Diwali 2014

The last few months have been very tough. We recently (as in 2 months back) shifted to a rented accommodation, from our own house (in-law's house) and awaiting the possession of our own flat which was promised last December (#NCRflatpossessionwoes). There are, obviously, a lot of limitations and challenges we are facing as renters, decor being one of them. Also, with my in-law's place being hardly an hour's drive from our new flat - all festivals have to be doubly celebrated. This, while being a lot of fun, also turns out to be quite hectic.

This year, somehow, my enthusiasm for Diwali was pretty much on the lower end of the spectrum. My husband was surprised and made all the efforts to keep me upbeat. He brought flowers, without being asked - I hardly used them. He brought Rangoli colors - I didn't make one as I was worried I will stain the floor with the colors. Basically, I was walking a tight-rope with the whole "being renter" business. You must be wondering that I am exaggerating the situation here, but the fact is we will hardly be staying in this home - max till March. I don't want to be too connected to this home and put too much of an effort or energy into it that it becomes difficult to dissociate myself. We are also house-proud people and know that this is someone else's house - something that we can not take for granted.

Since we had promised that we will show you a few glimpses of our own homes, to familiarize ourselves with you, here's my take on Diwali this year. Tell us what you think about whatever little I have done.

Fold your hands together as I begin with my Mandir :).

Table Manners

See we are back with a new post, like we promised. As it happens, we somehow chose to be back, bang in between the festive season. And what are festivals if not celebrated with family. Well, in India - Family & Food - the two F-words that never fail to bring a smile :). 

So we are here to help you with your festival preps. While food and it's variety and taste should be on top of your mind but wouldn't it be absolutely lovely if you gave the presentation a thought - a cherry on the cake I'd say, if I can freely use a food metaphor. Or in the Indian context, the Kaju (Cashew-nut) on your Boondi Laddoo (doubt there is a parallel of this awesomeness in the English speaking world) :P. 

How about we list down few important pointers to guide you in setting your table, making it guest-ready and a cynosure of all eyes. 

It's very important that you decide what kind of dinner or feast you are planning to host. Is it a formal sit-down dinner complete with silverware and overall more elaborate or is it a more casual approach where the food is set on a separate table, buffet style for which you need a fast and easy approach. Let's take each of these settings individually and discuss it at large - 

•        A Formal Dinner - 

Source

Sorry...

Hi, how have you guys been? Missed us.. at all?? I doubt it. Had we been in your place, we wouldn't have even cared. How dare a new blogger with hardly anything much going for them, even decided to disappear? We are at fault and we own it but we just lost our groove in the midst of it all. We were naive enough to think that just by the content of it all and good research we will be able to carve a niche for ourselves. We didn't want to over-promote ourselves or randomly align with other bloggers in India just so that we generate more “Likes” or more comments. Fact is, we don’t share the style in terms of aesthetics with most of the other décor bloggers. We have a very Modern, clutter-free and clean approach to décor, which somehow is not cutting it – we guess? That being said, for the people who do relate to our style and our blog, we are back and back for good. We promise, we are not going anywhere now – at least not till the time we are sure you will miss us and make us come back.

We got the jolt of our lives when our favoritesssttt bloggers decided to take a step back with no definite date of when they were coming back. To say that we are missing them, is putting it mildly. To say that we are religiously checking their blog and just stopping ourselves from writing a love-song to them is more like it. What gave us a wake-up call was how many people got affected by it!! They have some 5000+ comments and counting and at least 80% of the lot are requesting begging them to come back. What about us?? We were ashamed and how!!

May I Come In : Reny's Nautical Abode

You remember that time when the height of cool was remembering the “My Heart Will Go On” lyrics verbatim, or trying the Titanic pose every time you are on a ferry boat or any boat or near water or just because there are 2 of you? I, actually, went through a phase from 1997-2002 where I believed I will meet the temporary love of my life (come-on I will not marry a hippie for crying out loud!!) with casual wind-swept hair, talking to me about art and living for the moment (home loans be damned!!), on a ship. Then came the Internet revolution and this whole “mistakes in the movie TITANIC” kinda extensive researches, Leo’s (yeah I can call him that) conscious departure from cute-boyish to serious-rugged style, it all made me sigh and move on. My love for the vast open ocean and the dream of a cruise trip is still intact, though. So imagine my thrill when I get to meet Reny who shares the same love, actually more, much much more. So much more that when it came to building his house, he built it totally around the look of a ship’s interior. 

Come along with us as we take a tour of our very first theme-based home. Let me first properly introduce Reny. Reny Joseph, who works in the Merchant Navy, is the proud owner of this nautical themed home, along with his lovely wife Reena . He claims the ocean to be his first, oops, second (sorry Reena) love and with a man totally smitten, he displayed his love in his home. The theme has been played along with a lot of usage of sturdy wood, glimpse of which you receive as soon as you enter. The first thing you notice is the massive wooden door with the glass cut-outs making the sun-light do a jig of their own. I am actually imagining a tail-coat wearing door-man opening it for me with Celine Dion providing the background score (I am still at –it with my Titanic references – Gawwdd I am stuck in the 90s!!).

The One with the Throne

OK, so we are finally done with the Winter season. After much confusion about the weather status, we can officially welcome Spring. The situation was quite funny and quite a lot of round-robin jokes about the confusing weather (esp the famous Dabang dialogue joke - heard it?) kept my Whatsapp account abuzz. Not that I am looking forward to the sweltering months ahead but I am really glad to be done and over with the heavy pile of clothes on my body, wearing boots (I hate wearing closed shoes), shorter days - ugghhh not exactly a fan of the winter season!! Sadly, though, there goes my excuse for not taking a bath!!! Eeewwww who does that?? Not me :P

Now that spring is here and summer is just round the corner, why not discuss the Bathroom y'all? After all we will spend a lot of time there splashing our faces, showering twice or thrice a day and maybe catch a stomach bug and crap away (OK that's the first and last reference to it, I swear). Decorating bathrooms, though, easy but is quite often neglected. Whether you have a big or a small bathroom, it is always smart to effectively manage the space to serve you well and add a touch of your personality in the process. More often than not, a guest would like to use your bathroom - impress them non?? We will tell you how - 

Come Away With Me : Destination Coorg

Editor's Note : Pls welcome on board another member in the HFA family, who will take you along with her to Coorg. She chooses to remain, much like all of us here, anonymous. Tell us how you like what she has to say in the comments or you can mail us at housefliesanonymous@gmail.com.

So the husband and I finally got a whole weekend to ourselves (yes, I am one of the few unlucky ones, who work on weekends) and decided to have a small getaway somewhere nearby. Of the many options, we zeroed in on Coorg. Now Coorg (or Kodagu as it is traditionally known) is a beautiful hill station and is a major tourist spot near Bangalore. I haven’t been to many hill stations, except for Ooty a long time ago, so I vehemently nodded my head even before my husband can finish saying Coorg.

We had planned to leave home by around 5.30am so that we could reach early and have sufficient time to cover all the tourist spots. Who am I kidding? We left only by 6.30. Come on, I got a weekend free after like, ages – I am allowed to be lazy. I had also packed sandwiches to eat on the way. I know there are a million restaurants and McD’s on the way but come on, the joy of eating home-packed food while travelling is something else altogether (Yes, I am that kinda woman :P).

We set off towards our destination, thanks to our smart phones – NOT. The drive was great BECAUSE we had done some research before our trip, so knew the various shortcuts and all. I have a Coorgi friend and he had given me a detailed good-old route map to various hot-spots to check out in Coorg.