Magnolia was that I got transported back to Santosh....suddenly...well for those who know both, this might be sacrilege!! But you know you can't ignore the similarities....both are about the same size - Magnolia probably slightly large....but you can see the mouth melting treats being made at both the places....so now whats different..? Ahmmm....Magnolia is a plush patisserie in Manhattan - next to the Rockefeller Centre...almost as touristy as you can get... and our Santosh is on the friendly neighbourhood of Apte Road. Where are we going with this...? For starters...I loved both...Santosh a little more I must admit...Of course the perks that Santosh enjoys of being in my life for 25-30 years...and since Santosh introduced me to cupcakes...thinking of Santosh while getting the Magnolia cupcake was but natural, wouldn't you say??

But besides that I think it was the buzz in both the places, the excitement of being in your favourite place in the city and its not only your favourite place but everyone's...the excitement that you are soon going to be digging in into something that you've been craving for long...that you will surely meet someone you know...a friend, acquaintance...someone who is always behind you in the queue...coz you've been there for so long and you've visited the place so often.....that you will always know atleast one person who's serving you that day and he doesn't often need to ask what you want to have because for years' you've had the same...and the taste has remained the same year after year...

....and that's probably why its your favourite and your city's favourite too....and no matter how much others who have other favourites love this place or just about tolerate it...you will never hear a word against it....then be it your "Vaishali", "Marzorin", "Santosh bakery" or New York's "Magnolia".....

Ek garam chai....!

Well I never thought I'd ever say this...but I'm missing the Mumbai Rain...!

Why I never thought I'd say it is because I have a strong and long dislike for rains almost bordering on "hate" which started many years back when the rains started enhancing the already extremely frizzy hair..which almost ensured I went around everywhere looking like a golliwog...

...But now I miss it....For one..there is actually a fixed season.."monsoon"..you don't wake up to check the weather forecast every morning for most of the year...

And then of course people scurrying home - because when it lashes no matter how protected you think you are with your raincoat, jacket or umbrella...you end up getting drenched...to return home to a hot bath and warm clothes..which is such a good feeling after you are thoroughly drenched and your feet have gone cold...And then sitting by the window watching the others rushing ......or children dancing in the puddles....with a cup of your hot ginger tea or favourite filter coffee....

And then you go to bed that night in anticipation that it rains so much at night that the roads will be clogged the next morning so that you don't have to go to work....so much for sadistic pleasure...;-) (Now this I surely miss..because I don't think there will be clogging of the roads and more importantly..there is no work..:-))

And the city looks so different after the rains....the dusty brown gives way to a fresh clean green and you make plans with friends to go to Lonavala...by local...eating hot batata wada and bhajiyyas...and tea...and the plan hardly ever materialises..

And speaking of chai...in the rains it doesn't matter if you are in the comfort of your home or sipping some exotic sounding tea in "Tea Centre"..slightly wet from that walk on Marine drive or whether your sipping the scalding hot chai and wadas at the roadside tea shop with the rain drops falling right into your glass...chai is just so different in the rain....

One of my favourite scene of Mumbai after the rain is from the movie Bluffmaster...It has no relation with the rain..I don't even know if it been shot in the rain or after...but some how it always seems to me like its been shot just after a heavy shower..since Mumbai as a backdrop looks very clean just as it does after a shower...

It brings about a sense of nostalgia and longing for your special someone who make you, your tea just the way you like it when its lashing outside and you are curled up near the window with your favourite book...!!!

The "Half" this time....

I've been reading "Runners World" a marathon running related magazine for inspiration these days....an interview with the co-founder of twitter caught my eye and provided much needed inspiration. He mentions in his interview that he tweets every morning that he plans to run...so this leads to people asking him whether he ran that day..which of course motivates him to run on those days..so that he can answer them without a guilt and his head held high (well my words, not his..;-))...so in the spirit of holding my head high...I would also like to declare that I plan to run a half marathon this year!!!

The last year when I decided to do the Mumbai Half Marathon, not that I didn't have a good number of people asking me about it and also providing daily inspiration..but this time its a much more public declaration...so am sure it will inspire me further plus I have no excuses too. Taking all sorts of inspiration today...I also plan to use the idea from "The diary of a Fat Man" from Mumbai Mirror where this guys reports every week on his weight loss progress......no...no...don't plan to report on the weight loss progress...though I'd love to do a before and after series of myself....but on the running progress every week, so that I feel compelled at least 2 days before every Friday to start running...!

Anyway the registration for the marathons here is more expensive than our Stanchart Marathon...so am sure there are serious runners..not like hundreds if not thousands of us who walked the Sea link this time...so don't want to enroll and not run or run/ walk and end up in the last few finishing the race...so I'm all serious this time...

So those who read this...pls put a reminder for yourself to check on my progress...lest I try to chicken out....and pretend this blog was never written...will surely owe you for it..and then who knows I may be able to have my before and after series as well...!!!!!

Of Rainbows, Colours & Hope.....

It was the first time I was away from home, many years ago...in a place with no friends, a project to complete and no place to go...so basically very lonely and terribly homesick. I had been like this for the entire first week and was not at all looking forward to that weekend when suddenly while getting out of office on Friday evening I spotted a rainbow. The site was amazing and somehow immediately lifted my spirits...something nice and lucky is about to happen I thought! I stood there unable to contain my enthusiasm for the next few minutes pointing it to everyone who passed by and then I just couldn't stop smiling during the whole bus ride home and for the next two months that I was in that town..life was suddenly on a roll...

From then on I've always believed that a rainbow is a signal...someone up their telling us that "he" (ok "she" for the feminists among us) is very happy and has pulled out his water colours to express the joy and is signalling to us as well that we should be happy and everything will be alright!

Colours release some happy hormones into the body i think..that's why all these bright colours have a happy effect on me!! But I wasn't always a "Colour" person. I went through most of my teenage proclaiming white, black & grey to my colours! So when I look back now my wardrobe was probably dull with a capital D. I remember squirming when my parents tried to get some red into my room when it was being done up and another time when I read somewhere that "Yellow" was my lucky colour...I mean yellow?? - jaundice was all I could associate with it.... 

                                              

Colour came to me a little later in life - during B school thanks to two very dear friends (P &S). I don't think it was anything conscious on their part, but within the first year reds, maroons, greens and may I add a little yellow as well started making inroads into the black and whites. My mom was most ecstatic..!!! Though I must add I have a special affinity for black for the slimming effect it has and don't think that will ever go..!!

But finally I knew things had changed when "YELLOW" actual did become my favourite and lucky colour and S and I went looking around town for yellow socks...and we didn't really find the shade we wanted then...or maybe our student pockets couldn't afford the place that had the shade..but over the years I got many shades of yellow socks...and many many more colours...and each time I wear that I'm thankful to those who got the colour into my life. I think all I needed was a little confidence to wear the colours that I loved rather than be nondescript in black and grey....!

                                                    

So on a dull and boring rainy day...pull out the orange, red and yellow and see your day lighten up!! 

                                          

My Superwoman....!

This one's about someone who was omnipresent in my life. Life without her, I could never imagine...so much so that I assumed that she would always be there, just a phone call away, just a ride away. I took it for granted that she would be there when I needed her to pamper me, to make that special dish which i could just call and demand, to generally gossip.....I'm talking about my grandmother...

My grandmom passed away three months back....and for me she will always remain a superwoman...who never gave up and lived life to the fullest. She lived alone for almost 31 years - my grandfather passed before my mom was even married and with her two daughters settled into their own lives she didn't want to cause any hassle. But not once did I ever hear her say "Why me?" For someone like me who gets scared of even their own shadow in the dark, I always asked how she managed to stay alone, didn't she ever get scared of ghosts (my most primal fear), "Its all in the mind, there's no such things as ghosts" ....she would always tell me.


With my mom working, we (my sis and I) spent most of our childhood with her. Going to her place after school to eat the hot snack she would make or on the weekends when we would inform her of the menu we wanted the day before and there it would be...ready even before we reached.....She loved to cook..and experiment...I don't think I'd ever have half the enthusiasm she did to entertain people at an age more than double mine. I don't think I've ever eaten or even heard of a cake being made of yogurt instead of eggs except the ones made by her. I've done so much with her...long walks in the morning, watching "The Bold & the Beautiful" and "Santa Barbara"..infact she introduced me to the world of soaps...watching cricket matches...she making sure I studied too in the midst of all this. I think she was more excited than anyone else when I got my Xth results....
Oh and she loved movies....She would want to watch all the new releases and ensured she read all the reviews at least. So she had all young friends..some her daughters' age, some her granddaughters' age and she'd do all that she could to help anyone who needed her help....be the judge for all the society events and with her enthusiasm even a participant in some!!!


I think one of the values that I learnt from her and can never forget is sharing...she taught us to share everything...no matter how much it was...even if it was one single grape left...I think she'd break it into half if she had her way...!! And she was fiercely independent - whenever we'd ask her to stay over at our house, she would hardly stay for 2 days and then get restless, say she had to pay some or the other bills and go home..."I'll stay alone till I can manage, then finally will have to come here anyway..." she said


In the past 2-3 years, she suddenly aged...she moved in with my parents. She hardly spoke that much and got a little stubborn as well...but for me I always remember her as the enthu, ever efficient "Aaji"...


Today when she's no longer with me, its still very hard to believe it...and as I sit here and type this with tears in my eyes...I know that I have my guardian angel..my Aaji watching over all of us...always....Thank you Aaji and we will miss you always....

Revival.....

I can be quite a slob....generally on days without too much purpose....which is most days these days...so I've decided to revive my blog!!!! This will ensure that I have something to look forward to during the day - else I have the tendency to generally lie around, sleep, read junk and watch the most brainless TV programs and that is precisely what I've been doing for the past one week. And for a reality TV freak like me...American television is paradise!! The more you want the more you get here!! A man sleeping with five women...each of them claiming that their child is his and a DNA test being done on the show to determine the truth, well and basically the result being that he is the father of four of the five...this followed by mud slinging and abuses.....so there....get the drift??? and for people like me for whom "BIG BOSS" was religion..this is nirvana!!! But the husband and parents think "Negativity breeds negativity" and so for the general well being of myself and society, I've decided to have more purpose for the day and blog!! And on days when I don't find a topic to blog about, I'll just post the recipe of what I've cooked along with a pic...and if what I've cooked doesn't turn out to be very appetising, I'll just put a delicious looking pic taken off the net...who is actually to know how tasty the cutlets were right??? Ha ha!! Well I won't do that...credibility is at stake right?? So what I'll do is if the recipe fails I'll just put a the recipe and no pic, so that no one's tempted to try it out....;-))
So anyway now that I've started, your comments and criticism will be appreciated and you'll do your good deed for the day by preventing "slobiness" of mankind!!!!
Thanks for reading....