The weekdays of 30 Sep and 1 Oct slid past together and it’s only on 2 Oct the realisation that a new month has dawned actually sank in. It helps that 2 Oct is a public holiday marking the birth anniversary of Gandhiji and this time it fell on a Friday. A long weekend to kick start a new month; Oct also marks the beginning of the shopping season for the upcoming festivals. Kids are studying for the mid-term exams while the parents make plans for the ensuing holidays and festivals. The newspapers are bedecked with festive offers and ads. It’s a busy time. The weather remains unpredictable with the skies radiating warm sun one minute and then soon enough the clouds gather for a sudden impromptu shower.

Friday, the morning walk was crowded; but the people soon settled to their accustomed walking paths avoiding others to the extent possible. A silver SUV drove down our apartment’s drive way and parked in the visitor’s car park. A lady emerged and began calling someone on her cell. Soon a family of three were seen trooping down our apartment; the father first, with a luggage bag and a backpack, the mother next carrying a large heavy brown paper shopping bag, carefully holding the bottom of the bag with one hand, looked like eatables and last the kid with a backpack. There were squeals of greeting between the two families and finally everybody settled in the SUV. They seem to be off for the weekend; travelling amidst the pandemic, maybe to a family farm house in the outskirts of the city, maybe a villa in some resort, maybe Goa…I looked on with envy. Three days holiday….

Friday evenings we have the local bakery Carnival Cakes and Breads visiting our apartment. It’s become a routine and we now have a standard list of items we buy. But they bring a new item every week and this week it was apple pie. It was nice; a scoop of vanilla ice cream would have made it even better😋 !!

Love their Punjabi samosas, two in a pack, the potato filling and the crunchy deep fried crust is yummy yummy.. 😋

Saturday mornings start late and always with tea and croissant, the latter bought from the Carnival people yesterday. It’s become a habit now. But today we have a seller of handicrafts visiting our apartment – Studio Oikos. Jaipur blue pottery is what they are selling, in addition to printed bed linen and other home decor items. Here’s a look !

The wooden wall panels they said were made up of sheesham wood with an inlay of camel bones, wood carved ones and there were even hand painted ones.

I bought a few of the wall plates, the colours were so vibrant and irresistible 😘!! I am a sucker for floral patterns but as per the sellers the animal prints were popular too !

So far, it’s been a good two days. Happy weekend everyone !!

Till next post, take care !!