Twenty- five Seven

Happiness is an Estee Face

August 2, 2012

Many many years ago while I was travelling to the US for the very first time, I happened to sit in a plane load of ladies who were flying trans Atlantic for a special sales conference for Estee ladies. All very chirpy and happy, they were being rewarded for their exemplary sales performance and I couldn’t help being enthused by their happiness. So much so that for me Estee has always translated as a Happy Brand. For several years I used their magic Night Repair cream and even though I’ve now switched to Lancome’s Genefique and now Visionnaire, I occasionally have a twinge of regret for being unfaithful to my Happy Cosmetic Company.

I must admit I’m an advertisers dream and am a big sucker for those ads of smokey eyes and luscious lips. How many times I’ve bought a perfume or a lipstick in the hope of being transformed into the lissome beauty of the ad and being terribly disappointed at seeing my own reflection in the mirror. But habits as they say are hard to break and a leopard can never change its spots so when Anna Shetty and I went to the CCI last week to pick up her new membership cards, Silloo caught us and asked if we would sign up for the special Make up session scheduled for Saturday afternoon……………..

Now Saturday afternoons are special and even though the event was bang in the middle of my siesta an offer like this was simply irresistible! And I’m glad I went because it was a mother &daughter activity reminiscent of those days when we really spent time together.

It was a lovely relaxed afternoon where we were shown the Estee Five Minute Face for four different looks – the classic, the romantic, the everyday and the dramatic using basic products like the Advanced Night Repair cream, a Foundation, a powder applied with the 180 degree brush turn, the ear to cheek sweep of blush, a lipstick and the Estee count down to great eye lashes to flutter and flatter your great Estee eyes.

And, if we weren’t already feeling warm and happy, we were each of us handed sachets of Night Repair samples and Double Wear Mascara and the promise of a call to schedule a specialised service at the Estee Store!

Happiness is indeed an Estee Face.

p.sssssssssst. I can’t wait to go to Palladium and visit the Estee store.
Hooray for Coconut Day

August 2, 2012

Celebrant of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day ( or should it be Mothers’ and Fathers’ in the plural considering the several step fathers and mothers involved in today’s day and age) will find it strange to celebrate COCONUT DAY. No, it is not what you think – a day to honour your favourite or beloved coconut with a special card or take him/her to dinner or even wish him/her Happy Coconut Day

Despite the fact that the coconut is a cash crop it is not so honoured. Coconut Day officially marks the end of the Monsoon so we actually offer coconuts into the sea to appease its stormy waves and ask its blessings for the new fishing season. Alas, this year like many before, the monsoons have been playing truant and the significance of Coconut Day was pretty much lost.

But that did not stop me, however, from indulging in my favourite past time which is cooking a special dish to mark this day. On Coconut Day we are supposed to make everything with Coconut – Coconut rice, coconut curry, coconut chutney and of course coconut sweet. Since coconut is used as a base in several sweets there are many options available but since I specially wanted to send some sweets over to Anna Shetty, I decided to make what she likes most rather than making what I like most.

So off I went to the market yesterday and found the fattest coconut at the stall. Hmmm ………..it had the sweetest water and the kernel was really thick so I was sure my coconut sweet would turn out well. And sure enough it did.

After finishing off the regular work for the day, I got down on the floor and sat astride the coconut grater much like my granny did and quickly grated off the coconut meat. After getting the pastry dough ready, I made the filling with freshly pounded green cardamom, sugar and strands of saffron. Then I rolled out each pastry one by one and assembled each coconut crescent. As each pastry fried gently in home made ghee, the house was filled with the divine aroma of saffron, cardamom and pure ghee………

I could barely contain my excitement as I made the first offering at the family shrine and waited for the verdict and was thrilled as I sensed the intense contentment as the family devoured each karanji, one by one gently biting into its crisp, flaky pastry to get at the sweet moistness of the filling inside. Thank God for Coconut Day!
Virtually in your lonely world

July 18, 2012

Like many people of my generation technology is something that has gone beyond the automatic pop up toaster and the remote controlled television to something quite unimaginable. At the click of a switch or a touch of a button you can access the information of anyone at the other end of the world. With Facebook, Twitter , Yahoo, Messenger and so many other social media websites Big Brother or Nosy Mother have it really easy to keep tabs on what is happening where.

But what really amazes me is the time that people have these days to updated their life minute by minute on the virtual world. With detailed updates, I wonder what kind of life are they leading at all? And are they comfortable with everyone knowing exactly what they are up to?

The young generation seems to be born tech savvy and genetically know which button to press. Going out with them is quite a nightmare because each one of them has one eye on their Blackberry ( or some other hand-held), half their mind on the present and the other half in sync with the other world. Gone are the days of pleasant conversations or meaningful interactions – Instead we have to relearn our social skills and figure out that LOL doesn’t mean Lots of Love but Laugh out Loud. What does that mean by the way? Can you laugh any other way?

Incidentally this anti social behaviour is quite catching and Michiel found me glancing at the flat screen LED perched atop the bar and he told me that very soon TVs themselves would be outmoded! Now that would be quite something. I remember the olden days when TVs occupied pride of place in the living room and all interaction was geared around the TV and there was absolutely no choice but to watch what was being shown. Gradually we moved the TV out of the living room to the bedroom which in turn translated into individual rooms having individual TVs. With Cable TV came the option of a hundred other channels to watch from and then even more mind-boggling combinations – recording programs, watching a screen within a screen and the list goes on and on.

Good God! To think that those big ugly,clunky conversation killers with snowy pictures have metamorphosed into thin and thinner beauties only to gradually vanish?

While I’m not exactly a fan of the television, I will definitely mourn its demise.

So while the rest of the world is Twittering away, I will continue to imagine my keyboard is my trusty old typewrite and bang away on keys that don’t stick and hope that I’m not condemned to a life of loneliness in a virtual world.

Happiness is an Estee Face

Hooray for Coconut Day

Virtually in your lonely world