Gratitude List # 14

Anyone else shocked that it’s November? I am. How can it already be closing the end of 2014?

Anyway, wedding season is upon us once again so the next couple of months are going to be pretty intense which I am excited about and also kinda nervous about. Treating my body with respect by eating healthy is kinda hard when you are frequenting weddings!

Still, I am grateful for

// LOTS of weddings coming up! Also lots of traveling. This month, weddings in Ranchi, Chennai, Bangalore and Jaipur! Phew.

// The wedding that Gen and I just shot this week in Vashi. It was my first South Indian wedding in a long time and I have to say I love all the intricacies of South Indian weddings and I am constantly amazed by how every part of India has it’s own little cultural signature in weddings. Of course, the difference between a great and an awesome wedding is made by the client and this one was most certainly in the ‘awesome’ category.

// Second hand book shops. I love book shops in general but with the bombardment of online shopping, book stores are becoming increasingly abysmal in their collections. After running some errands for Rob’s upcoming exhibition*, we stepped into Kitab Mahal at Flora Fountain and I went through a range of emotions in that beautiful space. First, excitement because I found a cookbook (Clean Eats; see below) that I’ve been wanting to buy at a discounted price, then disappointment because they practically had no stock of any of Vandana Shiva’s books that I was looking for, and then amused-disbelief at an expensive hard-cover glossy book about the band One Direction right at the front section. I guess this is what bookstores have to do to stay in business nowadays?

Anyway, so after we left the store, we headed over the second-hand book stalls on the street. This may be Rob’s favourite place in all of Bombay. In the storage under our bed is a massive collection of old books, many of which were bought at Flora’s bookstalls. I wasn’t too convinced that I would find what I was looking for but I did end up buying three books and I am now all set for the many hours of plane rides and sleeps at hotels this month!

// Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger. I’ve been on a kind of mission to figure out food these days. For general well-being and also trying to get to the bottom of some specific issues. I may be a little obsessed but the thing is once I know something my conscience makes it pretty hard for me to ignore. I believe our bodies are sacred ground and we are responsible to take care of them and eating responsibly is a HUGE part of that. Here’s a quote from the book that I really liked:

“Food is more than just calories; it’s information. And that information plays a much greater role than just providing us fuel for energy. Every bite we eat contains information that tells our genes how to express themselves. Food literally has the ability to turn our good “genes” on and our “bad” genes off…

The role food plays in telling our bodies how to “show up” is deep. Every year, through new research, we’re learning that the relationship is even deeper than we could have ever imagined.”

*This is the exhibition.Do mark it in your calendars! We would love to see you there.