Do it yourself – Post 9

Now now, before your dirty mind wanders far, please to remember that this is a family blog and I refrain for making comments that will have some people jumping.

What I am talking here is the latest shoe rack we picked from Ikea. All of 89 dollars, this pretty thing came in a compact packing. The idea was to assemble it yourself. And the last time I did something vaguely constructive was back in school were we had a compulsory 1 hour of SUPW (Socially Useful Productive work) every week.  On that note, do children these days have SUPW??

Anyways, so we bought this thing home with the intention of creating something out of some random pieces. I for one was totally excited and kicked by the idea and my constant blabbering was infectious enough for Aman too. Or at least he pretended. It’s another story that this assembly had to wait till the following weekend.  

At the onset it seemed a little difficult, but once on it, we had so much fun doing it. It was the perfect team building exercise for a couple. We strategized, recognized quickly what both of us were good at and accordingly worked (trust me to make a perfect domestic activity sound like something you do in a boardroom!!)

And in the process had we some good laughs as well. This was an enjoyable change for someone who is used to having hired help and delivery guys do such things. I mean I don’t think we have ever taken the pain to hammer a random nail into the wall, leave alone assembling a chest of drawers.

So here is my suggestion for some perfect couple time which is fun, novel and great for bonding. Go go, pick up a DIY shoe rack from Ikea.

This is the result of our effort, ah the sweet joys of love!

Nothing like some retail therapy – Post 4

Ain’t it? And yesterday was super. After all summer is here and a girl needs to shop with the change in weather! Yeah, so what it the weather hardly changes in Singapore and so what it is as hot and humid as ever.

The wardrobe needs a bit of revamping every now and then, and this time it was Zara that made me very happy. Their latest summer line is something that needs a dekho. If you happen to be in Singapore do peep in.

And among other things, I did find the black handbag which I had been looking for a while now. Picked one from Guess and I say its a steal.

There you go, a rather badly clicked picture, thanks to BB! But you do get the idea :)

For me shopping does work as a stress buster, and it doesn’t matter for whom I am buying stuff. Just the act of buying makes me feel better. Yeah I am crazy like that. What about you? Do you love to shop?

Life in Singapore – Let’s talk about cabs and cab drivers | Post 2

With this blogging marathon, when I write a post every day, I would also try and cover certain aspects of my life here in Singapore. Nothing too scholarly, just a bit of what I observe and infer.

This island of Singapore amazes me in more ways than I can list. With a total land area of just about 700 km² it is one of the smallest Asian countries. It’s just a tiny dot on the map. But it still has about 26000 taxis on road at any point of time. And best way to know a city is to talk to its taxi drivers. The insights they will give you about a place will be far deeper than anyone else. 

This morning I had another very interesting conversation with the taxi driver while coming to office. He told me that the taxi drivers were the most “non-preferred” category of prospective grooms in Singapore. It was very difficult to find wives for cab drivers. Reason being that taxi drivers were considered rude and arrogant from Singapore standards. Now that sounds totally incredulous to an Indian and more importantly to someone who has lived in Bangalore for 5 years. Because, we know a rude taxi driver when we see one. These Singaporeans cab drivers are by far calmer and better mannered than their counterparts in most countries.

But yes, compared to other Singaporeans they might be considered arrogant. You know, Singapore is a much pampered society. They follow their rules and they listen to their government. And in return they live a life which is envied by many others. The quality of life here I guess is among the top five globally, the crime rate second only to New Zealand. This kind of comfort living has made the citizens very matter of fact. To quote the cab driver “We Singaporeans behave like Robots”

And maybe this is why the cab guys are considered rude. You tell them to go straight and they will, but if you change your mind mid way and ask them to pull over, they will grumble. Everything is relative. And these folks who might appear delightful to us Indians are not the most sought after category locally. 

The hair woes continue

My hair woes continue. I anyways have very little left and at the rate with which I am experimenting I will soon have none left. But the itch to do something or the other with my hair keeps coming back every now and then.

So this weekend, almost impulsively, I found myself at the Salon, with the intention to get my hair colored. The stylist totally sweet talked me in first getting a haircut. So I agreed. Not that it’s too much of a new hairstyle, just correcting the length and adding some more layers.

Besides, the hairstylist refused to believe that I was in Indian. She thought I looked like a Mexican, and I seriously don’t know if I should be happy or sad about it. In her opinion “all Indians” are primarily “dark and quite plain looking” and all my efforts to explain that we Indians came in all kind of skin color had no effect on her. So at the end of the 3 hour ordeal, she still thought I was a Mexican and lying about my identity.

Anyways, coming back to the hair thing, so I get a haircut and then we move on to the coloring bit. And yet another brainwave and I decide to get some highlights as well. So base color is a shade of brown with lots and lots of golden highlights thrown in.

I thought it looked chic, till I came to office, where no one actually noticed it!! How do you feel when you spend a fortune on a haircut, a new hair color & highlights and your friends in office don’t even notice it?? Yeah, spare me, but I don’t really feel too good about it!

Cheese Ravioli, a la Aman style!

So the husband goes to this fine dine, super expensive, super exclusive, high nosed, upscale, (you get the drift, right) Italian Restaurant. And after a meticulous look at the menu and a chat with the head chef, orders Cheese and Spinach Ravioli in Pesto sauce as entrée.

After much wait the dish finally arrives. All decked up, served in the most exquisite fashion. One bite, and he asks the chef to get him some black pepper. Another bite and some tobasco sauce is ordered. Yet another and some red chili flakes. And then some vinegar and then some dry herbs.

Yeah, a small kitchen was established right on the table. The chef died of embarrassment, I have a feeling he quit his profession too, and as for me, I died laughing, and that precisely is the reason we don’t have any pictures!

Of Phuket and more

Phuket was amazing!! 3 days of undefined luxury, relaxation and bliss.

And all that we did was, lie in the pool or lounge beside it and sip on some pretty looking drinks. And then hit the beach and do pretty much the same. Throw in some wonderful Thai massages and some exotic food. Not to forget the carefree driving around the beach town.

What more can a girl ask for? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The villa we stayed in Marriot was to die for. The bath alone was bigger than my current bedroom in Singapore! Sigh. So a super hit holiday, a beautiful tan and the wait begins for the next one. And I have a feeling it will be Bali this time.

In another news, we are moving into a new house next week. The current one was a bit small for our liking. Moving into this house was an ill informed and quick decision but considering it was taken in the first week of moving to Singapore, we didn’t do too badly. The new one is nice, pretty and spacious. A little far from office, but manageable. So we broke our contract midyear, paid a penalty, but never mind, we got a place we like.

Also, most of you must be aware of the work we are doing around creating awareness on Child Sexual Abuse.  Do visit the blog and spread awareness by talkin about it. All the details are in here.  

And to help spread the word, Blogadda published this article - http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/04/08/child-sexual-abuse-awareness-month

Also, DNA did a article on CSA –
Online – http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report_its-time-to-protect-the-children_1529628

Print (page 7)- http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnabangalore/epapermain.aspx?queryed=9&username=&useremailid=&parenteditioncode=9&eddate=4%2f8%2f2011

Adventure at Fairprice!

A rather strange thing happened yesterday at the departmental store. Aman had ventured out late in the night post dinner to pick up some essentials while I battled with some inane presentation. Trip to Fairprice (the said departmental store) is usually a post dinner affair as firstly it’s open 24 hrs and secondly it also serves as a good after dinner walk which surely my old body needs once in a while.

So yesterday the man of the house went there all by himself only to be completely stalked and then hounded by an old lady. The said lady came up to him from behind the shelves and asked him all of a sudden if he was a Jew. He isn’t and he said so, but she insisted he has to be a Jew for his eyes were so beautiful and deep and only Jews had such beautiful eyes? I mean, what kind of statement was that!!

Anyways, he denied and walked ahead. And then she came up to him again and asked if he knew who Indra Gandhi was? Of course, won’t all Indians know her? She claimed that he was related to Indra Gandhi in some way. She went one step ahead and asked Aman to inform Rahul Gandhi to play safe as his life is in danger.  That’s when it turned a little scary. And then she started talking some strange things about me as well. 

And then the lady began with her sermon on how we should both be reading the Hebrew Bible. That was the cue for Aman to really run.

So Jew, and Rahul Gandhi and Hebrew Bible?? I am so not venturing to fairprice anytime soon. 

Shoes, dont we love thee!

Since I have been talking about shopping and shopping I thought it would be a good idea to give you, my esteemed readers, a sneak peek into my shoe rack. Featured below are only the shoes, of the high heel types, acquired very recently. A little context here will help: I have a self declared shoe obsession. And I buy, whenever I get a chance. Whilst I was moving to Singapore, there was only as much I could bring along. So I gave some to my sister and packed some home. There were still too many left. So I donated, all of 30 plus pairs. Yeah, I didn’t have too much choice, with Aman threatening me and Dad coaxing me, I gave in.

This only means the need to refurbish the depleted collection. Posting some pictures below, because you wanted to see it!!

To go with the new brown dress!

The Comfy ones

The essential ones

These are a shade of Grey, dunno why they look Cream.

Love these,

These look awesome with skirts.

Peep toes!

This happens only in Singapore..

This happened 2 days back, it was pretty late by the time we got out of office. Late enough to throw out of the window, the idea of going home and cooking. So we decided to finish mundane responsibilities like feeding ourselves till we burst and then heading home to crash on the super comfortable new mattress we just bought. Ah the mattress, I tell you, is like a sucker of all aches and stress. I actually wake up fresh as a daisy. The old one that the land lady gave us was like that inflated bouncer children play on. Can’t say what we went through with that!!! But I digress.

Coming back to what happened two days back. We decided to have dinner and choose this cute little bistro right below my office. The weather was good, quite unlike Singapore, so we decided to sit out. We placed our order, food came, the server left us alone and we ate and ate and ate. And then we got up, got into a cab and left. Pretty normal, if you ask me? Ha, only one slight deviation. We forgot to pay the bill in fact we even forgot to call for the bill. This we realized only after we had reached home and had settled on the said comfortable mattress.

Now like any other  responsible people, we should have gone back and paid them first thing next day, which we wanted to do, but we didn’t, because we were super busy, after all the Singapore economy will crumble down if we get late to work.  And then we forgot about it. Till today when we sat in a café right next to the said bistro sipping the high on calorie cappuccino. And then this server came to us. I had visions of her calling the cops and handcuffing us. But, ladies and gentleman, before we could start apologizing, she started saying sorry, first for interrupting our coffee and then for asking us for her truly deserved money. I almost fell of my chair. She relentlessly kept saying she was sorry and I kept saying the same. In the end no one knew who the guilty was.  Matter ended peacefully!! I am so going back to this place; this time will pay up at the start of the meal though!

The great Singapore Sale

The great Singapore Sale, where art thou? Come soon and rescue me, for there is a compulsive need to shop and some discounts would do no harm! Yeah, so it’s not like I have landed in Singapore from some god forsaken village which didn’t have the variety or the choice to offer. Bangalore is pretty decent and throw in a couple of trips to Australia, Delhi and Bangkok (remember?? GRIN!!!!!! in between and you can get all you want!!

Which means that there has to be a divine power at play here? Did I sleep too close to the Sophie Kinsella’s confession of a shopaholic? I guess not. So why my lord why, am I behaving like this? I am buying like I am on a vacation to Singapore and will never ever get a chance again in this life time. And it doesn’t help to have ones office at a stone’s throw from the main shopping area. But the madness needs to end, so, today, on this blog I make a promise, 2 more pairs of shoes and no more shopping till Christmas!! Heehaw!!!!!!!!!

And in another news, I loved Guzarish. Period!! Stop complaining people and stop being overly critical. It’s a good movie and Hrithik is awesome. We have become a race of complainers. We need to complain no matter what. Its not perfection that we are looking for, its just the sad pleasure we get in putting things down! Ah, anyways, that’s a lot of gyan from Prof Malhotra!So, did ya watch Guzarish yet?

From Where We Left

The baby has been ignored way too much. I have been a very bad girl. And no excuses this time. There is so much happening in life that I can write a book, let alone a blog post. But then, when there is way too much happening in life, something’s do take a beating. And in my case it was my once cherished blog. So no more saying I will be regular, it’s rather I be regular and say later.

Settling-in in Singapore has been far easier than I ever imagined. Things have fallen into place pretty smoothly. The home, office and the works!! So good so far.

Have been doing a lot of “exploring the city” kinda stuff over the weekends. Shopping is at an all time high and I really need to put a stop on that. This retail therapy will soon put me into forced financial therapy. The holes in the pockets are getting bigger by the day but the temptation seems to outdo any sane thinking. But there is one thing that I am sorely missing and that’s my book shopping. Not that there are no book stores here, there are and in plenty. What I miss is reading Indian Authors, which in the last few years meant reading beyond Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth. Those gems are unfortunately not available. So my respite is Amazon but you see the feel is missing.

These few initial months in Singapore have also led to some realizations. A very close friend always said that cooking for her acts like a stress buster, so even after a very hectic day at work, she would get back and cook and feel fresh. I never understood that while I was in India. But strangely, here in Singapore, I have started to enjoy cooking. Although we still eat out a lot even on weekdays, yet I have started to look forward to doing my bit in the kitchen. Like I say, we are always learning more about ourselves and this is the latest self discovery! Aman is busy basking in this new found interest of mine; let me see how many weeks will this last.

So how has life been with you all? Let me be really good and open my Google Reader now!!

I miss my black beauty...

…really, really do.

With all the silver linings that Singapore as our new home is offering us, there is still this big big gap to fill. The absence of a car in our lives. How much I am missing my car which we dutifully sold off before coming here. And whoever you are, who has bought it, better take care of it!

So now I use public transport to commute to work each day. A train to be precise. My complaining won’t be justified as the MRT system here is super comfortable. We have taken a house next to the MRT station and in Singapore that’s the biggest achievement one can boast off. And then there are busses. And for weekends there are cabs, in abundance!

But still, I miss my car. I miss driving. I miss the comfort. I miss the sense of ownership.

My colleagues who have been here for a while, tell me that this is just a phase and sooner than later I will be more than happy about not having the hassle to drive, park etc. Owning a car here is not as easy as having one in India or any other country for that matter. First the government is not too excited by the idea of people using private transport, so taxes are really huge. So is parking and then the cost of car. About 65% people use the public transport on a daily basis. So yeah now I am part of the majority.

But having said all that the crux of the matter is that I terribly miss the black beauty which we sold off before coming here. It was our first car, bought in the first year of our marriage. Ah so many memories, so many trips. The least I can hope is that the new owner cherishes it as much as I did.

Of This and That

I feel the need to do another Blog Marathon. Only then will I be regular here. Truthfully I miss this place. But life is just running past me, while I huff and pant and try to catch up. It’s fun, it’s stressful, it’s confusing, but it’s worth every bit.

Yeah so coming to the Marathon bit, anyone ready to join??

Moved to Singapore and settling in. Found a flat and shifted in last week as well. It still looks alien, the kitchen, the bedroom, the living area. It’s all mine and yet nothing belongs to me. But what’s fun is the settling in part. It’s just like the good old days when Aman and I were just married and were building our lives together. The place is pretty comfortable, furnished with all the essentials. So we are basically saved from the hassle of buying a lot of stuff. Now the hunt for a maid has started. Hopefully I shall be blessed soon.

It wasn’t easy to give up a well settled comfortable life back in Bangalore and come to this not so far land. It had its own set of uncertainties, its own sets of odds. But we took the plunge. And so far it’s been good.

We attended a barbecue party a couple of days after we had landed here. It was predominated by Indians and most of the women present there were non-working mums. And never before have I been in the company of so many non working mums. Therefore the generalization I am trying to draw here might be completely off track and for that don’t bite me please. Yeah, so coming to this group, there was just 1 bachelor amongst them and all these women were trying to convince him to get married. And the entire spiel was around how he could get good food and ironed clothes. How he didn’t need to bother about maid and cleaning once he got a wife. I mean, it was appalling!! How could they speak like that?? And being women at that!!! My better sense prevailed and before I could break a few skulls and I quietly slipped out and joined the men where they were discussing cricket and beer. Ha, so yeah, Singapore is no different from India!!

All our bags are packed..

..and we are ready to move.

The big change is just around the corner. An era in Bangalore comes to an end. And another in Singapore is just about to begin.

It wasn’t an easy decision. But exciting none the less. Bangalore has been our home ever since we got married. And goes without saying what a special place it has in our hearts. We will miss the people we leave behind. We will miss the city.

Last few days have been super hectic. Work, travel, a trip home, meeting friends and saying goodbyes.

And in between all this the mammoth task of deciding what to give away and what to keep.

Packing is in shambles as always. I am leaving behind a lot of stuff, taking just the essentials. And it’s no mean feat to let go of things. Difficult, but kind of elevating, this letting go. And it surely doesn’t come easily to someone who clings on to old battered jeans.

We don’t know for how long we’ll be gone. A few years or maybe some more. We’ll take it as it comes.

Right now the excitement levels are too high. There is this whole new charm to life itself.

Its our last couple of days in Bangalore and time just seems to be running away too soon. There is a lot more to finish. So next update will be from the La Land.