The Internet Personified: Look for the bare necessities
This morning--like every morning this week--I'm drinking a cup of cold brew coffee, which is basically coffee which sits in the filter overnight, percolating, till you have enough to stick in the fridge the next day. My experiments with cold brew have always been a little off, not enough pay off for all that work. I kept seeing these ads for Sleepy Owl everywhere, on my Instagram, Facebook, what have you, and they said they delivered cold brew in Delhi, so I thought what the hell and gave it a try. Excellent stuff, super strong so you do have to dilute it, and it comes in this box with a bag inside and a tap, very convenient. Each box has about twelve glasses in it so it should last you about a week, especially because since it's so strong, you need to dilute each one. (I drink my coffee very dark indeed, so I'm no wimp.) 500 bucks and rapid delivery, so all in all, worth it. I'm giving my DIY cold brew one more try, now I know what it SHOULD taste like, and if that fails, I'm just going to keep getting Sleepy Owl for the rest of the summer. (Incidentally, Sleepy Owl is a terrible name for a coffee company. They should have called it Perky Pigeon or something.)
Anyway! Hope you all had a great weekend. I did--I did some cultural stuff (more on that below) and visited a friend in Gurgaon where we ate Japanese food (ditto) and bought some books and did some reading, so all in all, pretty great. Monday is just an easier day to send this to you guys, because by the time my exciting Sunday thing happens that I want to tell you all about, it's late and I'm tired. So.. Monday? Monday? Okay.
This week in make up: I've never been much of a make-up person, and I don't think I am still, but lipstick and eye stuff have always been fun to mess around with. You can look so dressed up and fancy, just by putting some lipstick on, it's like magic. So, I bought some liquid matte stuff by a brand called Sugar, which is apparently also the name of some fancy brand in the US, but I assure you, this stuff is reasonably cheap. I bought it in a shade called Burgundy, which is not QUITE burgundy, but dark, deep red so very 1950s siren, which is the look I like anyway. It does not budge. Not with eating, not with drinking, not after an evening where you talk a lot. It only comes off, and that too with a lot of heaving after you rub coconut oil (or your choice of make up remover) on your face and do a lot of scrubbing. If you're going to invest, remember to a) exfoliate your lips first with a dry toothbrush and b) put on your lip balm about five minutes before so it soaks in. The lipstick can be very drying, so you need the moisture. OH ALSO, use a beeswax-based lip balm not oil as apparently the oil can interfere with the matte-ness. This sounds like a lot of work, but actually it's damn easy once you get the hang of it.
This week in the movies: Two movies on back-to-back days this week, I'm feeling quite pleased with myself and my commitment to the Cinema. The first was Anarkali Of Aarah, which, you guys, was SO fun. Like, a feisty, feminist Bollywood movie with great music, no Amitabh Bachchan swooping in to save the day, just this one girl (played brilliantly by Swara Bhaskar) and shit that happens to her and how she tries to fight back. This column by Paromita Vohra reviewing it says everything I felt.
Then I went for Lion, which was so sad and sweet, that the ushers who had come in to watch bits were weeping, my mum sitting next to me was weeping, the whole cinema was weeping, except me, and I don't really cry at movies, though I did feel my throat swelling with emotion. Very nice film, and with a happy ending too, so watch for some sentiment.
This week in culture: We liked Oddbird so much the time I did a reading there that when we had to meet friends this weekend, K suggested we go there again. It's pretty much the only theatre in Delhi where you can drink, and carry your drinks in to the stage area as well. This time we watched a classical pianist called Sahil Vasudeva who combined his music with his Delhi dudebro life quite well. I thought it was very interestingly done, although my companions were a bit more skeptical. After the concert, we hung out at Oddbird till they kicked us out. Very fun.
This week in stuff I wrote: Aunty Feminist this fortnight on the Great Adult Checklist and how to ignore it.
This week in books and reading: Ploughing through my to-be-read pile, I had to go add more books to it at the Friendicoes Yard Sale. The Yard Sale is a more or less annual thing and I'm always happy to go and show my support because it's SHOPPING for a GOOD CAUSE so you can feel all noble as you bow to your own inner consumer. Anyhow I bought a bunch of books: My Salinger Year, The Female Eunuch, Vagina, The Love Affairs of Nathanial P, Early Warning and Kipling's Tales From India. Not content with this, I also nipped into a bookstore and bought Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey, this self-published bestselling book of POETRY. POETRY. Can you imagine? By some obscure Canadian/Indian poet. I'm enjoying it though, Kaur is young, but her poems are taut, with a lovely twist of the word here and there and if you read them at one go, they unfold as a memoir sort of. (Also from the Yard Sale, a set of serving/cereal bowls and a cocktail jug, which K uses as a large teapot.)
This week in TV: Fleabag! So funny, so dark, so British. On Amazon Prime, six episodes, about thirty minutes each so not even that much investment.
Monday morning reading list: I'm formatting this as an actual LIST this time, let me know if you prefer this or the old way where the links were separated by ***
1) In the Ladies Finger, when liberal men can be just as misogynistic as everyone else. Worse, even.
2) Praying to the gods in India's visa temple, which works even post Trump.
3) Walking a dog and birdwatching in Bangalore.
4) "My lips purse, like a cat’s arse that’s brushed against nettles." This is the most brutal food review I've ever read, and we all love bad reviews, so this is has been shared a zillion times of course.
5) How does a centaur eat may not seem like a problem you've ever thought of but it's really quite fascinating if you break it down.
6) Dating in Beijing and being called "Indian princess." Ick.
7) The story behind the owner of my nearest and best stocked bookstore: Midlands.
8) Ten great short stories about cats.
9) Speaking of cats, Harper Collins India is now letting employees take "peternity" leave. (The article says "pawternity" but my pun is better/less obvious.)
10) Data on young India shows that the country is actually going to be kinda fucked in 2040.
11) Eunuch mothers and their daughters. Sweet story I discovered after that Vicks ad everyone's talking about.
Have a great week!
xx
m