When I look into this space it stares blank at me. Last 31 days of the year and I haven't done half of the things I wanted to do. Was I lazy? I don't remember sitting idly anytime. I'm not a person to get glued to the phone always. At least not yet! I have quite active presence in Insta, Twitter, FB, all and sundry social networks, but my usage is minimal. I would rather read a book than fiddling the phone. Why I'm fretting is because the guilt I feel for this neglected space.
No doubt life has been busy. When we plan a vacation it eats up almost two months' of whatever little free time we get. I was holidaying the last week of September and first ten days of October. One of the destinations was on my top three list, Egypt where it all begins. Standing in front of the pyramid was an ethereal experience. The Egyptians are a lot like us Indians. They harass travelers, try their maximum to cheat if one is not careful. I just hope it's all because of their poor economy and political unrest.
Another destination was Oman. This will be my first time in the middle East. We consciously make an effort to choose our destinations as per its culture and heritage, and our inclination towards that. Oman is the poor country in the Arab world. We weren't surprised when we get to see and talk to a lot Indians, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis. But it pained us to see our fellow countrymen treated badly in a foreign land. Dignity of labour is unknown in this part of the world. I couldn't help but wonder if our country could provide job opportunities to these people why would they leave their motherland. I digress. The details of the trip will soon be updated in www.milesandtrails.com.
Immediately after returning from holidays we had to go to Mantralaya as a family to fulfill MIL's wishes. But for the Brindavana there's nothing much to explore. To my surprise the food served there was very good and palatable.
As a custom I celebrated the Deepavali festival in native. There was a talk about meeting school friends, which never materialized due to heavy rains. And I secretly was wishing it never will because of lack of time. Strangely school friends are the ones with whom I'm in constant touch now. Maybe the innocence of childhood and adolescence is what they hold on to.
During Kannada Rajyotsava weekend we traveled to Tanjavur to visit the iconic Great living Chola temples. The climate was mild in Tamil Nadu that made the trip more joyous. Same weekend cousin A called to inform about the sudden move to Pune for her job. My cousins and I were stressed and worried, which amused hubby to a great deal. It took me sometime to explain that he was brought up to be self-sufficient and independent, wherein we were all overprotected and pampered, so it takes sometime for us to get adjusted to new places and until then it stresses us. Now one month into it cousin A is comfortable in the new place and soon will start painting the city red.
It has been three years since I lost my father. There's isn't a day that passes without missing him. Slowly but steadily I have learnt the art of blocking the memories when it starts to hurt. And still I haven't stopped asking why my dad?
In September Ammamma lost her younger sister to old age. She doesn't express her feelings but we all know how close she was to her sister and how deeply she loved her. In fact everybody loved H. Ammamma who was exuberant, loud, funny, and entertaining. Just a week before her death she disapproved my child-free status asking my mother why the hell did I get marry if I had no intention to reproduce.
The reading pace is slow and I did read few books. However I doubt whether I will be able to reach my reading challenge for this year. The movie numbers are quite okay. In web series We have watched Bard of Blood, Family Man, Leila and few plays. An idea is brewing at this point and I can only act on it next year because of the pending projects.
All I can say I was super busy personally, professionally, and socially. Let us see whether I'll be able to reach the unrealistic goals I have set for myself in the next coming 30 days.
I was down with viral fever for almost a week right at the beginning of the month. The weather was cloudy and damp, and all I ever wanted to do was snuggle in and sleep.
The first Sunday of the month was Friendship day. On this very day I was able to reconnect with one of high school best friends. We were a group of five friends. The one I'm talking about is the first one to get married. I haven't seen after the wedding day. Here and there I heard little nugget of her life from other friends. It was before the revolutionary cellphone era. After regrouping with other friends it took almost a year to finally get hold of her. And viola. She was searching for me as well in FB and Insta. Most of my friends know me only by my first name as there was no last name attached to it in any documents. I was truly touched when she said she even tried searching with my birthday. So our 'Fabulous Five" (Corny I know) group is completed and since then it's been very active.
August is the birthday month of little men in our family. Nephew A is a year old now. I can see a lot of peer pressure accumulating already. Every one is curious to know whether he walks or talks or jumps. Since they were traveling at the time we celebrated his birthday the next weekend. Nephew V is seven-year-old now and I would like to believe a little wiser. I hear he is addicted to cellphone games and his gadget time has been restricted. With no one to play it is the norm with every kid of this generation I guess and I'm sure they will also turn up okay. And their birthday falls one after another.
August is the month where I go shopping to buy cards and Rakhees. The quality of greeting cards is minimal to zilch. Options are very few. I'm told nobody buys cards anymore. Hubby and I just reminisced the bygone era of Archies and Hallmark and selected whatever best we could.
Rain created havoc in the state. Hubby and BIL were eager to bring MIL to stay with us because of heavy downpour in hometown. But she vehemently declined saying she will be able to manage. If not she will go to her brother's place and stay there. Thankfully, the rain stopped eventually without causing trouble. I just can't imagine the plight of people who were fighting this battle. Either it's drought or flood in the country. Global warming is a serious thought to ponder with.
Cousin A shifted to Bangalore after being campus selected. Aunt B called and I could feel the empty nest syndrome. I ensured her that she will not like kids being home again in less than few weeks.
I read just two books this month. Montana Sky-Nora Roberts and First to Die-James Patterson.
Compared to reading the movie part was lot better with 14 movies. The climate was right to be couch potatoes with a general holiday in-between. The list goes like this "The mountain between us, Monsoon Shooting, India's Most Wanted, Christopher Robin, Aladdin, Avengers End Game, Rustum, Mauruder, Ant man and the Wasp, Amar, Sonchiriya, A walk Among Tomb Stones, The next three days, Killer Ellite.
And binge watched Sacred Games 2 on a lazy weekend.
Between full-time work, social life, household chores and planning a holiday, I find less and less time to writing. Our travel blog is begging for attention. I tried to lessen my guilt by updating Insta feed as and when I could. Sometimes I feel 24 hours a day isn't enough for me.
August was kind. Let's see how September pans out
The month whooshed past as the rest of the year. This month I refused take any guilt trip about neglecting writing, organizing, or socializing. I just relaxed and read quite a lot. If one count numbers there are only five books, but 'Clash of Kings' by George Martin was humongous in volume. The list is Big Girl-Danielle Steel, Family Ties-Danielle Steel, Bitter Sweet-Danielle Steel, Clash of kings-George Martin, and Angel Fall-Nora Roberts.
During our visit to the native this time we have gone to a restaurant that has humanoid robot as a server. It is one of its kind in Karnataka and we were curious. This one speaks in English and Kannada, and serves water and food. When I say serve it's only limited to bringing trays to our table. The actual serving is done by the humans. It's a huge crowd puller and staff encourages clicking snaps with the robot. Apart from this the food is tasty as well, so we might visit the place as and when needed.
The movieS we have watched are Article 15, An extraordinary journey of a Fakir, Kavacha, Dumbo, Shaft, Ant-Man, Kalank, De De Pyar De, Kidnap, Aftermath, and London Boulevard.
And I've been busy planning the upcoming holidays. As we create our own itinerary it needs a lot of groundwork and fine tuning. Currently most our conversation circles around that topic. Planning a trip gives us such an adrenaline rush. When your hubby is your best travel partner life seems totally blessed.
Nephew A is growing up fast and I can't believe he is going to be one next month. A happy child I would like to call him, however brother and SIL beg to differ saying I've not seen his ruthlessness or crankiness. Quite handful he is I will give it to them. I'm happy to see my little brother being the hands-on father like our father was. And proud of SIL who takes such a good care of the child. I can see her life revolves around this little man now.
July has been kind.
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 shortest month of the year whizzed past the way it should. It is a special month because of Hubby's happy birthday as I would like to call it. It was celebrated the way he prefers the best, spending quality time and having jolly good time with near and dear ones. As the day fell on Saturday this year the merriment started on Friday evening and ended on Sunday night. As he turned a year older I wish him all the happiness in the world.
Another day would be February 14th. If my father was alive he would be 67 this year. Some things are just not meant to be. He would have pulled my legs if I called to wish him. Despite being the quiet person he was, he had a weird sense of humor that my YB and I inherit. On the same day there was a family function, cousin's son's "Upanayanam" (sacred thread ceremony), which was attended by the close family members. Despite all the hue and cry about Valentine's day being over commercialized, I love red roses, chocolates, candle light dinner, wine and all that jazz and that is exactly how the evening was spent.
Mother was here for a weekend. I'm glad that slowly and steadily she is getting accustomed to the cellphone technology and social media. Her happiness has no bounds in seeing old family pictures. This time around she get to spend some quality time with her grandson and bonding with him too. One weekend we were away to visit MIL. She has beautified the home with few additions and she couldn't stop talking about her enhanced garden and her upcoming retirement plans.
Reading took a hit this month as I could finish only three books. Apoorva Paschima-Shivarama Karanth, The Great Alone-Kristin Hannah and Nightingale-Kristin Hannah. I was amazed and mesmerized by the travelogue Apoorva Paschima (Incomparable West) by Karanth. Its unbelievable that in 1953 he traveled the whole Europe at the age of 50. It only made me yearn for a holiday in those beautiful countries he so passionately narrated.
On movie front; Thugs of Hindostan, Beyond Clouds, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Zero, KGF and Jalebi. Among which only Beyond Cloud is worth mentioning. A simple story with laudable casting. It is hard to believe it is Ishaan Kattter's first film and he is stellar in the role of Aamir. The rest are big budgeted and well marketed films which almost bored me to death.
We started off with final season of "House of Cards". Hubby was disinterested in this from the beginning as we all know it would be the last season without his beloved "Frank Underwood". And he was absolutely right. The episodes are dragging with introduction of few new characters that failed to impress miserably. We haven't finished them yet, 6 more episodes to go, but we have to endure this painful process for the sake of "Frank". How I wish "Kevin Spacey" was not guilty of the alleged sexual misconduct. Despite losing my respect for him as a person, nobody can take away what a brilliant actor he is.
As all our weekends were chockablocked with prior engagements we couldn't even take a day trip. The possibility of another trip looks bleak in the month of March too. I met my bestie from college after a hiatus of 6 years. Friend "N" being in abroad and with our busy life we couldn't make this to happen earlier. The meeting was just like old times, nothing much has changed between us.
That was all about February I could think of. March be less sunny and harsh.
As it often happens we welcomed New Year with quite celebration. For once I've not made any resolutions this year. That is so unlike me. The reason behind the decision was very simple. I've plenty of unfinished resolutions from bygone years.
The immediate task for the coming two months is to search for a new home. The current house we're staying has been sold for a whooping price by the owner citing some financial crisis. It maybe true or not, but the end result is same, we've to move out in three months. It has been only two years since we shifted to this place and called it our home. And in here we were happy and still are. Fortunately, we're able to find a new place without much effort that suits our taste and budget perfectly.
I continued my saga with Hunger Games series finishing final two books, "Catching Fire" and "Mocking Jay" by Suzanne Collins. However, I must admit the last part was dragging and drab. I couldn't help but wonder whether writer had the intentions of her books being adapted for a successful franchise? Daniel Steele is my comfort writer, so "Betrayal" was just that. At the end of the month I picked "Into the Water" by Paula Hawkins. Even though I had trouble shifting from perspectives to perspectives of the characters (they are totally 11) I liked it better than author's first "The Girl On The Train".
The movies that I watched are Genius; Sa.Hi.Pra.Shaale, Kasaragodu; Pariyerum Perumal; Katheyondu Shuruvagide; Hebbuli; Aa Karala Ratri; and Manto. Among 8 films the clear winners are Pariyerum Perumal and Aa Karala Ratri. Despite all the promotions on social media, Sa.Hi.Pra.Shaale, Kasaragodu was just an average movie. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was brilliant in "Manto" as Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani writer, but the pace was very slow and tiring.
The series we've watched are Mirzaapur (season 1) and McMafia (season 1), both are equally good. Mirzaapur had excellent casting and story-line. I couldn't wait for their second season. I was watching Nawazuddin Siddiqui and have came across McMafia. And crime drama is always an engaging genre to watch.
On travel front a day trip to Melukote with cousin M2 and friend B. Melukote's Rayagopura and Kalyani were featured in many Indian movies. In fact the day we visited Kannada film "Pailwaan's" shooting was going on. I've a mixed feelings about this temple town. There is absolutely zero developments for a town that's main source of income must be piligrimage. Its okay to visit if you're religious. However, the Kalyani is huge and beautiful and we spent quite a bit of time on the steps lazying around and talking, and that is the best part of the trip.
The work was busy as usual. The good start is that all my friends have started reconnecting as often as possible and I ain't complaining either. Hubby had to be away on a weekend for important office work and how I missed him. There may be only a handful of days we're separated from each other in this almost 7 years of married life and I don't like it a bit. And Hubby shares the same feeling. Why I'm mentioning this is because my Friend "AS" who is very curious about the dynamics about our relationship and I find it very cute and funny.
That was all about January. Lets see how the February pans out.
(Continued from Movie Recap-Part 1)
July
1. The Imitation Game
2. Lust Stories
3. Rampage
4. Red Sparrow
5. Death Wish
6. Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haankkaram
7. Escape Plan
8. Ugly
9. Trouble is My Business
10. Blackmail
11. Angamaly Dairies
12. Paramanu
August
1. Agenda Payback
2. Mahanati
3. Veere De Wedding
4. Avengers: Infinity war
5. X-men
6. Deadpool 2
7. X-Men 2
8. Rangasthalam
9. John Wick
10. Reverant
11. The Blind Side
12. Race 3
13. Mom
14. Daddy
September
1. Guragoan
2. Vodka Dairies
3. Kaalakaandi
4. Kaatru Veliyidai
5. Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru
6. Divergent
7. Insurgent
8. Allegiant
9. Beirut
10. Bioscopewala
11. Kaala
12. To All The boys I loved Before
13. BA Pass 2
14. Skyscraper
15. Ocean 8
16. Jurassic World: Fallen kingdom
October
1. Kaarwan
2. Billionaire Boys Club
3. Satyameva Jayate
4. Mulk
5. Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster-3
6. Sanju
November
1. Mission Impossible Fallout
2. Tagaru
3. Goodachari
4. Hate story 4
5. Lens
6. Patel ki Punjabi Shaadi
7. Fanney Khan
8. Chamak
9. Visaranai
10. Ribbon
11. Managaram
12. Valentine's Day
13. Crazy Rich Asians
14. Street
15. Na Peru Soorya Na illu india
December
1. Happy New Year
2. Kotigobba 2
3. Rambo 2
4. Gold
5. Badai Ho
6. Andhadhoon
7. Cheka Chena Vanum
8. Babumooshai Bandukbaaz
9. Pataaka
10. Manmarziya
