Celebrated on 18 April, it started off as “International Day for Monuments and Sites” and after approval from UNESCO in 1983, it was made popular as World Heritage Day. 2021 World Heritage Day theme is “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures” This would be the apt title for our Indian heritage – it’s complex! The history text…
Iftar special recipe 🥥
Back in Kochi, in our second rented apartment, our immediate neighbours were Muslims. One evening, during the second half of the fasting month of Ramadan, the lady of the house rang our door bell and asked for two plates and two bowls. Why I asked? To give us some of their Iftar food, she said….
Memorable Easter brunch 🥂
Easter was last Sunday (4 Apr); we had cousins over for brunch and here’s a glimpse of the spread. Why am I writing a week after Easter? Because things didn’t go as per plan and it’s the little surprises along the way that make the occasion memorable 😌. So let’s start with the menu –…
POTD: A moment in memory
This would be a familiar picture for many. Any guesses !? I do not know if it is still there; this was an exhibit at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. We were there in 2017 👉Singapore Day #2: ArtScience Museum, Gardens by the Bay & Marina Bay Sands I don’t remember seeing any…
Seasons in the Hills 🌲🌸
April-May is school vacation; schools close for the summer and families plan to escape the heat and head for the hill stations⛰. Our routine in Kerala for several years was to hop into our car and drive to my parents home. The kid and grandparents are ecstatic to see each other and I am happy…
Equwise: Mindful beginning to FY 22 🗓
It’s already 7 April. The first week flew past mainly due to Good Friday and Easter; fasting and feasting🥂. March was year end and that pressure from work is over. And before we start making vacation plans, it is a good time to take stock of our individual balance sheet; to see whether we have…
POTD: Champa ❀❀
A reference to the Champa is found in almost all books Indian. It’s sweet scent is what attracts the pen “From across the road, the dense heavy scent of the champak wafts in.” writes Anita Nair about her home in Bangalore in the book Goodnight and God Bless 👉A charming slice of life 🍰📖 I…
POTD: Jacaranda 💜
If there is one common theme that threads the nostalgic memoirs of Bangaloreans, it has to be the flowering trees of the Garden City 🌳. Among the plethora of trees in Bangalore, two are always fondly recalled – the Jacaranda and the Champa. I had no clue what the Jacaranda looked like….until now. It’s flowers…
Tabebuia bloom in Bangalore 🌸🌸
At first I thought they were Cherry Blossoms; but no, they are Tabebuia and more correctly Tabebuia rosea marked by the clusters of baby pink trumpet shaped flowers🌸. And with each breeze they shower the sidewalks and the dividers along the roads, weaving a carpet of powdery pink. But the pink is so light that…
The Diversity Trap – A Double Whammy🧑💼👩💼 (guest post)
In today’s corporate world Diversity and Inclusion are the trending buzz words at the higher echelons of Senior and Top Management. There are many studies done on the advantages of bringing in Diversity but today, I would like to call out the shortcuts used by companies to achieve Diversity and the inevitable Diversity Trap that…
POTD: Sweet and in season 🍇
Sunday mornings we have a local vegetable seller set up shop at the apartment complex. And today he had grapes, the slender, seedless green variety. Sweet !! As Ruskin Bond reminded fruits are a compensation for the summer heat. 😎 To know which fruit is in season, you just have to look at the push…
Tourist in my city 👒
I never imagined I will call Bangalore as my city. Kochi has always been my city simply because it is where my home is – a house of my own. Hubs definition of home is different; he plays to the gallery. He was asked once in our family WhatsApp group by my cousins on his…
Summer delights 🍹
” Some compensations of summer: Shade, and an iced drink. Laziness. Siesta. A cool breeze. Wearing as few or whatever clothes as one likes. The exquisite shock from a bucket of cold water. And the fruit, the fruit! “ – Ruskin Bond in A Little Book of Serenity 🌸 A homemade lime mint cooler with…
POTD: A quirky bunch
A vase from Ikea, a wine bottle, a tea pot and a sugar bowl. A quirky bunch, but they sit in perfect harmony on the kitchen counter housing the money plants🌿. I like them.
Equwise: Investing in IndiGrid InvIT⚡️
In prior posts, I had mentioned InvITs, they are a close cousin of REITs, with the difference being in the nature of the assets owned by the trust. While REITs invest in income generating real estate assets; InvITs hold income generating infrastructure assets – there are two currently listed in India – the IRB InvIT and IndiGrid…
Back to Summer ☂️🌞
The gardeners are giving a close crop to the plants around the apartment; new flower beds are being planted. Early mornings are still cool, though the people out and about for their morning power walk have shed their jackets and hoodies. The days are bright and sunny, the afternoon heat lingers into the evenings. The…
The perfect muse to (or not) travel 🧚
I stumble into books; this one was an accidental discovery in an in-flight magazine; on their list of the five best books on travel and it was the first one the list. I remember watching Alain De Botton on YouTube once and I was very curious on what he has to say on travel. I…
POTD: Towel Art 🐘 (guest pic)
☺☺☺☺☺ Have a nice day ! Till next post, take care !!
POTD: Delirious in the desert 🏜
A smile from yesteryear can being a smile today too ! A memory from the desert safari in Dubai in March 2018. 👉Marhaba Dubai: The Desert Safari. It was a holiday with my college friends. The lady putting the henna designs was charging Dhs. 30 per hand. Immediately, my friend and I worked out the…
Hampi Chronicles: Last glance 🌅
It was close to 5:00 pm by the time we finished with the sights at the Vitthala temple complex. There were buggy rides ferrying people from the Vitthala temple to the car park, driving along the length of the 1 km long bazaar or Chariot street. People were standing in queue waiting for the rides,…
