The Internet Personified: And you give yourself away

Summer is well and truly here in this teeming capital city I call home. I'm feeling Carrie Bradshaw-esque this evening, if you can't tell, and pretty soon, the next words out of my keyboard tapping fingers will be... you guessed it. I couldn't help but wonder if we were but slaves to the seasons changing, doing everything almost by rote. In the winter, we pull up our blinds in the morning, let the sunlight flood in, basking in it like cats, in the summer, I draw all the curtains and live like a vampire in the dark.

This week in performances (that I did): I completely forgot to tell you guys last week that I was part of this event last week. Probably a good thing since the theatre was booked to over three times its capacity, and people had to stand in the wings and watch. It was called Book Hop and a friend of a friend was putting it together--basically people doing book readings with the accompaniment of a live jazz band. The readers were pretty good: William Dalrymple did one from his book about Beirut, a girl called Sabika whose last name I have forgotten, did an Urdu poem about the politics of lipstick (of which, okay, okay, I only understood about HALF, but what I did get sounded very good), and a lot of people did dramatic readings of poetry or prose they loved. I read from an adaptation of a story from Before, And Then After called One Plus One, about a lonely bartender in Delhi which went down very well. Loads of compliments, which was a relief, because I was very nervous before I went on. Sadly, I have now performed One Plus One three times in public, which means it's time to retire it and start practicing a new live piece for evenings such as this one. The venue was this hipster theatre/bar in Chhatarpur called Odd Bird, which is very cool, so I suggest you sign up for the mailing list here and head on out the next time something fun is on.

This week in performances (that I watched): My mother and I went for an afternoon showing of Disney's Beauty And The Beast. Neither of us had watched the animated film from the 90s, so this was a completely fresh experience. The visuals! The costumes! The songs! Disney had us right where it wanted us: moist eyed and ready to cough up money for the next live action cartoon-turned-movie they do. However, a few quibbles: 1) Belle is all "I hate this provincial life, I want to do great things and not just get married and be a wife" (unexpected rhyme is mine) BUT she ends the movie getting married and being a wife anyway, not more than a few miles away from her own hated village. (My mother's argument is that the Beast represents the walls we put up around ourselves and Belle, by taming the Beast, lets down her own walls, but little girls aren't going to be analysing it that deeply, MOTHER). 2) The Help-Inanimate Objects "live to serve" which is a bit.. icky. 3) No one ever tells us the Beast's real name, which is a minor quibble, but even when Belle realises she's in love with him, she's all like "Oh Beast." Anyway, there's my two bits, watch if you'd like an escapist movie. You WILL be sharing the theatre with a bunch of pre-teen girls though, so there's that.

This week in shopping: My mum and I also hit up Sarojini Nagar while she was visiting (a once a week tradition we're trying to establish). I was in need of tops, since I've decided my summer "looks" are going to be pants + t-shirt (plus canvas slip ons I bought at Bata. BATA!) Anyway, I bought many things, and Sarojini Nagar is still my most favourite shopping destination in this city, especially if you go at 6 pm on a weekday, when it's empty and everyone's eager to sell, so you spend between Rs 50 to Rs 200 and come home with your backpack stuffed to the brim. Go before it gets too hot to venture out of air conditioning.

This week in music: Kinda digging this song called I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll by Indian indie performers Parekh and Singh. Watch the music video! It's so whimsical and almost 100 per cent Wes Anderson, but so pretty. (After I wrote that last sentence, I Googled them, and of course, they are very popular, but then I also recommended you all listen to Closer when it first came out, so clearly, I have the mind of the masses.) (Not the literal MIND, because that would be weird and bee-like, but basically, if I like something it's a pretty good indication that the masses like that something too.) (It's very easy to sell me things in advertisements as well).

Sunday reading list: Baby Lion Sunny Pawar goes to a school function back home in Mumbai. ** "If" your boss was a cat. (My three are reminding me there are no bonus payments if their food is late.) ** Bollywood star kids think denial is just a river in Egypt. ** Layla The Ordinary gets a Book Riot shout-out in their list of YA books from India. (yay!) ** Fascinated by how we respond to "trendy colours." Millennial pink! That's what it's called! ** This article will make you itch. ** If women ruled the world, vintage feminist dystopian short story from India. ** This year one of my resolutions was to say "no" more. ** How to come to terms with your grandmother being a Nazi. ** This Doordarshan sex ed show is one of the most watched in India. **


Have a great week!
xx
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