Writing this on the fourth day of a four day long break in which we were at home for the most parts. Time indeed flies and today will be gone too but not without a nice blog post :) It is indeed important to document the mundane as Annie Dillard puts it - how we spend our days is indeed how we spend our lives.
On Day 1, it was a delayed start as I felt little sicker. I had got drenched the day before and wanted to just relax in the morning. After that, it was some bank work followed by exhibition setup at Sobha for Sweet chestnuts. The exhibition was there till night and at the end of it we were tired of it all.
On Day 2, it was home cleaning where we cleaned almost couple of wardrobes, figured out a bunch of old clothes to be donated. In the evening, we went to see Durga Puja pandal nearby and had some good Bengali food.
On Day 3, it was an outing day where we first had breakfast at parents place - breakfast of puri+chana+halwa as it was the navarathri food. Followed by Joker screening, some shopping, a nutritionist consultation and then some work calls at night.
Today is day 4 and there is enough work that I have to get done. Moving back to the original intent, here is what happened in the last 10 weeks -
Trip to US
It was an official visit, a one after 6 yrs for me. It was a busy one. It was a 18 day trip. Here are the highlights -
- Went to Atlanta first for a day and met Tayaji and Taiji.
- Did a muir woods hike with office colleagues, followed by a brief stint at Muir beach and lunch at Burma super star. Golden Gate vista point stopover was also very cool.
- Met bunch of old friends - Guy, Megan, Modi, Gurshi. So cool to meet people after a long long time.
- Went to my old hangout places - Castro street, Philz coffee, Ethiopian cuisine, farmer's market in Mountain view.
- Went to Gilroy and then a short hike to Henry W Coe State park. It was very hot but good fun. For the night, i went to Pigeon lighthouse hostel.
- Lots of shopping - REI, Kohls, Santana row etc.
- Disappointed to see that Milk Pail had closed out. In general, lots of changes.
- Attended Hamilton play in shnsf. It was pretty good, could have been better if I was not that tired.
- Met all Bay area cousins and had good times.
Books
Sula by Toni Morrison
A book store browse led me to pick this book up. My first Toni Morrison book. On the story side, I found the book to be decent but in terms of the flow, the characters, it is fairly a pretty good. Not what I will call a classic but a good read.
Exhaltation by Ted Chaing
This is a book of short stories by Ted Chiang (behind the Arrival book - The story of your life fame). I have read three of them now, the smaller ones are more interesting that the really big ones.
Earth Sea books -
Tehanu
The Other Wind
Tales from Earthsea
5/5
There will be a separate blog post for these but all I can say right now is that they are awesome, must read and to be re-read. Huge fan of the series.
Movies/TV-shows
Joker - 4.5/5
Liked the treatment, the background score and definitely acting of Mr. Phoenix. I am not sure why the critiques are calling it cliched, but to me it was a good study of where do villians come from? I would like to watch a movie called - Mogambo or Gabbar.
Ash is the Purest White - 4/5
This is a study of China's growth captured in the backdrop of a story. Very well made and goes in its own page. Highly recommended. Other movies by this director, Jia Zhangke, are also very good.
Sacred Games - 3.5/5
I read the book last year when season 1 had come out. I finally decided to watch it once season 2 is out. First thought was that Kashyap can make a gritty crime series in India with ease now. He moves from one location to another effortlessly.
- First season follows the book more closely than second season.
- One of the highlights of the book was the banter that happens between the cops, in the police station, how they see the world etc. Much of that is missing in the TV series.
- I also liked the Sartaj's love story with Mary which is missing in the series.
- Saif's muted portrait was a very refreshing change to see in Indian cinema, loved it.
- I had lots of issues with season 2, and none of them are related to the Guruji arc. I thought that it was well done. My issues was Zoya does not get the much respect in tv as she gets in the books and the ending with bomb detonation was too cheesy for me. Like lifted out of some 90s movie.
- Changing the RAW agent from man to woman was a good thing and it was portrayed also very nicely. I do not remember her name now.
- Writing overall is crisp and does its job well.
House - 3.5/5
Rewatching House Tv series with Kanishka. It is a fun series to watch. In season 4 now.
Comicstaan Season 2 - 3/5
Some land well, some do not. A good time pass series.
Meet the Malhotras - 3.5/5
A quirky show on a couple that goes to a counsellor to resolve their marital issues. Byte sized episodes, all together work like a movie.
Events
- Onam celebration at Elan with typical South Indian food.
- Farewell to Bflat, Indiranagar. Went to a farewell concert to Bflat and celebrated Babu's birthday there as well. Attended a blues concert which was pretty good as well.
- VVpuram street
Had been meaning to visit this place for last 5 years and finally made it.
Being Social
 |
| With EH folks |
 |
| With Vymo and didi Jiju |
 |
| With RH and Amazon folks |
Other
- Travelled to Chennai for a recruiting trip to IIT campus. Good fun time.
- Tried Azul board game and liking it very much for now.
- Got a personal trainer and trying to work out thrice a week. Partially successful at it.
- Trip to Darjeeling was covered in a separate blog post - http://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2019/08/darjeeling-2019.html
- My Coursera course on Science of Well being was covered in a separate blog post - http://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-science-of-well-being-summary.html
- Got a new aquarium with 28 fishes originally. 22 survive as of now.
No comments:
Post a Comment