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| Eggs today. Omelette with sourdough toast for me. Boiled eggs and hung curd salad for her lunch at work. |
This post was written on the 28th. Today (29th) Little Nimki woke me with a sharp dao at 8.30 am. I fed him. Went to sleep. Got up by 9.30. Chanted. Made eggs two types. Omelette for my breakfast. Boiled egg and hung curd salad for her lunch at work. And here I am.
Do you have a morning routine?
I wake up every morning to feed the boys. Then I go to sleep for anything between half an hour to two before I get up for good. I get up the first time feed little Nimki as he is very particular about his breakfast and I feel a lot better once I give it to him. Baby Loaf rarely wakes me unless if I am sleeping well past noon, usually if I am unwell. He gets jittery and feels at peace only when he sees me up. This applies to K sleeping late as well. He doesn’t like it.
I found little Nimki by my side when I was ready to get up today at 9.30 am. No, he was not asking for a second breakfast. I had fed him at 7.30.
He came to me and booped my nose with his. Then climbed on my chest and walked across me, reached my feet and booped my toes and brushed his cheek against them. He then reversed his route and perched on the bedside table beside me and sat quietly with his eyes shut. Opening them occasionally to slow blink at me.
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| Affectionate little Nimki |
These are signs of affection and love from a cat. I realised that he did not want anything from me He just wanted to shower me with love. I decided to lie in bed a bit more and enjoy this. I patted him, booped him. Smiled at him. Slow blinked at him. It was such a lovely way to start the morning.
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| Boiled eggs in a seasoning of mustard seeds and curry leaves tempered in coconut oil |
I had my breakfast once done with my shower. #kayteecooks had come to work and she made me multigrain dosas and coconut chutney and with that I got her to make a boiled egg salad with a south Indian tempering as I am supposed to have eggs in the morning.
I sat to chant after that and as has been his practise from the start, little Nimki hovered around me.
Baby Loaf was sleeping snug in the study with K working beside him at my desk. We switched rooms once I was done. I did not rush into work. I felt a bit fatigued so I did a 20 minuted guided yoga nidra and then started my day fresh. At 1 pm.
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| Baby Loaf working with Mummy Loaf |
I went through a script I am working on and gave my inputs on it. Then started writing this post. Stopped to have lunch and then recorded a podcast interview.
It was my longest #foodocracyforher podcast interview so far but I did not want to cut my interviewee short. The podcast is self produced and funded with no marketing department or advertiser to answer to. No revenue therefore 😏 I to want share and document the amazing stories of women entrepreneurs in food and feel glad that I can do so on my own terms.
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| My podcast corner which K created with the foldable table and paintings at the back |
Our cats have a clear wake up routine and both Baby Loaf and little Nimki follow it religiously. It must be in their DNA. They both sleep on surfaces which are above the ground/ floor. The bed, sofa, cupboard etc. The first thing that do on waking up is what they call ‘cat stretch’ in yoga/ physiotherapy. They then get down on the floor and do another such stretch. The stretches are slow and measured. They will not look at anything else when they do so. Next comes a sort of bhujangasan/ cobra pose where they balance themselves on their hind legs and stretch their chest up and in a reverse direction from the earlier cat pose. Then they start moving. The initial steps are slow and premeditated before they start to walk in their regular pace. From here on each boy takes his own path as they have distinct personalities.
Baby Loaf heads straight to the food bowl. He does not even look at us if he sees us on the way. At the most a little tail swish under my thighs if I am sitting on the armchair which is in his path. He needs to eat something the moment he wakes up. Often looks very sleepy till he does so. (29th Sep: to prove me wrong Baby Loaf woke up this afternoon and came to me and flopped twice on the floor for me to pat him. Then he got on the chest by Bertha where I was sitting and having my espresso and booped me.
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| Don’t scratch Bertha baby |
Little Nimki usually wakes up and yawns a lot. Very sweet, baby-like yawns. He then walks around the house and searches for me, even though K is his primary hooman. Perhaps because he associates me with food. I have fed him even when he was a baby in our yard. If i am in the hall, he scratches Bertha (our armchair) or the sofa to get our attention. If K is around then she sternly screams, ‘stop, stop, stop right now little Nimki.’ On a lucky day he stops and goes and perches on her lap if she is seated on the sofa. Even if she us on video presenting scripts to the most powerful man in Indian advertising!
On a not so lucky day, when Nimki doesn’t stop, she will frantically call out to me and say, ‘give him some food.’ Unless she is free of in which case she does the refill.
I then reluctantly get up from Bertha and fill his plate. Nimki starts eating. If K’s not there (hopefully she doesn’t read this), I just ignore Nimki and continue reading, posting on Instagram or sipping on my espresso… activities that I am usually occupied with.
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| What do we do with little Nimki |
C est la vie, I tell Baby Loaf, if he’s settled by my feet. He looks at me as if to say, ‘will he ever grow up.’ We look at each other and figuratively shake our heads. By now both the sofa and Bertha are as pockmarked as Saki Naka and can’t get any worse. Giving this logic does not cut much ice with K. ‘You are spoiling them,’ she say. I am tempted to quote Ricky Gervis and say, ‘what is the worse that can happen if you spoil a cat.’ I hold my counsel.
Little Nimki has another post sleep routine. When he wakes up in the evening, which is around 7.30/ 8pm, he comes straight to my desk and head-butts me if he finds me there. He then raises himself on his hind-legs and head butts me repeatedly. Skipping up each times. At times swishing my thighs with his tail. His last tango in Paris. He then gets on my desk and stares at me. If I continue typing, he will get up on the chest that uncle J gave us. It is kept behind my chair. Nimki perches there and peers from behind my shoulders. As if to say, ‘come on daddy. Play with me.’
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| Stop writing! |
How can daddy tell him that daddy had started work at 1pm? That if he had started earlier like the other daddies in the world, then he need not have been at his desk still? Or would he?
I interviewed chef Kartikeya Ratan today. After working at the Taj Mahal, Mumbai, and some of the top restaurants internationally and in India, she has set up Kiki & Pastor, a taco focussed Mexican food delivery and catering business.
‘Wasn’t it difficult to adjust to this radically different work life,’ I asked her.
‘Not really,’ she answered. ‘The pandemic forced us to be more realistic. Having got clarity on what I want to do has helped. I want to create an impact through whatever I do. Create value. Bring joy to the lives of my customers.’
Wiser words were never said.
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| Navratri veg tacos special from Kiki & Pastor Gave a lot of joy to K & me as we snacked on it in between work in the evening |
It is said that having a pure heart and a clean conscience leads to a good night’s sleep.
I would add to this and say that having clarity of purpose helps one start ones day on the right note. It is quite possible that having read this, you might be thinking, ‘he is a fine one to write all this. Who in the real world has the freedom to live this way?’
I won’t blame you if you do so. I felt the same about myself till very recently. And that bothered me
Then came clarity and that changed things. I realised that I want to be a writer. Took me a while to realise this. Say about 14 years and 11 months (which is how old my blog is).
That changed the way I looked at my work and the way I start my day. Talking in terms of head space.
PS I do not recommend this to you. It works for me. That’s all.
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| Reading ‘How to learn to live like your cat’ by Stephane Garnier |
