Clutter-philia

I never create a mess. I just seem to attract some wherever I go.

If my opening lines have inspired images of me sitting in a dump of decomposing organic bits, hosting a wild party to them malaria carriers, hold on! I DO NOT mean that I’m dirty. Just that I might be a tad too messy. I feel very much at home amidst piles of unsorted papers and other knick-knacks. I also hate throwing away stuff. I am a hoarder!

Last night, I opened my wardrobe to pick out something to wear for the evening and that’s when it hit me, literally, when the mis-managed space decided to throw up on me: fresh, clean, detergent smelling, albeit crumpled, clothes, without a warning. “Why me!” I complained, “I need a walk-in closet”. “Your room’s a walk-in closet already”, said my friend. She suffers from the ‘keep it back in its place’ syndrome. I looked around my room and knew exactly what she’d meant.

My clothes are all over the place; the wardrobe is just an attempt to use up additional space to hide the embarrasment of excesses I’ve come to possess over the years. My shoes chart out a rather complicated dance routine on the floor. And my everthing else uses up the remaining space while my mattress coyly curls up in one corner.

At work, my desk and storage space multitask themselves for three people. I look at my work desk and see newspaper cuttings, three handbags, two water bottles, my PC, five CDs, four notebooks, some folders, a courier packet from the bank, a highlighter, a matchbox, two card folders, three magazines and a coster. I diligently clean up every week but I can’t help it; I attract mess. It is as simple as that. No mea culpa!

I’m gonna clean up again now. Keep everthing ‘back in its place’. Any guesses how long before square one??

Getting jiggy with it!

I have to say this. There’s nothing like bhangra on a saturday night!

My friends and I decided to hit the sex and the city party at Ice Bar last saturday. The bait was free Cosmopolitans for women in Jimmy Choos and my friends were very, very keen on a few glasses of the scarlet cocktail. There was a tiny hitch though (there’s always one, isn’t it?). None of us owns a pair! Come to think it, why would you want free alcohol if you can afford overpriced footwear??

Nevertheless, we thought we’d fake expensive. Poor, uncouth us! Couldn’t find anything that’ll quite fit the bill and decided that none of us is quite in the mood for a snooty night-out anyway. Taika it was! It was a rather terrific drive to the club, with me testing my driving skills, and my friends testing my tolerance to noise. We treated ourselves to an evening of three year old club tracks, mixed with some house, some hip hop and some kinda jungle music. It was nice to step out on a saturday night and be hip all over again:-) instead of gang-drowning our miseries in a few bottles of Royal Challenge whiskey, every single weekend.

Anyways, the night ended with a kick-ass bhangra track that got me jumpin! The thumkas are never as uninhibited as they are, when timed with the balle balle beats:-) Ari Ari made my weekend and we drove back. I didn’t even miss not making my weekly daaru quota…next saturday maybe?

 

 

House-hunting in paradise city

Ok, a disclaimer before I elaborate. I refer to Bangalore (or maybe Bengaluru?) in my title. For all you ‘outsiders’ nursing galvanised images of a slow-mo big town, where the weather’s never a bitch and people smile at each other from behind steering wheels, good for you!! And for all you lucky residents who’ve known the flip side of the coin, just remember that this is the only place in the country where catching up in a pub at 2.30 pm does not mean you are alcoholic.

My dad’s in town, to look for a house. I see the strong calling of roots in him so blatantly that I feel ashamed of my own indifference to my home-town (Delhi AND Bhadravati). Well, two decades spent in the wild wild north has gotten to my folks and they wanna move to the sweet wonderland of familiar tastes and sound. My mom’s been dreaming of a house with an XXL garden on the front, and a master bedroom with windows that can swallow the city. Considering that anything with a patch of green on the front (including a little bushel you wouldn’t really want) costs a bomb and a half, post the real estate multi boom, my family’s settled on the idea of a quaint little apartment overlooking a nice, homely lane in old Bangalore.

Well, my dad and I went house-hunting (part 2) today and Oh-My-God! The first flat was gorgeous..except for a little kink that all the windows opened out to the neighbour’s private quarters!

The second was a compact 3 bedroom apartment with a large kitchen bang in the middle of the living room:-) The third was a 15 year old cozy apartment in the heart of Malleswaram. Nothing wrong, but for an 8 by 8 living room and a 12 by 15 kitchen!!! What’s with that?????

The last one was a beautiful, well-ventilated apartment, with one of the best security systems I’ve seen in the city. It had a lovely garden running all around the complex, with a extra-spacious parking lot. Tastefully done interiors in teak would have taken my breath away, if I wasn’t trying not to breathe. The place was stinking of fresh cow dung, and oh yeah, was located right NEXT to a railway track!!!

My dad has good spiritedly added ‘nice smelling’ to his wishlist now, and the search is still on. Any leads??

PMS-ing

I am: Bina Emanvel
I think: I need a smoke break right now
I know: that I am PMS-ing
I want: to hit that guy honking behind my car!
I have: a very messy work desk and the mother of all bad-moods
I wish: I were in Barbados right now!
I hate: PMS-ing
I miss: spending hours doing nothing at Sheela, Manipal
I fear: the dark!
I feel: a little jobless right now
I hear: office banter, sound of the old AC, and also that my friend’s lost her toe-ring 
I smell: stale tea and smoke..help!
I crave: some more sleep everyday, and also some happy hormones
I search: for misplaced documents EVERDAY
I wonder: if I could PMS for a shorter time next month
I regret: being stupidly in love at 19!
I love: my family
I ache: when I lift weights without stretching!
I care: alot about gender equality!!
I am not: too pleasant right now!
I believe: Impossible is nothing!!!
I dance: wearing flats! high heels not too comfortable to jump around in
I sing: to myself and I sound great!!!
I cry: when I’m PMS-ing
I don’t always: offer to clean up the mess!
I fight: with a lot of passion! 
I write: coz I love to
I win: when I argue!
I lose: when i brawl!
I never: let my friends decide what I wear!
I always: have long term plans! Right now, its retirement at 25, hippie till 26, real estate till 30 and Barbados till 35!! 
I confuse: when I get verbose!
I listen: to music not as often as I’d like…
I can usually be found: wearing mis-matched clothes!
I am scared: of my plans failing, which they do, very often!
I need: a loooooong break! and also a painkiller
I am happy about: life! Its been very good to me

The big list

My friend/colleague/sutta partner tagged me on a rather interesting post. On brands! Maybe as a reminder of how brand-mad we are or maybe as a joke on how inactive my blog has been, I don’t really know. But I’ve fallen for it and will list down my branded life for today. Here we go!

Sony Ericsson phone

Ganjam ring

Etam innerwear

Westside Pyjamas

Oral-B toothbrush

Colgate toothpaste

Dettol handwash

Neutrogena face wash

Body Essentials loofah

Dove shower cream

Bombay Dyeing towel

Nike deodrant

Levi’s jeans

Lifestyle kurta

Rado watch

Roots hairbrush

Revlon kohl

Bodyshop lip balm

Maruti car

Westside bag

Lawrence & Mayo specs

Hanmer MS&L- employer

IBM PC

Royal Orchid Hotels- client

Underwriters Laboratories- client

Belle Sante- Client

Louis Vuitton card holder (fake)

3M post-its

ITC classic milds

Kingfisher beer

Sunfeast glucose biscuits

Red label tea

Nike slippers

WordPress blog

Facebook profile

 

Hence my list at 7 pm!