Week notes - July week 3

tattoo, delhi and a walk in the park

It has been an eventful week.

I finished watching Succession, got dates assigned for the amrika visa interview and biometrics, travelled to delhi, got a tattoo, helped a friend out with her workshop and bonus points for managing to catch a cold.

There’s slow burn, then there’s succession. It’s one of those tv shows where you hate all the characters and hope they all fail. Great writing, but also quite ugh. I think it’s the ending the show deserved though.

We enjoyed watching (for most part), and most importantly we didn’t skip the opening credits song even for a single episode. It’s the best title song the show could’ve had. Listen to this!

The show is sprinkled with funnies, but I wouldn’t categorise this as comedy genre (Who knows these days, apparently the bear is comedy genre?) But if you’ve already watched the show — go ahead and watch this video. It’s all the funnies stitched together. But if you haven’t watched it, you’re not going to find this funny.

I applied for the B1/B2 visa back in March via a consultant, and they got me interview dates in September. They said they’d find me another much sooner though. I followed up from time to time and always got the same response, or no response. I would ask next steps and receive no response. A few months go by and I received an email saying a new consultant within the same org has been assigned to me. I wrote to them asking to call me and also try for earlier dates (again). They said yes, and ghosted me for 11 days. I followed up in-between with a few more emails.

11 days later I asked if I should write to a superior — and then wow, the pace suddenly took a wild turn. They called me within 10 minutes of sending the email.

Also I didn’t know we had to get biometrics done separately and visa interview separately??? Back in the day they happened all together. So anyway, this call happened on Friday, I got a new biometrics appointment for Monday and the interview for Aug 1. Quickly quickly booked tickets for Delhi.

Stayed there with my friend Ila, for a day and half. It’s been a while since we caught up, it was good. We ate, talked and walked around in the park. Ila works in the development sector, and I always learn something new when we chat.

Every time I visit Delhi, I’m impressed by how well the metro connectivity is. I love it and cannot stop talking about it irl. I can reach so many places without having to walk on the road. I walked through parks to reach my friend’s home from a nearby cafe. The stations (that i’ve been to) are clean, the trains arrive on time and everything is connected underground. It’s the best. Also the women’s coach is great.

Ila gave me this novel - The vegetarian. It’s a disturbing read but I couldn’t stop. I read some 100 odd pages in the flight on my way back, but haven’t picked up again since I returned.

I also watched a movie — October Sky. I wept, smiled, wept and smiled again. Beautiful movie.

jamun in the park — the monkeys went foraging

just a photo I like

ila has been getting into fungi hunting in the urban forests of delhi. this is now a thing she notices wherever we go. it was fun — she even knew the names!

a rainy morning in delhi

naruto was here

I helped (Read: sat around and laughed a lot) my friend Shilpa out with her clay miniature workshop last weekend. She hosted a workshop in Bangalore after a long time. It was a lot of fun poking around with clay and calling it names.

shilpa made this. everyone came there to learn how to make all of this in 4 hours. the students nailed it!

me on the other hand decided to put a spin on my own

tree house in indiranagar

Abhinay and I are traveling to Bombay next week, and i’m quite excited for multiple reasons; The visa interview, but also the pav bhaji and vada pav.

It’s a super short trip but hoping to cover at least the basics - misal pav, pav bhaji, vada pav, poha, the sandwiches. We have decided to not eat fancy (lol I will cry and run to a cafe for some coffee soon after we reach, I just know it. So spoiled chi.)

Now on to some exciting news

*Drumroll*

I got my first ever tattoo! It was moderately painful, I would definitely not call it an ant bite. It feels exactly like how it looks — like someone is scraping through your skin with a very fine needle.

I’ve thought about this for the better part of last decade, but finally took the plunge :))

I got a spider tattoo and Abhinay got three paws with claws (Kathrika, Ginger and Garlic)

I’ve been feeling quite unwell since morning and it’s getting progressively worse. So I’m going to stop this note here and say bye-bye.

Thank you for reading :))

walking away now… shil clicked this.

Fin.