Ponto de Vista

Treasure from a jewel. This vase was a gift from a very special person the year I moved back to India. I was trying to adjust to being in migraine-inducing Delhi after 12 years of living away, coping with a toxic, soul-sucking job that had sounded amazing in the interview, one I gave up my entire trajectory, security, and lifestyle for only to find they’d handed my designation to someone else. What kept me going through the feeling of, “Did I give up my life for this?” was the family I lived with, a family I sort of borrowed from another family-friend. I moved in with my oldest friend’s mausi, who, with her husband, daughter, husband’s two nieces and nephew, 3 dogs and their house help became my scaffolding, my anchor, my shelter.
I would try to make my presence less of a burden by trying to bring cakes and things for the motley crew from the market and would also get myself flowers to brighten up my space.
I don’t see them a much as I should (ugh, Delhi!) but I still count them in my blessings and am grateful for them every day!
This vase harks back to that time … and yes, I still buy myself flowers.
#throwback #love #family #chosenfamily #friendslikefamily #blessed #flower #blog #wp via Instagram https://ift.tt/2JsL8H9

! Who did this? 😂
Sai Baba cradles his head amidst the roots of a giant peepul tree.
#beheaded #saints #foolsandsages #ModernIndia #funny #blog via Instagram http://bit.ly/2HF8kV1

The texture of flourless cakes is my most favorite thing ever. I took this boozy chocolate cake to @saminasodyssey’s Christmas do and I was a greedy child who brought home leftovers.

It’s flourless and sugarless, but not eggless by any means… 8 eggs went in this beaut.

Plus I added in some of the almond pulp from my almond mylk, which worked a charm. I ran out of dark rum so augmented it with fine Tawny Port. And of course, it’s sweetened with dates!

#norefinedsugar #yum #baking #homebaker #blog #decadent #dark #madagascarchocolate #singleoriginchocolate #Christmas #alcohol via Instagram http://bit.ly/2Q57Er6

#throwback Google has helpfully reminded me that we were in Vik, Iceland, on this day four years ago, on (more…)

The prettiest drink (of many) I had this past week. Cinnamon old fashioned at Kaama.
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And this would be my first 1GB hard drive. 😂😂😂 Consider please: it’s 8″ tall, 6″ wide & 2″ across (a 64 GB phone is roughly a sixth the size?) and you can now get microSD cards that hold 128GB.
The first computer I (co-)bought was had an 8GB hard drive and my boyfriend at the time and I marveled at it. What on earth could we even put on there? We had mp3’s, word documents and excel sheets. We weren’t gamers (and anyway, games came on CDs and we had TWO, count ’em, two optical drives. I ripped so many cd’s and made so many mix’tapes’ 😀
My next computer — with which I used this drive — was an iBook 12″ laptop. 64GB hard disk? I can’t recall at all.Such a huge boost from the windows 3.1 desktop and CRT monitor I used when I first got to the US in 1995.
Do you remember your first external hard drive? Please share in the comments 🙂
#tbt #throwback #technology #progress #chipset #shrink #thankful #blog Shared via Instagram http://ift.tt/2iSuKlk and IFFT

Sunrise over yavapai point. It was hailing and my fingers nearly froze off trying to get a few photos. Touch screens in the cold make me miss having old fashioned cameras with shutter buttons! #blog

A post shared by chhavi sachdev (@chhavi_sachdev) on Nov 17, 2016 at 9:36am PST

The fog and the snow clouds dispersed pretty quickly and after we warmed up a bit we decided to drive up to Desert view (above) and then Moran point (below). (more…)

For 27 years, I’ve made pilgrimages to Berlin to visit family. My mother’s sister moved there in 1964 and her children and now grandchildren were all born there. Since I can remember, Berlin has never been a tourist destination, more a homestay, sometimes a stopover. When I lived in Poland I went numerous times and when I moved to the US, I tried to break my homeward journey there. And still, when I visit Europe, (more…)

#throwback – Wat Intharawihan in Bangkok. Google has helpfully reminded me I was here two years ago today 🙂 My camera wasn’t up to the task of getting all 32 gilded metres in one photograph so I focused on the feet, with offerings of flowers placed on them.

The temple used to be called the Vegetable Temple (more…)

Jami Masjid, views. I loved the space, the light, the silence as soon as I took my shoes off and entered the sahn (courtyard). And as we neared the musalla I think I gasped out loud. Its proportions are graceful, as you can see, but the carving is exquisite. The grace of the hypostyle hall pillars and the qubba (dome) of the mihrab all embellished with intricate designs and motifs made this place absolutely magical. Then I saw the calligraphy along the peripheral walls. I am still struggling to find words to do justice to its beauty. Nipun, thank you. #blog #latergram #travel #Gujarat #architecture #India #wanderlust

A post shared by chhavi sachdev (@chhavi_sachdev) on Oct 12, 2016 at 11:44pm PDT