A few days ago, before the lockdown in India, it was a pretty nice day when someone on Tumblr asked me to write a story together. We were on a group chat talking about Coronavirus, “Quarantine and Chill”. At that point, I said, “more like Tine and Rona”. It was an Indian group so most of the people got what I said and we laughed it off. (Rona translates to crying) One of the group members pointed out that Tine and Rona sound like two characters of a story. So we both decided to write a story together.
It was pretty exciting at first when we started. I immediately created a shared doc and we started discussing the details. I was pretty excited about this story. I’ve never written a story before. We started discussing the details and were very much into it. I still am. But that little bitch doesn’t seem interested anymore. At first, it was a fever, and now it’s been more than 10 days and I haven’t received an update.
I decided that instead of being a baby, I can ask someone else to do it with me. But my other friend wasn’t very interested. Now I have decided that instead of being a baby, I can write a story on my own. I will write a story about Rona and Tine. It will be fabulous. I am very excited to write that story and want your support.
PS: It has been a lot of days since I did something very productive so I hope I do well.
October is mostly a busy month for me. Being a student, that is the busiest point of a semester. We have a lot of assignments, presentations, tests and studying, on yop of attending classes all day. So I decided to take up the Inktober challenge.
My greatest inspiration was my cousin. She pushed me in the right direction and I followed the force like a leaf fallen in a river. I am forever grateful to her. I decided to follow the official prompt list.
I started great. The first prompt was “ring”. I thought all day on the first and decided to draw the Deathly Hallows. I felt very energetic and happy after I finished the first drawing. Evidently, I wasn’t a pro but just a beginner trying to bring out hobbies. I didn’t know what lied in the future and I wasn’t even trying to figure out. I wanted to just let things happen. It’s still the same. I don’t want to know what lies in the future.
As the days passed, my drawing got better. But I was getting worn out. The guy who didn’t show up in Bangalore is a good friend of mine and motivated me regularly. He stays far but is close to me. He gave me strength on the days I felt like crumbling. He reasoned with me even though he had things to do. I am thankful for such people.
I plan to do the inktober 2020 as well. I want to be better this time. I have a partner this time (hopefully). My other good friend told me to remind her and make her do the challenge this year. She is an all-rounder student and dances very well. Like me, she doesn’t draw that well either. So this year, we’re going to stick together in this.
Inktober 2019 was difficult. Some days, I didn’t have any inspiration. I could not think of anything to draw related to the prompt. As a result, I did not do all the days. I drew on 24 days out of 30. I didn’t even try on some days. On other days, I tried so hard that it felt like nothing matters.
Now when I look back, I’m proud of my work but sad that I didn’t finish it. I hope to do all the drawings this year, better. All the best!
It seemed impossible to ever go out alone some years ago, turns out it was only about me being young. So this summer, I planned to go to Bangalore, Baroda and Nimach, a small town in MP where my nani lives.
Aglio-olio in Pink sauce
I left for Bangalore on a Thursday. I was pretty excited for the trip. I didn’t expect to start eating as soon as I reached there. The airport is like a mall. My cousin took me to a fancy cafe at the Kempegowda International Airport and we had Aglio-olio in pink sauce, which was one of the most garlic-y pastas I ever had. I loved it. I also warded off the vampires and slept well that night.
Goldie, at Therapup
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of tennis balls and racquet smashes. Felt pretty rich. We had Paneer-Rajma-Broccoli Tikki for breakfast. It was mind blowing. We played games half the day. There’s this game called Cluedo where there’s been a murder. The players get some clues and the one who finds the weapon, place and the murderer wins. This game was so amazing we played it many times during the weekend. The other game was called Dobble. This game can only be played with a clear mind. It is a pattern recognition game, but kind of fucked me up by the end of the trip. We also played an android game called Among Us. It’s a multiplayer game also aimed at finding the murderer. We went to a Dog cafe: Therapup. The theme of the cafe is self explanatory, but this cafe marked a milestone in my life. It was here that I realised that I am not a fan of burgers. Throughout my life of 19 years, I’ve been trying to find out really good burgers, but didn’t enjoy them much. I have accepted that I am not a burger-person, but I hope the burgers accept that too. We had Italian for dinner. I was awe-struck at having the real Italian food. The tanginess of tomatoes was lip-smacking.
“WOW GIRAFFES!!!!!”
The next day was one of the best days of my life. After sleeping very late the night before, all three of us left for Mysore early in the morning. I did not know that the city of Giraffes was 4 hour drive away. I had been dreaming about seeing giraffes for a few years. While planning the trip, I had jokingly asked my cousins if the zoo at Bangalore had Giraffes, and she told me about the Mysore zoo. I was too excited to see the giraffes. I told all my three friends about giraffes. The giraffes were amazing. They were majestic. So beautiful. I cannot express how amazed I was. I also enjoyed looking at all the other birds and animals. I saw many birds, monkeys, lions, tigers, rhinos, hippos, deer. I, also, did not know that Blackbucks are not black. I had bidadi idli that day. It was a good idli, larger from the regular idli. It is served with butter, chutney and potato bhaji.
Open Bao
The third time I woke up in Bangalore, it felt like waking up after my first day there. I didn’t know where the time passed away. It was a Sunday and my last day there. The plan for the day was to roam in the city and play a few more final rounds of Cluedo. After some breakfast and Cluedo, we left for Indiranagar. We were going to lunch at The Fatty Bao, an Asian restaurant. We visited the Entertainment Store. It is a store selling goodies of all popular fandoms, like Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, GOT, Disney, etc, and some local artists. I spent my time there looking at all the beautiful merch. One of my very dear friends who lives in Bangalore was supposed to meet me that day. He didn’t turn up, which was very depressing, but my cousin saw to it that I was entertained and not bored. Due to some reason, we got to the Fatty Bao exactly 15 minutes before they close their kitchen. My cousin, who knows her food well, ordered for everyone at the table in one shot. That was an amazing meal. My favourite dish was the open bao. I also liked the dimsums very much. We had so much food that afternoon, we kept sitting there for an hour after we finished our food. After lunch, we went to MG Road. MG road was very beautiful. We spent half the time there at Blossoms Book Store. We went to Indian Coffee House later, which has a retro cafe vibe. The pink-blue walls with a large mirror was the highlight of the place. We later entered another shops of Blossoms and Entertainment store of MG road to check them out too. It was a bit strange that we found an exotic fruit, Mangosteen, which my cousin was telling us about just then. We had never heard of this fruit before. It tastes of mango, feels like litchi, and looks like garlic. Exciting nature. By the time we left MG road, it was time to drop off the Zoomcar. It was a good day, but slowly, a few things drowned me. The fact that I had to go home next day was one. We reached home, changed, ordered food and did something I had never thought of: actual half an hour of skin care. It was a new fun experience. Playing Cluedo with face masks on looked funny.
The Indian Coffee House
Now, I don’t remember how I slept, two weeks past I got back. All I remember is that this is one trip I’d remember all my life for it was amazing. I sure remember all the great food I had. The flight back was troublesome for my head, and I take it as a proof of the great time I had.
Ramone's Big Bowl of Ravioli 