blogmas

Love for Bloggers from my old days | Blogmas 8

/ Srishty / Leave a comment

I have done a similar post in the past. There are some bloggers that I came across in my old days of blogging which don’t post a lot anymore but i go and revisit their blogs every now and then.

I will be doing a post for the new blogs that I have discovered too, but to be honest, I haven’t really been that active in finding new blogs. However, I still got lucky with some that I absolutely love reading.

The list obviously has to begin with two of my favorites which I have already written about:

A Splash of my Life: its a funny story how I found her. In the comments section of a really popular blog. If you guys follow WedmeGood, you may know that the founder had a personal blog earlier for beauty & makeup. Which reminds me, I should put that also in this list. 🙂 Our girl Princess Butter (That’s what she calls herself on A Splash of my Life) had commented something and I ended up clicking on her blog. I love how funny she is and how she puts a fun spin on everything she writes about. I wish she would write more. I now know her real name but I like to address her as PB even when I am talking to her offline. 🙂

A Dash of Pepper: I love the way she writes. I found her via the above blog and have been hooked since. She is not super regular but gives an appearance on the blog every now and then and I am living for it. I also realize just how many life events I have seen for these two blog owners. Isn’t that a great thing?

Peaches & Blush: This is the founder of Wedmegood. I have been reading this blog of her since I got into blogging. A little note – How I discovered the world of blogging was in 2011 when I searched for best Kajals in India (more on this coming soon). Hence, I landed up on a lot of beauty blogs at that time so my first intro to blogging was beauty blogs. One that stood out for me was Peaches & Blush and even now I love going back to her old posts, although she has almost completely stopped writing here. Her bridal series became a huge hit and that’s how she started Wedmegood.

Keira Lennox: One of the few in this list who continue to post. She is a lifestyle blogger and its sometimes difficult for me to like content of lifestyle bloggers outside of India as it may not be relatable but I love her content & her journey.

Know-All’s Box: One person I loved interacting online, he found my blog first I guess. Usually I am not into photography blogs but his photographs are just beyond ethereal. I wish he hadn’t stopped posting. He posts a little more regularly on Instagram but I definitely miss his presence on WordPress.

Nishita’s Rants & Raves: Another on this list who continues to post regularly, thankfully. I don’t remember how I found her, it would have been something to do with a bookish post. However, her blog is pretty diverse. She covers a lot of topics but the most I love are books and, more than that, her family & travel stories. Funny thing – both of us feel when reading each other’s post that its so good to be reading someone’s post whom you have been following since a long, long time.

Blush Canvas: She writes mostly about high end makeup and I enjoy her aesthetically done blog & beautiful pictures. She does make an appearance every once in a while but its super rare and irregular. :/

Shoestring Style: I wish I could write in as many words just how much I miss this blog. The girl who owned this blog, Shivani Dogra, is an interior designer and if you just Google this name, you would come across multiple publications of her work & her own design studio’s website. If you end up liking her aesthetic, you would understand why I miss her blog posts. Those posts were on her personal style but with this aesthetic. I mean, I can’t even begin on how much I loved it! I just did a quick Google search and I am now going to go through her interviews on various publications! 😀

5 Indian things I appreciated after living abroad | Blogmas 2

/ Srishty / 2 Comments

I clearly remember how much I used to hate my mom’s habit of putting excessive coriander in everything. And then I went to Europe for around 10 months and I missed it’s presence in regular food terribly. I came back and became equally or more obsessed with coriander.

So, i dedicate this post to 5 such Indian things that I have only appreciated either when living abroad or with age. I am sure Indians who moved abroad to settle can add a lot to this list. If you are reading this, please do consider adding yours in comments!

1. Amla: Indian gooseberry is a superfood that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. I know you will say that it’s way more popular than many other superfoods but my point is just how versatile and tasty it is in so many dishes. Why people don’t eat it more often? Maybe because they don’t know how easy it is to incorporate in so many dishes! Apart from amla candy & murabba (preserve), nothing else seems to be super popular. I think I’ll do a post on some easy peasy recipes with amla.

2. Coriander: of course. No brainer . Chop and put it in any Indian dish and see its magic happen.

3. Spice box: just why do people elsewhere not use a spice box? Just why? If you are reading this and don’t know what this is, please Google. You will know its importance in a South Asian’s life. This point can also be extended to pressure cooker actually. Why are people buying canned legumes and not using a pressure cooker?

4. Fresh mangoes need i say more?

So this is my list but i am sure many others can be added to this list. Please do let me know in comments. Mine are a lot around food but yours don’t have to be. 😀

Blogmas Day 1 | My Favorite Movies of this ‘era’

/ Srishty / 3 Comments

Here’s a little insight into how my daily routine of 2020 can be extrapolated to an entire year – basically be doing office work the whole freaking time and finding pockets of time throughout the day to do other stuff like having lunch, cooking, being a potato & instagramming (coz a day seems incomplete without it just like it would without pooping). Needless to say, this means my reading has gone for a toss! I entered the biggest reading slump with my 12th book of the year and I can say that I haven’t read more than 20 pages since last 1.5 months. I also mentioned here that I realized most of my reading happened in my pre-pandemic commute.

What I am trying to say is I have no life left. And, no, I am not going to blame work for it. I need to reform myself and it hit me the hardest when I realized we are already in December. So here I am – picking books again, writing here again – even trying out blogmas (whatever that means seriously). Also should mention that I am typing this all up via the WordPress phone app because too tired and lazy to pickup the laptop again. I need to do a post on what a whirlwind of changes this year has been (don’t we all?) but this post is a fun one for me to get into the writing vibe and for you to savor.

Here I am talking about my favorite movies of ‘current times’. When I say current times, I mean the times when we have grown as adults and when we are in the age where we love to say “they don’t make good movies anymore”.

Tell me by the end of this post – do you see a pattern here?

1. Piku: what completely seems to be a regular drama feature gradually turns into an emotional ride as it progresses. I have watched this one several times and felt an emotional void, a feeling where I didn’t know exactly what I felt – maybe that feeling of knowing that your parents are growing old, there is a child to parent role reversal happening gradually but you still can’t be done with the fights with them? I was always teary-eyed, always left longing for something I couldn’t put my finger on. Apart from the emotional bit, I love the vintage-style shots of Kolkata and, of course, Piku – Smart, confident, fierce, protective, fearful yet strong and unapologetic! This movie starred Amitabh Bachchan as one of the leads, but if you have watched this, you know late Irrfan Khan stole the show (can’t believe we are writing late for him!)

2. Queen: The coming of age of a ‘homely’ Punjabi girl whose fiance decides to call off the wedding on the wedding day. Not used to stepping out for errands alone, she decides to go on her honeymoon to Europe alone. This movie is better than it sounds and delivers more than it promises. You cannot stop cheering for the protagonist and her wins become your own! I want to say one thing – I don’t watch a lot of movies so I may not be right – but I do feel it’s one of the freshest concepts Bollywood has explored!

3. Dear Zindagi: a movie aptly describing our generation – Kiara – accomplished yet discontent, over ambitious and always being hard on herself. And then comes a therapist who decidedly changes the way she thinks, frees her mind and takes her on a journey where she can face her biggest fears and sets herself free. Every lesson he teaches her makes me emotional and I relate to the feeling of finding it difficult to go easy on oneself and when someone else has to take the onus of making you realise the same. Few of my favorite lessons and lines from this movie –

“जब आसान रास्ते से काम ‌हो सकता है, तो मुश्किल रास्ता ‌चुनना क्यों जरूरी है?” Translation – when something can be done through an easy method, why it’s always important to take the difficult route?”

“अगर हम खुल के रो नहीं सकेंगे, तो खुल कर हसेंगे कैसे?” Translation – if we won’t be able to weep uninhabited, then how we will be able to laugh uninhabited?

Something that everyone who has watched this movie would have noticed – this movie shows Alia Bhatt in some of the best outfits ever for a girl next door role!

Bonus – Band Baaja Baaraat: Now this is a movie with all the typical bollywood masalas but it still stands out for me than the usual fare because its plot is focussed on two graduates making a career out of wedding planning. If you know me in real life, you know I dig this as a career option. 😀 I love, love, love the idea of being a professional wedding planner because I think this is the only profession where I won’t dread Monday mornings! I love weddings, I love helping out friends plan their outfits, venues etc etc (provided I am being asked) and I am excited as hell about wedding planning. Let me know if you want any help in planning yours!😛 Needless to say, this is the reason I love this movie a little extra. Do watch this if you are looking for a fun, light rom-com.

That’s it from my end for today! Do share your own recommendations in comments.

Also, I made a similar list here long ago where I mentioned my most favorite movies of all times (they belong to times I was not born in😀)