Today I renounce my shame. Today I come undone.

I read self-help and how to books, blogs and inspiration quotes on pinterest. I read them to seek help and benefit from them.

I read them to be better, to be less miserable. I read them between deliverables. Sometimes after meetings; meetings in which I had so much to say, but couldn’t; meetings where I tried a tad too hard. 
I read them after my friends update their vacation albums on facebook. I read it to understand myself better, to understand my roommate better. I read for a promising future and to comprehend the past. I read to unlearn what I grew up thinking was right, I read to learn the new right. I read them to be a better judge of right and wrong. I read to stop judging at all. I read to make sense of the world. I read to loosen up to the world. I read to accept and love myself the way I am. I read to be the woman I want to be.

I am a work in progress.

so long and thanks for all the rain, breeze, buffaloes, friends, fiery pickles, boulders, osmania cookies and yeah fish too.

Before I begin my tales of the new, I figured it would be only right to say the goodbyes to a city I had began to love.
First few months, rather the first year in Hyderabad was more forgettable than anything else. Well, apart from the view [about the view in a bit] from the best house I have ever lived in [that too for a steal]. The food – spicy, fiery, succulent, moist, robust – all at once. Yeah, and unimaginably cheap too. Water buffaloes. The no-traffic traffic. The then airport was thisclose. The rains. That year, it always rained. The weather was great. Not forgettable.
Onto the view. We were living in a small 2BHK penthouse portion of a big house [the landlord lived there with his family]. We had a huge terrace plus another roof-top terrace. 14 floors above the ground, with a view of a water body and bathing water buffaloes. It was splendid. It was particularly pretty during Diwali, Sankranti [imagine kites in all colors scooping the sky and then getting lost in the grey-orange sky], and every morning and evening.

Then we moved to another part of the city, the part where the well-heeled dwelled. We found our little space. I enjoyed part of the affluence that came free – beautiful roads, gardens and parks. The boulders. And oh my goodness, what boulders they were. They could come to life any moment and begin a war. A war that would protect you from all evils of the world. The sights and the sounds – bungalows built in between monster boulders, humming birds, pretty blooms in either sides of the streets. This is where neighbors became friends. Friends you would like to keep and meet. Long after you stopped being neighbors.
And those that came at a price gave me as much joy as spending money possibly could – quaint all-wood coffee shops. Grocery stores that I had previously read about, selling fruits, vegetables, spices and condiments, which I thought only Nigella had access to. Cake shop housed in a bungalow that wasn’t a shop at all, it was more like a cupcake gallery. Though currencies were involved, buying cakes sounds obscene. Brownie appreciation is more like it.

And as i reminisce, i need to snap back to all that's now, our things have arrived. there's work to be done. now is here.

nb. on unpacking my oven, i found an ant, surviving the 7-day journey on crumbs. plenty of crumbs. and i took the liberty to imagine the ant looked sad.

the first day jitters and blushes

no-haggle ride to first day at work: hundred and ten bucks.

hurried breakfast-on-the go: 60 bucks

casual yet formal ethnic wear from anokhi for that first impression: 1600 bucks

dkny watch to add just the right amount of chicness: 10000 bucks

last minute tea to calm the edgy nerves: 6 bucks

being mistaken for an intern: priceless