I love making resolutions. It is not that I complete those at year end. There is an exhilarating feeling about making them. I am a butt of joke in the family for starting everything amid much fanfare and leaving it incomplete in the middle. Last year it was a little different. I stick to 50% of resolutions. Here is the things I want to do this year. 1. Read: Last year I finished 50 books and you may think I just shot my number up this year. Hell! No. Being the realistic person I am, the number is going to be just 50 this time. I am expecting to try different genre, even a Sci-Fi, my least favourite genre; however, Game of Throne series top the list. 2. Travel: I am contemplating on extensive traveling this year. I am not going to jinx by mentioning the destinations. I am a little superstitious in this regard because there are a few places I couldn't go last year when they are just a stone's throw away. 3. Write: Last year I updated only 41 blog posts, which is kinda okay for a newbie like me. However, I am aiming for 10 posts a month, so that I can keep my loyal readers hooked if there are any(pun intended). 4. New Blog: Yes. I am going to start a brand new travel blog. The idea was brewing in mind for quite a while. A few of friends asked why not write in your personal blog? This is my most revered place, where I would like to talk about my life, my love for books, movies, and music; and about topics I feel strongly about; and basically just me. It is only fair because I am going to write my travel blog in my name, not anonymous like this blog. 5. Movies: As usual this year will see us watching a plenty of movies. I try to key down the movies. 6. Dance: I plan to learn Zumba as well as Belly dancing this year. Life is all about learning new things, in a way adding more exuberance to the journey. 7. Driving: This is in my "to-do-list" from the past 6-7 years. No, I don't want just the driver's licence, I wish to do the proper driving. I am shit scared of city's traffic, but have the confidence to drive on highway. It is high time I do it this year. 8. Cooking: I am an ordinary cook. I say this because apart from basics, I do not know variety of cooking. This is probably a year I don my chef hat and show my almost non-existent culinary skills. Adding different cuisines is also on the card. 9. Music: Last year was not great on music front. I have a lot of catching up to do. I am hoping this year will be a melodious musical odyssey. 10. Declutter: No, I am not going to be on a cleaning spree. It is about decluttering many useless (for me of course) people from life. I have a very close circle of people in my life. Imagine decluttering. Sigh! !! I prefer quality to quantity as always. In this way I can spend more time with loved ones, the ones who really matters.
Year 2015 is the best year of my life as far as I can remember. All I remember is getting high and being smashed after New Year bash and it is already 2016. None of my years have passed this fast. Highlights of the year were two amazing holidays we took. A road trip to Gujarat-Daman-Diu. We did it against the advice of many well wishers. Hubby was the sole driver and it was a huge risk. We did complete it without a glitch and alive to tell the tale. A thousand things could have gone wrong. We avoided driving at night but for one day. Hubby drove 1200 km at a stretch from Daman to Bangalore and it is a tremendous achievement. Those 20 days flew by even before I could flutter my eye lashes.
Another holiday to exotic Cambodia and Thailand. It would probably etch in my memory forever because it is my first foreign trip and I'm doubly glad that it was for holidays. The whole itinerary was done by us, all small details were taken care of, thorough research had been done. After successfully planning and executing this trip, we are ready to take on another one sometime in the near future. The confidence you get from traveling is immense. On the movie front, we have watched hundreds of movies good and bad alike. I am a big movie buff, is a well-known fact. This year we tried to explore Malayalam industry and astonished with their movie making. Two movies that we watched are "Bangalore Days and "Ustad Hotel." And instantly fell in love with Dulqar Salman. None of the movies have ever shown Bangalore as beautifully as "Bangalore Days." Hope to watch more and more good movies this year. On book front, I have written a separate post. I was able to meet college friends two times this year and we had great time together. The most important one is ammamma bouncing back from post-TB depression. It was painful to seeing her depressed and not being herself. It was joyous and peaceful year. Year 2016 be kind and let us have a happy, prosperous, and peaceful year.
Best Two Books: 1. Kite Runner-Khalid Hosseni 2. Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn I have reviewed these two books here in my blog. Best Two Movies: 1. Kaaka Muttai: I have not reviwed it due to sheer laziness. 2. Masaan: This review is lying in my draft half-written and I'l finish it shortly. TV Shows: 2015 was a little slower on TV shows. Apart from complete series of Modern Family and season 5 of "Game of Thrones", I've not watched anything else. I started Sherlock Homes, but had to discontinue in the middle for various reasons. This year I'l start with pending episodes and move on to next, preferably 'Quantico' for rare reviews and Priyanka Chopra. She for sure made waves on international show-biz.
In the year 2015 I set a goal to read 50 books. Hubby warned me against it as it is a big task and I should tone down a bit. Even I had my doubts. Having A full-time job, managing day-to-day household chores, socializing, hanging out with hubby, it really seemed a big target to achieve. I'm very infamous for setting unrealistic goals and failing miserably at that. But contrary to that, I did read 50 books last year and it is one of the proudest moments of my life. These are the books I devoured last year. 1. Shall We Tell The President-Jeffrey Archer 2. Half Girlfriend-Chetan Bhagat 3. Tempting Fate-Nora Roberts 4. Bed of Roses-Nora Roberts 5. All the Possibilities-Nora Roberts 6. Holding the Dream-Nora Roberts 7. Three Weeks With My Brother-Nicholas Sparks 8. Love story-Eric Segal 9. The Kite Runner-Khalid Hosseni 10. Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn 11. Mirror Image-Danielle Steel 12. Greater Love-Danielle Steel 13. Leap of Faith-Danielle Steel 14. And The Moutains Echoed-Khalid Hosseni 15. Stolen Halo-Barbara Cartland 16. Act of Will-Barbara Cartland 17. Vampire Academy-Rachel Mead 18. Frost Bite-Rachel Mead 19. The notebook-nicholas spark 20. The Dragon And The Pearl-Barbara Cartland 21. The Choice-Nicholas Spark 22. Best Of Me-Nicholas Spark 23. The Taj Conspiracy-Manreet Sodhi Someshwar 24. Paper Towns-John Green 25. The Selection-Kiera Cass 26. The Mysterious Affaris At Styles-Agatha Christi 27. The Elite-Keira Cass 28. The One-Keira Cass 29. The Wedding-Nicholas Sparks 30. The Heir-Keira Cass 31. Eleven Minutes-Paulo Coelho 32. The Girl On The Train-Paula Hawkins 33. Confessions Of A Shopoholic-Sofia Kinsella 34. Can You Keep A Secret-Sophie Kinsella 35. Remember Me-Sophie Kinsella 36. The Gift-Cecelia Ahern 37. Shopoholic Takes Manhattan-Sophie Kinsella 38. Tell No One-Harlan Coban 39. Shopoholic Ties Knot-Sophie Kinsella 40. The Undomestic Goddess-Sophie Kinsella 41. Shopoholic And Sister-Sophie Kinsella 42. City of Bones-Michael Connley 43. Open And Shut- David Rosenfelt 44. First Degree-David Rosenfelt 45. Shopoholic And Baby-Sophie Kinsella 46. All That Remains-Patricia Cornwell 47. Bury The Lead-David Rosenfelt 48. Fourth Estate-Jeffrey Archer 49. Sudden Death-David Rosenfelt 50. Promise Me-Harlan Coban
Happy new year folks. This is just a teeny-tiny post. After attending lots of parties for new year, we decided to do something different this year. We opted to take a small holiday of four days in the historical city of Hampi. And what a ruined city it is. Every stone has poetry of its own here. We lost ourselves here, wandered like hermits, gone back to time period of 13 to 16 century. It is one of the must see places in India. I'm beyond happy that I could tick it off from my bucket list. I intend to run "DAD" regularly and if you are wondering what it is, it is acronym for dreams and dimensions. I will write a detailed post on the things to do this year in a separate post. Have a wonderful, merrier, peaceful, joyous new year.
Taking cue from my earlier post, I thought I'l will jot down my favourite top 10 Indi-Pop songs of the 90's. Practically my generation grew up on those songs. We glued to MTV only to watch it again and again. It was an electrical, magical era. They don't make videos like that anymore. It is really a strenuous task to number only a few and leave rest behind. We witnessed a sea of talents like Sonu Nigam, Daler Mehendi, Mohid Chouhan, Shaan, Colonial cousins, Anamika, Shwetha Shetty, Baba Sehgal, Sunitha Rao, and many more. It is not only about the melodious songs, but the creative video presenting adorable people. 1. "Made In India" by Alisha Chinai, featuring Alisha herself and hunk of Milind Soman. It was like an alternative national anthem to us back then.
2. "Hogayi Hai Muhabbat Tumse" by Aslam and Shibani.
3. Chui Mui Si Tum Lagti Ho", featuring Abbas and Preethi Jhangiani. Oh! They looked so cute together.
4. "Dooba Dooba" by Silk Route band, now fluttering million hearts with his magical voice is Mohit Chouhan. Yeah, he could be kinda old.
5. "Ab Muje Raat Din" by Sonu Nigam, featuring Deewana Pundir and Sushma Reddy. Sonu's enchanting voice just melts my heart each time I hear it.
6. "Afrin Afrin" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It features gorgeous Lisa Ray.
7. "Gur Nalon Ishq Mitha" by Balli Sagoo featuring Arora duos-Jass and Malaika.
8. "Deewane To Deewane Hain" by Shwetha Shetty.
9. "Yaad Piya Ke Aane Lagi" by Dandiya queen Falguni Pathak.
December favourite month of the year. I feel festivities are in the air. The reasons i like December are plenty, the one that tops the list is, it is my birthday month. Yeeeee. I feel like a little girl when my birthday nears. I start counting days and apprehension is exciting. I'm not into cakes, gifts, balloons, and all that jazz. I don't even expect people to wish me. I still freak out like Joey "God why me" of getting old. Have I been more mature, wise, intelligent? I don't know. But happy? Yes, yes, yes. Christmas. Neither I'm a Christian nor do I celebrate. After watching tons of movies and reading books, it has become a part of life. The Christmas tree, mistletoe, reindeer, Santa, gifts, and holidays. New year eve. It is time to bid adieu to the current year and welcome new year. The parting from dusk to dawn, letting hair loose, and going crazy. I love making new year resolutions, reminiscing about the year passed by. Weather. The chilli morning and pleasant evenings, getting cozier under warm quilt, snuggling with partner. Need I say more.
