I need to wake up earlier. By the time I am up, the kid next door is already watching cartoons. I I know this because my bathroom forms a diagonal to the neighbors balcony and their balcony is off of their living room. As I brush my teeth to the sound of Mr. Squarepants, I know I should get up earlier. That would be one way to get more done in the day.

By the time I am back from the gym and taking a shower, the kids are still watching TV and their mom is threatening to wallop them for not finishing their lunch. The kids sound belligerent. Their mom sounds whiny. I am too tired.

Hi- Ate us!

I am back. Glad to report I survived the home renovation and am now settled in (well, more or less). Have had several house guests and very little time. I am determined however to continue with my explorations and sometimes excavations for that which is beautiful. Starting out with an image from Inspiration Board that I found striking. Enjoy!

Beauty in Unexpected Places

Had to share this! Saw a container full of rose petals at a paint shop in a busy, not to so pretty marketplace. Who put it there? Hard to believe it could be one of the busy shopkeepers or their sales people. It was a lonely visual relief welcome on a hot, sultry Delhi afternoon.

Fun with Paints!

You don't have to be an artist or even have a keen eye to enjoy the painting phase of house renovation. This is when it all comes together. Things start to make (some) sense and the wretched pile of "malba" starts to look like a house ( not home yet, but a house never the less).
I have been scanning websites, design blogs and chewing the ears of my good friend whose sense of aesthetic and colour I trust ( Thank you !Thank you O' patient one!) to come up with a palette I like.
We found a good "putaiwala" i.e painter. He and his team have been scraping away the old paint from the walls. It is coming off in sheets especially in this one place where there is old dampness that looks like a she-ogre sitting astride two walls, baring her ugly teeth in a horrid yellowey grin. It is a remnant and reminder of the time the bathroom of our upstairs neighbors had leaked and our couldn't-care-less tenants forgot to mention it to us. SO the damsel in dampness needs to go! After the walls are smooth like"Hema Malini's gaals", as Laluji would say, will come a layer of primer.
This whole process will take a few days and then the fun with colors begins.

Tiles Update

Its done!
The bathroom is tiled! Yayyy! It did not take very long ( mostly because it ain't a big loo) and partly because the tile guys were sweeeet and diligent! The tiles need to be soaked in water for a while before they are ready for er..being laid.
Once they are ready, slap on cement mix on the walls and tile away (ok I admit it is IS tougher than it sounds!). The trick lies in the Floor!
If the floor needs tiling too ( ours did) it needs to be evened out and a "base" made. This "base" is made with the drain in mind. There is an O' so subtle incline in the floor towards the drain. Once this flow is established, tiling commences...drum roll please!
The first tile lays the foundation of good tiles(wo)manship. Logically if the floor has an incline, not all tiles at the bottom will be equal, so the bottom ones may have to be sliced. If you want a detailed download on the steps involved, email me and I'd be happy to walk you through the fascinating, colorful and deceptively simple world of tiling.

PS: Would have loved to post pics but www.blogger.com's gone kaput and is not letting me upload any images. A quick check in with the support group tells me I am not the only one. Hope it will be fixed soon!

Achoooooo!

The last few days have been tough, tough, tough. I have a head cold that just wouldn't go away. So here I am sipping chai with ginger and black pepper and browsing make-me- happy websites and blogs. One of them is ecofabulous. Always ready with sexy, sustainable stuff, their beauty section is so earth-friendly and fabulous smelling( well at least sounding since I don't have smell-o-laptop) that its almost edible.

A few years ago, I happened to read Rona Berg's Beauty:The new Basics. I did not expect much from it except may be a quick cure for whatever my beauty peeve may have been at that point. But is turned things around for me- forever. The book goes over ingredient lists on common beauty products and decodes the mile long chemical names for the lay person. It is not your average dumbed down color-chic-page flipping- beauty book. This one takes you on a ride away from the superstore beauty aisle, down history lane and back into your backyard via your kitchen. I have not used a chemical based shampoo or creme since. And I realized that I have gone back to a lot of "old wisdom" and sometime unglamorous choices. Works fine for me because what chemicals go on us also go in us and we can all do with a little less chemicals in our already over exposed bodies.

In India, I find that I am often the fish swimming in the other direction from the rest of the school. My friend was incredulous when I picked up a un-glam "they still make this!?" kind of soap at a local grocery store. She also perhaps did not like my disapproval of her Labratoire Garniere shampoo. Oh well!

If you are going my way, here's what I have to say. Not all organic- natural things are made equal, so decoding labels and background research on the company is a good start. Then again, companies can change policies and ingredients. When a reputed natural products company like Burt's Bees gets bought over by Clorox, you can only hold your breath and hope you will not smell something bleachy in your next jar of creme!

As for me, I can't wait to find some Eucalyptus leaves to simmer and pour in my bath!

Credit Roll

There was this book called whatsitsname that iforgethername wrote using her credit card statements from past several years as a guide to chronicle her life. There is this belief that one can tell a lot about people from just looking at their possessions (see my last blog about refrigerators). Take a cell phone for instance- who is on speed dial/last called/calls received list should presumably be a checklist of the phone owner's lovers, near and dear ones and friends. NO, not in my case. If you were you pick up my phone this very minute,in the last called/calls received list you would meet an assorted group of characters from this REAL reality show called " My home renovation- if tomorrow comes!"

Bharat Traders: Rajesh at Bharat Traders had just the tiles I wanted for the bathroom. He did not have enough number of boxes in stock. He ordered some for me from the factory, only 95% arrived. I call him everyday for the remaining boxes. Backstory I found out over many interactions: He is sick of the tiles business and wants to get into timber, so he keeps a low inventory and even lower level of enthusiasm.

Bijliwallah (The Electrician): A random electrician came by but I never hired him after he tried to hard sell stuff to me that I did not need. I had saved his number as "Bijliwallah" because he insisted I save his number for "any future electrical emergency". Is that a threat?

Chauhan Tilewallah: Another specimen of pure macho confidence. He talked nineteen to a dozen, asked for 1.5 times more than the current market rate for tiling. Since I am yet to read that book called "How to say no when you want to say hell no", I still get calls from him asking me when he should begin work.

ChottelyLal1: Chottey lal is the plumber I heart. He is cheerful, efficient and logical in his approach. He enthusiastically tries and happily executes any innovative ideas that I may have.

ChotteyLal2: This is Chotteylal's other cell phone number. Don't know why he carries two.

Gupta Alu: Short for Gupta Aluminum, i.e the guy who will make our Aluminum sliding windows for what I somewhat euphemistically call my "sun-room". It took us a reallllly long time to find a Al guy who seems to know a bit about Al. He is a new entrant to my pageant of construction crew. Watch this space to see if he put his Alu where his mouth is.

Haleem Contractor: Is the good for nothing contractor I F I R E D! It was the turning point in home renovation because after that turn, the renovation actually started. Haleem nor his crew ever showed up before noon and left for lunch promptly after that. When he did arrive,with talcum powder on neck,carefully creased trousers and tobacco in mouth- He was unsure of what his crew was to do, had done the previous day or planned to do that day. Good riddance, except I have to settle some payment with him for the little , v e r y little work his guys did.

Kajaria: Phone number for Kajaria Tiles Company's head office in Delhi. Will they ever pick up the phone and NOT put me on eternal hold???? All I want to know is if they have three measly boxes of fresca Orange in 8X12 (my back up should Bharat Traders fail me!)

Laldhar: THE electrician. He is quiet, he is intense, he rides a cool black motorcycle and speaks only when spoken to. He knows his shit and he takes no shit...He's THE ELECTRICIAN!

Nikhil Modul: Nikhil the modular shelf guy. He is making huge glass covered bookshelves for us. He is a total sales guy with little design and aesthetic sense. I am hoping he can take instructions well. Why did I hire him? His parents are our family friends and I have seen him grow up. Got to give the kid a chance ( I am foolishly sentimental that way). Will let you know if they remain family friends after the bookshelves arrive.

Roop Chand- The guy who tiles and smiles. This is our tiling guy who is also a general contractor of sorts and is helping us find a carpenter, a marble "ghisai" guy , a painter etc. Before starting work every morning, he changes from pants and collared shirt into a T shirt and hawaiian shorts. Hey, we should all be allowed to do that in our places of work...just see how that affects productivity!

Virender Plumb: Virender was the plumber we had originally hired ( before Chottey Lal of two phones fame came on-board). He seems more like a guy that happened to stumble into plumbing. He knows little and admits it with a shy smile. He is the building's general plumbing go to guy, so I will stay in touch with him for small stuff.

So these are the guys that have taken center stage in my cell phone and my life. I hope most of them will be brief and passing acquaintances.