Half the year has gone in a jiff as was my presence in this space. Life has kept me on my toes. As I've mentioned in my earlier post we have shifted the house. Moving from one place to another, and settling there can take sometime. Since it is in the same locality there were not drastic changes. It didn't take us even a single day to call it our home. Probably that is why they say "Home is where the heart is". As my father had transferable job we had to move every four years. So, relocating is not a daunting experience for me. More over I'm not attached to any places. It is the people I love and care matters to me. That is also because I'm a dog person.
We have visited Chikmagalur in April to escape from the boiling summer. It is there I truly realized why I love Bengaluru. The famed hill station offered no respite from heat. The temperature was soaring and massive crowd was just cherry on top (pun intended). Despite its bad climate the place was beautiful. Few places we have visited are Mullayanagiri, Baba Budan giri, Hirekolale lake, Ayyanakere Lake. I intend to jot down the details in www.milesandtails.com shortly.
We had started watching rerun of Game of Thrones in the month of March before the final season arrived in April. Ending was a huge disappointment. Still I am grateful to the incredible cast and crew of this grand show for bringing our favourite characters to life. The show had been part of my life for 8 long years, and one of my worst fears was dying without seeing an end to it. My craziness went to a top notch when I started thinking all GOT fans as my potential friends. And one more show came to an end in the same week, which kept me entertained for full two months. The ending was equally depressing, however, may the best man/woman win next time. Besides nobody can entertain like him and that is called seeing the brighter side of life. Hubby and I celebrated our 13 years of togetherness in the same week. I'm blessed and grateful to hold and have this incredible man in my life.
I have seen innumerable movies in these four months' time, which would take half of the space if I've to mention the names. Note to self: Always write month end post as and when it gets over. Piling up things isn't good. The same I can't say for the books. I wound have read 8 to 10 books in this period. They are My Lovery Wife-Samanth Downing; The Girl Before-Rena Olsen; The Wife Between Us-Greer Hendricks; An Anonymous Girl-Green Hendricks; Silver Sparrow-Tayari Jones; Nine Perfect Strangers-Liane Moriatry; The Last Anniversay-Liane Moriatry; In a Dark, Dark Wood-Ruth Ware; Everything I never Told You-Celeste Ng.
Both mother and mother-in-law visited us during this time. On those days I chose to work from home. Some curious relatives ask me why I do that? Why can't I just leave them and go? Firstly, it is none of their business and how I wish to tell that on their faces. Secondly, I have the option to do so in my work space. Thirdly, what is the use of leaving them alone when they eagerly visit us to spend some quality time with us, when they can do that perfectly well in their own places. Both hubby and I don't commit to any other engagements consciously. Fourthly, both of them love watching films and its our pleasure to play them latest movies at work time. That way I can give them attention in between and provide refreshments. Fifthly, they love to talk. Sometimes it is repetitive like how people of that age usually are. our motto is not to regret later in life for not giving enough time to our loved ones. Lastly, they feel loved and cared from this small gesture and that is the least we could do. Yes, our routine lifestyle takes a backseat and our "couple time" drastically goes from minuscule to none. That is when the quote "Things I do for love" comes to help.
Met college friends for a brief period, which was just the same, fun and laughter. We parted promising to do this as often as possible knowing very well it is difficult do in our busy life. Our priorities have changed and we aren't up-to-date with nitty-gritty of each other's life, but glad to keep up the relationship going on nonetheless.
Monsoon is pretty late this year, and scarcity of water is a huge crisis, not only in the metropolitan cities but also in the rural area. Ammamma was saying they had dried up well and had to pump the water from neighbor's waterhole and it is the first time in her 91 years' life span. While there is huge debate out there about how to save water and plant trees, we couldn't help but wonder has anybody thought about population explosion for this disaster.
Leaving you all with a point to ponder to the pitter patter of raindrops while I'm keying this. Hope and wish to have a great July.
The weather in the city is much pleasant with on-and-off showers. I'm happy to say that summer is behind us. Everyone says how time flies it sure does. We have already completed 5 months of the new year. May was both good and stressful in many ways. Like always work kept me relatively busy. Oh! I don't love my job. It just pays my bill and I'm a self-respecting woman who can't be dependent on others.
The little achievement is I have voted this time for the first time. Yes, I know it is late for 30+ woman. The thing is I was always away from home, first for education and then for work. On one or two occasions when I was eager to do the deed they missed my name in the voter list. In few years the vanity of casting vote disappeared. And it never made sense to travel 1000 odd kilometers just to cast vote for a day. Better late than never they say. Amen to that.
The pre-election, election, and post-election political drama was high-strung. It entertained me completely for a whole week. I was glued to the television whenever I had the free time. It is unfortunate and sad what happened in Karnataka, but that is how political games are played, so it is better to accept and embrace it. I had a lot of disagreement with different people on Whatsapp groups. I know very well this futile squabble won't lead us anywhere and total waste of time, but what the heck! It is fun to just piss off some stuck-up people. They might say the same thing about me, but I have the advantage of dishing out my opinions on the blog and they don't. Evil grin!!!!
Mother-in-law was here for her holidays. She and I have sorted out many issues over the years. Our relationship wasn't started on a good note. I being his son's choice was a bitter pill for her to swallow. I think that can be said to any Indian mothers. To add to her agony I was not the ideal daughter-in-law either. It was very stressful for her to tackle the individualist and strong-headed girl like me. She is used to obedient and docile girls, which mostly are her students. Yes, she is a teacher in a very prestigious school. She is genuinely a true and upright person. A very highly qualified lady with impeccable professional records. The problem with her is she is too perfect and expects the others to toe the line. Hubby and I believe in individuality and go by the principal "let him/her be". It was difficult in the beginning; however, over the years both of us have mellowed down a little bit. So, now both of us can safely say we like each other. While leaving her to the native she said she really enjoyed her stay and look forward to it. Isn't that sweet.
The highlight is a family function, my younger sister-in-law's baby shower. Yes, in a few months I'm going to be an aunt again. As I have a nephew (elder brother's) it would be really nice to have a little niece, yet I have an inkling this baby is going to be a boy. Don't ask me why, I just do. Let us wait and see whether my hunch is right or wrong in a few days. Most of the family was here for the celebration and it was great bonding with aunts and cousins. My father's absence was felt by everyone and saddened us. He would have been thrilled to have another grand kid. Also I'm sad for the upcoming baby (is there really a word like that?) as he/she won't know what a wonderful grandfather he/she was. At least nephew "V" had few years of memories with his grandfather. He is a kid but I know for a fact that he misses granddad who adored this little brat to pieces.
The reading was good as I was able to read five novels; Crazy Rich Asians-Kevin Kwan, China Rich Girlfriend-Kevin Kwan, Rich People Problems-Kevin Kwan, To All The Boys I've Loved Before-Jenny Han and What Alice Forgot-Liane Moriarty. I need a daily dose of few pages of reading to keep me sane and going.
The movie list is long as well; Baaghi 2, Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomil, Kuttram 23, Aiyaary, Pichaikkaran, Gentleman, Bhaagamathie, Black Panther, Shuddhi, 102 Not Out, Raazi, Asoka, Hichki, 10000 B.C., Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, Pari, 8 Thottakal, and Mugulu Nage.
As we had mother-in-law and brother-in-law at home we had to forgo a lot of routine lifestyle, so "How To Get Away With Murder" season is where we left at the beginning of the month. The song of the month I would say "Dilbaro" from the movie Raazi. I know everyone liked "Ae Watan" and it is trending. I loved that song too, especially Arijit Singh's version, still "Dilbaro" captures the beautiful bond between a father and a daughter. While watching the song in the movie I was welled up a bit.
So, that was May updates. How about you folks?
I couldn't be more happier and refreshed after an amazing holiday. Yes, we had been to Greece to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary. Go ahead and be jealous. I would be if I was you. Greece is one of the top 3 countries in my bucket list. We wanted to go to this country for our honeymoon;however had to cancel it for various reasons and settle for Kerala, God's own country. After six years of wait we could make it. The country is gorgeous. As we all read in history it's one of the cradles of ancient civilization. We had zeroed down on Athens, Santorini, and Naxos. Updates coming soon in milesandtrails.com
Month had been busy both professionally and personally. It's really a task to maintain two blogs even though travel blog is co-authored by Hubby. It takes a lot of time and effort. In the meantime I'm also thinking about starting another blog in Kannada. I used to write pretty okay many moons back. Now when I sit and start writing I couldn't even form a sentence. I'm ashamed beyond words for neglecting my mother tongue. Hubby and I converse in Kannada, but it's limited to that these days. It has been ages since I read any Kannada book. So, to brush up my language I picked Shivaram Karanth's Mookajjiya Kanasugalu. This award winning novel is heavy and not an easy read. In fact I was glad when holidays started to just leave the book half-read. So much for brushing off...
Surprisingly reading was good, altogether I finished 4 novels, i.e., Murder on the Oriental express-Agatha Christi; Big little lies-Liane Moriarty; One breath away-Heather Gudenkauf; Guilty Wives-James Patterson. And I liked them all at different levels.
The movie list is long; Padmavat, Love Per Square foot, Sarainodu, Rukh, Farzeen, Front of the class, Coco, Murder on the oriental express, Anandam, Darkest hour, Kodi, Teri, Duvvadu Jagannatha, Brother, Sonu Ki Tittu Ki Sweety, Angry Indian Goddesses, Babu Bangaram, Iru Mugan, Nenu Raju Nene Mantri, The Commuter, Den of Thieves. We were home most weekends in preparation for our trip, so that is the reason we get to watch many movies.
We continued with "How to get away with murder". Though it's painstakingly racy, the grip on the story is fast and addictive.
Third Sunday we had to attend the wedding of Hubby's distant cousin. As mother-in-law couldn't travel we had to give our attendance since their family attended our wedding and so on. I hate summer weddings. I know I had one, but I totally detest them. In this blazing heat how could anyone dress in silk saris, jewellery, and the accessories? Having said that I dressed up a bit too as I would like to call them my show and my behavior all fake and silly.
I may sound like an old hag but I cannot stop whining about the heat. I'm restless, dehydrated, and sleep deprived for the most part. There were few scattered thunderstorms and showers, but they failed to bring the temperature down. I hope these are pre-monsoon pours and we get to see the monsoon pretty soon. With a family function in pipeline May looks brighter. Let's see how it goes.
How was your April folks?
