Althought I still dont have a response to my question in the last blog (What do I blog about?) as I sit down to try and blog regularly, I ask myself ' what did I do?'
I am often asked this question by people I meet, "what do you do?" and ever since I moved to Doha after giving up my job with a local foundation and years of working in the non profit sector in Assam and briefly in Delhi, I go into a bit of a tizzy trying to articulate a meaningful response. Sometimes I mention something I have just been doing, which could be anything from teaching myself to cook and keep house (back in India, I had the luxury of help at home to take care of household chores), going for a walk, grocery shopping, seeing a film, watching television, to surfing the net. I tell my friends in India, that I do "nothing much - I am a lady of leisure now" and they laugh, as they have usually seen me rushing about or frothing in the mouth about some issue or the other. I worry that I sound slothful and lazy. Then again, I am forever running behind on my chores, or places I have to go to. Guess I just have poor time management skills.
Getting back to what I 'did' last week. Let me see -
I have tried out the Moroccan Lentil Soup recipe a couple of times - it is improving with each attempt, although still nothing like the delicious soup that Kate and her fantastic team served us at Dar Seffarine in Fez, where we stayed, during that amazing Study Tour with Richard and Adam of Art of Islamic Pattern in September last year. Dar Seffarine, is a beautiful, restored Dar, run by Kate and Ala and Kate's team cooked up some fantastic lunches, during our sessions there.
I have been walking on the Corniche which is looking so lovely these days, with the cool weather and riot of colours of the petunias in the flowerbeds. I have stopped to smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers and to admire the lovely blue of the waters in the bay and take pictures of the bright night lights. I have watched as structures are erected for the National Sports Day - being organised in a big way on 11th February, to encourage Qatari and expats alike to be more active and engaged in sports activities.
I have been taking more Woodwork classes at the Museum of Islamic Art (a lovely local institution) to finish my earlier piece. I am gradually beginning to understand that you have to 'listen to the wood' as I wield my 'raqama' (Algerian style chisel) and coax out the slivers of pinewood from my block !
I watched a wrenching and deeply moving Brazilian film 'Central Station' screened by Doha Film Institute, as part of their Qatar Brazil 2014 cultural exchange program.
I met up with friends over 'dosas' one morning and at a jazz bar one evening.
I finally got to give some fabric, bought on earlier shopping trip with friends at the Souk, to a local tailor, courtesy a kind friend who runs a lovely salon here that I go to for an occasional indulgence of a pedicure or a facial, but mostly for a chat and a cup of tea! My fingers are crossed tight as I hope the tailor works his wonder on my cloth.
Hurrah! I finished reading a book online. Love Comes Later by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is an interesting tale exploring cross cultural boundaries of the Arabs and South Asians. Before that I had actually finished reading another book - Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowlands.
I listened to musicians from the Qatar Philaharmonic Orchestras perform Music from the Movies at the awe inspiring MIA atrium -
And the week has gone by and I am way behind on posting this blog, and finishing a geometry piece that I am working on, and preparing for my session at a local school on behalf of a local foundation here that trains young people with work readiness skills..... this course has an upcoming session on time management, where I hope to learn a thing or two before I talk about it to the class !!!
I am often asked this question by people I meet, "what do you do?" and ever since I moved to Doha after giving up my job with a local foundation and years of working in the non profit sector in Assam and briefly in Delhi, I go into a bit of a tizzy trying to articulate a meaningful response. Sometimes I mention something I have just been doing, which could be anything from teaching myself to cook and keep house (back in India, I had the luxury of help at home to take care of household chores), going for a walk, grocery shopping, seeing a film, watching television, to surfing the net. I tell my friends in India, that I do "nothing much - I am a lady of leisure now" and they laugh, as they have usually seen me rushing about or frothing in the mouth about some issue or the other. I worry that I sound slothful and lazy. Then again, I am forever running behind on my chores, or places I have to go to. Guess I just have poor time management skills.
Getting back to what I 'did' last week. Let me see -
I have tried out the Moroccan Lentil Soup recipe a couple of times - it is improving with each attempt, although still nothing like the delicious soup that Kate and her fantastic team served us at Dar Seffarine in Fez, where we stayed, during that amazing Study Tour with Richard and Adam of Art of Islamic Pattern in September last year. Dar Seffarine, is a beautiful, restored Dar, run by Kate and Ala and Kate's team cooked up some fantastic lunches, during our sessions there.
I have been walking on the Corniche which is looking so lovely these days, with the cool weather and riot of colours of the petunias in the flowerbeds. I have stopped to smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers and to admire the lovely blue of the waters in the bay and take pictures of the bright night lights. I have watched as structures are erected for the National Sports Day - being organised in a big way on 11th February, to encourage Qatari and expats alike to be more active and engaged in sports activities.I have been taking more Woodwork classes at the Museum of Islamic Art (a lovely local institution) to finish my earlier piece. I am gradually beginning to understand that you have to 'listen to the wood' as I wield my 'raqama' (Algerian style chisel) and coax out the slivers of pinewood from my block !
I watched a wrenching and deeply moving Brazilian film 'Central Station' screened by Doha Film Institute, as part of their Qatar Brazil 2014 cultural exchange program.
I met up with friends over 'dosas' one morning and at a jazz bar one evening.
I finally got to give some fabric, bought on earlier shopping trip with friends at the Souk, to a local tailor, courtesy a kind friend who runs a lovely salon here that I go to for an occasional indulgence of a pedicure or a facial, but mostly for a chat and a cup of tea! My fingers are crossed tight as I hope the tailor works his wonder on my cloth.
Hurrah! I finished reading a book online. Love Comes Later by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is an interesting tale exploring cross cultural boundaries of the Arabs and South Asians. Before that I had actually finished reading another book - Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowlands.
I listened to musicians from the Qatar Philaharmonic Orchestras perform Music from the Movies at the awe inspiring MIA atrium -
And the week has gone by and I am way behind on posting this blog, and finishing a geometry piece that I am working on, and preparing for my session at a local school on behalf of a local foundation here that trains young people with work readiness skills..... this course has an upcoming session on time management, where I hope to learn a thing or two before I talk about it to the class !!!
