Ten Simple Pleasures
22 Jun
“Someone”:http://imperfectlyme.wordpress.com/2006/06/20/still-a-little-sleepy/ was asking me what my ten simple pleasures were. I had to take a few days to think about it.
* Train rides to unknown places: from Singapore to Thailand (done), and hopefully on to Laos and China eventually; but this year, 4000 kilometres around India, and still hungering for a Trans-Siberian fix (Singapore – Beijing – Ulan Baatar – Moscow – London – Helsinki?). _Locomotive nut_ is too mild. I love eating hot meals that come with a tin foil (much better than airline meals), drinking chai I bought outside the window, while staring out into the unchanging scenery. My feet in the linen, head against my backpack, listening to the chatter of languages I don’t understand, relearning _toilet habits_. Reaching across my berth and finding you there.
* Taking showers in the dark. It always seemed natural to me.
* Sleeping in on a weekend, waking up with the person I love, then having a lazy brunch or day at the beach (or planning to; we usually end up ordering in and sleeping in somemore).
* Walking around Little India alone on my routines: buying the Indian news magazines, reading them at Khulfi Bar, drinking masala tea, eating chaat. Talking to people; chatting for hours with retired Tamil textbook authors who want to teach me the secrets of the “Thirukkural”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukkural. Sitting at Blu Jaz with free wifi and thinking of my India: it always reminds me of walking around Calcutta alone, snacking on bhel puri, papri chaat and katti rolls, and sipping one rupee teas, weaving through the human traffic around Lindsay and Free School Streets and New Market, delighted and at home.
* Spending hours in a bookstore. And hours. And hours.
* Scribbling furiously into my moleskine on the bus, at my desk, in the middle of lecture, waking up in mid sleep just to write.
* Waking up, opening my window, and seeing Kanchenjunga (third highest mountain in the world) — with Everest sticking out behind it — sipping my Darjeeling tea and eating an omelette for breakfast, all without leaving my bed. Getting to do this more than some people ever will (twice for now with more to come).
* Feline fun: walking home at 2 am, passing “Cat Square”; stopping to play with three lovely cats.
* Abrupt cravings: sometimes I suddenly crave squid ink pasta, Mellben creamy butter crabs, or Sausage McMuffins — actually having it that same day, is a great pleasure.
* Ayurvedic tea. It’s my new indulgence. Anyone heading here, with an Oxford Cha Bar in your city… I need my fix.
