Perennial Grocery List

I am an anal Grocery lister. I make grocery lists ALL the time.
And then make their back-ups. I used to get so upset if/when I lost my first list, that now I make sure every list I make has a back-up copy as well (Yeah, I know I'm anal!).

In fact, sometimes I feel I'm always making some sort of grocery/ to-do/ to buy list. And I usually am, in my head. In class, if I'm getting bored, my mind goes... tomato, pyaaz, aalu, dahi, milk, eggs and bread! Or If I'm giving a party, I plan my actions in the minutest detail... boil chickpeas, cut gobhi, make sabzi, then curry, then lay the table, take out the glasses.... I plan out the order like a major king would make a battle plan.

So I can never shop without a list. I feel rudderless, as if my moorings are lost. I feel handicapped without my lists. Sometimes I get tired of this incessant list making in my mind, and I want it to stop. But the only way I can stop my mind's list is to write it down... and on and on it goes. I have to go to school early tomorrow- and my mind is already laying out the steps, right up to catching the 8:33 AM train!

Its tiring and irritating, and yet I'm not alone. There are other people like me!

Tweet

Of shoes and shawls

Is there this one thing that you can never have enough of? That is your one weakness every time you go into some shop/mall? Clothes? Skirts? Jewellery? Handbags? Shoes???
Yes, that's mine. SHOES!! I love shoes..and no matter how many I have, I never have enough. Or never have the right ones for the right occasion. I have to go and look at shoes whichever mall I go to, whichever shop I go to. Though I am so finicky about the kind of shoes I like/want, that I end of not buying most of the time. Something is always wrong- too high, too low, too narrow, too pointed, too tight, too loose, too ugly...
It takes a lot to find the perfect shoe. And believe me, I'm always looking. I often spend hours and hours on department store websites, just looking and looking. Of course, most (like Neiman Marcus) are ones I can not afford. But can always look :)

My Mom has this simialr obsession with shawls..she can never have enough. She's always buying shawls...so she has this amazing collection, encompassing all colors of the world. Like autumn colors woven with sunlight. Like mustard and white flowers. Like tapestries. She buys most of her shawls from Bhuttico, which makes some of the best shawls in the world.
She has some of the most wondrous weaves, so soft they feel like a gentle sun on your shoulders... yes, I have also inherited her love of shawls. And even better, have inherited some of the shawls too :)
Whenever she buys some shawls for herself, she usually gets an odd one for me too! And so I too have fallen under this spell of shawls. I love wearing them, warm and gentle and comfortingly wrapped around. Trailing softly and gracefully.

Tweet

My latest addiction

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it before on this blog, but books are my lifeline. I just cannot live without reading. If I go too long without books, I feel as if something is missing in my life. My whole being craves books. And yes, its almost always fiction. I started reading when I was in grade 2- with the usual Enid Blytons, and Archie's comics.
Nowadays, I devour anything- from trashy romances to self-help to Booker winners- its all irresistible to me. I have often spent all night continuously reading and not being able to put down the book, only to miss school, college, work the next day. Its my greatest addiction.


I starkly remember the first time that I spent all night reading- it was Midnight's Children. I read the whole book non-stop, in a single reading. It took me about 16 straight hours. And of course, I missed school the next day. The next book that I could not stop in between was Lord of the Rings (the entire series). The book is simply amazing. Then came Harry Potter! And quite recently, the complete Princess Diaries series (as the pattern clearly shows, I've been regressing :)

These days, I am hooked onto Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I have read some of her books earlier, and quite liked them. But I recently found almost all of her works in the local library, and got them all to read. And got hooked. She has to be one of the best writers I have come across in a long time (and given my reading history, that is saying something).

The was she describes emotions, pain, life.... with her words, its as if she puts her hand deep into your guts and wrenches them out. It is raw, visceral pain. She makes my soul ache. Her books are mesmerizing, incredible in the way they capture everyday human pain, and desire and complex emotions.

She leaves me with a profound sense of sorrow, of pain... of unhappiness. And yet, some strange sense of fulfillment. Reading her books is like going through an emotional roller coaster. Still, I wouldn't miss the ride for anything!

Tweet