THE LITTLE RED MOON FAMILY

        If you happen to be in Delhi and ever get the chance to know about Red Moon Bakery,i hope you pay a visit to the bakery which is located in Okhla. But maybe you may not get to feel the family in Red Moon unless you get to work there, and maybe your experience might be different from my own. But let me tell you, Red Moon is like a little family and i have had one of the best and most fun time, i have experienced in my life so far.And that is why i feel melancholic and nostalgic whenever i remember Red Moon bakery.

             Red Moon bakery is owned by the cool Canadian couple, Anna and David Hambly and i love them. It just amazes me how they can handle a bakery in a foreign land like India with all its complications and daily irritations. And moreover they are the leaders in my church too.
         Morning 9am, i reach the bakery and Sanju will be the first person i see mopping the floor sleepily because he's already there by 6am. Zahir will be in the decorator's room playing Chamak Chalo and decorating cupcakes or pastries with Emily and they will be performing a jig. In the production area will be Pintu making some loaf cakes with Enrique's songs as his companion. On my left side is the bosses' room and Anna and David are already there looking fresh and by the way,they too reach at around 5 or 6 am in the morning. I walk down the basement and either Dayal bhaiya or Dheeraj bhaiya will be present there cooking lunch for all of us.As usual, Salim will be late while Joycee,my partner and intern will be always on time.By the time we finish baking the loaf cakes and cookies, its always time for lunch. We always look forward to fridays because its Chicken for lunch!! TGIF!!!..After lunch, our loud Imran will enter the bakery with his signature laughter and comments. After lunch, its more quiet and i enjoy this part of the day the most because, on normal 'not so busy' days we can relax, peel garlic or pack the goodies and talk over tea.And yes, there is always an argument on whose music to play next in the music player. Salim will be fighting for his depressing ghazals, Pintu for his Enrique and Justin Bieber, Sanju for his bollywood hits, Joycee for her Blues and me for my counrty pop...
     Well,im not making any promos here but i just want to pen down what i learn from Red Moon, which is more of a personal account. Just spending time with them has taught me so many things, some fun and insightful and some stupid. The first and foremost is that, not everyone in Delhi are selfish and nasty. Despite their rough manners, they have so much love and they will stick by you no matter what. Second, you've got to take your job seriously. Baking is a whole lot of fun but a tiny mistake and you spoil the whole cake. Third, Baking is not just art but it is more of a science. It requires a lot of formulas. You've got to follow the exact amount written in the recipe...a lil more or a lil less and your experiment is a disaster. Fourth, the people whom you expect the least are the ones who are a whole lot "funner" than the ones you usually expect.Fifth, working in a bakery makes you fat,lol...seriously!! And lastly, i found friends for life and that's what makes Red Moon extremely special...

Take a break, Seriously!!!

I am in a small colony in Dimapur and the weather is just so perfect right now that i am visiting my memories. Sitting by the window, watching the wind blow and letting it blow my hair, i can remember the last time i had a long quiet time alone by myself, enjoying the beautiful weather. That was a year and a couple of months ago. I am surprised, i thought i had so many free times but sadly those were spent watching movies, my fav. t.v shows and with people. And yes, there were times i had alone but very less of moments like this when i would just watch the sky, the butterflies, the sunset....just very few of time with nature. My life has been so occupied that i don't have time to 'get bored' and that is what i miss......
           Here, 'getting bored' is not about going to a place or a party and you get bored of the atmosphere. I am referring to the 'getting bored' when i was small and i had all the time to myself and i didn't know how to spend it. Let me tell you how i and many of us spend our time in the cities. The only word that comes to my mind is 'Fast'. Mcdonaldization is what Ritzer would have said.We wake up late or just early enough to get dressed and grab something for breakfast. 8 hrs or 9 hrs at work and sometimes overtime. For college students its only 5 to 6 hrs. Most of us in cities spend an hour travelling and worse for some, it amounts up to more than 2 hrs. As soon as we get home, its time to cook for most of the hardworking 'working' people. By the time you finish cooking and washing up and done with dinner its almost 11 pm. And to relieve ourselves from stress we usually ends up watching movies, sitcoms, games or networking sites in the midnight. And then the cycle continues....During your off-days you spend half of the day sleeping, going to the malls, markets or eat out with friends.I find this shocking because there is absolute zero time for myself.
  You see, we are so tangled up in this fast world. We are made to believe that we need to earn more money and of course, to 'consume' more. And maybe part of it is because we got our priorities wrong esp for me. Making time for ourselves and spending time with nature costs us nothing. Its cheaper than going out at an expensive restaurant and worth more than filling your empty stomach...

"...Where'd the days go?
When all we did was play..
And the stress that we were under
Wasn't stress at all
Just a run and a jump
Into a harmless fall....."
                        -Paolo Nutini