Author: The Metrognome

Categories
Diaries

Diary of a whore

Chapter 2, First Meetings

He and I met at a conference for bakers. Funnily enough, both of us were with our partners. He with his wife, a stunning brunette who must have been willowy at some point in her life but had now lost some of her youthful firmness. A beautiful woman, nevertheless. I noticed her across the room even before I saw him, partly because she stood stiffly in her high-heeled pumps in a dress of dreamy teal chiffon topped with a large statement necklace in blue. Turning to see who she was with, I saw him with his eyes locked in mine.

It sent a frisson through me, his frank and open stare, with his wife just next to him and looking in my direction as well – she’d probably turned to see what he was looking at. Smoothly, noticing her gaze from the corner of his eye, he turned his face to look at the fearsome-looking exhibit next to them: a large pink and yellow creation shaped to look like a princess castle. I noticed that he looked slightly appalled, as did my boyfriend, Amar.

“What the absolute f**k is that,” Amar murmured, pointing at the cake-castle. “You want to go and laugh at it?” he grinned, and taking my hand, led me to it. I checked to see where he was – he had moved to another exhibit down the table, and they were both intently listening to a woman baker explaining her tray of blue cookies and macarons.

I don’t remember much of the conference, nor the exhibition hall and its contents, but I do remember looking around the room several times to see where he was. I caught him looking at me a couple of times. The last time he did, he turned away with the slightest smile on his lips. On any other man, that smile would have said, ‘Gotcha!’

On him, it simply said, ‘I’d like to know you…’

We met each other a month later, again, by accident. This time, both of us were alone. And we made the time to go to a café. Nothing was said about our earlier meeting – it was understood why we were sitting across from each other having lattes at mid day. The question was, What were we going to do about this little thing that existed between us?

I could have, should have, done nothing. But I did.

Categories
Diaries

Diary of a whore

Chapter 1

Let me state right away that this is not a happy story, about happy people. It’s about not knowing anything about the future. About not having a future. About cliches and what happens when you let your heart do the talking, even when you know your story is not going to have a happy ending.

He was a married man and still I had an affair with him. I knew he would never leave his wife, and still I had a beautiful little baby with him. It didn’t help that she grew up with all his mannerisms, some of his looks, all of his charm. Like a small, curly-haired flashback to happier times.

I knew he would leave. And he did, and I still felt acute sadness. Mostly because I didn’t know what to tell my daughter. Why Abba was not at home any more. How he could just come one evening while we were out at the park and take all his clothes, his shoes, his papers, and never come back, even for a last look or chat with his daughter.

Because despite everything, I don’t want her to grow up with the slow burning hate in her heart, the kind that sours everything in life, the kind that feels like a dull burning in your chest all the time. The hate and the fury that I feel for him. I don’t want it to sully her.

So I make up stories to divert her. But she is going to catch on soon. Every time she asks for Abba, I tell her a story. A child that bright will make the connection, and possibly begin to dread it.

“Abba said he would buy me a cycle,” she begins, a trace of a whine in her voice. She knows I don’t like this particular conversation, mostly because he and I argued long and hard over it. She’s too little for a cycle, I kept saying, and he kept telling me I was too paranoid for words. Now I don’t want to relive that conversation, that feeling even more.

A story, then.

‘He always began every morning with his mobile phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. No, wait. He always began every morning sitting on the pot, mobile phone in one hand and cup of coffee in the other –‘

“Wait. Is this one more story about Abba? Because really, you need new stories.”

“That’s rude. No, it’s not about Abba. It’s about this person I knew –“

“Which person? How do you know him?”

“I knew him many years ago. I don’t know him that well…”

“And yet you know how he began his mornings.” She sighs and is about to roll her eyes, when a new thought occurs to her. “Wait. You still haven’t told me when Abba is coming home.”

She stares, waiting for an answer. Not to be deflected for long. All I want to do is hold her close and tell her the truth. But no. A story will have to do. I can’t tell her anything just yet.

I look at her honey locks, her smooth skin, her almond-shaped eyes. You are truly your Abba’s child, I want to say, but I think I might begin to cry. Instead, I strain to hear sounds from outside – I don’t turn my head around to peer at the door, as if to magically see through the wooden shutters into the inky blackness beyond. I cannot alarm her, make her think something is more wrong than it is. She is already so perceptive and I don’t want more questions about her Abba. So I square my shoulders and say, “A story, then.”

It helps to pass the time till I know how to pick up the pieces of our lives.

Categories
Learn

Use RERA to your advantage when buying a Mumbai home

The RERA is a veritable boon in the hands of flat buyers in Mumbai. We explain how it helps bring greater transparency in the flat-buying process.

The real estate sector in India has been seeing some curious trends in recent years. On the one hand, there is a constant refrain from buyers that realty is too expensive to invest in at the moment. On the other hand, the luxury housing sector continues to show stable growth! Amidst talks of a slowdown in Indian realty year upon year, came the ambitious RERA (Real Estate Regulation and development Act) that was promulgated all over the country in 2017.

The RERA was created to bring in greater transparency in the house purchase process for buyers. Using RERA helps buyers become privy to all the important information they must necessarily know – flat and real estate developer credentials, project timelines, construction progress, reasons for delay, etc. The RERA is aimed at helping buyers make well-informed decisions about buying Mumbai properties and investing in the right projects.

Are you a first time homebuyer looking to invest in an under-construction property? Here’s a lowdown on how RERA can help you pick the right flat for sale in Mumbai:

* RERA assures you that everything is laid out in black and white. The primary thrust of the RERA is complete transparency, which means that buyers must be privy to all the information they seek whenever they seek it. The Act has been worded to include every facet of the process, from initial construction to final handover of the completed Mumbai property. It also specifies the legal and construction standards that developers must uphold per project, starting with taking a RERA project number that must be clearly mentioned across advertisements, brochures, project plans, etc. This number helps buyers keep online and offline track of the project’s progress. Prior to starting the construction, the developer must give written specifications, include copies of municipal approval, land title and reservation, project timelines, etc. and adhere to the same or furnish written reasons for delays.

* New constructions are more professionally handled from now on. Since RERA specifies stiff legal penalties for inordinate and unexplained delays, developers are now more cautious about using their available funds and giving completion timelines. Smaller players in realty were earlier quite glib about several parameters, which led to delays, stoppages and huge losses for buyers. But the RERA weeds out the unscrupulous developers from the professional ones. Since real estate developers must specify problems and delays in writing, there is no scope for buyers to be left high and dry with stalled projects, or builders abruptly stopping their rent payments (in case of redevelopment projects), etc. Thus, developers are now more accountable for their projects, leading to faster completion.

* Projects are now securing funding much faster. Buyers are now confident about investing in 1 BHK flats in Mumbai, or luxury 2 BHK flats in Mumbai, since every new project must be licensed and approved by RERA. In turn, an approved project automatically increases its own chances of getting home loan funding. This is good news for those buyers who wish to secure home loans for buying flats for sale in Mumbai. Meanwhile, real estate developers are also able to secure funding to start and finish the construction when there is RERA certification for the project.

(Featured image courtesy https://blog.ipleaders.in/stalled-projects-rera/)

Categories
Deal with it

Why go to China for a great wall?

The wall art you pick personifies you and by extension, your home. Here’s a handy guide to what’s new in the world of wall art.

The chicest homes are those that add deft touches to the décor such that each room and each element in it makes sense in conjunction with each other. A lot of this has to do with visual symmetry – and most of the flourishes you can adopt come from wall art.

Here’s taking a look at five of the hottest wall art trends you could consider for your home:

1 Geometric shapes. There’s something young and quirky about geometry, isn’t there? Imagine a framed wall art piece featuring nothing else but concentric circles, or a line of squares. Apart from lending quirk to the wall, the piece becomes a conversation starter (‘Oh, that’s…interesting,’ ‘Yes, we love having random triangles on the wall…’) and a focal point for the room. We suggest leaving the rest of the wall bare if you have a big bold geometric print up there – the print can get overpowered by competing patterns in the vicinity.

2 Bohemian designs. You might want a more free-flowing wall art to reflect the boundlessness of your own personality. Have you considered buying an unframed canvas with floral patterns, or wavy coloured lines or even the picture of a cute little girl clutching an even littler puppy? Bohemian chic was a major talking point last year, and we anticipate that the trend will continue this year.

3 Wallpapers. Before you cringe and say, ‘People are still doing wallpapers?’ you might consider that when we say wallpapers, we don’t mean the shiny ones with the cloying patterns on them. You can get wallpapers in a matte finish and you can also have them customised. Just imagine an awesome bedroom with all the walls papered to show floor to ceiling bookshelves. Or one wall that is a montage of your favourite family photographs.

4 Paintings against black walls. Most people wouldn’t paint their walls black, but then most people wouldn’t know the stark beauty that black walls provide. A matte black wall becomes the perfect backdrop for a brooding painting or even a cheerful photo frame. It lends an air of sophistication and mystery to the room, though you might consider painting just one wall black instead of all of them.

5 Stripes. Striped walls were a major trend about two years ago, but the style has now evolved to bold blockish stripes inside large framed wall art. You can break the pattern with a photo frame or a wall clock – this accentuates the stripes even more. Try this: create a pattern with stripes and intersperse with photo frames. This can become an interesting element in the living room. Plus, you can buy both the framed wall art and photo frames online at great prices.

(Featured image courtesy https://www.hipcouch.com/magazine/6-amazing-benefits-wall-art-home-interior-didnt-know)

Categories
Kharcha paani

The main difference between richness and wealth

Being rich is great, but being wealthy has more enduring value. Let’s understand how to use insurance to move from being rich to being wealthy.

All of us dream of a stable life for ourselves, where there is enough money in our account to meet all our expenses. Some of us have a lot of money in our hands at intermittent points of time, but this does not mean that we are wealthy. Let us examine the difference between the two concepts:

Richness: It is a phase when one has a lot of money at one’s disposal. The money may appear suddenly as a result of an investment, a job completed or some other reason. However, it is transient in nature – it is apt to be spent quite quickly. It is a state in which a person may have money intermittently but not always.

Wealth: In contrast, the state of wealth is one in which a person may have a lot of reserves at their disposal over a longer period of time. It is said that the wealthiest people in the world are those that know how to make their money work for them even when they are asleep. True wealth is created when one does not need to work such that their effort results in money. Wealth can be created by taking one affirmative step and letting the investment work for itself.

A further proof of how wealth is created is given by an insurance investment option known as the ‘wealth plan’. This is an insurance plan that helps you create wealth over a period of time, such that your periodic investment is plugged into the right securities to give maximum returns.

Consider the following salient benefits of a good wealth insurance plan:

  • A high life coverage amount that is at least 30 times the annual premium paid.
  • The investment helps you fulfil your long term financial goals and also protects your loved ones’ future.
  • You can invest money monthly, quarterly or half yearly.
  • There are multiple fund options – debt, equity, balanced assets or more – as per your investment appetite.
  • There is the freedom to switch between different fund classes to maximise the returns.
  • You can partially withdraw funds against the investment after a certain number of years are complete.

The insurance plan may have a term starting from 15 years up to 40 years. The plan must include guaranteed loyalty additions, apart from a death benefit that equals the sum assured minus the withdrawals made (if any). The death benefit may also be calculated to the fund value, or it may be a sum equal to 105% of the premiums paid till the date of the policy holder’s demise.

Additionally, the policy holder gets higher coverage to 30 times the annual premium over a long term – thus it makes fiscal sense to remain invested in this plan for long.

(Featured image courtesy https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/environment/education-health-help-the-most-in-wealth-creation-report-62394)

Categories
Beauty

5 steps to get ready for an office party

Office parties are great fun, and you look forward to the occasions every single year. But they also entail a fair bit of advance preparation and choosing the right outfit and accessories to go with it. It can become a challenge very quickly if you don’t follow the process in a methodical manner.

Here’s how you prep and dress for the work party:

#1 Decide on your clothes and makeup ASAP.

You’ve probably attended several office parties by now. The thumb rules of dressing up for them are never repeat an outfit, do not dress casual, and dress comfortably but stylishly. You may wear a daring dress and bold make-up, but steer clear of dress with short hems and low necklines. If you are unsatisfied with the clothes you have in your wardrobe, you should buy new party clothing, accompanying accessories and footwear right away. Don’t leave this for later – you will need fittings, probably some alterations, or even exchange a certain piece of clothing for a different size or colour, and so on. We recommend dresses that feature night colours, such as plum, indigo, maroon or violet, with shiny embellishment and a comfortable but chic fit. If you already have an outfit in mind, do buy footwear and other accessories to go with it.

#2 Perfume is key.

Apart from shopping for clothes, a clutch and shoes, you must invest in a new perfume for the party. An expensive perfume announces itself in the most amazing way, and everyone will take note of how wonderful your fragrance is and how it increases your style quotient. Pick a light and fresh fragrance that lasts long and lends just the required air of sophistication for your look at the party.

#3 Test your perfume at night.

Now that you have the best perfume you wanted, you need to test how it goes with your outfit and the time of night. The perfume must need only a light spritz – wear it and see how long it lasts before you need a refresh. This gives you an idea of how much perfume you will need to spritz on for the party. Do carry the bottle in your purse in case you need a refresh.

#4 Test your clothes, makeup and footwear.

Office parties are evening and night affairs. Do remember that there will be strobe lights, overhead spotlights and harsh lighting in some places and shadows in others. There will also be lots of photographs taken and posted on social media. Thus, your clothes, makeup and footwear should show you off to the best advantage. Do not wear nude or light makeup, but highlight your features in a slightly bolder fashion without going overboard. If you choose a dark lipstick, then keep the eye makeup simpler. Conversely, choose fresh pink lips with smoky eyes. Finish with mascara, a cheek tint and lip gloss.  

Now check your shoes. Walk around in them, especially if they are new, and keep them on for a couple of hours to see which parts of them don’t feel right. There will be dancing and staying on your feet for most of the evening, so choose comfortable shoes with a low heel and a sturdy sole.

#5 Prep your skin before you get into your clothing.

On the night of the party, cleanse your skin and take a shower to make yourself look petal fresh. Apply moisturiser all over the skin and start blow drying your hair. Once your hair is dry, style it into the hairdo you want and then prime your skin for makeup. Do your makeup under suitable lighting so you get it right the first time. Now wear deodorant, get into your clothes, spritz on your perfume, wear your shoes and get to the party looking fabulous like you always do.

Have any style tips to share? Tell us in the comments below.

(Featured image courtesy https://makeupandbeauty.com/office-party-dress-code/)

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