Well, this is interesting. I feel like it's good to start a blog and then abandon it for two years just so you can come back and see how much you've changed. My views on makeup haven't changed too much. But the way I do my spaces has changed completely. Possibly because I had very different canvases to work with over the last few years; and also because the cities these homes were in were both wildly different from each other. Since I'm actually going to get down to doing that post on my Bombay apartment, I thought I'd write a prelude of sorts, something that will set up the story behind my Bombay abode –"Veronica", as she's dearly known. And reflect a little on how she's different from "Scotts" – my Singapore condo.
Singapore and Bombay have a few things in common – they're both big business hubs, they're both cities that are known for their "pace". Life moves at the speed of light X 100. Cities of the "rat-race", they're called. I find they're both treated as transitionary – they're cities people come to and don't necessarily want to lay down deep roots. So you tend to meet people that are passing through or waiting to figure out what the city has in store for them. So similar, yet the management and execution of all this pace and race is completely different across the two geographies.
I absolutely love both these cities. Singapore and Bombay, ugh. If I could split myself into two beings, one would live in SG and one in Bombay so I can have a bit of both. So the homes I created in both places, somehow, consciously or unconsciously, reflected the things that I loved most about each city.
Scotts was orderly, clean and tone-on-tone. Little pops of colour here and there. There was nothing crazy going on. The furniture was light, modern and simple. Everything matched. Everything was organised. Everything flowed with ease. No surprises. Very predictable.
Veronica, on the other hand – she cray. She's full of chaos, colour, and contradictions. There's a bit of a sensory overload going on there. She's a little wild– plants growing out of nowhere, a lit -up bicycle on the wall, things that make you go " should this really be here?" One would wonder if I was losing a game of Jumanji. <insert plantmoji here>
I know, i know. People say that your space should do the opposite of what's going on outside so that you can escape into a different world when you come home, but to these people, I ask: who are you really, and why are you escaping? And side-note – I have a great therapist! ;)
One of the best pieces of advice I was given when I moved to Bombay is this – don't put a clock on everything in your life – instead, for every day that you're here, fully commit to the city. Don't do this life with one foot in and one foot out. And boy, did I take that advice. I took it all the way home. I fully embraced everything this city threw at me. I learned to love it ALL, and let that love be seen and known in my surroundings. My home feels a lot like Bombay. And right now, Bombay feels a lot like home.
FAQ:
If I had to choose between Singapore or Bombay, what would I choose?
Bombay. I didn't have to bat an eyelid before I answered that. Why? Well, that's for another post.
