The Zara Pilgrimage

So what happens when Zara opens its first store in a sleepy, modestly dressed, kind of laid back city like Namma Bengaluru???

Well, me for starters, dressed up a bit more than usual. I had to go to ZARA after all... And brush shoulders with fellow fashionistas and Zara-obsessors (is that even a word!?) I even carried the slightly-too-heavy Canon DSLR around my neck... Such was my intent and excitement. Who knew, I would probably put up pics all over my blog about "my day out" at the Bengaluru Zara.

But what exactly happened?
I did not manage to take even one decent picture!
And well, not to exaggerate, but it was a bit more like a factory visit, the whole journey with my colleagues to the outskirts :P Sorry, all you people staying in Whitefield. Until my work place shifts to some non-central location, I will always consider Whitefield the "out-skirts".

Ah, but the mall was quite large (I'm not always critical!) and spacious- a welcome change for malls in Bangalore. The Zara store is supposed to be 17,000 sq feet. An expansive la-la land of fashion. But, somehow to me, it just seemed empty and some merchandise looked like it was last season(horrors!) Specially after just visiting all the Zara's through my Euro trip (I am one devoted pilgrim , right?) and of course the Zara's in Delhi n Mumbai... Okay, okay, it just opened a week ago and all that, let's give it a break.

So, I realize I am not supposed to behave like this. But this is great news!
I speak for all fashion conscious Bangloreans. We have been waiting foreverrrr for Zara to come here. Now let's just hope that we get fresh stock around here. Fingers crossed :)  The absolute lack of international brands in this city makes us behave in such funny ways! And the best part is that all other brands are going to follow suit, now that Zara is here.
 Hoot hoot!

The devotees await :)

Toned , stoned and Barceloned

No I don't mean 'that' stoned, though I wish we were... haha!

Things to do before going to Barcelona :

1. Make sure you're toned. Or at least half way there. It reaaaallllllly matters how the legs look in those short shorts. Oh yes they do.
 2. Make Gaudi your God. Yes, worship him.Or at least google him and his famous works so that you don't feel like an idiot visiting the most mind-freakin'blowing architecture that you will see (made by a human).
3. Beware of the La Ramblas... Its supposedly the most 'happening' street of Barcelona. But all it had to offer was lousy touristy objects(which are must-buys of-course :P), a bunch of tourists and a whole bunch of fellow hindustani shop-owners who will give you special discounts as you're Indian.
4.Learn some spanish. Nah not really. Can manage just fine without it. But learn it anyway as its a beautiful language.Though I prefer the South American Spanish to The Spanish spanish.....

Things to do once in Barcelona :

 Become a hippie.Roam aimlessly. Its really easy once you're there. The vibe just got to me.... Sadly we were there for a very short while :(  But then I bought whichever trinkets (see my right hand) which took my fancy and consoled myself... sigh!!

Go to Zara! ( well, we have one now in Bangalore too, but who cares!)

Must buy this season: The coated pants!

Go to the Desigual store (only if you want) as you're in Spain. Or not. I didn't. No, really. I find it over the top, garish and in-asthetically loud. I'm sorry if I'm hurting sentiments here, but that's what I think :P Maybe this point should be called "What NOT to do in Barcelona"!

 All of Gaudi's masterpieces are completely worth going to and gawking at. For hours... My favorite-favorite was Parc Guell. 
 

 Sagrada Familia (the famous still-under-construction church/monument ) is definitely the biggest and the most ambitious piece. What I love about it the most is the contrast between the outside and inside. Depressing vs Divine. Structured vs Flowing. Obviously, I loved the inside. How did he manage to carve such crazy intricate things in stone!

The tree trunk - his inspiration

The pillars inside Sagrada- his creation

Have the Sangria or dieeeeeee! I mean seriously. Sangria is the most delicious, mouth watering wine punch ever made. And make sure you have a litre- pitcher. The pitcher works beautifully in making all things blurry... Sangria made me talk super-fluent Hindi as well!  :)

Walk around.  And see how beautifully the whole city resonated Gaudi's aesthetics in beautifully crazy way. Initially I thought the word "gaudy" comes from Antoni Gaudi's surname, but that's not true. Though the souvenir shops seemed to have taken "gaudy" too seriously, we did manage to find some beautiful mosaic trinkets :P

Born off the beautiful black guitar

Thanx Viv for the shot :)

Tourist in my own country

Just the week before last I went to Delhi on a work trip.
I've been to Delhi zillions of times. Okay not zillions, just many many times. But this time it was different. I had a new found love for our country. And for tea. Had some wonderful cutting chai on the streets as well as some yum adrak wali chai (ginger flavored tea) made by the caretaker in my guest house :)

Why, one might think have I suddenly find awe in the mundane... Well for starters... We(Viv and I) did a mini Euro tour in September... Four cities. Wonderful cities. And that's where my tourism began. We absorbed the beauty, design and every inspired nook and corner of the cities like sponges. Also, these countries market their cities really well! Every just about every stone and pillar was a monument. We obviously didn't fall for the stones and pillars, well maybe a few :P And all I could think was, I wish I could do something like this for India.

So, when in Delhi, I was really amazed. It's the most fabulous city of India, if I may say so.
It's huge, has got wonderful infrastructure, and some very well-developed fashion catchment areas. More about fashion later, but what really got me was the city itself... Spacious, modern India and hmmm surprisingly amazing weather :)
Here are some pics of me being a complete tourist...
 The beautiful Qutub Minar.

This is just a glimpse of what I saw, but this made me really proud. And happy. And nostalgic. I have probably been to the Qutub once with my family as a kid and then once with my college friends as a teenager :) And this time as a (ahem) grown-up :P

Where else would you find the coolest garbage bin in a National Monument, other than India? :)
Yay for India. And yay for my new love of tourism, thank you Europe!

Born this Way baby!

What's a better way to start my first post than with the lyrics of Lady who I 'm Ga-ga-ing over!
 Lady Gaga :)
I don't know if its just me, but I really reallyyyyyy like her. Beneath all the fashion (well I can still say these things, even though I'm a designer :) beacause its my blog, ha!) and the drama, she seems so warm and sooo real, more real than your regular pop stars. Therefore, I decided to see what happens when I take my favorite Lady Gaga song and try and sing it my way...
I do play the guitar(quite badly I confess) but I make myself happier by saying, " But I'm a vocalist, not a guitarist!" Actually I'm just downright lazy. Not to deviate here, I tried playing and singing this song of hers... And man! It was mind-blowing.
Obviously only I know how good it sounded,haha... Seriously, I am planning to upload me singing it real soon. Maybe a picture, if not the video! As soon as I stop hating my voice in the recordings. Soon soon!
You know I'm sure she wrote this song while just strumming on the guitar and thinking of her days of struggle, and then it goes and becomes this larger than life "birthing" video that it is. What the hell, I love that video too!
And here are some of the lyrics...

It doesn't matter if you love him or capital H-I-M
Just put your paws up(yes I am one of your monsters. I have paws too,Gaga!)
'Cause you were born this way, baby

My mama told me when I was young
We are all born superstars
She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on
In the glass of her boudoir

There's nothin' wrong with lovin' who you are
She said, 'cause He made you perfect, babe
So hold your head up, girl and you you'll go far
Listen to me when I say

I'm beautiful in my way
'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way

Don't hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself and you're set
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way, born this way

I have been wanting to write and photo-blog everything, like really- Everything! for really long now. An outlet for me more than anything. When I'm happy I have felt like blogging, when I'm frustrated, I've felt like even more, haha! But I have had a blog-phobia. Not reading them, just writing. But then it happened...... So this has been a good day... a start... though I think what i really want is a photo-blog. Baby steps! :)

So yes, getting back to my Lady, and this song. Yes I love this song. Its so bold,so unashamed and just so true. I relate to it.

So here's to my first post... CHEERS!

Thank you Lady Gaga. For truly being an inspiration to me.