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 has been a very busy few weeks at work thanks to a mega sporting event in London that concluded on Sunday (in the wee hours of Monday for us actually!). And I was feeling awful about missing all the monsoon sales that so many retail stores were offering. So, I took an off on the first occasion that I could and spent a good six (!) hours at the spanking new Phoenix Market City in Kurla. Yes, Kurla - that drab and totally unsexy suburb in central Mumbai. More about that later.  I wanted to pick a few things for myself and also make the most of the discounts by picking up future gifts at a steal * . And after those six hours, I returned home happy and sad. Happy because I found some great bargains and sad because the wallet was considerably lighter.  Le sigh.  My tweet captures it all: Charles & Keith, Body Shop, Accessorize, AND, Pantaloons and Debenhams are all a little richer today because of me. # RetailTherapy — vodkaholic (@vodkaholic) August 13,...

With the Feast of the Epiphany last Sunday, the Christmas season is over. The Feast marks the visit of the Magi (also referred to as the Three Wise Men or Three Kings) who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for Baby Jesus. Speaking of gifts, I've never grown up with the concept of "gifts" for Christmas. Except for having a new dress stitched for the festival, we pretty much didn't really receive any presents. Guess it was always a western thing. Much like having a (plastic) Christmas tree. However, in the last few years, my brother and I have bought presents for the children in the family. Mostly for younger cousins during Christmas. While it's fun to give and receive them, we always make sure they aren't extravagant. And that we remember it's the thought that counts. Cliched, I know. But very relevant. Personally, I prefer buying books and educational toys for children. I never buy clothes for anyone else. This time around, I was very su...