Friday 20 December 2013

Food For Thought and Fatness




It should not come as a surprise to anyone that I have a major thing for food. Like looooove love.Sweet love. Comforting love.Passionate love.At times even obsessed love. Just as how all true love should be.But it always has been on par with fashion and things. I loooove things too. Wanting things. Buying things. Wearing things .Those two right there, food and fashion, have been the greater occupations of my not-so-lengthy-BUT-feels-like-a-hundred-years life.It's this very same affection for these two great loves of mine that has given birth to constant altercation in my mind between having yum or looking yum.
Up until a few months ago, i'd say both positions were equal winners (or equal losers; depends which glass-looking variety you are) but now I feel one side emerging stronger.

Food.




Why do i say that? well in the last month, month and a half or so i've had about 4-5 opportunities to ask people to bring my stuff from various places in the world; namely-Dubai, Toronto, Montreal and New York. Between these four places, i could have pretty much asked for whatever my heart and whims desired.We're talking jackets,moleskin notebooks, tops, and shoes. Shoes especially are the easiest go to, please-get items for me. One can never have enough of them, and there can never ever be enough to the number i fall in love with regularly. At least that is how it always was. This time around though, I don't know know what is was, whether it was the constant dressing up for weddings which has left me feeling no excitement for what i shall wear on so and so day, or whether Zara offered too many of those flat, masculine, pointy black boots that I just can't say yes to. Whatever the case maybe it seemed my heart, and whims only desired food. For everyone coming I had one and ONLY one request: please bring me food.
Was i being starved by my family? Had we fallen on hard times? by God's amazing grace, no and no.

Yet I asked for food. Goat's cheese. Choco-almond croissants. Frozen dinner rolls (seriously?). Caramel Kisses. Double-stuf oreos (hello, obesity!). Chocos- the cereal that is only available in the Middle East, with no phoney pretences of being all fibrey and healthy.




Excuse me a moment for freaking out but WHAT IS THAT? Have i turned into a pig and not even realized it? Am i the new-age cookie monster? Am i in some sort of depression that i do not even know about that? Am i masking feelings of insecurity and i dunno whatever other feelings that need to be masked by gorging on the yums? Houston, do we have a problem?
 To be honest when I realized this a few days ago, i actually felt a little good about it. I fathomed myself to be on the road towards asceticism.You know...worldly things be damned, simple wanderer life style,peace and contentment, buddha style and all that jazz.  However, as i found myself perched cross-legged (buddha stye!) on the kitchen counter at 5 am eating a carb-laden choco-almond croissant for no good reason, i realized i wasn't on the path to becoming less worldly, rather, i was on the path to becoming more fleshy- or as you and I commonly refer it- a moti bhains (TA).
Who in their right minds, and sensibly sized jeans asks for food when somebody is coming bahir se? and even if you do, it's only as a last-minute, get if you can, i.e i don't really want it, but lets be greedy still, kinda way. Not like me: 'please, please, please, get me goat's cheese' as though my life's joy depended on it (Which it did and amazingly enough, of the three people I asked for this, not a single one got it for me. And its the only thing i truly wanted. Its also the only thing with lots of protein in it and is not a representative of foods to avoid on an average day).


Thus this crazy person rant. Perhaps its good, because for the first time i felt like writing here in months, so perhaps it's pushed me out of my block, and maybe i'll write more. But lets face it, none of these two-bit silver linings can ever be a good enough excuse to be a you-know-what. 

I'd love to say  that i have come back to my social senses and all the above mentioned food items are now up for grabs so get in touch if interested, but sadly- that is not to happen. I cannot in good consciousness discard presents brought by loved ones from such great distances. Which also means,i ain't in no mood to part with them, and am still have every intention to eat. BUT slowly. Over a spans of months (God willing). With lots of elliptical and fasting in between(God extra-willing). Let's just hope that my reigning love is kind to me and my jeans (God extra,extra,willing).







Tuesday 12 March 2013

Gone Girl



So I just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn last night.
I'm sure most of you have heard about it; I know I've been hearing about it since last year "its amazing, its ahhmazing, you have to" ...you know the drill.




Well, they were right.
Its too much fun, and like really really on point at some times. There are points where you completely relate with the main characters; you'll be in their stream of consciousness, hearing their thoughts and will think 'ohmygod, thats exactly what I think', and for a moment you'll feel understood- then the chaacters will go on to do something so twisted that you'll question whether that's your future; are you capable of being that ---------? ( Fill in the blank, it really can be a multitude of things and I don't want to give too much away).




Its a great read- let's just start with that. You can read it in a night if you have the time. Seriously; I don't see why anyone would put it down if they don't have to- its a roller coaster ride.
The novel starts off on the fifth year anniversary of Amy and Nick , who are both very beautiful people- the author never lets us forget that. Things between the two seem tense, but since its their anniversary both are making efforts to just be okay- and then viola; while Nick goes to work, Amy disappears. Just like that.

I could go deeper into the plot, but don't want to ruin the story for you guys; since the plot is one of the strongest points of the book. You really want to know what happens. Another strength of the book is the dual narrative. We get to hear both Nick and Amy's side of the story so you can sort of understand where they both are coming from- and each narrative makes you switch sides, from Nick to Amy, Amy to Nick. This points to what a great storyteller Flynn is, and her adeptness in masterfully executing psychological portraits of her characters in a way that they resonate with the reader in a profoundly unsettling way.  

The author is also able to give a very real picture of people and relationships, the many layers they adopt to seem likable to a person,and what happens when those layers shed- and you go back to being who you are. What happens in a marriage when that happens. You see how, these people come with their own backgrounds, their own individual baggage- and are seemingly perfect and amazing in love. Fast forward a few years, and some real-life problems like losing jobs, recession, ailing parents, moving - you know, real life shit, and they don't know what to do with themselves or each other. Its how the novel starts actually, I think Nick says that he thinks this often about his wife " Who are you…what have we done with each other ?" .

“Can you imagine, finally showing your true self to your spouse, your soul mate, and having him not like you? So that's how the hating first began"

Also, additionally the book is full of great quotes. the writing is pretty great.  Its not like a literary classic or anything, but it has great colloquial gems; thoughts which are very 21 century ( we're still in the 21st right?) and you read them and think, true life. Case in point:

"A lot of people lacked that gift: knowing when to fuck off."

Find yourself nodding in agreement and saying/ thinking 'that's true' ? well that's what I'm talking about.I also love this one- its twisted romantic, cos you know just simple romantic doesn't fit in the postmodern era we live in.

“Because you can't be as in love as we were and not have it invade your bone marrow. Our kind of love can go into remission, but it's always waiting to return. Like the world's sweetest cancer.” 

The only time that I felt okay this book has gone to far is with the Desi Collings character. He was just to creepy- and you're like why did she need to bring in a caricature of a character, when the others are so fleshed out and uniquely gray? They're so human- their thoughts, their intentions their insecurities- they're all live, pulsing blood; like you and me. Then you have one of those characters walk in who seems sooooo 2D  that you get annoyed that the author; who indulged in you so much up till now , has thrown this convenient oddball in your face. That's just me though; my colleague insists that paki men are quite a bit like that in many ways. Perhaps, but its just that the convenience of it all was too much to take. You see the depiction of the main characters, their relationship, and the psychological drama behind it all is so real that you crave the same kind of realism in all other aspects of the novel as well. At least for me that's the case. Which is possibly the reason that I, unlike most people quite liked how it ended. Khair, let's not go into the ending; I really would hate to ruin it for anyone.

Anyway, go read read read! Its time really well spent, and lemme know what you think.




Wednesday 30 January 2013

A Story for the Saps.


There was once a boy and a girl , who met under the most ordinary circumstances.
The girl took an instant liking to the boy; something about his voice she said. 
The boy- we'll never know.They developed a regular communication over a short period of 
time that always treaded closely on the borders of both friendship and flirtation, but the 
girl being inexperienced in such matters took it for something entirely different,which it never 
was . Their 'friendship' (for the lack of a better word) was nurtured regularly for many 
months, until it became sporadic due to no particular reason- much to the girl's befuddlement 
and distress. Through the course of time they both became involved in their own separate 
lives and their relationship seemingly came to a halt.
Sometime later, they rekindled their friendship. Awkward at first, over time they developed 
a deep bond, where they entrusted each other with small, but entertaining secrets about 
themselves.  The relationship had become entirely platonic, with semi-regular occurrences
of seemingly innocent flirtation that remained unexplored to a large extent. 
As things progressed, they found themselves enjoying each other's company more and more. 
Flirtatious banter and suggestive remarks became increasingly regular, yet they 
convinced themselves that it was just the nature of their friendship. There was nothing more 
to it.
One fine day, the weight and simmer of everything said and unsaid became too much to bear. 
The tipping point, if you will.They found themselves entering unchartered territory and raring 
to explore. It was perhaps the culmination of everything that had happened since the day they
had met. The unfortunate part of the tale is that this incident transpired under not so
pleasant circumstances that only became more unsatisfactory as time proceeding their tryst
 progressed.
Things were never the same again.
Upon inquiry, the girl mused that it was as if the two of them would visit a house with 
two rooms.They would stay in one, and almost not even acknowledge the presence of the other 
room while knowing all along that it was right there. Eventually they found themselves treading 
closer and closer to the door that connected to the other room , until they had finally entered it one day.
After that, it was just not possible for them to visit the old room without wanting to enter the 
new one again, and that was something they couldn't afford to develop into a habit.
Hence, things were never the same again.
If that was the end, we'll never know.
They both insist that it is.