Regular readers of the blog would recall that I started hosting Saturday Night Movie Marathons last month in the hope that they will become an interesting social context to meet new people.
What happens in the movie marathons? Well, basically, we meet up on a Saturday night at someone’s place and watch four back-to-back movies, from dinner to brunch.
However, this week’s Saturday Night Movie Marathon has a twist two twists. The first twist is that it starts at three in the afternoon, and the second twist is that it is followed by a house party.
When you can’t buy things, you learn to ask for things, and when you ask for things, you learn something about yourself and others.
Throughout last week, I have been asking my friends to make me aloo parathas.
It started last Sunday, when Kanishka and Avantika came over for lunch. My cooking range is limited to pasta and pulao so, if you eat at my place regularly, you might find the menu a little repetitive. Knowing that, I had made two different types of pasta — farfalle, bell peppers and spring onions in Mexican salsa sauce and casarecce and baby corn in cheese and wine sauce — and added mushrooms on toast as a side dish. However, I wasn’t really surprised when, five minutes into lunch, Avantika took a break from picking at her food and asked me —
Also filed in Food Cravings, Learning to Ask, Zero Dollar Dating
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Tagged Aloo Paratha, Avantika, Colaba, Friends, Gift, Gifting, Kala Ghoda, Kanishka, Merlot, Pasta
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The other night, a lady friend was combing her hair in my bathroom when she decided to investigate the state of my toiletries instead.
She made appreciative sounds when she saw my Bvlgari body lotion and Burberry perfume, but was much perplexed when she couldn’t find any aftershave lotion.
Here’s a more or less faithful reproduction of the conversation that followed –
Lady Friend: (clearing her throat) Which aftershave lotion do you use?
Gaurav: Actually, I don’t use one anymore.
Lady Friend: (resuming her inspection of my toiletries) Oh! So, you use an aftershave gel. Those are good too.
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
Undeterred by my earlier escapade with ‘The French Touch’ festival, I returned to the Alliance Francaise auditorium on Thursday evening to watch Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film ‘Le Petit Soldat’ (’The Little Soldier’).
Set against the backdrop of the Algerian War, the film narrates the tragic love story of Michel Subord and Anna Karina who fall in love in spite of belonging to warring terrorist groups. The film pulsates with the same restless energy as ‘Breathless’, my favorite Godard movie, which was screened at the festival earlier on Tuesday. So, in spite of the little anti-climax at the end, when the DVD stuck and wouldn’t play, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, or at least the part of the movie I did watch.
Also filed in Free Culture, Popular Culture, Why Go Off Consumption?
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Tagged Alliance Francaise, Anna Karina, Bollywood, Breathless, Chinatown, Film Festival, Films, G K desai, jean Luc Godard, John Mayer, Le Petit Soldat, Madhur Bhandarkar, Michel Subord, Mumbai, Something's Missing, The French Touch Festival, The Little Soldier, Tri Continental Film Festival
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I ate four McDonald’s Paneer Salsa Wraps today.
No, I didn’t break down under the weight of my withdrawal symptoms and take a taxi to McDonald’s Colaba outlet and order myself four of them. In fact, I didn’t even have one of my usual craving attacks for them today.
My ex-girlfriend bought them for me, and I couldn’t not eat them.
For context, she’s the same ex-girlfriend who had asked me last year if I had thought about where I’ll keep her, before breaking up with me. As she pointed out to me after she read my post, it was only breakup number 7 out of our 171 breakups, and I was the one who initiated the last one.
Also filed in Food Cravings, Reality Show, Zero Dollar Dating
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Tagged Are You the One for Me, Barbara De Angelis, Books, Break-up, Conversations, Ex-Girlfriend, Gift, Gifting, Kanishka, McDonald's, Paneer Salsa Wraps, Relationships, Rules
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Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Dear Blue,
I’m finding it really difficult to respond to your post comparing a life of chosen frugality to a life of enforced frugality.
Ever since our first quaint online correspondence with each other more than a year back — do you remember your first e-mail to me? — I have thought of you fondly, as a friend. Even though we didn’t meet up when you were in India, you have been a regular presence in my online life.
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
I was at my friend Kanishka’s place the other day, when I pulled out a Ziploc bag from my bag. Here’s a more or less faithful transcript of the conversation it triggered off –
Kanishka: Why are you carrying around sandwiches in a plastic bag?
Gaurav: Ah! Haven’t I told you that I’m off consumption for a year?
Kanishka: (chuckles) I bet you won’t be able to spend a month without consuming alcohol! But what is the connection between not consuming alcohol and carrying around sandwiches?