Yes – we live alone. We are the quintessential Mumbai couple
who manages a HOME for 2 ! Yes, I do not have a mother in law to meddle in my
everyday house running skills (oh btw I love my ma-in-law ) … we do not have a
bhabhi who will willingly cook while I am away at an important meeting. we
don’t have a father in law who will take over the bills – Kunal has to make
time to sort them out. When we throw a party, our shopping list doesn’t get
distributed by the dozen people living under the roof…I can write book titled "The Bible of surviving in Mumbai x 2" or like Kunal likes to call it... just sucking it up and getting used to ticking off, till the last item on my TO-DO list on an everyday basis !
Off the many things that I fast learnt on my first few times of living and running a household for 2 is that you can maximize the potential that the internet with a few clicks of the button. After weeks of plotting
and planning dates with the various members of the family we singled out to a
fair day in August to host our very first Sunday Brunch to celebrate Raksha Bandhan... All but 40 guests confirmed for what started out as a small get together! I pulled my contacts togther and got a caterer on
board to help me with the food…At that point in time I felt like a winner..but i soon realised my worries had just begun !
2 days before the event I called to fix the menu with the
‘Maharaj’ I began jotting down the list of items he was already rattling into
the phone... I couldn’t find anything to write on – so I started jotting on the
day’s news paper. The times of india was surrounded by items like maida,
vinegar, chilly sauce.... on he went… I flipped the paper over to write on the
bottom half… oranges..cinnamon powder..ajino moto.. I started writing over the
empty spaces on the advertisement now mentally trying to figure out where I would get these things from… spaghetti..oregano…rosemary and that’s
it. I was already feeling exhausted… oh madam… did I make you write dry mint powder
? I scanned the list but couldn’t find it… so I fit it right beside the weather
update…read heavy showers tomorrow and day after. I could already feel the grey over my head.
Right after putting his phone down I started making a fair
list. The fair list comprised of only 68 items to be bought !!!! My eyes pop-ed
out. With a kitchen that is run for 2 people, we definitely needed to re-stock
our rice, I have never allowed cardamom powder into my home which was about to
change and our month supply of fruits was to be ordered just in a day's time. I
frantically called my mother in law who sweetly offered to run errands for me…
but I decided to take the plunge into house-running-bliss. She sounded
skeptical, but we decided it would be best if I use this moment to learn a
thing or two about hosting a social gathering !
For those who know me, I’m quite an organization freak… I
divided the list into Grocery & staples, Fruits & Vegetables, Bread
& Dairy and others… I was not quite sure where I would get the others
items. But I decided to tackle one problem at a time. Yes – I know what I did next will make my mother laugh and I can hear my distant aunt mocking from her grave, "I TOLD YOU SO"–
but some of the items on that list, I didn’t know what they meant. When I did huh on the
phone to the maharaj – he said arreh madam, do you not know this also… I just
pretended that the line was unclear. Yes... I know your laughed a little...So I google’d them + Mumbai to see where
I would get them ! Pop came the ad for www.bigbasket.com
I have never been to an online supermarket..I clicked. The screen
went white and flashing… it was almost as if I was in a HyperMarket without the
clutter of leading brands flashing in your face… There was no walking through
the aisles, there were no screaming children toppling everything, there was no
forgetting anything and having to walk back all the way to the start for a bag
of sugar !
It was a simple interface that allowed me to go through my
entire list… within minutes I had shopped for every single item on all 3 of my
segregated list. When I usually go to a hyper market I end up buying so much
more than I am actually required to.. call me a retail junkie… but there was nobody
trying to force a plastic spoon with the latest aachar to try and forcing me to buy
either. There was absolutely no temptation.
Ofcourse I had a few items missing from my toileteries and personal care items which i took care off before moving on to checking the other tabs on their website.
The best part of shopping on www.bigbasket.com was the Discounts and
Promotion tabs where I could take my own time to decided whether the scheme
worked for me or not.I checked out within minutes and opted for Cash on Delivery
– since I do not prefer using my Credit Card for household items and Since I was
shopping for Rs 400 and more they offered me free Delivery – at a time slot
convenient to me… ofcourse I had to fish for the convenient time a bit – but
the website assured me that they are working on expanding the slots. I'm not a
big fan of the registering on websites.. but I had to unfortunately – they
promised me it was a one time thing. And in hind sight it has made all my next
round of purchases a lot easier with the website already knowing that i will opt for Cash on Delivery and also the address is already fed in, saving me all that time to re-type is over and over again.
The delivery was made promptly… and the party was a grand
success. The brunch service had a few glitches – things are bound to go crazy with 40 hungry gujratis
enjoying their first time experimenting food they could barely pronounce let alone knowing how to write them. Burmese Khow Suey and Chinese Ramen
Noodles all prepared Jain Style were my saving grace.
Image Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com
