Lucky Friday the 13th ( Arte Exhibition )

On Friday morning my husband decided to watch a documentary about birds and bugs. Now I'm all for watching real birds and bugs in a scenic environment but looking at them swallowing bugs and leftover squirrel tails was really not my idea of a Friday morning. Pushpita had mentioned that there was going to be a handicrafts fair at Times Square Mall. I thought it might be a good idea to go check it out and since there is a huge Sharaf DG in the mall I could gawk at beautiful and perfect Macbook Pros. So I called Ankita and she invited me over for lunch and off I went. We had biryani for lunch with a friend of Ankita's. Finally Ankita, Pushpita, Sohana and I drove down to Times Square without getting lost.

Sohana tried to fit into this little cart but later we put her in a normal sized cart. Now handicrafts in dubai are a rare sight and the only few that I've seen have been at Global Village and those aren't really very nice so I wasn't really expecting much. When we walked in the place was positively buzzing and it was heartening to see so many people come out to support handicrafts. I began browsing and I was instantly happy that I decided to make the trip because there were an amazing number of lovely handmade things sprinkled everywhere. I knew right away that a significant amount of money was going to be spent.

As I was walking around someone came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and a young woman asked me,"Do you write a blog?" I replied hesitantly,"Yes I do." She went on to say that she loved my blog. I asked her if she was talking about the website posedubai.com but she insisted she was talking about my blog. I was truly stunned to realise that I'd met someone who actually visited my blog and loved it.

We got talking and she told me how different my blog was compared to the usual fashion and lifestyle blogs. She could totally relate to it as it spoke to the 'everyday' woman and she particularly enjoyed my driving adventures. It was really quite overwhelming to receive so much love and admiration so unexpectedly. I have to say it made my day. In the above picture is the sole fan of my blog- Bhawna Sehra. She makes beautiful Palm wax candles and I got a divine smelling one on a huge discount. Thanks Bhawna!

There were so many things that were wonderfully creative and totally beautiful that we ended up spending many hours just browsing and picking up things here and there. I found this cake which was gorgeous and somewhat disturbing. An angry wife sits up in bed as the husband is seen sleeping hugging his golf clubs.

Edible and sweet angry birds made an appearance.

I loved this pottery stand. I bought two mugs. They were the perfect size for my morning and evening chai. I need bigger than usual mugs as I'm a tea fiend. The best part of this exhibition was the fact that each and every seller was an artist with a passion for their creations. I could see how much they loved what they did and that is truly a pleasure to behold. I never bargained with anyone. It would have been an insult to their work. The potter lady was very sweet and her husband had made some interesting looking clay monsters with several pairs of eyes. I wish I'd taken a close up of those. That's such a boy thing to do.

I loved this unusual doll and if I was 20 years younger I would probably have bought it. I ended up buying some trinkets, a lovely blue necklace, a paper box with beautiful paper flowers on it. I should have taken a picture but I forgot. I saw some amazing mosaic work. I fell in love with a tray. It had marble mosaic work within a wood frame and brass spoons as handles. Such a beautiful piece of work it was but it was rather expensive and I somehow refrained even though I must have spent a good twenty minutes admiring it. Finally we drove towards Festival City to meet up with Monit. I hadn't seen her in many years and I was looking forward to seeing her.

Now I've never driven myself to Festival city so I had to rely on Pushpita for directions. She got distracted with Sohana and instead of going into the tunnel and taking Maktoum bridge I ended up having to take a U turn and land up on the wrong side of the road. Another U turn later we got into Deira and

I was stressed that we would never get to Festival City and Monit was supposed to be there only until 6. There were no signs for Festival city and I was getting tense by the minute. Finally we saw a sign for Festival City and we breathed a sigh of relief and began singing 'Kokomo' is unison. Ankita joked,"Ya ya now sing Kokomo and till now you weren't even breathing." So we finally parked and headed to IKEA which was quite a distance because I'd parked at the other end of Festival City. Seeing Monit after all this time was fantastic and we hugged fondly. We met Puja and another friend from NID after many years. It was an impromptu reunion of sorts for a while. After a quick cup of coffee (tea in my case) Monit and I decided to spend the evening at Ankita's house. The evening slowly turned late into the night as we chatted about everything under the sun, about old friends, old times. Monit had acted in my very first film where she played a bored wife. She had memories of me that I'd forgotten completely. Ankita showed us someof her work which was beautiful and detailed. I loved her cards and bags. I really hope she can market both because I'm sure people would love them. I loved this bag on the left and Ankita gifted it to Monit.

Monit said I'd changed. I was much quieter. I am much quieter and much older than when she saw me last. Sometimes life can do that to you. I don't say that as a negative thing. I have changed and it has been a gradual transformation which is not only positive but very important and intrinsic to who I am today. I flagged a cab for Monit at 12:30 in the night and drove myself home completely tired and completely satisfied with the day. The dog greeted me at the door and a hot shower later it was lights out for me.

The picture on the right is the elevator in Ankita's house which takes you to the upper floor. It's a huge apartment with plenty of light, space and a fantastic view of the city.

Saturday was quiet and I watched this funny movie called Chalo Dilli. It was not bad. I had run out of episodes of CSI so I ended up watching other stuff. I watched American Gigolo. A young Richard Gere looked quite good although there was zero chemistry between him and Lauren Hutton. The love scenes were truly pathetic and the frontal nudity was unnecessary. The film was altogether very average. I cleaned the house which was in quite bad shape as I hadn't had time to really look after it. In the evening we watched 'Heroine'. Kareena Kapoor tried very hard but the script was so chock full of cliches about the film industry that it was quite below average for Madhur Bhandarkar. Arjun Rampal is edible. He should be served on a lovely ceramic plate with cherries on the side.