The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

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On Saturday evening, I walked over to Alliance Francaise to watch Rimbaud’s ‘Enfer et Illumination’, a French play that is part of the month long ‘The French Touch’ festival.

The play basically involved a man (Rimbaud) and a woman (his muse?) reciting Rimbaud’s poetry in French, and enacting it in the Kuchipudi tradition (painted faces et al), while English subtitles were projected onto the screen.

I hardly know any French, haven’t ever read Rimbaud, and have no interest in Kuchipudi. The only reason I went for the play was because it was free and therefore allowed.

However, Rimbaud’s almost metaphysical poetry, my near zero comprehension of the French language, and the French actors’ rather amateurish rendition of Kuchipudi didn’t mix well and I walked out of the auditorium with a minor headache.

Later in the night, a friend came over to my house, and we stayed up all night and drank a bottle of my best French Merlot. She was much amused with my French escapade and teased me about it all night, but she also gave me one of the best head massages I have ever had.

After another 5 am taxi ride to the suburbs to drop her home, I left the taxi at Girgaon Chaupati and walked home. I have always found it difficult to wake up early, but, under the influence of fresh early morning sea wind, I resolved, for the thousandth time, to switch my daily walk from late evening to early morning.

I finally slept at half past six and, when I woke up, it was well past noon. I spent the rest of Sunday perched on my windowsill with a book, listening to the chirping of birds and intermittently looking out at the sea over the canopy of trees that stretches out under my window.

I timed my evening walk to coincide with the sunset and remembered, once more, why hundreds of people come to Marine Drive every Sunday to watch the sun set over Malabar Hills, across the sea.

Later in the evening, my friends Kanishka and Avantika came over to my house for dinner. I cooked them some pasta, and since they couldn’t agree what sauce they liked, served it in three different sauces.

Pasta always makes me want to drink wine, and I ended up opening another bottle of French Merlot. Given the rate at which I’m taking out bottles from my wine rack, I’m a little worried that I’ll be out of wine in a month.

Anyways, Kanishka was fully into his self-development guru mode and psycho-analyzed my motivations for going off consumption for the better part of the dinner.

So, two weekends into the experiment, it seems that my social life will survive my year of being off-consumption. In fact, as I try out experiences I wouldn’t have bothered with before, it may even become more rich and varied than it used to be.

Do join me in saying ‘amen’ to that.

• The Joy of Gifting + My Craving for Aloo Parathas (2)
• My Insatiable Craving For McDonald’s Paneer Salsa Wrap (11)
• I Want to Sit in a Cafe with Friends and Feed Myself on Convivial Conversation (4)
• Why Time Out Mumbai is a Necessity for Me (6)
• Weekend #4: Three Movies and a Book (4)