Go buy my second sole

Puma released the second pair of flip flops I designed for them this week (this came first.) I love the colour of the strap but I'm a little sad they stretched the design and lost the plug near the heel.

Screw you manufacturing gaffes.

Monday Night

Through the slits of my eyes I could see white light bouncing off the wall. My sluggish insides jumped a little, glad to know they'd survived the night and were well on their way to a morning of distractions. I opened my eyes wider only to realize it was a false alarm, a stark beam of white halogen trailing off the front end of a nincompoop’s halted car and into my window. I checked for the time in disappointment. It was only 1:37 in the morning, I was still sleeping on a wet pillow and had to bravely drift in and out of sleep for six more hours before rush hour zapped me out of my aching everything.

Prague (pronounced /ˈprɑːɡ/; Czech: Praha pronounced ['praɦa' ])

A very old friend and love interest traveled to Prague recently.
When chatted about how the city was divided by an invisible line into the clean, maintained, touristy half and the unkempt, disheveled, urban half.
About the cobblestones and how they made his calves so unnecessarily strong.
Conversations about food ensued, with a weak attempt to gauge the approximate amount of pork and pivo(beer) lining his stomach at that point in time.
I was told that everything Kundera (one of our favorites) had written about Prague was true, and that Kafka was definitely their most favorite son.
Thanks to a bad internet connection in a local hotel room, our conversation ended abruptly, with him telling me how the city was immensely inspiring (yes, why wouldn't a writer say that?) and a mention of graffiti all over the walls. A few minutes later I received this picture in my mail, sent through phone email.
...
...
...
If nothing else sealed the deal, this did.
And I hope to see more of Prague soon.

Friday

Just as soon as I entered work and switched on my computer this morning, I got the feeling that I had something really important and exciting to do... It was eating my home packed breakfast.

Warning: Self Diagnosing over the Web...

... can be really embarrassing if someone peeps over your shoulder and into your monitor.

Delhi Airport | 12 AM | January 13th, 2010

At 12 AM,
When icy fog delays your trip home,
And there’s no room on the last flight to Bangalore,
Delhi Airport gets lonely for everyone,
Except the chairs,
Who get their freak on,
And start playing the staring game,
With each other, and with you.
Point blank.

There's a hole in my stomach

TODAY, I HAVE EATEN A BAG FULL OF KISSES, A PACKET OF GEMS, FIVE MARSHMALLOWS, A MEDIUM SIZED PACK OF CHOCOS, ONE CHOCOPIE COOKIE, SOME GATORADE, GRAPES AND DINNER SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE.
I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE THANKFUL FOR GREAT GENES AND A DANGEROUSLY HIGH METABOLIC RATE.
EVER.

Paris with Minx.

Its only logical
to start practicing
one’s French
if
one intends
to vacation
in Paris
this summer.

Because Everyone Should Have a Year-End Post

2010, you were my knight in shining armour.

You brought me so much coloured metal (and a soft purple chair), a snazzy flip flop design deal, a cargo of patience, a boy I love with all my heart, the start of a book of seriously short stories, friends I could brand mine (the way they do livestock), family that continued to show equal surprise and support towards every new thing I did, too many (great) good times, far and few (horrible) bad times and a year I wouldn't exchange for any other!

So, with all the awesomeness that you bestowed on me, I am sure that 2011 is going to have a hard time matching up.
But, I do, secretly, obviously and sure as hell hope that it really does outshine you!

Some Ships Sail

For Saki,

Who asked me to draw him something,
Just after his ship set sail,
So unknowingly.

Yahoo!

Ernest Hemingway on writing,
"Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before, get up and bite on the nail."

I can safely say that it's the same when it comes to ideas. Many a times they go unrecognised, but sometimes, they don't. So when, at some award function, they are granted a miniature chair, you're allowed to, kinda, sorta, surely, show them off!
(Right? Right? Right?)

Here it is!
Another feather in our (and my) hat; Jaago Re won a Silver at the Yahoo Big Idea Chair Awards last night.

So what if we didn't win the actual Big Idea Chair, we'll try again next year. And just in case we run out of patience before that, I suppose we'll just get our own giant thrones made.

On Smokers

After going from a nice ‘Please don’t smoke near me’ to a more assertive ‘No no! You smoke here. I'll stand there,’ then graduating to a semi-aggressive-putting-my-foot-down-but-still-putting-the-onus-on-someone-else, ‘If you’re going to smoke, stay the hell away from me,’ I rose to a ‘You're smoking? Ok. I’m going to stay the hell away from you,’ and so on, I have never been more thankful for a prescription, than a few weeks ago, when it was put down in writing, by a medical practitioner (of great repute,) that I had to stay away from smokers.

That way, no one's an asshole and I can validate being an utter prude.

"Put them in the fridge"

Routine conversation with BB

Me: See my calves are so strong. Touch them.
BB: No.
Me: Why?
BB: Howcome you dont have that thing...
Me: Nail polish
BB: Ya. Nail polish...on your toe nails?
Me: Coz i took it out and didnt have time to put it back
BB: Howcome?
Me: Coz it takes too much time to dry and you have to sit still till it dries and all...
BB: Which is hard for you to do.
Me: Yes.
BB: Put it in the fridge
Me: What?
BB: Put your feet in the fridge
Me: Like? Lie on the floor and have my feet inside
BB: Yeah. Lie down, and chill on the floor till it dries
Me: Ya, my mother will kick me out of the kitchen if I do that
BB: Ya, you should get married
Me: What?! Why?
BB: So that you can buy your own fridge and put your feet inside it. Then no one can say anything.
Me: O yaah!

I swear...

... I kissed all the boys but they wanted more.

Sundays: Three Hours with my Closest Ally

The yoga mat has changed thrice.
The floor, multiple times.
The size and repulsiveness of bony feet has stayed uniform.
And this is how three hours of every Sunday/weekly holiday has been spent since 2006.

Elephant Hanger Knobs

I really love it when small boutiques customize their interiors down to the littlest of things to reflect what they're selling.
This little hanger knob sat quietly in the changing room at Global Desi, a boutique retailing ethnic wear.
The little elephant's counterparts?
Birdies and Hindu motifs.

The whole store was done up superbly well too.

It was all purple, pink, silver and filled with pretty in the window display.
On the inside, the proprietor had sorted out the clothes not according to kurtas and kurtis or silks and cottons but colors and prints! So she started with all the cool colors on the left - the blues, purples, greens, and then went on to the yellows, oranges and reds on the right.
Perfect segregation to find something festive, I think.
And all very lovely!

Plus, the store had yellow light, which, as I have always said, is a great source of fake warmth that an expensive boutique needs.

Onni

I woke up all glum this morning and wrote my own version of Andre Jordan’s Ordinary Love Stories.

I have fallen head over heels in love with an analyst called Onni.
He is six feet tall and smells of currency and cologne.
On our first date I planned to outwit him by dressing well and belting out replies like old school karate chops. But when he hopped into my rickshaw and kissed my cheek, I melted. And spent the rest of the evening looking away and smiling foolishly.
Since then, I have never met him again.

P.S: I am not really head over heels in love. Those things only happen to people who enjoy the rains. Thank god.