This title was inspired by the novel "Love in the Time of Cholera". For an introvert like me home isolation is a blessing in disguise. Working from home is not the same as working from office. In office you have a disciplined routine to finish the workload within the stipulated time. I never in my entire work career extended a single minute than what was necessary. Its my firm belief that those who cannot complete their task within the time are incompetent. I digress.
Hubby and I get a lot of couple time during this period. Both of us are very professional when it comes to work. We set up work station in two different rooms from getting distracted. We take a lot of breaks in between to cook, organize things, water the plants, listen to music, read, write, paint, talk, and snuggle. This is the time we get to have three meals together, otherwise, its only dinner on weekdays.
In the evenings we workout, whip some new dish, binge watch TV shows or movies. Well-stocked minibar helps us to take the edge off now and then. We're well equipped to sail through this confinement without glitch. However, it is difficult for hubby to contain his exuberance as he is a total outdoorsy and extrovert.
I'm heartbroken because of the cancelled holidays. We've earmarked and booked our calendar for Holi, Good Friday and Labour day weekends. All three were planned for three days each. The biggest blow is our rescinded anniversary vacation to Mauritius. If going by the statistics it is impossible to travel overseas for another whole year. As a traveler our situation is down in dumps.
As people with various interests and hobbies, these quashed holidays; scraped theater, movies, concerts; nipped adventures is taking a toll on us. The situation is grim and scary. Now it has become a part of my routine to check COVID-19 casualties as soon as I get up and once again before going to bed. It is totally a callous behavior on my part, but I'm not the only one here. This is the privileged me ranting about the inconveniences caused by the quarantine plonking on my ass while millions of fellow countrymen are struggling to make ends meet.
Earlier like all the entitled I used to urge everyone to stay-at-home and be safe. But having seen the visuals of millions of people on road without food and shelter being exposed to the pandemic because of the unplanned lock down, I stopped being that moron. And I will never be the person to cheer on for police brutality. We don't believe in donating to charity or Government organizations because of lack of transparency. So, already in the process of how to give a helping hand to the known less privileged.
The present condition is hopeless and frightful. I'm sad and depressed, but willing to give up my personal freedom for the welfare of fellow homo sapiens in the hope one day 'this too shall pass. My rose-tinted self is eager to write a post on "Life after Corona" soon, very soon.
February is Happy Birthday month. It was good to see Hubby all happy and chirpy around the D day. As luck would have it this year too the celebration went on from Friday evening until the wee hours of Monday. It was a close knit affair just as he wished for with lots of bling, booze, and blast. And I wish this old soul all the happiness in the world.
Valentine's Day is overrated. I totally agree love should be celebrated everyday and we love a little more everyday. Still I love this overrated drama. My folks say we just need a reason for merrymaking. I say our merry goes round and round day in and day out. We proposed and accepted to be each other's valentines for another year. Cliched, soppy and banal right?
Again this month I kept my promise of reading four books without fail. All four books are of thriller genre and I need to curtail my obsession with these style. The list goes like this; The Whisper Man-Alex North, Run Away-Harlen Coben, Lock Every Door-Riley Sager, and Final Girls-Riley Sager. I am introduced to the author Riley Sager this month and I am hooked. Hooked so much that I had to pick all three of his published books.
Despite being a shortest month we were able to watch 10 movies. The list is; Sand Ki Aankh, Prasthanam, Avane Srimannarayana, Motichoor Chaknachoor, Tadam, Fakir of Venice, Parasite, Pati Patni Aur Wo, Irishman, and Kaithi. I still could not understand the hype around the Academy win 'Parasite'. Its an average dark comedy even for South Korean standard.
The television shows we watched are Jamtaara and The Last Kingdom-Season 1. Jamtaara, 10 epiosodes' season was promised as a cyber crime, but focused more on village politics, corrupt politician, and petty clashes among friends turned foes. On the other hand "The Last Kingdom" is just brilliant. We walk around the house now imitating the sexy dialect of Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
"Poulasthyana Pranaya Kathe" is the Kannada mythological play, recreated through the eyes of Ravana, who is traditionally the villain of the epic. A three-hour long drama was absolutely brilliant and acting of the protagonist Krishna Sharma was top-notch, without doubt one of the best performances so far.
We were invited to Cousin M's friend's Rangapravesha. As patrons of arts and culture we couldn't refuse the offer. As it was mentioned well in advance we made ourselves free for an evening. The performance was bad to worse though we were not insensitive to tell it on her face. And what is this praising "Gurus" repeatedly and annoyingly. I know they play a major role in your dance journey and "Rangapravesha. Apart from the dancing, the whole show was a painful saga of quid pro quo. It goes without saying in this era of social media each and everything is a futile PR exercise, but without content nothing holds good.
Since Hubby's ophthalmology visit continues every weekend we could not make any day trips or short trips. Hope this will change in the coming months.
February was kind...
New Year celebration this year was different from usual way. If we are in the city we will attend those hyped parties until the wee hours to have hangover the next day. If not in the city we will be in some far out place exploring away from the hustle bustle. This new year fell on Wednesday, which meant taking two days leaves to travel. Hubby had important work assignment and taking leave was out of question. We were zeroing down on few places when a friend's family invited us for house party. I was hesitant as I was not sure whether we will be able to keep the tradition of midnight kiss at the stroke of 12 in a friend's home. Hubby was not comfortable with the idea of not sleeping in his own bed. He was more skeptical about my convenience. And both of us are reluctant as both friends's have small kids and we weren't keen to listen to proud parents's endless talk about their precious little ones, though we knew for sure they were more sensible from our previous experiences. After considering all pros and cons we decided to go with the plan and I'm glad that we did it because it was a wonderful experience.
Work was usual, busy; the familiarity breeds certain level of comfort.
I was able to keep my promise of reading four books a month. The list is "The Turn of the Key-Ruth Ware, The Collector-Nora Roberts, One Perfect Lie-Lisa Scottoline, American Marriage-Tayari Jones".
The movie list goes like this "The Armor of God, Maleficent 2, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, Black and Blue, Hamid, Soni, Downton Abbey, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Viswasam, Bala, and Junga.
The television show continued with Killing Eve Season 2 and The Forgotten Army. I'm hooked to both Eve Polastri and Villanelle and couldn't wait for season 3, which is going to be aired in April second week. I've mixed feelings about The Forgotten Army. Without doubt I could say Sunny Kaushal (the lead) is a better actor than his brother Vicky Kaushal (I know it is awful to compare siblings, but couldn't help it). Kabir Khan's making was alright, but the love story between the lead felt like a forced intrusion which curbed the intensity of the content.
Third week of the month was spent in native as MIL was diagnosed with Dengue fever and was hospitalized. The first three to four days were stressful as her white count was not ascending. With constant care and treatment she improved quite well. Caring for elderly parents is not easy as they behave silly and you need a monumental amount of patience to deal with them.
Watched Naama Namaha-a Kannada play about the life of four young priests who work for the temple, get themslves embroiled in a heist and investigation ensues. Another show is "Chelanga Puja", the annual dance offerings by selected students of a family friend's dance School. In this eight individuals perform a solo composition. Thier journey begins from learning the dance to studying nuances of performance and responsiblities of an artist. Mohiniyattam is a little listless and slow, but these students of the friend changed my opion for good. The cholerography and execution was of first-rate. I'm glad we could make time for this.
Little ups and down was the month of January.
My screen time is divided in two sections, one is weekdays and the other is weekends. In between dinner and snuggle on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I watch television series. The only exception was Game of Thrones rerun which I've binged incessantly before the grand finale. There are innumerable good content out there and I feel really sad for people who are still stuck with Saas-Bahu Saga, reality shows, and such craps. May be my privilege is talking here. I'l continue this rant in another post. The list in no particular order:
1. Mirzapur (Season 1)
2. McMafia
3. Sacred Games (Season 2)
4. House of Cards (Season 6)
5. Made in Heaven (Season 1)
6. Game of Thrones (Rerun-Season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) and Finale
7. Bard of Blood (Season 1)
8. Sharp Objects (Mini series)
9. The Family Man (Season 1)
10. Killing Eve (Season 1)
11. Leila (Season 1)
(Continued from Movie Recap-Part 1)
July
1. Article 15
2. An Extraordinary Journey of a Fakir
3. Kavacha
4. Dumbo
5. Shaft
6. Ant-Man
7. Kalank
8. De De Pyar De
9. Kidnap
10. Aftermath
11. London Boulevard
12. The kid who would be king
August
1. The Mountain Between us
2. Monsoon Shooting
3. India's Most Wanted
4. Christopher Robin
5. Aladdin
6. Avengers End Game
7. Rustum
8. Mauruder
9. Ant man and the Wasp
10. Sonchiriya
11. Maharshi
12. Secret life of Pets 2
September
1. Hobbs and Shaw
2. Jersey
3. Batla House
October
1. Jabariya Jodi
2. Pailwana
3. Total Dhamal
4. Srinivasa Kalyana
5. Mission Mangal
6. Walk among the Tombstone
7. The next three days
November
1. Gubbi Mele Brahmastra
2. Arjun Patiala
3. Super 30
4. Need for Speed
5. Dream Girl
6. Asuran
7. Chhichhore
8. Saaho
9. Drive
10. Cold pursuit
December
1. Angel Falls
2. War
3. Kathasangama
4. Masquerade Hotel
5. Kingdom
6. Kumbalangi Nights
7. Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma
8. Nagarabavi
9. Bootayyana Maga Ayyu
10. Gemini Man
11. Section 375
At the risk of being tedious and boring I'm saying it once again. I love movies. That's it, that is the statement. One of the reasons I would like to live a healthy and long life is to watch as many films as possible. Only a fellow movie buff can understand this level of craziness. I was born to a cinephile parents and married to one. It goes without saying hubby is the comrade in this charade. without much fuss here is the list of films I've (We've) watched in the year 2019.
January
1. Genius
2. Sarkari Hi. Pra. Shale, Kasaragodu, Koduge: Ramanna Rai
3. Periyeru Perumal
4. Kateyondu Shuru Aagide
5. Hebbuli
6. As Karala Ratri
7. Manto
February
1. Thugs of Hindostan
2. Beyond clouds
3. Batti Gul Meter Chalu
4. Zero
5. Jalebi
March
1. Vishwaroopam 2
2. 96
3. Uri
4. Green Book
5. Naticharami
April
1. Gully Boy
2. Photograph
3. Milan Talkies
4. Kesari
May
1. Kedarnath
2. Manikarnika
3. Ek ladaki Ko Dekha To
4. 2.0 (Robo)
5. Petta
6. Badla
7. Tumbaad
8. Aravinda Sameta Veera Raghava
9. Super Deluxe
June
1. The Hunger Games
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
5. John Wick
6. John Wick-Chapter 2
7. John Wick-Chapter 3: Parabellum
8. The Maze Runner
9. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
10. Maze Runner: The Death Cure
11. Madmax
12. Madmax 2
13. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
14. Mad Max: Fury Road
15. Kavaludari
16. Luka Chuppi
17. Student of the year 2
18. Nata Sarvabhouma
19. Bell Bottom
20. Chambal
21. Amar
21. Captain marvel
22. Hotel Mumbai
23. Killer Elite
The year 2019 I've read many new authors, which were mostly recommended in Goodreads. And I've sticked to many of old favourites. I've tried my hands on two books that were long-listed for Man Booker Prize, and a all time classic. My most cherished genres are thriller and mystery, so it is not a surprise I've scored in that pretty well. I've failed to break the jinx of sci-fi and horror genres. I'm jotting down a list for no particular reasons.
The best book that I read in 2019:
To Kill a Mocking Bird-Harper Lee
Not-So-Good book that I read in 2019:
First Night-Sophie Kinsella
A classic that I thought I'l never enjoy:
To Kill a Mocking Bird-Harper Lee
A book that I read after watching the television drama of the book adaptation:
Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords-George R.R. Martin
A book that was intriguing enough to put the screen adaptation in the "TBW" list:
Normal People-Sally Rooney
A book that haunted me in days to come:
My Lovely Wife-Samantha Downing
A book that I couldn't decide whether I liked or not:
Into the Water-Paula Hawkins
A book that I abandoned in the middle:
Faithful Place-Tana French
A book that I wish I had read in 2019:
Becoming-Michelle Obama
A Kannada book that I read in 2019:
Chikkadoddavaru-Shivarama Karanth
A Travel book that I read in 2019:
Apoorva Paschima-Shivarama Karanth
A unfinished series of 2019:
A Song of Ice and Fire-George R.R. Martin
A series that I've started in 2019:
Nothing
An author that I've read most in 2019:
Kristin Hannah
A book that I was embarrassed to read:
Hero-Samantha Young
An author that I wish I read earlier:
Harper Lee
A series that was decent enough to made me watch the movies and get disappointed:
Hunger Games
A book of new geography:
Purple Hibiscus-Chimamanda Adichie
