The Internet Personified: Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
This is my LAST WEEKEND in Goa. Can you believe it? Luckily, I have also "missed" my least favourite month (September) (Do I have a list ranking months in preferential order? Indeed I do: December, February, August, October, March, November, April, January, June, May, July, September. I also have a days of the week one, but lets leave some surprises for later.) and when I say "missed" I mean "missed in Delhi." It's like when people say, "You'll miss your birthday" if you're out of town on that event and you're thinking, "Well, I'LL still be at my birthday." Anyhow, it's all very sad: my LAST WEEKEND, but also? I'm too much of a city kid to not be excited to be in the midst of things again. All my mod cons! Delivery! Uber cabs! Restaurants you have to dress up to go to! (blech.) Also three cats who have been waiting for me (not really, they've happily swapped us out for the friend who's been staying at ours).
Reports on wardrobe experiments: Remember how I told you I only bought seven dresses with me. Well, I actually wore only those seven items of clothing (plus a few t-shirts and shorts) and I wore them until I was super intimate with all the fabric and the way each one fit, and I'm fairly sure these dresses (except one I still love) are going to the back of a cupboard somewhere NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. Heartily sick of them, but also proud of self for sticking to it. Totally makes up for falling off the smoking wagon again--but hey, I learned to roll my own cigarettes, so at least I'm a hippy about it.
This week in food and drink: One evening, K and I, wandered off towards Vagator beach and stumbled into the first bar that looked like it was full of people. (The only bar that was full of people.) This was Under The Mango Tree, average food and full of loud English people, but eh, at least it was lively. I also liked my drink: The Salty Dog--vodka, grapefruit juice, lime and a salt rim, but hey, salt rim = SOLD.
Lila Cafe, which we have been to before, but not for lunch. Nice and quick. I had the water buffalo ham (made in house) just because I was curious and K had the goulash with... a sort of German noodle whose name I have forgotten. Both very nice and quick, but they're okay with you lingering over your meal as well.
This week in stuff I wrote: In my relationship column on having a gang and mixing your friends circles. ** As Aunty Feminist on how to talk to men about feminism and avoiding the dreaded #NotAllMen. **
Throwback book of the week: Had a bit of a classics revival after watching Clueless again, and decided to read Emma. Which I realised, after reading, I'd actually never read before. I have a huge gap in my Austens: haven't read Sense and Sensibility or Persuasion either, so those are next. They're all FOR FREE on the Kindle store, so it takes like a minute to acquire them. Anyway, after reading Emma I decided to watch the 1996 movie version starring Gwyneth The Goop Paltrow, which so irritated me that I turned it off and moved to watching Jane Eyre on Netflix instead. Jane Eyre is a book I discovered at age 8, when a classmate loaned me her abridged version and I have been in love with it ever since. The movie version is fantastic too, Jane is just as you'd imagine her: poor and plain but sassy, Mr Rochester is Michael Fassbender, and the moors are moor-y. (Another gap in my reading list: Wuthering Heights). Rochester is far more brooding-sexy than Darcy, but their flirtation left me a bit cold.
TV show of the week: (My friends have a smart TV with Netflix on it, so a lot of our Goa nights are spent in front of it) (hey, whatever floats your boat, right? RIGHT?) Drop Dead Diva where a thin beauty pageant type dies and thanks to a mix-up in heaven is transferred into the body of a smart fat lawyer. Lots of cases of the week, and lots of thoughtfulness on the subject of being a plus sized person in a world that admires skinny people. I'd recommend it: all six seasons are now streaming on Netflix.
Song of the week: Oldie but a goodie, Karunesh's remix of Aao Huzoor Tumko, pretty much my mood right now.
Reading list: Nisha Susan on Lionel Shriver's famous speech. ** A 2015 story on Auroville, a community I've been fascinated by for ages. ** Goa parties from the 70s through the 90s, very fun Facebook album. ** Anuja Chauhan on being a new mum in Gurgaon ** Newslaundry is all eyebrows-raised at the Quint's "scoop." **
All right! Next week: dispatches from Delhi again. Have a great week!
xx
m
PS: Enable images to see the awesome .gifs I put in this newsletter every week. They're fun!