That’s the way it is

Do you personally know any man who is wonderful and clean at heart, very talented, presents himself just fine, very committed to the things he takes up, religious and dedicated, earns decently well and yet isn’t able to find a partner for marriage? Well, I have a friend who’s facing exactly that issue.

I always thought the path he was on was that by choice, however recently I figured it wasn’t so. I wouldn’t call him old, but let’s put it as he puts it.. He says, most people his age are married years back and have 5 year old kids now. It’s not like he’s never dated or been in relationships before, it’s just that things haven’t worked out and he’s still not found his better half.

After having my little discussion with him, I pondered over a few things. This guy certainly doesn’t deserve this kind of life. And I’m not just saying this because he’s a friend.
One relationship has already been hard on him and facing further rejection is doing no good to his attitude towards life. If I had to list any negatives, I wouldn’t be able to find a single one, of course it’s a different story that he loves annoying me and arguing with me to the point I feel like pulling his hair!! But he really is a super great guy.

If this was someone just plain lazy, non focused, not serious, someone with a care a damn attitude, a womanizer, a gambler, a boozard.. you get the drill..  I would’ve thought the person as non deserving of marriage. However, thinking of his case makes me wonder why is he in this position, it’s somehow unfair.

Anyway, it isn’t like I can offer any advice to him on how to lead his life and find a partner, I ain’t some love guru. The least I can do is pray things go well for him and leave it to destiny. Best wishes are always there!

Celine Dion’s words may provide him with some comfort.

I can read your mind and I know your story
I see what you’re going through
It’s an uphill climb, and I’m feeling sorry
But I know it will come to you

Don’t surrender ’cause you can win
In this thing called love

When you want it the most there’s no easy way out
When you’re ready to go and your heart’s left in doubt
Don’t give up on your faith
Love comes to those who believe it
And that’s the way it is

When you question me for a simple answer
I don’t know what to say, no
But it’s plain to see, if you stick together
You’re gonna find a way, yeah

So don’t surrender ’cause you can win
In this thing called love

When you want it the most there’s no easy way out
When you’re ready to go and your heart’s left in doubt
Don’t give up on your faith
Love comes to those who believe it
And that’s the way it is

Yours Truly,
Thesilenthummer
Franchua D’Souza

Main Toh Raste se Ja Rahi Thi

Remember this song? It’s the first thing that came to my head while deciding a title for this post.

I’ll be honest. The only thing that keeps me ticking in the week is the fact that the weekend is getting closer. And until the weekend doesn’t arrive, I bask in the happiness of my previous weekends, especially if they went well. Remember that Saturday lunch at Candies?

I really, really believe that the best things happen when they’re unplanned and random. I apply this unplanned funda to weekends too.
I happened to meet a friend/neighbor on my building terrace early on a Sunday evening. We got talking about our lives and suddenly came up with a random plan of going street hopping to relish some street food delicacies. Being a Mumbaikar that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but never did.
Anyway, In 20 mins we were decently dressed from our regular home clothes and off we were on the bike.

When we started out, we only knew we were going to have ragda pyaali at Bhendi bazaar. The place we went to was a simple street cart, somewhere in one of those similar looking bylanes, close to an intersection. The only landmark I remember as of now is Ezee Farsan which apparently is well known.

I won’t deny, had I come unprepared to this place with someone, I would’ve been put off immediately looking at the area, the cart, the people around etc. But here I knew what I was up for. I knew Mumbai street food means..arr.. forget it, we’ll focus on the good things.

So the pyaali was pretty good, and was typically street food happiness. There’s a reason they say chaat food is better on the street than in hotels.
While ordering the pyaali we did mention we didn’t want it spicy, clearly that didn’t help because we needed to have something sweet soon after the dish. Also, the little maaza bottle we got from a nearby shop didn’t do the trick.

As we were sitting back onto the bike, we decided we’ll have some water melon sharbat from this place in Grant road. Apparently this is famous too. Now while we were on our way, there was this place Sickanagar which had quite a few carts of street food too. We decided to go in for Khicia at Bajrangi Papad corner. As per my friend’s explanation, Khicia is something like an Indian veg pizza which has papad at the base instead of pizza bread. I did not quite relate to the pizza bit, but I understood it as something like sev puri, just that instead of the puris there’s this big papad as the base. Toppings are the same. Lime and cheese add to the flavor totally. We chose the masala khichia, and must admit it’s interesting, and very filling.

Not forgetting out Watermelon sharbat plan, we continued our mini food excursion. This particular stall is very close to Navjeevan Society. We had to choose between the sharbat with water or milk. My pal chose water, while I took a chance with milk. It was sweet, refreshing and mine being with milk was quite heavy too. Even the water melon pieces put in were sweet.

To have all of this in the span of an hour is a great deal for me, so obviously by now my tummy was stuffed completely. But what about pleasing my sweet tooth?? There’s  always place for dessert right? Tee- hee 🙂

Now we needed something sweet (read chocolaty) and light, enough to end this mini food excursion on a happy note. What better way than the very rich and famous “Muchhar  Paanwalla” at the posh Breach Candy? In approximately 5 minutes we were there on the bike. The paanwallas here have competition to the core. We hadn’t even stopped our bike when they started approaching us and asking us what we’d like to have from their respective little paan shops. We chose chocolate paan, and it was awesome! With the chocolate oozing out from it, just yum!

That was it for our early evening dinner and we finally decided to head back home.
But we did make one more stop at Lucknowee Tunday Kebab, but that was only to get some packed kebabs for my sister back home, and my pal’s folks. We share food, sometimes 😛

And that’s a selfie with my food pal!

I’m sure people have had crazy experiences like this, do let me know!

Yours Truly,
Thesilenthummer.
Franchua D’Souza

I never promised you a Rose Garden

But here it is! Haha.

On Saturday I had an online exam to attend, and since the internet in my area is gone for a toss with some fire being caught in a neighboring building, I went to a friend’s place to give the exam. In fact it’s for the same reason I haven’t been able to post much here.
The paper was an hour long and it went quite well, so it kind of made my day.
May be it was even because I had worn my daddy’s shirt, it worked as a good luck charm. A good 20+ year old shirt that I don’t think will ever go out of fashion.

Since I wore it a few days back, I knew I’d be putting up a post on it. Wearing boyfriend shirts/jeans/anything isn’t my thing. It took me a while to feel confident in it but now it’s one of my favorite pieces.

Anyway once I got done with my exam, I wanted to go out and do something. Couldn’t think of anything better than a visit to a near by garden, it’d been ages since I last went there. It turned out to be a fantastic evening with the weather being pleasant, the sun at about just the right angle for pictures and the beauty was to admire.

Here are a few of those many many pics we took.

Feeling Refreshed

Red checkered me

Floral Beauty

Floral beauty

Flower power

Flower Power

Rose Garden

These tiny budding Roses

At the park

At the park

After the sunset

After sunset

All relaxed

Relaxed

Oversized shirt: Dad’s closet, Black tank top: Bandra Hill Road, Black Slacks: Thrift shopping- Mahim, Wristwatch: Fashion & you. Chain with Trebble Clef pendant: Gift from Dubai Shopping Fest ’15.
Photography by : Nolasco Alphonso

Don’t have a boyfriend? Perfectly fine! Ransack Daddy’s closet. 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the post. If you did, please leave your comments, I’d love to know what you think.

Have a great week ahead.

Yours Truly,
Thesilenthummer
Franchua D’Souza