I have spent my week taking care of myself. That, in itself, is quite an oddity because I belong to a generation of people who were taught that self-love was a form of narcissism. Hence, I had to re-train my brain to think otherwise. I spent my days taking relaxing massages, doing head and nail spas, eating out and enjoying movies on Netflix. Quite a deviation from my normal life where I’m too busy applying the art of ‘kintsugi’ (in short fixing other people’s ‘balderdash’), and ending up feeling exhausted with someone else’s burdens. So a quick visit to my fave friend’s exhibition (where I bumped into a myriad of other friends), made some purchases (nothing as good at retail-therapy), had a great cup of coffee and cake, indulged in some harmless gossip and laughed uproariously, made me come home satiated.
I also made sure that I wouldn’t miss partaking in the food of Chef Harish Rao, a very talented chef from the popular restaurant Hosa in Goa, who was doing a pop-up at JW Marriott for two days. Sharing a table with GM Gaurav Sinha and Director of F&B, Deepak Jeena, was a hoot as the conversation was laced with laughter and bonhomie. Chef Harish spun his magic by introducing his brand of innovative Indian food with nuances from all over the country. The expertise of the chef lies in the fact that he is uber confident with his flavour profiles, seamlessly layering our very complicated Indian cuisine with the ‘el-toque-justo’ (right touch)!
Later in the week, a very mysterious box was delivered to my doorstep by a very presentable young man in a uniform. I am quite used to our (always in a hurry) delivery boys who are waiting to drop off your parcels with the wrong security-staff or hurriedly dump your parcels outside your door if one doesn’t answer the doorbell fast enough. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a personable young man waiting patiently at the door while this very beautiful parcel was delivered. And what a sense of mystery surrounded it! The bag held a box which unfolded into a chocolate egg which needed to be gently tapped with a wooden mallet (provided) to display the contents within! There wasn’t a whimper about where this enigmatic Yan Yan was, which day it was unveiling itself, or where it was! A flurry of phone calls yielded no results but ultimately my good friend, the GM of The Ritz-Carlton, solved the mystery by inviting me to a ‘sneak-peek’ consisting of his close friends and a smattering of foreign consuls, to an outstanding evening of ambrosia and Chinese food. The vibe of the restaurant sets the pace. One enters to a long bar with outstanding cocktails and small plates, while the level downstairs is for the main courses. The menu is well thought of with the freshest of ingredients and to my surprise, I found myself quaffing the cocktails and their vegetarian-fare, which was outstanding; especially the mushrooms and the stir-fried greens!
The world is going through a chaos domino effect and it’s scary. Not one to believe in sooth-sayers but… the coincidences are chilling. Enjoy every day, be happy and learn to give precedence to loving yourself more. As the Gen Z says IYKYK (if you know you know)!
(The writer’s views are personal)