Anish Nadh’s Blog

I have always thought in questions while dealing with day today activities. Especially why. Anytime I’m assigned and given a task it allows me to take firm decisions. I was asked to join a committee at church. I asked myself why do I take it up? Will I be able to do a good job? Will it take time away from what I must be doing and what matters the most? Do I have the energy and time? Have I sorted my own business? What would happen if I took this up?  I would almost immediately get an answer to this. So it’s gonna be a “hell yeah!” Or a firm “No” from me. 

Natalia was on a break from music classes due to various reasons. We have started piano classes and we are back on track. Maybe she’s not into music like I am but it’s important to just expose her to some music lessons so she can pick it up from there. She loves dancing though. Let’s be a little patient. Rose takes time to bloom especially when the conditions are harsh. 

 I got to know that guitarist Mick Mars has ankylosing spondylitis. It’s not easy living with this. I almost teared up when a friend said he walks like me. I don’t want to give up. Sometimes the pain is just too much. With future uncertain, I hope I can leave, without giving up. I love playing the guitar and making music. It frustrates me that I can’t play the stuff I hear in my head. 

My niece is 7 years old today 28th March. I notice how children love any celebration and makes us put in a lot of effort on these things. She took chocolates to school and I was allowed to have only one. She’s growing up soon. Time is getting quicker, it feels.   

 I woke up early today, finished me exercises, watered the plants, had a shower and headed to church. After church, Andy joined in we went for lunch which was parotta and gravy. It was just meh. After which we hung out in church and just spoke about life and aging parents and owning homes and everything. On my way back home I picked up some tied jasmine flowers just to spread on my bed. I’m right now smelling it around me. 

 I started yoga today with an instructor named Santhosh. I noticed how I couldn’t do the basic postures and these yogasanas are going to help me with my mobility. I did three asanas today. Learnt how to sit and unlock the hips and spine mobility with the cat-camel advanced exercise. Tough but I’m gonna do it! 

 I can’t believe I wiped out a big 7 kg water melon in 2 days without a trace! I snacked on it though the day! It kept me from feeling hungry. I am on a vegetarian diet until Easter. But I can feel that it’s very hard to do push-ups when I’m not eating my proteins. I dream of Popeyes chicken wings and munch on watermelons. Can’t wait till mid April. Until then it’s veggie time. 

 I’m not able to find time to practice the guitar and piano. I’m  able to do all the other things. I must get into a routine and make more music. Life is too short and time is running out. Maybe I’ll get organized soon. 

I cleaned the studio thoroughly to make room for more guitar playing. Im planning to record a new song for Mr. Rajesh it should have the 80’s rock vibe. So, listening to a lot of rock music these days to rip them off. I must also research and do some proper drum and bass groove. Thanks to Ravi for lending me the bass. Let there be music! 

 Pain is your way to know something in your body is not right. The way I deal with pain is to observe, and narrow down to why it’s happening and consciously try and heal it. I think god give me pain to mould me into shape. After all, he is the potter I’m just the clay. 

I got this on my WhatsApp a few days ago.  Hello Anish, I hope all is well with you. First of all, I want to thank you for being a teacher, mentor, and big brother to my son Manoj. As a music teacher, you have imparted skills to play guitar which has led him to try to learn bass, saxophone, and violin during a pandemic. You have influenced and inspired him to be independent and carve his destiny. I am proud of Manoj, who has survived and strived as a Canadian citizen and has successfully integrated and become part of a mosaic of cultures in Canada. This example is a testimony to the power of music as an expressive art to bridge the barriers in society. I am encouraged by this experience and want to include children in my neighborhood to experience and be inspired by the music or performing arts. I want to request you to arrange a performance by your students in my garden in Chickabanavara. The proposed show will be on April 2 at the Ugadi festival, between 5 pm to 6 pm. The audience wi

It rained today again! No more dust around, at-least for a short period of time. My plants are also are getting the benefit out of it! Cooled the place down. Rain, how it transforms the world around you! But if it keeps raining we crave for the sun. So, everything in moderation! Thank you God! 

 A long month of neglect due to my extensive travel, showed as a thin layer of dust all over my house. I started keeping things in order and today I cleaned the floor. The entire floor. Now I need to go one room at a time and work the windows and things! I’m just praying for rain, so this dust will settle. 

 I’m going to be working on a new track for mr. Rajesh. I want to make it sound more like the band Mr. Big. More of those guitar riffs, drums and bass. I’ve asked for a bass to start this. I have decided not to work more than 2 hours everyday on this project. And I will put in my best work on this. No slacking! 

Men on sinking boat, Knows it’s over, This is when they stop trying, It is game over. 

I delivered Babinca to all my friends. They all loved it. This is a special Goa sweet treat, taste and texture is like halwa but this is prepared in an oven and had layers. This is best enjoyed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

When you see the world in your palms,  You wouldn’t want to journey much around.  You miss the interactions, the reality, The world in your palm is all vanity.  You gaze the sun, in a chilled room,  No heat on your skin,  No sweat on your brow.  You gotta feel the sand in your shoes brother,  I hope you find the way through the dark paths,  See it with your eyes, taste, hear and feel.  Most importantly talk to people, negotiate deals  It’s all about the experience brother,  I hope you do it before the maggots get to you. 

 Just got back home today and settled down. I’m looking forward to some gardening and getting back to my music classes. List of stuff to do priority wise.  1. Classes: continue the lessons and try to get more students and make the lessons a little more effective.  2. Gardening: plant pepper and make pits for ginger turmeric 3. Exercise: find a place to go for yoga lessons 4. Music: have a practice routine  6. Clean off the dust one room at a time  7. Mushroom and honeybees research and set it up. 

 Solo and I woke up early at 6:30ish today to go to Fountainhas to click pictures. We entered this area and saw an open church full of worshipers. We strolled passed the church, careful to make no noise. This place had a lot of colourful houses, so we ended up taking pictures, till we felt weirded out by the unwelcome faces of the people living there. We were intruders, and people were not very welcoming. We left the place immediately and came back to Grandpa’s inn.  Then we went shopping for bebinca to Mapusa market came back, called Ravi for lunch. Met Ravi and Maria and spent some time chatting and catching up and we rode back to Vasco train station.  On a side note, we were supposed to enter from the next station. The TTR caught us and asked to pay a fine. We got away with paying 200 bucks. The journey continues. 

 Today I spent time at Grandpa’s inn. Swam around, took a nap and went to There, again. I ordered a fish risotto, garlic butter mussels, bacon wrapped prawns and ended it with crème brûlée. Solo ordered crispy Norwegian salmon The food did not disappoint again, we were too full to do anything.  Came back to the hotel and went to Chapora fort and spent some time there watched the sunset with some North Indians (they were all speaking Hindi). Ended the day with a burger at the food truck nearby. 

 I had the best streak and crème brûlée at There. This place had courteous staff and the food was just elevating. I would love to go here again.  I had a juicy filet mignon, medium rare with mashed potatoes and brocolli topped with one seasoned butter grilled garlic pod. The dessert was crème brûlée, I need to go here again before this trip ends. 

Signed up to a whole bunch of activities at Paradise beach. Banana ride, bumper ride, jet ski, boat ride, para sailing and scuba. I didn’t go scuba diving because they were all sharing the same mouthpiece. So I don’t think I will ever scuba dive ever. Mee noo scubaa. 

 Yesterday we went to Candolim looking for John’s boat rides, but they had moved to another location. We booked with another agency called Kings tours and travels. The arrangement is to have us picked up at the hotel tomorrow and take us on a full day activity and water sports from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, inclusive of food.  Then we went to Fat Fish, overpriced food. We didn’t know what to order because people preferred the thalis there. We ordered the most tasteless calimari butter garlic and chicken biryani. The dessert was nice, Bebinca with ice cream.  We came back to the hotel and hit the pool for a relaxed swim and went to Baga. The over hyped, over crowded place. Didn’t stay there for long. On our way back we had some beef with rice and somehow landed on fat fish for our dessert cravings for Bebinca with ice cream. Then it was back home with a beef-pork burger and watermelon. 

Reached Xoxo in Anjuna, the staff was not very welcoming so we came to this place called Grandfather’s Inn. We booked the place because this place was amazing. Good vibes and what excellent staff. The manager Javed was quite helpful with the suggestions to do around the place.  We went to Anjuna flea market and had lunch at the beach, the fish platter was a disaster. So we bought burgers from a food truck on our way back. Looking forward to tomorrow. 

Solomon and I have booked a train to Goa! The plan is there’s non plan. Go to Goa and figure it out. So it’s just one backpack for me with just bare necessities. The train is relatively empty. So it’s all ok!  

 Mom and I drove to the IIHR today, we planned to check out their nursery. But they didn’t have too many options. We purchased a few kitchen garden seeds and were curious about mushrooms. The mushroom development department had spawns of the lion’s mane variety, we have to book online and come back and collect them. They also have readymade bags of mushrooms ready!  The only person who didn’t dismiss us was Mr. Rami Reddy. He took some time off his work to share some details about bee keeping. I was also interested in the stingless bee variety. Next we found out they had a nursery! We went there and found some seasonal fruit saplings. Bought, 5 black pepper saplings the Panniyur variety, 3 guava trees, 2 for the terrace and one for the plot. We also picked up tomato and salad cucumbers at ₹5 per kg.  The long day was ended with some sugarcane juice. 

 After church, Andy, Solomon and I drove to Popeyes. The burger was just ok. We enjoyed the chicken wings there. Then we went to Milano for having cake. We picked up Jincy later so she could show us the way to the grasslands. We clicked some pictures at a local nursery there and some more. For me it was all about the drive there. Good empty roads, trees on either side. Bliss. 

Watched The Batman, with Solomon and Andy today. Not mind blown but the movie. The characters did not develop to my taste and I went expecting it to be amazing after seeing a review online. I loved the sound production in this movie. A good one time watch only movie. 

 I got some Among Us characters made for my friends from Tanya’s MIWA Clay! These are so personalized for my friends that it includes the add on head gear they used! The order was delayed by three months, but hey, we got it done yeah! 

Tasted some amazing salad from Jude today at church. I bugged him to give me the recipe. What I loved about this is that it had a spicy kick from the chilies and sweetness fern the grapes. Here it goes.  Ingredients: Lettuce or Kale, cucumber, broccoli, green grape (seedless), spring onion and red chillies.  1. Cut fresh lettuce, cucumber (peeled) and green grape and mix in a bowl.  2. Put broccoli in boiling water and cook for 5 minutes. Add a little salt to the boiling water. Once cooked, add broccoli to the bowl.  3. In a small pan, heat some olive oil in low flame, put mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add red chilies and spring onion and quickly switch off heat.  4. Add the oil mix to the bowl. Sprinkle salt and pepper as much as required and serve.

 Went to church today, there was Jude, Sharmi, Andy,  Thejo and Gladys. We hung out and went for dinner to Uncle Kitchen, we are a lot especially Gladys. That was some yummy rice and fish curry. Enjoyed it to the brim. 

 Planning the days ahead, trip to Goa, dental appointment, appointment with Dr. Sam, music classes, plants, diet and routine, I think I caught a stress fever as well, thanks also to the dust contributing to the general dryness in the air. All I can do now is pray for rain.