Watercolour memories indeed

Travel has become so stressful. Much as the only joy in life is to, well, get away from your own, the trauma of entering an albeit beautiful country but where people look at you funny because your skin has olive undertones is becoming a bit much. There I was in London, the only city I would live in if people didn't look at me funny, just basking in the even footpaths, the gorgeous stone buildings, train journeys with clean and comfortable trains, an intricate and thoroughly efficient subway system, (I mean there are count 'em TWO railway personnel just standing at every single tube station waiting to answer questions from tourists, what), knowledgeable staff at boutiques, cafes, pharmacies, I've never been so happy. What people in developed nations take for granted is what we in developing (and developing because no one gives a shit, not because we can't, never because we can't) nations stand in awe before; like walking down a sweet alley and emerging into the face of a gothic cathedral which turns out to be a government building, it's all too, too painful because they will only be memories. But I enjoyed it while it lasted. Love London but loved Scotland more, people look at you less funny, and it's so beautiful it looks like illustrations from a book have come alive. And it's there, free, just to please its citizenry. Too, too painful.

Fish and chips, steak pie, mandatory at George IV, Edinburgh

Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh

Best cider ever, discovered at the George IV

A man dedicated this to his late wife, hoping she's enjoying the botanicals wherever she is now, Edinburgh

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Dreaming about a Kiss

If there’s one thing I’ve always loathed, oh, ok, you got me, or anyone who knows me has got me, there are MANY things I loathe, but for our purposes here, it’s people who say, “Oh, you can get anything in India”. Uh, no. It wasn’t true 10 years ago when I first heard it, and it ain’t true now. Leastways, not down south of the Vindhyas.

Lancome’s Poeme? Urban Decay foundation 8.0? Tod’s D Bag? Every single one of the 250 books I’ve downloaded on Kindle because it’s not in the bookstore? Peace of mind? Pavements? I digress. But when it comes to the Beauty Biz, it’s a Hell to the No. What’s particularly galling is when you run to the nearest Nykaa (Sephora’s little sister, I presume?) looking for Marc Jacobs’s Daisy Dream Kiss and they say they don’t stock Marc Jacobs. Say what. Look it up on their online store, you say? When you manage to get the site to open, it will tell you they’re plum out of stock.

Speaking of Nykaa. They’ve opened

Paradise found & the price is just about right

in Bangalore’s Lavelle Road, and made the mistake so many companies make: Starting small, dipping their toe in the waters and seeing how warm it is. It’s Alaska warm, honey, because the people who walk into Nykaa know the exact shade, formula and background of the products they expect to see and are willing to buy big for pigments that go on their skin – only you don’t have what they want. Even the hugely popular Huda Beauty has just a handful of wares on display. So what happens? You don’t sell much and we all go back to duty free shopping at the nearest airport. Lose-lose.

Having said that, the Sabyasachi line of lipsticks for L’Oreal (who know a thing or two about marketing in India, I might add), is sublime. Also noteworthy in the lip line: Bobbi Brown, Crushed Liquid Lip Bitter Sweet and the always-trustworthy Stila, see Sheer Splendore, both available at the actual Sephora which, alas, also suffers from a lack of variety. No, I don't see why the Champs Elysees store should be different from the Lavelle Rd one, sorry.

Point to Note: Down South is admittedly very different from Up North; people here are price-conscious in a way no Delhi socialite would stoop to consider. But things are changing, a bit. Women are willing to pay at MAC but the large Bobbi Brown at Garuda mall stays largely empty. Why? Their products are great but their prices are sometimes just silly. Think about it this way: there's a reason why retailers say things like it's $9.99 rather than saying it's $10. It's psychology; they should be saying it's $9.99 Psychologically. While I might throw an internal tantrum but cough up Rs 2,500 for a Studio Fix powder at MAC, I will willingly lose the battle when faced with a Bobbi Brown concealer for Rs 3,650. Psychology. And that's just when seeing the 2 and the 3, not even the 1000 rupee difference. Once I see that, it's game over.

But I still believe in the adage which I will twist because I can: Build your stock, and the buyers will come. (Just don’t be silly about it.)