Dear Homegrown Reader,
Are you a sleepyhead waking up on Valentine’s Day every year, wishing it was a holiday? If you are, then we can be friends. Also, hey, it’s Sunday and your wish has probably been granted!
Tell you something, I personally feel Valentine’s Day is just a whole lot of gibberish spewed by media to help the corporates sell Teddy Bears and perfumes! Some others might call it a capitalist trope, a phoney invention, to say the least, and one of the only ways to make sure one is left with a trifle of their salary at the end of the month.
Phew! One can really go on.
But let me get back to reality, which, in this case, is really better than these cut-throat polemics.
Today is Sunday, and I absolutely DO NOT CARE about anything else.
The morning is beautiful and has a late wintry charm. As you catch the warm rays of the sun falling against your windowpane, you can’t help but smile. Of course, you know that none of your friends will be willing to put up with you today, but you feel happy nonetheless.
Most of them will probably be dining or chilling or making out with their boos, but the one upside to it is that you’d finally be left to yourself, chilling with yourself without a care in the world. Just like every other Sunday, you will probably struggle out of your blanket and dilly-dally your way to the bathroom, but what it would be to finally sit down with a cup of chai, knowing there’s nobody at the other end of a work call waiting for you to join!
Having said that, it’s also true that you can only remain home for so long. So, after you’re done being lazy for the day, you might want to just go out and hang out by yourself.
Probably check out some restaurants you’d never been to?
Here are a few from Homegrown’s list that I’d definitely recommend.
There are very few writers in the world whose writing, when you read them, easily tells you what a beautiful and calm person they might be. We are grateful that our friend, Janice Pariat, is one such writer. How she weaves the nitty-gritty of the beauty of North-east India, her home, is absolutely breathtaking, and to tell you something, whenever I read her work, I mentally find myself in Shillong, gazing at the pine trees and falling in love with its beauty.
What makes it even more wonderful is that I can actually make you see what I am trying to think here.
Go to your happy place with Janice and read on as she takes you through her favourite list of books that speak as beautifully about the North-East as she does. Of course, not all of these books are about the beauty of nature but the list is truly wholesome in how it brings alive everything that the region stands for – history, might, courage, and of course, lots of beauty!
And of course, books are best enjoyed with a cup of coffee.
The Indian Coffee House, with over 400 outlets across the country is an iconic brand launched in 1957 and is now thronged by college students and young professionals for its delicious spread at affordable prices. The various branches of ICH have housed a range of politicians and intellectuals within its walls, especially the one in Kolkata, where it has been a site of numerous political debates and discussions by eminent poets and revolutionaries. The one in Puducherry is the place where author Yann Martel started writing his bestselling novel, Life of Pi (2001).
My personal favourite is the Mavalli Tiffin Room in Bangalore. What’s yours? Find out from our exhaustive homegrown coffee house list. Drop in maybe, if you’re in one of these cities?
Now that you’re set for the day, you can sneakily judge all those couples from a comfortable distance at the corner of the café. Dipping into your savings for a cheesecake, those creamy quiches or the sticky Valentine’s Day sweets makes up for everything, doesn’t it?
When I was in high school and the hair on my legs were long enough to be braided, the last thing that made me excited was Valentine’s Day. But pretending to be all hot and bothered by who has proposed to whom was recipe for a sore headache! I would run back home as soon as school ended with my tail tucked between my legs. It was exhausting to say the least.
Nowadays there are a lot more things to be entertained by than there were then. In the sweet hours of the evening, when my Instagram would shake in pseudo-ecstasy over the numerous updates of people being all lovey-dovey, I would be here chilling with a can of craft beer in all my glory.
You can do it too. I recommend checking out HG’s special craft beer brewed lovingly just for you.
Wait, now that you’ve got one of the smoothest craft beers in your hand, you’ve already stepped up your game in the best way possible. But, now what? You might not be interested in the V-Day OTT curation, so get smart, get real and why not, watch a documentary?
Presenting a list of some of the best documentaries you’ll ever see on Netflix.
Sometimes I think the butterflies in my stomach are fed on Netflix. But then, even when I lay back and turn to sleep, I find they are still there. Must have been a dose of self-love (I accidentally found it somewhere) that did it.
Here’s a little bit of the same for you!
If you want, you can always pair it up with a bag of homegrown hot chips and you’re set for the day.
By now, you must have realised that just like you, I hate anything too mushy or cheesy. Shimmery hearts, pink bobbles or doe-eyed couples scare the hell out of me. Too much PDA makes me squirm. What does love got to do with these at all? Love is not a grandiose emotion. It’s a subtle one and I like to keep it that way. So, to hell with your Valentine’s Day and its reductive notions of love. We can definitely do better that that!
And here’s how we do better. Presenting the sassiest playlist of the year for Homegrown’s lovely readers. Enjoy and have the best Sunday ever!
Still want more? Check out other Homegrown musical curations here.
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