MiddlePen

“Wow! It’s Pakistani designer suits this time. Come didi let’s go and check out,” my young friend said with delight in her eyes. The ad in the weekend newspaper enticed her to come and check the new sensation in Chandigarh - the City Beautiful. From across the border had come sellers to introduce us to the rich fabrics and prints of Pakistan through the Pakizah  sale and exhibition. The proposition of my friend was indeed tempting! Reasons aplenty A few days back, I had been to “Cotton Fab” and before that to “Cotton Expo” and before that to Rajasthani-Jaipur exhibition and so on. I seem to have heartily obliged each sale-cum-exhibition with purchases, daintily walking out of the hall with shopping bags in my hand. My reason for a purchase was always a convincing one. A good number of cotton kurtis  for long sweltering summers are a necessity as cotton prints fade after multiple washes. One can compensate by scrimping in winters when clothes don’t fray as much. On another o

Working a typical nine to seven office job, I had got bored of the monotony surrounding my life. I decided to take a weekend break. What better than countryside, the pind of my friend. Moreover, she had invited me many times to come experience the bucolic laid back life of her village. Lock, stock and barrel I reached her village in Ludhiana.  Reaching there, I was embraced in magnanimous bear hugs and chirpy welcomes from her family members. As I unloaded and made myself comfortable, I was deluged with food offers. Foodie as I am, I indulged in soft delicious roti, slow-cooked daal, mixed vegetable sabzi, thick curd raita, dollops of snow white butter, mint chutney, roughly chopped salad to be polished off with melt-in-the-mouth gur (jaggery) . The food being organically raised, was finger licking good. I felt like a long lost princess who had returned home to great adulation. It was succour to the battle ravaged spirit. With conviction I can bet, no five star hotel can beat s