Best bit of parenting advice I read

I don’t recall where I read it, but it was something along these lines –

Your child deserves the happiest version of you, so do whatever makes you happy. 

Incredibly simple, and yet, so spot-on right? If going back to your full time job makes you happy, go for it. If quitting your job and staying at home full time makes you happy, do it. If going out with friends for a drink or dinner post-work makes you happy, go for it. If it makes you guilty and worried constantly, don’t do it. And so on. 

Actually, why just children, this mantra should apply to everyone. Heck, you yourself deserve the happiest version of you. So, really, do more of what makes you happy, yes?

(This post is dedicated to you, V :-))

2016 Goals

I know end of November is way too early to be talking of 2016 goals, and it’s not that this is something I do religiously, but hey, I have a post to type out, and this is as good a time as any to start. Here we go –

1. Run a sub-60 minute 10k. If I hadn’t attended this workshop, my goal would have been something far more stupid and ambitious, like – to run a half marathon. But from the lessons I’ve learned from the workshop, I’m gonna take it slow and like the Doc recommends, take a good 12-18 months to make the leap from one category to the next. 
2. 52 blog posts at least. That means one each week, and hey, maybe also do the A-Z challenge in April?
3. Keep clutter away and a decently organised cupboard. I’ve gotten better at it this year but paring down my wardrobe, using the Konmari method, but there is loads of room for improvement. 
4. My sketching goal – go back to the drawing board (ha ha) with watercolours and try and create at least two decent paintings (A4 or bigger) by the end of the year. Sketch at least 3 times a week, if not daily. 
5. Either decide to make the effort and maintain a decent balcony garden, or decide it’s not a priority for me and give the pots away. 

That last minute post

 Is a sketch that I did for day 50 of the 75 day challenge. One of the nicer restaurants close to home 🙂

 

The coolest job

‘What did you think was the coolest job in the world when you were younger? Do you still feel that way now?’

Given how little I remember about my childhood, I don’t really recall this. But at various points of time I have thought musicians, artists and writers probably have the coolest jobs. Not so much any more, cos I guess to an extent I understand how much hard work goes into becoming good at what you do (while I’m struggling to just find something to blog about every day). I suppose the fact that a lot of hard work needs to go in shouldn’t ideally make a job any cooler, but I guess in my head, the definition of cool is something fun and effortless. So there. 

In the last couple of years, wedding photographers and travel bloggers have become cool job titles to hold, I’d suppose. While on the surface everything may look hunky dory, I’m sure each job comes with its own set of challenges. Like hey, what does a travel blogger do for fun? Okay maybe that just a case of sour grapes for me, but I suppose at the end of the day, as long as you are sufficiently challenged and look forward to your day at work on most days, that’s pretty cool too, huh?

And if you were to ask me what role I’d swap places for in a heartbeat, you guessed, I’d say, hey could someone please pay me to travel to my heart’s content and then write up nice, long pieces? 

Wordless Wednesday

  

No title – part 2

Continued from here. 

‘Sharan! Please say something.’

‘Had I not known you better, I would’ve said oh you’re blowing me off cos you want to be single and footloose when you move to Spain. All those Hispanic dudes…’

‘Hahahahahaha. Dude!’

Sharan sat down and stared at Anu. 

‘Sharan, jokes apart…’

‘Thank you.’

‘What?’

‘Thank you for being honest enough to see our relationship for what it is, Anu. And thank you for being honest enough for the both of us.’

It was Anu’s turn to go speechless for a bit. 

‘Do you think we are beyond repair?’

‘Well, we could try starting over. But yeah, I agree, a break would do us good. And you can have all the fun you want to in Spain.’

Anu responded by throwing a cushion at him. 

‘Are you a little disappointed that I’m not upset?’

‘You know me too well, Sharan. But I know you are a little upset deep down, but too reluctant to let it show.’

‘Look at us. Know-it-alls.’

‘And yet, it took us this long to confront the elephant in the room. Wait, DON’T turn that into a fat joke.’

Sharan stood up and kissed Anu. ‘Gah, I am going to miss you.’

‘Me too.’

Anu blinked away her tears, and said, ‘Friends, then?’

Sharan sighed. 

‘Too soon?,’ said Anu. 

‘Way too soon. Give it a year, perhaps?’

Anu nodded, and hugged Sharan and walked out.

My go-to brownie recipes

Yes, I have two of them that I love! One needs chocolate (bar form) while the other calls for cocoa. I think I’d qualify as a brownie snob. The other day someone tried to pass off a spongy square of chocolate cake as a brownie. Not cool at all. 

This one is based on a recipe by Alice Merdich which seems fairly popular. And it’s super-simple: heat butter , sugar, cocoa powder over a double boiler. Once slightly cool, add eggs and flour. And then, bake. I discovered, by accident, that this recipe still turns out great if you (unintentionally) double the quantity of butter. Your colleagues don’t care and will polish it all off any way. Yup, yup, yup. Fudgy and dense and perfect. 

The other recipe, of course, is the world-famous ‘Katherine Hepburn’ brownies from Dorie Greenspan. It’s been a while since I made them, but I think I used this recipe the very first time I baked brownies. And remember being wow-ed. Again, a fairly simple recipe – melt chocolate and butter. Whisk in sugar, eggs and flour once slightly cool. Again, dense and fudge and delicious. 

If I have chocolate on hand, I’ll definitely choose the Dorie Greenspan recipe over the other one. But I must repeat, both make fantastic brownies. 

Bonus recipe: if you’re feeling extra-indulgent, try these cheesecake-swirled-brownies. Brilliant stuff!

  

Sunday evening

Was a fun one. S is away, and I had a bit of shopping to do for A, so the two of us headed out. It threatened to rain, but I crossed my fingers, carried an umbrella, and no diaper bag since we weren’t going too far (a first, I think!) and headed out. Once we were done shopping (new shoes for her!), the weather still seemed fine, so I decided to go to the cafe at Rangashankara. I love the place, and figured, A would have ample space to run about if she wanted to. As it turned out, she didn’t run around much, but was quite keen on greeting people there and imitating some especially loud laughter (so embarrassing). Overall, it was a nice evening, and something I think I should do more often 🙂

Here she is chilling like a villain in her new shoes. 

  

Injury Prevention for Runners

A couple of weeks back, a colleague messaged on the office runners’ Whatsapp group (yes, there is a Whatsapp group for everything) about this injury prevention workshop for runners, conducted by a fairly popular physiotherapist and marathon-runner. I was eager to check it out. It looked interesting. Dr. Gladson Johnson, is a barefoot runner, and as S told me, also happened to be in a kickboxing class that he used to attend. I saw the price for a 6-hour workshop was Rs 2100 and balked, at first. And then figured, it might just be worth it. And what an eye-opener it was! I’d highly recommend his workshop in a heartbeat. Here are my primary takeaways – 

1. Running is not exercise. I’ve always treated it that way. As long as you’re doing some sort of sport or keep moving, that is exercise, right? Wrong. Apparently, exercise helps your build strength, endurance and flexibility. On the other hand, sports like running, swimming and cycling draw from your flexibility, strength and endurance, and to a very minor extent, help you improve the latter. So to be able to run well, you gotta exercise. 
2. Your shoelaces ain’t tight enough. Unless you loosen your lace all the way to the top and then tighten each portion to the end and then lace it up. He said you’ve to do it this way every single time, so that you can secure your feet and reduce the movement of your foot inside the shoe. And your feet do swell up in the course of a run – so at some point in the run, you might need to take them off and re-do the laces again. 
3. Arm Swing! He said one of the two basic techniques to follow while running is to ensure you swing your arms. If you see how children run, and if you think back to the times you’ve sprinted, the arms start swinging naturally. The swinging arms help your upper body to pull your lower body off the ground,  he said. 
4. Breathing. The other technique to keep in mind – never breathe through your mouth. This leads to a parched throat, and your brain is tricked into thinking the body is dehydrated. Besides, nasal breathing helps you take slower, longer breaths, which is always better, he said.

The workshop was fantastic, with him walking us through some conditioning exercises as well. Truly felt enlightened at the end of it.

Travel tales

While certain places that you visit will always stay with you because of how picturesque they were, some other trips are made memorable by the people you encounter or things that happen to you. That’s a no brainer I guess. This morning I was trying to recollect some such encounters – 

Munnar, 2004, I think. First trip with colleagues on my first job. Dropped my wallet somewhere and didn’t know where. On my return to Bangalore (after I had blocked my card), I got a call saying someone found my wallet and they would courier it. And they did. Minus the money, but hey, at least I got my DL back!

Bangkok – 2007? With Sayesha, Viv and Pizzadude. I recall at one point we’d all but spent the currency we had among us (Chatuchak market, I bet!) At one point, I said, in desperation, oh well, if nothing, I have this Milo packet on me for an emergency. Then, there was also this case of lost train ticket and a fine for that!

A trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2008. We were on our way to see the Cu Chi tunnels without much money on us, or knowledge of how to get there. We couldn’t afford a private vehicle I think, so we relied on the local buses. Communication was a huge issue. Luckily for us, we found a friendly young girl who spoke some English and helped us get to our destination. She even decided to accompany us to the tunnels and be our guide of sorts! Also, thanks to all this local bus business, we were late for our bus to Cambodia, and so, we had to take someone else’s help on our way back to request the other driver to wait for us. 

Phuket. 2010. This lovely little restaurant where the owner had covered the walls with CD covers from his favourite bands. Turns out he was a Clapton fan too. Naturally, I asked him if he made it to his concert at Singapore in 2007,  but he said nope. I hope he’s managed to see him live since 🙂 I also remember we bought a ‘mixtape’ CD that he had made. 

Milan. 2012. This nice AirBnB apartment that we found close to our venue for the Mark Knopfler concert on the outskirts. The owner of the apartment was clearly house-proud, well-travelled and had some lovely curios from around the world. And he said he’d heard of the company I work with – what are the odds?! There was a huge world map covering one of the walls in our bedroom and pinned places he’s visited. S is hoping to borrow the idea and do the same in our home, some day!

Venice. The same trip. Crowded bus from Venice to Mestre. A man, beside me, clearly trying to pick someone’s pocket in front of me. I sort of blocked the guy, and then the owner of the said pocket got off. The pick-pocket-fellow got really mad at me, swore and got off the bus. Still mad, he came and banged the window next to the seat where I just settled down now. Ugh. I was quite taken aback and shaken. 

Amritsar, 2015 with friends and A. Again, an AirBnB apartment. Lovely family, great hospitality, and endless supply of chai and great food. 

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few, but maybe they’ll be part two! What are some moments that stand out from your travels?