Woah, what has been this quarter! The world as we know has been altered. The economic impact will be told in time to come. The social impact is visible.
Lockdown notes -
Washing utensils is not a difficult activity. It takes some time but it is quite relaxing. I did it while watching movies on my mobile.
Cooking is more difficult especially when it is to be done a daily basis. While the variations to experiment are too many, it is still a time consuming chore.
We can live in an apartment where the jhaadhu-pocha is done once a week. It is liveable.
Travel is always there in the back of my mind. I was not aware of how much it impacts my routine. Not being able to travel is a great setback.
Very difficult to focus on workouts in this period. Wearing masks is mandatory and workout with masks is very tedious.
You soon get into a phase where watching TV/Netflix is also not interesting.
Books
- Getting more by Stuart Diamond - Book review
- In the middle of The Rise and Fall of Third Reich by William Shirer
- Re-read The story of us by Ted Chiang.
- 1Q84
Movies/TV-shows
Re-watch list : Rewatched a whole bunch of movies
Gangs of Wasseypur 1&2, Newton, Masaan, Matrix 2 & 3, Three colors: Blue & white, Bananas,
Irrfan Khan collection - Life in a metro, Lunchbox, Maqbool
New movies -
White Ribbon - 4/5
How evil takes place in today's world. Well made.
Mammo - 3/5
Good acting but still little lacking in pace.
Fleabag - 4/5
Very bold. Stylish. Lovely writing. It is the new level of Seinfeld. Modern definition of love. Very very good.
Laakhon mein ek - 3.5/5
Yeah, its cliched but very well made. Cinematography is very well done. Very good attention to detail.
The portrait of a lady on fire - 4.5/5
Very very good movie. All women case made by woman director. Each frame is crafted to perfection.
Money Heist season 4 - 2.5/5
God, they are just milking it now. Gone is the crispness of the show.
Fargo - season 1 - 3 -
Season 1&2 - 4.5/5
Season 3 - 3.5/5
Loved the humor, the storytelling, slow burn, dialogues and above all the characters. So much body count and yet so fascinating. Best series of the year so far.
Predestination - 3.5/5
Ethan Hawke is terrific. Sci-fi idea is something that is truly out there. Total circular loop it is.
El Camino A Breaking bad movie - 3.5/5
For fans of Breaking bad only. Deja vu feeling. Some elements are good, some ok.
Pataal Lok - 3.5/5
Great writing and cast. Ending is little stretched, does not add up. But addictive storytelling.
New board games -
Blink - 2.5/5
Azul - 3.5/5 Great fun.
Jaipur - rediscovered.
Pandemic - 4/5 Loved it. The perfect game for the times that we are living in.
Other things to note -
- Finished Amit Varma's course on The art of clear writing. Very useful.
- Attended and partly organized Numo's wedding. Good fun but should have been shorter ideally. Hectic times.
- Did a Whatsapp based mystery game, thanks to Aman and Divya for inviting. Good fun.
- Put Pashmina on rent in these times. phew!
- Started contributing to IFF, MC, Scroll and AltNews. Feeling good about it!
- Got slightly addicted to Catan online colonist.io but it is ok now.
- On a 9 day furlough break from office starting today. First thing to do was to write this blog :)
