The Internet Personified: Such a feeling's coming over me
My last dispatch from Delhi in 2016. Tomorrow night we go off to Goa for the rest of the year. Such a final note: "the rest of the year." December is my favourite month, but it's also the end-month, and for me, in many different ways. I turn 35 on the 13th, which means I've taken another circle around the sun, my "early thirties" are well and truly behind me. And yet, I don't feel 35. When someone asks my ages, I always begin, "I'm thirty.... four." I wonder how old I have to be to finally feel as old as I am.
This week in birthday presents: Since Goa is not exactly known for varied shopping (it might be? but not in the small village we call home) K bought me my present a little early. (With the understanding that I have something small to open on the day of, obvs. "Even a pretty rock," I told him. What is a birthday without presents?) It's a set of boxing mitts and pads to practice on, making it a twosome activity, where I punch, and he holds out the pads, and I get rid of all my inner rage. What inner rage? Oh, anger at some social media slight, pure annoyance at some dudes on the road who cut off my car with theirs, irritation with slow services, the rage is all there, and my punching helps get it out. (And work up a good sweat.)
Incidentally, for the last three years, K's birthday presents to me have been health/fitness related. Last year: an air purifier and a gas mask. Year before, a thermal hoodie and Puma sneakers. I? I give him stuff he asks for--mostly electronics. A Bluetooth speaker, a bluetooth mouse. A Kindle.
Also, I went shopping with my mother and my aunt to buy me some new dresses and we went to Fabels, FabIndia's western wear label, which has really nice things, just a little too pricey for me to buy myself. There, I bought a gorgeous black dress and a long georgette-y mustard coloured one. Both maxis. I can't find either of them online to show you a link, but they're both gorgeous and really flattering. I love new clothes. Now to fit my entire summer wardrobe into one suitcase.
This week in weather: I love this time of the year in Delhi, it's just cold enough to feel like Real Winter, and not so cold that you're shivering as soon as you leave your bed. For people who work from home, like us, we're not THAT badly affected by the pollution, the sun slants across our balcony, the cats bask by the flowerpots, I'm pulling out my beloved red trench coat and long boots, drinking endless cups of green tea and hot chocolate at nights, snuggled under my Jaipur razai, a book always close by, a cat willing to slip into my lap and warm me with his motoring purrs. It's quite blissful. I heart winter. And I'm also really glad to be leaving before the fog and the cold and MORE cold set in.
Throwback bars of the week: Having downloaded the Walnut app to check for ATMs around me (ARGH DEMONETISATION, I HATEEEE ITTTT I HATEEEE ITTTTT) I wound up not using that feature of the app so much, but it turned to also be a personal finance planner. Which is something I need desperately, since every few months, I'm like, "Where did all my money go?" Walnut checks your SMSes and tallies how much you spent on different parts of your life. My biggest expense last month turned out to be food and drink, and I didn't even go out that much, so I was puzzled. Clicked on the pie chart for a break down and it turns out I spent all my food and drink money on TWO trips to Perch, which is a wine bar I love, but sadly, might be too expensive for my tastes. At least, for regular drinking. I decided to actively cut down on fancy places, as gorgeous as they might be, so the next time someone suggested meeting for a drink (and I didn't feel like just a "home scene") I said we should go to 4S, my beloved from back in the day. I love it still, and here's why: 6 drinks, one snack later, grand total = 965 bucks. (which my friend totally bought for me, so hey.) (It's hard to get in because it's so popular and cheap, so here's how you game it: go on a Tuesday, everyone hates Tuesdays, lots of empty tables or if you must meet on a weekend, go before 8 pm so you can grab a prime spot. After 10 and all bets are off. People tend to linger.)
And then, inspired by this cheapness, when other friends suggested we go out, I said we should try TC in Adchini. (Which is also right next door to me and I walked there in ten minutes.) Guys, we had THIRTY drinks, thirty three if you count the person not drinking the Old Monk-in-ten-shots pitcher they sell for about 800 bucks, two snacks, and our total was about six thousand. For four people. If our very kind friend again (hey Sam!) had let us pay, it would have been 1500 each, which is cheap for a night where we've all had ten drinks each. Ugh, such a hangover the next day. (They have a great karaoke night too, again get there earlier than 9 for the best of the music + no loud heavy metal.)
For more cheap drinks, read this article in ScoopWhoop the other day (which really seems to be upping their content from just boring listicles!) on the best cheap/reasonable bars in Delhi, which I bookmarked too.
Throwback Book Of The Week: In The Light Of The Black Sun by Rohit Manchanda and English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee. I've arranged my bookshelves by genre, which makes it easy to find and re-read old favourites. This week, I've been plundering my Indian Writing in English (IWE) shelf. In The Light Of The Black Sun never got as much love as it deserved, and it deserves so much. It's a sort of Swami and Friends set in the 70s or 80s, with the story of a little boy growing up in a small Bihari coal mining town. The whole thing is just the stuff he gets up to, but woven together into this poignant coming-of-age tale that will speak to everyone. Read it!
And in more small town, English, August is basically the little boy from the last book grown up and posted to a small town (not literally. Different character, of course.) and is one of the best novels of an IAS officer's early career that you will read. It's also brilliantly, subversively funny, as this dude, Agastya aka August, smokes pot, masturbates and drinks his way through the stupor of his Madna posting. It also reminds me of somebody I used to know back in the day, and I remember going to this guy's house and he had just woken up from an afternoon nap after reading English, August and he looked at me with bloodshot, startled eyes and said, "Oh god, I dreamt I was in Madna with him." That kind of book.
I can't put up Amazon links to either of these because I'm scared Tiny Letter will block my email again, but search and you will find.
This week in legal TV: (Which is TV that I watch legally, not, um, the other stuff which I totally don't watch at all) The Night Of and High Maintenance (oh also Cosmos!). The first two on Hotstar, which is not as pretty as Netflix, nor as user friendly, but has a great selection. All the newest stuff. The Night Of is an HBO drama over eight episodes about this Pakistani-American guy who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then he's arrested, and we go through the entire American justice system. Can't say any more because I'll give it away, but it is BRILLIANT and made me stay up past my new eleven pm bedtime. (What? I love sleeping. Just call me Kumbhaminna.)
High Maintenance started off as a short web series (which you should watch, because they're fifteen minutes each and easy watching, like M&Ms. Here's a link. ) which HBO bought and has turned into a half-an-hour per episode show. It's about this bicycling pot dealer in New York (known just as "The Guy") who delivers pot to various hipsters. The show's about his customers, really, not him, a slice of life from each, and a different one each episode.
Cosmos, you probably already know of, if you're a science-y type, but is also quite fun. Scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson hosts and each episode, you learn a different factoid about science and history or space and stuff. Very engaging and will leave you smarter. Totally not too dense, I promise.
Reading list: Mallory Ortberg is a treasure, and here she is with a Gilmore Girls parody. ** Ivanka Trump is still a Trump, don't be taken in by her shiny (oh SO shiny) blonde hair. ** Hate the headline for making it sound so scurrilous, but love this story. Also, woot, Lovedale shout-out! ** We domesticated animals, and they domesticated us. ** MORE GILMORE: Sad Rory Gilmore, but confirms my (and Mitchum Huntzberger's theory) that she's just not made to be a great journalist. ** Lotsa Buzzfeed: 100 Very British Tweets, India in 40 Amul ads. ** What to do with "good white people"? ** ARCHIE AND MISS GRUNDY? MAKE IT STOPPPPPP (who am I kidding? I will watch the hell out of this show.) ** 52 things I learned in 2016. **
Have a great week!
xx
m
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