Today in Photo

London got off to a good start. Went looking for a pub which would still serve (was midnight, unlike Berlin, this city closes early) and stumbled upon an old phone booth turned into a library. I broke the rules, you're supposed to leave a book behind if you take one but I don't HAVE a book and I wanted to reread Jane Eyre so I left clutching it. The pub was closing, alas, but I do have a book now so that's something. #london #traveldiaries

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Today in Photo

Night walks in Berlin. Last night the Bundestag was lit up (that big dome) and as I walked past it I heard "apple bottom jeans, boots with the furrrrr" so I thought it was some new club I hadn't heard of but when I messaged my friend whose house I'd just had dinner at she said it was open house at the parliament building that evening. Next year even I will go and dance to cheesy music with the chancellor (not sure exactly what happens at an open house but I feel like this could be accurate for Berlin.) #berlinna #bundestag #alittlenightwalking #citystreets

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Today in Photo

Berlin photo dump for July. The summer is sort of over, I have classical music on and feeling kinda melancholy that I won't see so many friends for so long. Featuring @ishygeee, @tarunsridharan and @supriyasodhi plus Andrew not on Instagram. Hard to be global friends but also nice that with all these friendships/cousinships you can pick up right where you last left off. Senti old Sunday. #berlinna #photodump

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Today in Photo

Newsletter this week is about returning to a place of past trauma and now I've written about it, I'm really excited about going. England! We get a second chance! Link in bio or mrm.substack.com #newsletter #theinternetpersonified

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Today in Photo

Just a monkey looming over Boxi. (But really celebrating both Austrian artist Gabriel von Max and his most famous painting "Monkeys As Art Critics" from which this is a detail. von Max, I find from further Googling, really liked painting monkeys, I mean so much that if you knew him back then you'd be like "oh the monkey guy." He owned a capuchin monkey which he then bred in Munich and then painted them all both living and dead.) Anyway this was just street art when I saw it and photographed it yesterday but now I'm looking at the wise little face of the monkey looking down on all of us and thinking "Huh. This shit is deep." Who's judging me, Monkey? #graffiti #streetart #berlinna #boxhagnerplatz

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Today in Photo

Giving Wednesday Addams vibes in this photo but really I was feeling quite cheerful in my new red dress. Bought this FabIndia dress last time I was in Delhi but it was too thick to wear during the Heatwave From Hell so carried it to Berlin with the tags still on, waiting for the right occasion. Girl's night yesterday seemed perfect and we were going to eat Mexican and this dress sort of reminded me of Mexico so I added a pearl choker and felt like a Lady. #whatiworetoday

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Today in Photo

Reddys underground. #cousins

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Today in Photo

Some little drawings I did recently without a plan while I was watching TV so I guess their technical term is "doodle" but really they're free association what's in my brain situations. Pleased with the brush pen look. #sketch #drawing #abstract #shapes #nudewithchickenlegs

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What I'm Reading

Second time reading this book, but I don't remember anything about the first time only that I was twenty pages in, idly, and then suddenly sat up and thought, "Wow this is really good." On my second go, I lingered, so I can tell you more: Romy Hall is sentenced to life without parole, the book unfolds in prison, all of it, Romy's thoughts mainly but then other people come crowding in. The Mars Room is where she used to work as a stripper in the outside world, which also contains her small son. That kind of book. RIYL Orange Is The New Black, obviously but more meditative, less story of the week. Also Handmaid's Tale. #bookstagram #mrmbookclub #100in2022 #themarsroom #rachelkushner

Today in Photo

This outfit came to me in an afternoon nap dream so all I had to do was get up and put it on. My cousin literally said "look, ducks" when this photo was taken and when someone says "look, ducks" you look at the ducks. Wearing a tank top I've had since my 20s (origins unknown now) and "office" high waist pants I bought online some eight years ago but they are in a thin synthetic fabric that wears well and requires zero ironing. Clutched in my fist is a tissue because my allergies have been driving me nuts recently. Must take the beauty with the pain etc etc. #whatiworetoday

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Today in Photo

But also "wifes forever." This grafitti emblazoned on a wall directly opposite a primary school so I imagine the children have lively discussions about anarchy and touching yourself. #berlinna #graffiti

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Today in Photo

Going to the library but felt like looking Goa this afternoon. I'm always hesitant about making big sweeping statements like I'll never buy fast fashion again but I've been consciously only buying from thrift stores, export surplus or getting clothes made by my tailor. If I shop online it's usually from a small brand like these pants I got on sale from Ancestry in Delhi which I wear a lot in the summer. The top is something I bought at a Goa flea market ages ago. My cupboard space is limited here in Berlin and six months of the year is just cold so my summer clothes don't see much of an airing. I'm not zero waste yet but low waste at any rate. It's not hard and it's a lot more fun wearing clothes no one else has. #whatiworetoday

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Today in Photo

Rearranging my hot sauce collection, left to right, in order of spiciness. The @naaginsauce is Smoky Bhoot, my newest @crazybsauce is Trinidad Scorpion and Clementine, then @pikapikahotsauces Hot Carolina then @elyucateco_hotsauce in Habanero Chile, followed by of course, your regular Tabasco, Peri Peri and Sriracha. I know Tajin isn't a sauce but I use it as a condiment so it's in this photo. Well on my way to becoming a full on spice nerd. #hotsauce #spicyisnicy #itsnotamealunlessyournoseissweating

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Today in Photo

Spent the day at the Berlin aquarium, the night at a cheesy club. We had the best time. #berlinna #friendsofberlinna #aquarium #jellyfish #frogs #birgitundbier

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Today in Photo

What a very long weekend I had and what a very long newsletter I wrote about it! Check it outttt, link in bio or mrm.substack.com. Photo of self to push this up in your feed because the algorithm loves faces. #newsletter #theinternetpersonified #berlinna

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Today in Photo

Went swimming in the river Spree yesterday and then sat around the very busy Treptower Park in my bikini so I guess my ASS-imilation (get it get it) is nearly complete. Here's me in my chaddis, hand over my bosom for modesty on the 'gram. That yellow cover up is something I found in a box on the side of the road because people give away clothes that don't fit them anymore. Some people build whole wardrobes from street boxes. Read all about my weekend on my newsletter which I'm currently writing so sign up via link in bio and wait for me to send it later tonight. #berlinna #summerinthecity #spree

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What I'm Reading

Not so much spooky but so unsettling in a way that only Shirley Jackson can do. Still thinking about some of these *very dark* tales. #bookstagram #mrmbookclub #100in2022 #shirleyjackson #darktales

Today in Photo

Fully stretched out half cat half goblin. I don't know why I take such absurd pride in Squishy's size but ah, look at this gorgeous specimen of cat that we reared from a little blue eyed street kitten! 🐳🙀🧿 #squishytheblackcat #catstagram #stretch

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What I'm Reading

Despite the fact that I was reading this book for the second time, I stayed up till 2 am finishing it anyway. The ending is kick you in the guts sad even though the mystery is solved. All of it focuses on the avoidable, how you could've made one choice to continue living your happy life and instead you chose another. So simple in the moment, so hard to look at after. From all this you'll father it's not so much a murder mystery (which it is) but more a book about circumstance. Tana French's books always feel like they've been more revealed to me on a second read, I wouldn't have recommended my now favourite of the Dublin Murder Squad books to you before I'd reread it (Broken Harbor) and I wouldn't have thought that The Wych Elm would become a favourite, since I didn't really get into what she was doing the first time I read it. And now? You have to read it but not for big crime, for quiet sadness. #bookstagram #mrmbookclub #100in2022 #thewychelm #tanafrench

Today in Photo

The devil wears an old lady's Prada shoes. My in laws next door neighbour had to go into a care home so they bought a bunch of her stuff - - the plates we use for instance and these shiny Prada loafers I'm wearing in this photo with much excitement. Was going to an exhibition about Berlin's famed Tresor club and thought I'd dress up a bit. On top is a coat I bought in Sarojini Nagar for like ₹300 which I've never worn much because it was either too thin or too thick for the weather but hurrah, turns out in Europe's temperamental summer it is just right. A bit bit around the back and shoulders but that's the style these days na? Sadly those shoes were SO UNCOMFORTABLE my toes were crying by the time I got home and I had to strip to bare feet in the lift up to our floor so sadly maybe no more Prada for me. So TRAGIQUE. #berlinna #whatiworetoday #usedclothes

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