Sometimes this

Though my staple read would be fiction, sometimes I like reading profound stuff like what Thiruvalluvar wrote. While I don't understand the pure Tamil verses, the translation in English helps.

Courting the food

An exclusive food-court and gaming zone in the city - food was pretty decent, yet to try out the bowling alley :)

Horticulture Exhibition 2010

This exhibition supposed to be the largest in India is on from 26 Jan to 30 Jan on Necklace road - a wide ranging specimen of plants, trees, seeds and agro products. I managed to go there yesterday morning with Atri in tow, used his stroller to dump all the goodies I bought from there and it was great that they had helping hands with large bamboo baskets to carry all the pots one buys, for a small fee.

My shopping bag / basket in the end had -

• Bulbs of Dahlias and Liliums
• Four types of succulents
• Marjoram
• Geranium plant
• Aloe Vera plant
• Manure
• Pots and saucers
• Brochures
• Soya pasta
• Soya noodles
• Udad dal
• Tur dal
• Udad dal vadis
• Button mushrooms 1/2 kg
• Organic dried oyster mushrooms

I was looking for more herbal plants like lemongrass, thyme etc. which I did not find. We got to see some fine specimens of cabbage, cauliflower and varieties of squash like pattypan, which I'm seeing in India for the first time.
More about this exhibition here.

Sari stacks

Visited the Numaish - 2010 with my neighbour aunty, and boy, what an experience - even for a Bombay girl it was an overwhelming experience - 3 hours of walking and we hardly covered a fraction of the 2500 stalls - and the crowds - what do I say - this happens only in India.

This picture was from a stall of the Bengal cottons - what weaves and what colours - absolutely brilliant - if I did not have two dozen sarees dying to be used in my wardrobe, i'd have gone ahead and bought some. On second thoughts, I might go back on a weekday and buy a couple - especially one off white and gold, and a traditional Bengali red!

Adding two more pics for Indian saree lovers...

(click on the pics for a larger version)

This exhibition is on for some more days in Hyderabad, so if you are here, then do make it a point to visit this.

An article in The Hindu about this exhibition.

My pet cat...

...stealing the milk in the morning

Winding beauties

I mean both the wrought iron staircase and the creeper :)
Loved the green sandwiched between the blue railing and the blue sky!

Precious light

 In a house where sunlight is so rare and precious, I love these little spots of warmth and now I know when each spot actually lights up in the morning. This in total contrast to our high rise apartment in Bombay where I would have gladly worn my darkest glares at home - yeah it was that bad that it turned me photo-phobic.
The blue you see on the side is the railing put up due to construction in the neighbouring plot.

Badam Ghar

It's funny how S's friends love to spoil us with these high calorie irresistibly good sweet stuff...In Bombay it used to be Anda loading us with pure ghee sweets from Tewari Bros and here it was another friend getting us these Kaju Katli from Badam Ghar / Almond House. They even have an online shop, check it out here.

Sweet light

West Bengal's glazed terracotta diffuser - spreading the fragrance of jasmines in the morning air. Inspired by A to start using it, as the numerous bottles of essential oil are fast evaporating sitting in the cupboard!

Block-printing neighbour

It feels wonderful to see freshly block printed fabrics in a different colour every morning hanging in the neighbouring backyard - what lovely shades of red and pink!

*Pic taken from my phone as I feel kinda odd poking my camera's zoom into the neighbour's house :P

A broken fridge magnet...

...found it's place on the dining table for a while - now it's back to where it belongs - thanks to Feviquick!

Non-paying guests...

...in a corner of Atri's room

Baby socks

Light filter

Canary yellow porous curtains for a room that doesn't receive much sunlight

The toy basket

A top view of Atri's toy basket - just felt nice looking at the riot of colours

La Cantina

Post-birthday celebrations continue with dinner at this place with a lovely ambience.

Sweet wishes

One of the two cakes S got me for my birthday :)

Fresh

The satisfaction of doing small things by myself, sometimes....

China remembering Dinah

Shaky picture and a marvelously steady voice of China Moses as she sang one after another soulful number remembering the Queen of Blues - Dinah Washington.

Jan 10 - China Moses and the Raphael Lemonnier Quartet - Bonjour India festival, Hyderabad

Dobet Gnahore

8 Jan, 2010 - Our first concert with Atri - Dobet Gnahore performing as a part of the Bonjour India festival in Hyderabad on the lawns on Taj Banjara. Lovely night and magical performance - had the crowds swaying to a completely unknown language proving that if the music is good, language is no barrier

Grey area

The resident black cat commando of the building rubs himself on the concrete, under the neighbour's clothes line.

Yellow, brown and green

Colours from a wonderful neighbourhood restaurant where we went lunching with my parents

A collection of blue

Just a capture of all blue things that had gathered together on our dining table - all by chance!

Blue carton of aluminium foil, empty bottle of Blue Label, blue lid of biscuit dabba, blue cotton placemats and table cloth and my favourite bottle of Body Shop Oceanus lotion ;)