Raves and Rants

So how did I decide on Istanbul? Did I recklessly pick a city on the map to discover, hardly. 😏. I had to go for a wedding in India. Normally I would do just that, trip to homeland and back but this time I decided to be adventurous? Foolish? At that time I was being foolishly adventurous, and every family , I believe, needs to travel together and go through stuff together to be close, is what I thought. This was before. Now as they say hind sight is 20/20. Here's what I think, traveling with kids is always unexpected, yet it must be done, just so they can be resilient, and learn to be a little out of their comfort zone. I got a great deal on tickets to Greece and decided to go to Istanbul from there, on my way back from India. Yeah I said that.  I didn't just say it, rinsed and repeated it to my bewildered other half and kids. 'Coz Going to India wasn't enough, going to Greece wasn't cutting it,  I needed to schedule another trip in the three weeks of winter br...

Did I tell you? I am  an Austenerd. I love Jane Austen. Cliche  I know, but my favorite book is not surprisingly "Pride and Prejudice" but "Persuasion". Is Mark Darcy my favorite Hero of all times, umm, no. why the blog post silly? 'coz I went to the library and saw this right next to the free stuff. free stuff at the library I'm pretty sure millennials dont know what this is. These are Video Cassettes and you need a VCR to play this. If you don't know what a VCR is, you might not even know Colin Firth's portrayal of Darcy. BBC adaptation of the book came way before the Keira Knightly version. Colin Firth in my mind is Mark Darcy. No One, (Sorry Matthew MacFadden!) can/or ever will be a better Darcy than Mr. Firth.  Why then am I taking a picture and not grabbing this amazing deal(its free!), 'coz I don't own a VCR. I used to, a long time ago. As I'm enlightened every day by my 8 yr old. I'm OLD. Her: Did you build ...

I work downtown. Not exciting, downtown,but kinda down-in the crappy-dumps downtown. So I wanderlust, a lot. I try most days to not pretend to notice the same hobos outside the dunkin donuts harassing me for "Spare Change".There are no fancy boutiques or window shopping. Maybe no window but door shopping? The mannequin is outside the window, in case you didn't notice with the dress taped to the door and window. And this particular store is a sell it all store, you can buy lotto tickets, cigarettes, gum, groceries, and the latest fashion displayed. If this isn't your scene then there is a deli, and DMV, and a lots of street corners of people talking about something that has nothing to do with anything in the current affairs. So this is where I am, a lot, not in the streets, but in this vicinity of downtown. So exciting, YAY! As if.😆 Hence the title Istanbul Blues. 'Coz I have 'em, now, and everyday. Like a lovesick teenager, I miss the city, the vib...

So I've been travelling, a lot in the past few weeks. More on that later. But I have to share with y'll my cruise to wat felt like a forever purgatory in smoke hell. So you're in Istanbul, and want to see the city by night, you can like a fool, or me, think that that is indeed a good idea. 'Coz in a foreign country things always go as you anticipate, right? Umm.. that would be "Yok Hayir", in turkish, google it, you may or may not be surprised by the meaning. But in this context lets try and understand exactly wat my expectations are versus the reality. My Expectation: I'm expecting a family friendly atmosphere, with nice commentary in the back about the historical landmarks we pass by. I'm expecting a table service for dinner, and nice food. Nice relaxing cruise, etc. Wat I Get: Are you ready for this, 'coz? I wasnt. It was a long drawn out episode of "Shahs of Sunset", except it was the worst episode that dragged inev...

"Ma'm Can I have your ID please", the freckled teenager behind the checkout desk at the drugstore asked me. Since when do I look eighteen? fleetingly flattered, yet perplexed, that he called me Ma'm. Before asking for ID. Somehow, this kid didn't seem like the cynical  ladies at the Macy's beauty and perfumes counter at the mall, cornering me to buy that expensive nighttime cream. "Do you need any help?", Liz asked, looking at me as she would a frumpy alien. All I wanted was to smell the roses in that perfume that promised me "Romance" and "Diamonds". "I'm not sure.." I blurted, Liz looked at me with "Gone Girl" eyes, before putting me in front of a magnifying mirror that highlighted that and all the other things that were alarmingly wrong with my face. She looked mortified and bewildered at my state of being and whispered to me surreptitiously, not ostensibly wanting to embarrass me, "You Need to take...

I'm not a small talker, I'm a big talker. Ask the homeless people I ignore asking me to buy them lunch, or was it train fare, or was it money to buy illegal substances? When I was new to NYC, I mistook the phrase on the small cardboard placard  next to the young lady sitting on the platform "Spare Change",  to imply she was giving away free change, and I looked at the dilapidated state of this relatively young lady with hair strewn all over her face and head bent, and asked my self why was she giving out free change? She could certainly use the change, I mean next to parking meters she would do much better trying to part with that change; and more importantly why aren't people rushing to get this so called "Spare Change". Then, I saw it, people dropping change in her coffee cup, as they went there merry ways. Yes, This is the kind of clueless I am. Subways are no talk zone, let alone small talk, unless you're the hobo in the corner mumbling to his ...

Falls here, and the PSL (pumkin spice lattes) are brewing , yum! Halloween is a few days away, and I for one am happy that it will be done soon, 'coz looking at Grim Reapers in people's front yards with sickles and daggers- call me crazy, aren't my thing. Do we constantly need a reminder of our mortality in a painstakingly tacky way? I wonder, and although I can get behind the whole- Pumpkin this and Pumpkin that, except -pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds. Really? Honestly we should may be make the same case for apple too. Why should the healthy one not get the spotlight here, too. Also, whats with the less than underwhelming costumes, inappropriate I know is the aim, but in my mind theres a cardinal rule, pls ppl, Do Not mess up the princess costumes my innocent ones watch ? I saw a grown man with Moana costume, and my heart broke at the state of Moana in a bad costume, or maybe its the other way around. Anyhoo, I went into the heart of the city yesterday, NYC, rocks, always,...