My First Blog

After months of thinking to put up a blog of my own, which I think should feature all my interests, and then thinking up a proper name for the blog and then trying to give the idea of the name 'Potpourri Dreams', a pictorial representation (which will eventually come out, I believe), I finally decided to put in my first blog through first.

My love for homes started when I came across two books in my grandfather's book collection.

It was more than 25 yrs ago. Now I don't even remember the names of those books, but still remember their contents vividly... they had different plans for different styles of houses - 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom, single storey, duplex, multi storey. I fell in love with those books...

I read them inside out those summer hols.

When my parents decided to build a house after my father's retirement, I searched my grandpa's book collection thoroughly, but couldn’t find those books. But my memory of the plans being vivid I tried to design a house from those memories. I wanted a duplex house, with round balconies for the bedrooms. But my plans were vetoed because of their budget constraints and the practical problems of duplex houses. In a country like India where one has to build secure houses to avoid theft etc., duplex houses were not considered safe enough. Finally we built a single storey 3 bedroom house.

I believe I inherited my love for crafts from my mom. She loves knitting. She used to knit sweaters for the whole family. For many years we used to wear only the sweaters knit by her to school and even for our winter outings... those were the days before global warming... and we used to stay in a hilly area.

So, winters were harsh for us. But I used to love winters and spring... starting with the fresh smell of jasmines in our garden. I even inherited my love for plants, flowers (which I believe to be nature's most beautiful creations) from my mom. We used to have a large garden area... larger than our small government quarter. There my mom planted a variety of roses, a number of jasmine plants which would give hundreds and hundreds of jasmine flowers early spring to late summers. We had a small area of vegetable garden also, where we had sometimes lady fingers, egg plants, garden peas... papaya, jamun, chrysanthemums, berries and the largest tree in our garden, the hibiscus tree... with hundreds of ruby red hibiscus flowering each day... how lovely it all was... how I wish our balcony in this HDB received more sunlight so that I cud have some flowering plants here.

From early childhood I was good at sketching. My father used to say that the eyes of people in my drawings would seem so real. I even remember being praised by my school teachers for my good drawing skills. I could finally attain some little professional skills after attending art classes in NAFA. Though I aspire to paint the wonderful sunsets I can view from my kitchen window each day... now with two kids... I find it difficult to make time to paint.

My love for homes continued... while on a morning walk I would walk in the areas which had beautiful homes, gardens... I would even try to peep into the houses to catch a glimpse of the interiors.

While growing up I had different ambitions. I first wanted to become a chartered accountant like my aunt... then I wanted to design textiles... then I wanted to become a business management graduate... but I finally ended up doing masters in computer applications and got a job in a software firm. I really regret those days when there wasn't enough orientation. I wish I had done engineering in architecture... it would have been something I really loved to do. Though I loved my job in the software firm... I always felt being a software engineer was not what I was destined for.

Now I am a full time mom of two... but I hope to be a designer sometime, or I would love to be a talk show host like Martha Stewart... of whom I am great fan.

When I got married, I really had no clue as to the tastes and likings of my husband. Ours was a marriage arranged by our elders... but really matches are made in heaven... I was surprised to learn that even my husband was equally fond of design. He had designed the architecture of our duplex house in India, he built before our marriage. Many people thought I was very lucky to have married a guy who already owns a big five bedroom house...

But I was unhappy as I had always wanted to design and build my own home... until my husband explained that the house was a like a blank canvas... I could design the interiors as I liked.

Almost every weekend we would visit some shops which housed some interior furnishings. We subscribed for a design magazine and would read it together... if we bought any item for our house, together we would first think where it would fit in the house. Those were wonderful early days of our marriage. Our love for design brought us closer to each other as we didn't know much about each other before our wedding.

My love for everything creative continues... Now we are in Singapore. People here are crazy about beautiful interiors. I love all creative shows... from Debbie Travis, to Martha’s crafts. I even started loving cooking (only vegetarian please)... it took a long time for me to start loving cooking. I don't like cooking for myself, but I like cooking for my family and occasionally guests. I like trying new recipes... and experimenting... I like baking. But I don't like using eggs on my own... so I can seldom bake good dishes and cakes J

In my coming blogs, I will try to write more about the things I love. I will give the recipes of my experimental cooking (only if it turns out well.. J). I will also try to list out shops and products I like and things I am looking out to buy for myself and my house.

So till then happy reading guys.

Bye…..