Postcards From J

I love discovering. A quaint store, an underrated food joint, local markets, a tree-lined lane (increasingly, a rarity in Bombay), second-hand books, quirky merchandise, a cool bargain, picture postcards (finding a nice one in Mumbai is an achievement) and just about anything. It's my curiosity that eggs me on to do these things. A local market in Goa While nothing beats an actual shopping trip and stumbling upon the unusual, of late I've been checking out a lot of e-commerce portals. A LOT. And it's interesting, too, to see how the Indian online shopping scene has exploded.  Flipkart made it fashionable, I guess. And then you had everyone from SnapDeal, Fashion&You, 99Labels and a host of others selling everything and anything. I used to wait eagerly for their newsletters to see what deal(s) I could score, especially watches from fancy brands. I wasn't completely on board though. For most of the time, I was happy being a win

It's Thursday and you're longingly looking at that calendar waiting for the weekend to descend upon you. For me though, the weekends have been so hectic that I'm looking for a weekend to get away from my regular week AND weekend. Seriously. In the middle of that thought, I came across this video today and it brought such sunny happy thoughts to my mind that I had to share it. I've always admired Usha Uthup's versatility and her unique personality. Fabulous singer, woman of substance and funny as hell. A true legend. Enjoy maadi, ~j~ PS: Who doesn't love her sarees and bindis? Sigh.

One of my favourite food places in Pune, Janseva Bhojanalaya near Deccan Gymkhana, does a very delicious unlimited almost-Maharashtrian thaali . It's mindboggling, really. So instead of just posting multiple photos, I experimented with a little something . Hope you like it. When I ate there in May 2012, the thaali was priced at Rs. 130. This time around (November 2013), it was Rs. 250. WHOA!!! But still totally worth it. ~j~

Wow, I haven't posted in over two months and I'm wondering if there has been anything interesting to blog about since that last post. Well, I had a lovely Diwali weekend (three days!) in Pune visiting a close friend who's in the family way. And a mad cousin accompanied me, so it was just fun-fun-fun. Aside from lining up outside Kayani Bakery at 7.30 AM for mawa cakes/Shrewsbury biscuits (and some more goodies) and battling a Diwali crowd at Chitale Bandhu for their famed bakharwadi , I had the opportunity to visit Fort Jadhavgadh . An erstwhile Maratha fort now converted into a heritage hotel, this almost-impromptu trip turned out to be a super break from the urban landscape of Pune and of course, Mumbai. The steps leading up to the fort's main entrance The story in short Shahu, the grandson of Chhatrapati Shivaji (the great Maratha warrior king) was imprisoned for 21 years by the Mughals and later released. One of his prominent army commanders, Pila