Happy at home

My perfect weekend

I  like staying at home just as much as I enjoy going out and I manage to do both on weekends. It is the only time when everybody in the family slips into a relaxed mode.

  
If I am at home on a weekend then I watch a lot of movies and television shows. I also do a lot of online shopping.Thanks to technology, I have become too lazy to venture out to a mall to shop. I sit at home and get whatever I want at my doorstep.
   
I mostly shop for perfumes and have a collection of about 30 bottles from across the world. Such is my craze for perfumes that sometimes I get them shipped from Paris. I also preserve some of the vintage perfume bottles. In fact, my father Arjun and grandmother Geetha end up borrowing my perfumes.
  
I am also very particular when it comes to what I wear and how I wear my makeup whenever I step outside.

My mother Neetu and my grandmother are amazing cooks, so I rarely step into the kitchen. But when I am in a mood to cook then there’s no stopping my experiments in the kitchen.
   
The ‘Lemon  drizzle cake’ and ‘Chicken cooked in Pesto sauce’ were born out of such experiments. I make the ‘Lemon drizzle cake’ especially for my sister Anjana, who is presently studying fashion designing in New York. It is what I make for her whenever she comes home. The ‘chicken cooked in Pesto sauce’ is another favourite of the family. I throw in a lot of cherry tomatoes, basil leaves, fresh cream and cook it in olive oil. I don’t enjoy cooking all that much but when I do, I find it to be a great stress-buster.

I love my food and thanks to a high metabolism rate that runs in the family, none of us put on weight, no matter how much we eat. I miss home food when I am away shooting and whenever I am home on a weekend after a long shoot, my mother cooks all my favourites, which includes  ‘Neer dosa’ with ‘Mutton curry’. She’s brilliant at making some baked dishes too. I eat everything that I like but in moderation.

I believe in staying fit but I don’t like gymming as much as I enjoy dancing. I believe that one should be physically active but somehow, I can never get myself to work out in a closed space. A fun way to staying fit is dancing. I practise kathak for at least an hour every day. I also do some floor exercises for the shoulders and to strengthen the core.

I wasn’t too fond of animals until my sister brought Snicker home. I have now become close to him after she left for New York and spend a lot of time walking him, feeding him and playing ball with him. He’s not only a charming and good-looking little fellow but reciprocates my feelings for him very well. It took me a while to get comfortable with him but now the two of us are inseparable.

I also enjoy being with my family. I realised how much people adore and respect my father only after I started making public appearances with him. At home, he’s a simple person who never lets the eccentricities of his work affect his family. I am always in awe of how he strikes the perfect balance between his personal and professional life.

I take 20 minutes everyday, irrespective of whether it is a weekend, to think about
what I am doing and understand whether I am on the right path. Somehow, this
quiet time makes me feel good and prepares me to face the challenges ahead.

(As told to Nina C George)