Not without my KEEPEr!

The lights shined bright one second, dimmed the next and then pffttt. Cable, internet and all the hooked up electrical appliances in my apartment had stopped working. There had been a surge in electricity and we could see some smoke billowing around the electricity board downstairs. The time was 7:47 a.m.

The residents in this wing about 6 in number called the handymen from the Power company, Cable company, Internet Service Provider, general electric store. By 11 a.m., all 6 residents had been attended to by these handymen working non-stop just in time for the maids to come and start their work in our apartments. We also did not have to pay through our nose to get everything working in 3 hours.

This is possible in Mumbai where in every area, you can find people to do all sorts of odd-jobs. I was used to all this before I started for U.S. in 2003; which was almost every person’ dream back then.

I was staying with another Indian girl, also from Mumbai and we found it a little difficult to setup everything because we were used to everything being handled by these handymen who are part and parcel of every middle-class to the super-rich Mumbaikar’ life. We learnt the hard way and it was not really something that was worthwhile but you haaaddd to do it and so we did.

Here in Mumbai, you want to repair some part of your house, or paint or repair an item or the bad plumbing or maybe do the household work, even take the trash out; there is always someone available to do everything that you don’t want to do.

I remember in U.S. when one of our friends bought a new house, all of us went to help out with the moving and painting of her house. My Dad and grandfather had been aghast to hear that I was doing the painting and moving stuff; they had kept their forever-little girl away from all this till then.

When I was staying in the UK, we had to hunt for people who would do things within our budget and getting things done within few hours was simply out of question unless you did it yourself.

So, last year when my brother decided to start KEEPE which connects the handymen and the property owners or managers, I was ecstatic. Here was the guy who truly understood how a person can make better use of their time while delegating to the expert handymen and not burning a hole in your pocket.

He has his head and heart in the right place as is evident in his talk with Elliot Volkman the award-winning journalist who is deeply ingrained in the startup world. KEEPE was one of the semi-finalists at CELEBRATE Conference in October 2015 for crowning the Startup of the Year.  

http://tech.co/startup-year-competition-finalists-keepe-2015-09

Now, KEEPE is one of the startups to get a chance to hone their solution under the mentoring of Techstars Seattle accelerator so as to pitch to prominent investors in May 2016.

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/here-are-the-9-startups-in-the-techstars-seattle-2016-class/

 

Kudos to Rishi Mathew (CEO) of KEEPE! I am sure every person in northern US who is used to expert handymen taking away all that work from your naïve and ignorant hands while allowing you to make better use of your time… like me for example, thanks you from the bottom of our hearts. I wish that it was available way back in 2003.

Gift that chic, slim, and girly look to your newbie Mom friend!

Newbie Moms are so temperamental. They are worried about so many things about their baby like -  Is my baby feeding right? Why is my baby crying? Am I holding my baby right?, and then about themselves - Am I a good mother? When will I lose weight? Why do all my dresses make me look fat? When will I lose this tummy? I feel like eating all the time, should I stop? When do I exercise; I hardly have time to sleep?

The list is endless. If you have spent time with newbie Moms then probably you would have had this experience. The thing that really gets to you is that no matter what you say, she is not satisfied with your answer and holds out for that ever-elusive all-encompassing accurate answer.

I think it is best to avoid answers to her physical attractiveness. I mean if you say “No dear, you have lost weight”, she may promptly reply “What rubbish, I was so thin just about two years ago!” Or if you give tips to lose the tummy she will glare and say how easy it was two years ago to eat right, exercise and show off a flat tummy.

Obviously! two years ago, she was also not a mother of this baby. But this can be said only at your own peril.

However, no matter how irrational she is being now, she is still your friend and you want to try and make her feel better about herself.

I decided to make her look chic, slim and girly.

For the material, I took this silk sari that had been gifted but never worn and did not look like it would be worn anytime soon.

For the color, I chose purple… the color of royal robes. I want her to feel like a queen.

For the pattern,

I worked on main areas – 1. Make her look slimmer which means distributing body weight so that she stands tall and thus sport a slim silhouette, 2. Cover the butt even while walking, 3. Make her shapely so the cut would have to be such that all her apprehensive areas should not be evident.

I kept the kurta long to make her stand tall with the slit about 4 inches below the butt to cover it gracefully and the cut was shapely without highlighting any of the problem areas.

To get the ‘girly’ bit in, I chose to make the sleeves frilly just like most of the dresses worn by her baby daughter… that should have her feeling like she was ‘two years ago’, right?

Now, cutting a dress from a sari may seem easy but believe me that you have to be precise with the measurements of the adjustments that need to be done to convert the sari into the kurta. 

Tips: 

1. If you have tons of saris gifted to you over the years but you hardly ever wear them, this is a good way to convert these saris to clothes that you will wear more often.
2. If you are a beginner, then cut the pattern pieces on paper first with the accurate measurements and then cut the cloth by placing the pattern pieces over to guide you.
3. Look up in YouTube if you have doubts about how to do the neckline or attaching the sleeves perfectly; plenty of videos there. 
4. Practice, practice, practice.... soon you would be able to gift the special people in your life these fruits of your labor. 

Effort - tremendous.

Output – I love it.

Effect – Watch this blog for update on the surprise!

A kitty kind of love!

When I arrived at my home in Kerala in January, Mom told me that my dear cat Pullikutty had given birth to a little white kitten. Unfortunately, Pullikutty had hidden the kitten somewhere where we could not find it. Mom consoled me saying that the kitten sometimes came in out of nowhere literally and spent time with its mother.

Pullikutty seemed happy to see me and followed me everywhere like Mary’ little lamb that day; there was no sign of the kitten however. I was disappointed but not for long…

Because bright and early the next day, Pullikutty and the little kitten were waiting for me. The kitten is absolutely adorable and played ‘Peek-a-boo’ with me. 

My little niece Mehak who is around 4 months old was visiting us and this was her first live experience with a cat; she was amazed at this little white ball of hair. The kitten tried its best to befriend Mehak by mewing… I think.

For the next couple of days, the kitten made its appearance all of maybe twice that too for very short times. On the day, I was to return to Mumbai, I was again disappointed by the absence of the kitten; I felt sad that I won’t be able to say bye-bye.

Still I decided to try my luck with Pullikutty. I told her that I was leaving and I wanted to see the ‘kitten’. I made the shape of kitten with my hands and even made some mewing noises. Pullikutty had this look as if I had gone crazy and my parents were busy trying to stifle their laughter at my antics.

I went off to my room to do a last-minute check of my stuff. About half hour later, my Dad called me downstairs saying there was a surprise for me. I was curious so I rushed down.

At the door sat Pullikutty and its kitten.

Words cannot really express how I felt. Pullikutty had understood my antics and got its kitten so that I could say my goodbye. Even my parents who were laughing earlier, had looks of genuine amazement.

I truly believe that you don’t need a language for love; just a genuine heartfelt action that would have most people thinking you are crazy, would do for even an animal to understand you.

Here is to love that needs no language on Valentine’ Day!

Even if you missed the Sula Fest last week, don't miss an experience at the Sula Vineyards

Ever since I visited Sula Vineyards last year, I had thought of being one of the 12,000+ people for the Sula Fest this year. Alas! Last weekend was another one of those ‘very busy’ weekends. However, I recommend that you make a trip if you have not done so already.

Let me tell you, when my cousins suggested driving and staying a weekend at Sula Vineyards, I was really skeptical. I mean I had been to vineyards all over the world and I was thinking compared to those... this won't impress me much.

Anyway, I thank God and my cousins for pulling me into this adventure.

So, we rented a self-drive ZoomCar and set out. Within 4 hours of a very scenic drive, we were at ‘Beyond’, a Sula resort. The road to this resort could do with complete remodelling; such were the potholes and I was starting to think that I was right in my estimation that it was not going to impress. But, I was having so much fun with my cousins so I lowered my expectations.

As we were driving up to the resort, I was pleasantly surprised and charmed by the surroundings. While, we were checking in to ‘Beyond’, we were welcomed with wine… Sula of course. Our rooms were really spacious with a balcony or sit-out where we could sip wine and enjoy the scenery beyond. It cannot be a resort without the swimming pool; except the one here is called the Infinity Pool – the water seems to be pouring down to the vineyards beyond.

Now I know why they named the resort ‘Beyond’!

While the guys were enjoying the pool; the girls were checking out the pool table in the Red Room which also has a variety of indoor games to keep everyone busy from foosball, table tennis, carom boards. After the guys joined, we had ‘girls vs boys’ competition where we would play all these games and total the points. Nothing was very healthy about this competition especially after the girls seemed to be beating the guys. Try as they might though, the guys were no match for the girls and the intelligent girls quit while they were ahead.

Although Café Rose caters to the guests’ palate all day long, we decided to do the Vineyard tour and have lunch there. Lunch was a simple affair; the highlight being the pitcher of Sangria that we ordered and drank to our hearts’ content.

The tour and wine-tasting afterwards were in every way comparable to vineyards all over the world and that is why Sula has 70%+ market share of the wine making in India. My Mom’s 65^th birthday was around the corner and she loves her wine; so I bought her the Sula Zinfandel (red), Sula Riesling (white) and Sula Brut (sparkling) of which she loved the Riesling the best.

A walk around the amphitheatre on the grounds worked well to dish up a good appetite for dinner. I read about the power packed performances here during the Sula Fest last week; I missed them especially Kailash Kher.

We played cards well into the night, got into our usual spats over ‘cheating’ and the like. We also tried working out at the gym overlooking the pool. Somehow, gym is not our cup of tea…. a walk around before breakfast was opted for then. Breakfast was very elaborate and we spent about almost an hour sampling the various sumptuous options.

We zoomed into Mumbai even though it was much after the appointed time but ZoomCar folks were very accommodating of the late notice... Yay! 

Overall, it was a funtastttic not-to-miss experience. Even if you missed the Sula fest this year, don’t miss this paradise about 180 km beyond Mumbai.

Walk the miles with your bestie, for your bestie!

One of my besties told me that she was going to walk to Siddhivinayak Temple in Dadar from her place in Orlem, Malad, Mumbai – a distance of 25 km. My first thought which unfortunately came out loud was “Are you crazy?” She told me that it was not that difficult; she had done the walk before. In fact, when she told her husband who was in Bangalore at the time he actually said “Oh, that is ok. Thank God, you did not promise to walk to Bangalore”.

Besides, it is just about the same distance that the runners of Mumbai Half Marathon had run just the week before. Easy to say! We have neither the same fitness level nor the preparation that these runners do. Of course, as a friend, I could not let my bestie do it alone either!

So, there I was, swathed in cotton clothing from head to toe with canvas shoes ready bright and early at 6:30 a.m. My backpack had everything from water to jacket and medicines; she was sceptical because she felt that walking with heavy object on your back can be strenuous. I just wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. She said it was cold though I did not feel it. We were on Link Road for most of the time. passed by Mahim church where I prayed that my legs would hold up through Cadell Road at the end of which was the temple.

I felt this sense of accomplishment as soon as I reached the heavily guarded temple; check out our selfie.

As we were queuing up to enter the temple after passing the metal scanners and frisking, I looked back to this walk. I realized that

1. We had talked like we used to when we were collegians – unabashed and non-stop with absolutely no distractions except of course the traffic;
2. We had walked 25 km which had sent my Fitbit into overdrive; I love it when my Fitbit buzzes saying I have aced my challenges;
3. I just felt spiritually advanced now that I had kept up my promise to God; translating to begging him to keep up his promise of always watching out for me. 

So, even though my feet fell asleep, my back hurt, my head was spinning because of the sun and my nose was running from the dust allergy, I still felt happy, content and at peace.

Yes, I am not kidding but you have to try it to feel the same way I did.

So much so, that I told my bestie that we should do this once a month which had her going “Are you crazy?”

Baby bloomers to increase the 'cute' quotient on the sailor dress

Ever since I saw my niece looking oh-so-cute in her white bloomers at her baptism, I was obsessed with making one. And when I heard that one of my friends was coming to India with her new-born daughter, I thought ‘here is my chance’.

I made her a cute sailor dress, customized to the initial of her beautiful name – Mihira. Then, I started work on her bloomers. See bloomers are perfect sassy cover for diapers and it adds so much of ‘cute’ quotient to the ensemble.

This was the first time, I was making bloomers and I wanted it to be perfect. So, I started scanning online for tips on getting it right the first time around.

Anyone who wants to make bloomers after looking at this picture, 

here is the link to the pattern that a beginner can print http://sewing.craftgossip.com/free-pattern-baby-bloomers-2/2015/08/04/

Some visual instructions and inspirations to create your own masterpiece may be found on youtube, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-0p3ZuOkMA

That is when I saw this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v95Z8DOzXpk

Note to self: My next project – Bloomers for yours truly. Watch this space for more updates.