Monday Morning Questions: What Do You Want to Ask Me as I Watch Other People Clean My House?

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Happy Monday! And Happy Cleaners Day! I’ve had these lovely ladies in once a month for over a year now and I have almost mastered not feeling like a bad person. I have the money, there’s nothing morally superior about doing your own cleaning (no matter what my crazy Germanic ghost ancestor ladies are screaming at me), and it makes SUCH a difference to know that at least once a month my floors will be scrubbed, stove top cleaned, etc. etc.

Here is where you can ask me anything you want from “what movies have you watched recently?” to “when you say Germanic ghost ancestor ladies, what do you mean?” Just keep swinging back here all week as you think of new questions!

Now, question for you! It’s the start of Ramadan! If you don’t celebrate, pretend you do, and answer this simple question: is it more fun to wake up before dawn and party and eat, or to stay up super late and party and eat?

I actually think the pre-dawn party sounds more fun! The other way is just staying up late, you do that all the time. But waking up super early and gorging yourself on special fun food with your whole family, that’s special and different and magical.

44 thoughts on “Monday Morning Questions: What Do You Want to Ask Me as I Watch Other People Clean My House?”

  2. Am iI the one who has to prepare the special fun food? Then I think I’d rather do so during the day than get up extra extra extra early.

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    • I think there’s a whole thing with traditional Ramadan food being either easy make or store bought? At the very least, I know the restaurants in Chicago sell loads of premade take out, plus are HOPPING every evening.

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    • Ooo! I went on a family trip when I was 14. So my advice is “don’t be 14”. Very odd combination of old enough to have interests, but not young enough to explore alone.

      Also, really really good live theater, we went to a different show every night, and they were all amazing. And a “full English” breakfast has a tomato and I don’t know why.

      Oh! See if you can find Shahrukh’s address! Might have a better chance at him reading a letter from his London house than Mannat.

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    • Yes, I have!

      London has wonderful Indian food and various other cuisines. Dishoom are very famous and good. I’ve also heard good things about Gymkhana but it is hard to get a seat and is filled with all the elite Indian class/maybe a few celebrity sightings as well (so for anxiousness would not reccomend). The food scene there is wonderful. There are also a lot of wonderful museums in the city which are filled to the brim (because the british empire). I would say shopping is also really nice over there but it is expensive. They also have wonderful parks which are huge and expansive. I would say London is very multicultural and a very much youthful city. There are tons of international students, workers, people, etc. I will say be careful of your bag (pickpockets are very common) and don’t roam around late at night.

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    • I have been in London exactly 10 years ago, March 2014, and I’m still like to think about it because it was great. Very short trip, so I can’t give many tips but the one I can give is: don’t be anxious, enjoy the city. I was very anxious and worried and couldn’t enjoy , but you unlike me, speak good English and travel a lot so it will be all fine. There is so much to see there. I wish I could visit again, especially for the museums and concerts.

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    • For museums I’d recommend the V&A for all things beautiful as far as design goes. For a really fun meal check out Sketch, pricey but worth the visit – make a reservation. If you like flea markets and vintage head to Portobello Rd. in Notting Hill, great on the weekends. For a great view of the city, get a drink/food at Gong Bar at the top of the Shard! And for free roaming take a walk at Regent’s Park.

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  5. So what movies have you watched recently? Because I left my Indian movies bubble and watched The Vow and I’m shocked. It was bad and boring , but what shocked me it’s that it’s the eighth highest-grossing romantic drama film since 1980! Looks like people crave romantic movies so much they watch anything with a little romaticism in it. I’m so glad I watch Indian movies where even mediocre films are better that stuff like The Vow or The Notebook.

    I also watched Past Lives, because people were saying I will love it because it’s like 96. I’ve waited for months, because in Italy the movie came out only recently. It was good, but it’s not 96. I didn’t shed even one tear, because it wasn’t tragic. Have you seen it?

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    • Are you talking about the amnesia movie? I mostly think about that as the inspiration for the Vidya Balan/John Abraham storyline in Salaam-E-Ishq! But yes, not great.

      I have not seen Past Lives, but I just looked it up and mostly I am excited that it is an American made film with an almost entirely Asian cast! Central/North Asian-American films are definitely having a moment right now, which is really cool. South Asian, not so much, but maybe it will come around again.

      I watched Junglee, and for a podcast recording that we are doing next week I finally watched Memento and then fast forwarded through Mann and An Affair to Remember and Ghajini (we’re planning to talk about remakes). An Affair to Remember is REALLY GOOD!!!! I forget how good it is, it’s clever and mature and also pretty. You should watch/rewatch it if you want a nice romance.

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      • I watched An affair to remember few months ago for the first time in my life. So pretty. I also found, by chance, its first version – Love Affair from 1939 on youtube, in very good quality and in italian and watched it also. And I tried watching Mann on youtube, but there were so many ads (an ad every 3-5 minutes) that it was impossible to continue.

        This is the great youtube channel full of old movies in hd quality where I found Love Affair:

        https://www.youtube.com/@CultCinemaClassics

        The Vow is indeed the amnesia movie. I just can’t understand how it was successful.

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    • I feel that you and me are soulmates ❤️. I watched Past Lives around december time and I thought it was ok. I almost felt it was like a play and then I found out the director is a famous play director. Which made so much sense because I felt that constant emotional disconnect even though so many of the emotions should’ve resonated with me (as I also have many similar experiences to Norah). I don’t know maybe if the film was staged, I would’ve loved it more as the stage often overcomes these flaws. But throughout the film I couldn’t empathise and only cared about the husband.

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      • Me too! Arthur is the best, and he loves his wife so much. Even if he wasn’t so awesome, still there is no tragedy – Norah chose to end the story with Hae Sung and marry Arthur (whom she seduced the same day she dumped Hae Sung! ) Compare it with 96 and how Janu and Ram longed to be together but they couldn’t.

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        • In my opinion, Nora and Hae Sung didn’t love each other at all. They both moved on and Nora especially liked Hae Sung because he reminded her of the past. Hae Sung liked Nora because it was a special time in his life. I feel at the end she was crying more because she felt bad that ‘Na Young’ was leaving but Arthur was there for her – thus Na Young would always be present. I’ve not watched 96 but from what I know its not at all like that.

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          • IMO Hae Sung loved Norah. Yes, in the beginning he looked for her because she was a pleasant memory from the past, but later he fell in love for real. Norah on the contrary was never in love with him for real. She moved on too quickly, and was surprised and embarassed a little, that he came to NY to meet her after all those years. I think I would like the movie much more if it was made from Hae Sung’s POV. He loves the girl, she reappears only to disappear again, and the next thing he knows is that she married some other guy.

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  6. I’m watching Life Partner and I think though it is a bad film, it is actually a good film to discuss about marriages. As both Fardeen Khan and Tusshar Kapoor have genuine problems in their marriages which would only be overcome by divorce or a drastic change in their lifestyles. Fardeen and Genelia have a very much passionate relationship which obviously cannot be sustained after marriage since they never talked about anything more than love. While Tusshar is too scared by his domineering father who moral policies everyone to stand up for Prachi Desai being mistreated. However the film obviously doesn’t acknowledge all that and instead pretends like everything can get fixed with a dramatic climax. I still feel the relationship issues in the film are quite complex and well thought about.

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  7. Hey Margaret!

    Turns out that I’m unexpectadly coming to Chicago this weekend so do you have any suggestions on things to check out 🙂

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    • Oh how exciting! This weekend is Saint Patrick’s Day in Chicago, which means the river is dyed green, that’s always cool. But also there are parades and bar crawls and all kinds of things EVERYWHERE. Don’t be surprised if streets are suddenly blocked by people wearing green.

      If you want to lean into Saint Patrick’s Day, you could truly just go from event to event all weekend. But if you want to avoid excited people in Green, it’s a good weekend to go outside of downtown a little bit. Logan Square/Wicker Park is the hottest young people neighborhood right now, lots of cool funky little stores and things, you can easily just walk up and down Milwaukee and windowshop and experiment. Devon Avenue is still a very active Desi area if you want to see Indian stores and restaurants and everything crowded together. If you want to go Museum, The Art Institute is my favorite, but the Shedd Aquirium is also really cool. The best park, as a park, is Humboldt. It’s just GORGEOUS, if you want to see a really pretty park with a lagoon and stuff.

      Private message me if you want with more details about where you are staying and what you are doing, and I’d love to give more specific tips about “this is the best coffee shop near where you are staying” and stuff!

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      • Hey Margaret! Sorry, it’s been a busy week and I totally forgot to reply to you once I got a chance. Thank you so much for your advice and suggestions though, they really did help a lot!

        We did make an impromptu trip because of St Patrick’s Day so a lot of our trip was mostly plnned around the parade and the river dyeing. We ended up doing a boat tour after the river was green and it was really cool!

        Unfortunately my Devon Avenue idea got shut down by my friends but we did check out the Art Institute and spent some time in the Wicker Park area.

        I was only in town for like 2.5 days so it was a very hectic trip but I’ll for sure contact you the next time I’m coming to town. I’d love to hang out!

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      • Thanks again, for all the suggestions. It was very helpful! The Pizza-fest sounded fun but we couldn’t make it their in time.

        Speaking of Pizza, what’s your favorite deep-dish place? We tried both Lou Malnati’s and Pequods and I liked Pequods more.

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        • Oh dear, horrible confession, I don’t actually like deep dish. So I don’t really have a deep dish favorite! Although I used to go to Giordanos a lot just because it was close to my parents.

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          • Oh my gosh, how could you?!?

            Lol, tbh I don’t think I’m much of a deep dish fan either after my experience. I mean it was nice but also way too heavy and I think I prefer my thinner slice pizza instead.

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  8. Pingback: Monday Morning Questions: What Do You Wish to Ask Me as I Watch Different Folks Clear My Home? – pankajsharmalife

  9. My question: Are you going to see Murder Mubarak on Netflix?

    I read the book it was based on, Club You to Death, within the last six months. It was not my favorite Chauhan book, but the characters were memorable. I have been having a hell of a time watching TV lately. The second something sad happens to a character I turn off the screen. I have not been able to get all the way through Dunki. This is a real problem. I will only sit through comedies. But because I already knew the story, I was able to watch this film, and enjoy it. And Sara Ali Khan is great, as is Karisma Kapoor. I did feel like the revealed killer was vilified more than in the book, and I liked the book version better, but that would have taken another hour to add in all the backstory so I get it.

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    • I’m at the same place when it comes to watching movies now. I abandoned Dunki in the middle, 12th Fail after 15 minutes, and 10 other films after few minutes. I’m not able to digest struggles, and the movies without struggles are too boring. Hate when it happens.

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    • I didn’t even know about this movie! It looks fun. Not committing to watching it necessarily, but it does look fun!

      By the way, I am similar with TV/movies right now. And the end result is I am watching a TON of BBC murder shows. Yes, there’s a murder, but there’s no divorce or relationship drama or anything. I can handle an intellectual challenge of solving a murder plot much more easily than a sitcom where friends fight and make-up.

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      • What is a good BBC murder show? Maybe I could get spouse to watch one with me? He likes the war films and Shogun which I am just NOT interested in. We were doing Fargos, but it is just too heavy. We loved only Murders in the Building, and we like Brooklyn 99. But something a little more intellectual might be the ticket!

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        • I know the question was for Margaret , sorry for poking in, but have you seen Endeavour? I loved it. And now I’m watching Sister Boniface Mysteries. It’s also nice. Not as good as Endeavour , but ok.

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        • Co-sign with Angie, Endeavor is really good! FAther Brown and Sister Boniface are good as well, but not as smart, more just timepass. Line of Duty is modern and “realistic” but not incredibly dark (low on anti-heroes, high on actual heroes) and also very very smart. Oh, and Shetland! Shetland is great.

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