Wheel of Time - Book 1 to Book 5 review

 Wheel of Time - Book 1 to Book 5 review

By Robert Jordan

It takes a special effort to start a book series which has 14 parts. At-least special effort to me since my reading has generally been below par and my reading speed should improve. This is a decent page turned, rated well, has good world building, and now has a TV-series as well . So, I have signed up for it. Finished book 5. Here is my review

Book 1 - The Eye of the World

Truth be told, I didn't like it too much. Why?

1. This one felt too much of a rip-off of LOTR. Two Rivers is Shire, Dark one is Saruman, Trollocs are Orcs/trolls, Myrddarral are similar to black-riders, characters are pushed because of their destiny etc etc. 

2. When an ordinary person defeats the evil, it is interesting only when the journey of the ordinary person to become a hero has a transformation that leads to the victory. It is off-putting for me when the ordinary person is a hero because it is their destiny (it is written). In the Eye of the World, the ending is mostly because of the latter. 

3. Prose - It is okay, lacks the richness of LOTR to be honest. 

What works though is the world building - The Aes Sedai world is super fascinating, dark-world characters are wonderful. Magic and non-magic co-exists in a balanced manner. 

I actually stopped #1 and asked myself if I want to commit to this 14 book series. It was not that bad, plus, I really wanted to increase my reading speed. So, I singed up.

Book 2 - The Great Hunt

The first and last 200 pages of the Great Hunt are mind blowing! I just loved the world building. Seanchans are pure evil and this time the writing matches up to vileness. The book opens with Amrylin Seat (Head of Aes Sedais) visiting Fal Dara and meeting the ta'verns (people who play a substantial role in weaving the pattern or pattern weaves around them) and lot of interesting things happen including prophesies, scheming and what nots. The character development is much better here, pacing is decent and the ending is powerful.  Book 2 also deviates a lot from LOTR and now we are in the world of Wheel of Time.

Rand begins his sword training which is good. Mat is poorly fleshed out. Nyaneve / Egwene evolve much better. My favorite by #2 is Moraine - the Aes Sedai who is genuinely trying to make this work. So much so that she goes to do research to understand things. Yes, that is how it should be. 

Book 3 - The Dragon Reborn

After a really good book 2, it is now established that Rand-Al Thor is the Dragon Reborn and he is going to fight the Dark One in the end. Now, the journey starts. If you are the chosen one, with tons of prophecies written about you, do you have any choice left? Are you just a puppet of destiny or can you exercise free will to choose your own path, even though it may lead you to the same end. 

Book 3 is where this journey starts. It is a decent book. What I like here is that both in book 2 and book 3, all main characters are together at the start, then they follow different paths and then they all meet together at the climax. To pull this off in #2 was good but to pull it off again in #3, but now making sense, it is pretty impressive. 

World Building gets bigger with Aiel folks coming in. We get to know more about each city here and each city has its own politics, its own customs, this is fairly interesting. 

However, some characters are becoming irritating - Mat/Nyaneve hating Moraine/Aes-Sedais even when Moraine protects them is little painful. 

Book 4 - The Shadow Rising

Perrin's arc so far has been satisfying and Book 4 is much of Perrin's story. I also like Falme's character and overall their arc is one of the most satisfying reads of the series. Here is also an arc where Perrin has become a hero, some my fate but mostly by his journey and its learnings. Also, he goes back to Two Rivers - hero goes back to village to save it from evil because evil is everywhere now. 

But the start of The Shadow Rising is amazing! Parallel events synchronized by the cockadoo sound, each event is intensely creative and leads to a great battle early in the chapters. From here, we go deeper into the Aiel waste where the world building just shifts gears. The Rhuiedaan and its discovery of Aiel history is very good. 

Post Rhuiedaan, atleast the Mat character becomes more evolved and seems more likeable. Other character arcs of Nyaneve, Elayne, Egwene are proper. Rand understands the weight of his destiny and is trying his best to cope up. 

TSR covers a lot of ground and is very well written, with many plot twists that are difficult to see. It introduces and uses Forsaken very effectively as means to have intermediate villains before the dark one gets out. More interesting events happen at Tar Valon (HQ of Aes Sedai). 

While TSR is so far the best, by now, it is also becoming clear on positives and shortcomings of Robert Jordan's style. While world building is great, it takes characters time to get fleshed out, perhaps little too slowly for my taste. The transition period is incredibly painful, mostly because of writing. Plus, the writing is difficult to follow because it just assumes that readers remember everything. Example - the septs or clans of Aiel, some are with Rand, some are not. It is difficult to follow this and you just go from one para to another hoping that things resolve. 

Book 5 - The Fires Of Heaven

After an satisfying book 4, book 5 is a so-so for first 80% and then the last 20%, it just shifts gears and has an ending that has true pain for me. In any epic journey, good people will die and we see it happen for the first time at the end of book 5. Hopefully, they stay dead, unlike the Thom the Gleeman or our Gandalf in LOTR :) It is the death that creates the pain and then the fear. 

The middle part of Fires of Heaven is a slog - the whole circus bit is repetitive and not so interesting. But some episodes are very interesting - like how Elayne gets Brigette as a the Warder - very creative! But somethings are not fun - like why Couladin will kill people on his journey to Cairhein or why will Elayne know how to make Ta'angreal.  Plus, the decision to not focus on Perrin at all is brave but may not be the best one. 

The ending of Fires of Heaven seems a little stretch, the dream to real world mapping just so happens. Just so happens the adam thing, just so happens that Mat has killed Couladin. Mat as a military strategist is also a fated role instead of an earned one. 

My decision to continue till the end is still on. So, far my ranking is 4 > 2 > 3 > 5 > 1.

Life In 17 July - 4 Oct, 2023

 

I am on a break :)

I am on day 5 of a 9 day work break to just recharge my batteries. Work became too much chaotic last few weeks, so I decided to take a breather, focus on other aspects of life and spend some days without worrying about work. Blog writing does seem one of them

Before I start, here is a quick recap of my break journey so far - 

Day 0 - Fri evening. Took a trial class at local CrossFit. Something that has been in my TODO list for a long time. Wanted to start weight training and felt cross-fit could be a place to make it happen.

Day 1 - Finished book 3 of Wheel of time series - The Dragon Reborn. Decent read. Decided to take on the impromptu class of learning how to make dream cake - apparently a Insta viral thing presently   Kanishka and I took this workshop organized by Yellow Pumpkin, in HSR. The workshop was good. Dream cake is a layered cake, so we learnt how to make Chocolate cake, Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate mousse (which goes via Chocolate truffle), Caramal sauce, chocolate wall and dust. 4 hrs well spent!

Day 2 - Demo class of Cello. Likely going to sign up for it. Fingers crossed if I can be regular on it. Also, went to another gym to sign up for their demo class. Day 2 evening was spent reading book 4 of Wheel of time series at a local cafe - Beanlore - new cafe exploration in parallel :) Interestingly Beanlore had Fountainhead the book there and it has been a while since I had read it (there is a story here for some other time). Spent most of the evening reading Fountainhead part 4. Maybe because I read from the middle but some content is pretty difficult to stomach - as in the point is stated as a fact first and then a long winded verbiage to justify it.  

Day 3 - Demo class at the new gym. Ended up taking membership for 3 months. Fingers crossed. Board game night with friends. Lost both games of Splendor. Also watched this amazing movie - Argentina 1985

Day 4 - I always wanted to get one of our study room walls hand painted. Made few calls but finally got someone who can do it. But that meant cleaning any wall accessories. This led from a wall-cleaning exercise to  major wardrobe cleaning to eventually home cleaning project that went from 9 am to 9 pm and finally Kanishka and I crashed :). Atleast 5 boxes worth of items disposed. Day well spent :) 

Day 5 - Got my hair colored again. Not happy this time but happy of my experimentation. Wall painting guy finalized. Gym schedule started. Plans in motion for a new toy place for Puchka and Taco :) 

The good thing is that none of this is pre-planned. Each plan is materialized mostly a day before or on the morning of the day. Whenever, I have taken a break, I have travelled. So, taking a break and being at home is something that I am happy to do this time. Plus, there are so many small small items that were neglected are finally getting some attention. 

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Trip to Varanasi - A 4 day trip Varanasi which was partly official partly travel. Loved the Ghat walks and food this time.

Amritsar-Kartarpur-Delhi trip - Crazy hectic but full worth it. And that both Varanasi and Amritsar happened back to back, it is just mind boggling. Highlight was Karptarpur, documented here in detail. Amritsar was also decent - Wagar border had this women only flag event and dancing to patriotic bollywood songs, Sandeshein aate hain emanating from the loudspeakers. Felt like all 90s or older songs only and too simplistic but liked this time I liked it. Way better experience than my last visit when I thought that I would never come here again. Golden temple was very crowded and Kesar da dhaba is highly over-rated. Satpura is a must-try because of its innovation over Samosa :) 

Multiple weekend  trips to Denkanikottai including one where we went to Murugan Idli in Krishnagiri 

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Movies - Started my bollywood binge to reconnect with Bollywood

Javan - SRK starrer. Lets leave it at that 

Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahanai - Karan Johar goes back to the director seat. Flashy, royal, breaking taboos and 100% bolllywood. Some people understand the industry/genre really well.

Tu Joothi Mein Makkar - Time pass. Lets not apply logic. But, Bollywood is definitely continuing its liberal streak in whole new ways, especially around sexuality, women freedom and rights. This part is good to see. I had thought how Hrushikesh Mukherjee films used to make middle class push the boundary on what values we want nation to follow. By no means TJMM is a Hrushikesh-da movie but collectively, today's Bollywood movies, though standing for upper class, is brazenly calling out the freedom expected in today's times. I do not think that we should take it for granted. Because we have seen how regressive the TV series industry became. 

Mimi - A Pankaj Tripathi film on surrogacy where the worst fears are actualized and resolved too in the end. It avoids the difficult question on what if the son was mentally challenged. But, nevertheless a different film. 

Masala ones - 

Star Wars 4, 5 and 6. Wanted to get Kanishka acquainted to origins of Star Wars universe. Never liked before, do not like them now. The new JJ Abrams era and Andor is impressive though. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 - So good that i am not seeing this in cinemas anymore. Watchable but they are not at all enjoyable anymore. 

Amazing ones - 

Perry Mason - Season 2 - 4.5/5. Matthew Rhys continues to cement his place as one of the best actors of my generation. I am such a big fan of him. 

Jury Duty - 4.5/5 - How much I have loved the premise. And boy, how lucky they were to find the right person. Plus, it is legal drama :) I absolutely adored it. Creativity, things done to pull it off, the docu style.  

The Bear Season 2 - 5/5 - It is just brilliant. All episodes are amazing. This has to be rewatched. and then watched again. I am not sure how many times I have told people to watch this series. 

Decision to leave - 3.5/5 - Nice noir thriller and a delight to watch.

I also went through a phase of 90s 6-pointers which I feel are missing in today's world. These simple plot-based couple of twist thrillers are so watchable. 

High Crimes - 2.5-3/5.

The Sum of all fears - 2.5-3/5 

Contrast to the current ones require a lot of mental energy to see them. Example - I saw this series Inventing Anna on how a girl frauded the whose-who of elite but she had a modest background. Besides a badly acted protagonist role, this could have been cut short to a 2 hr movie. 

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New things - 

Played new board game - Wingspan - Liked it a lot. Good strategy and competitive play but not at all combative. Peaceful competitive game. 

New board game - Diamonds - A new family board game in our kitty. Nice combination of both playing cards and elements from board game world. 

Food stall - Independence day celebration - Kanishka and I along with family, particularly Kanishka's mom had a food stall in Sobha. Featuring Litti Chokha Churma and Hummus with Nachos. Kids came for nachos more than hummus. Litti Chokha was amazing 

New places tried - Long Boat Brewery (3.5/5), Urban Monkey Sarjapur (2.5/5 - though with Bad coffee you can not call yourself an English breakfast place), Indian Coffee House HSR (new outlet launch and it is awesome), Shree Aahar HSR (new Darshini in HSR which is passable). 

From office - Deck of Brews, Misosexy Indiranagar.  

 

Visiting Kartarpur From India - All that you need to know

 Visiting Kartarpur From India - All that you need to know

Kartarpur Sahib is the largest gurudwara in the world. It is the second holiest place for Sikhs after Golden temple in Amritsar. It is also the only place that an Indian can travel in Pakistan without having a VISA. You travel by going through a Landport (just like an airport but for land borders). There is a 4km corridor build on Pakistan side, barbed wires on both sides but a highway in between for tourists to travel via a bus, operated by govt. of Pakistan. 

There are just too many cool things associated with Kartarpur. Whether you travel for spiritual reasons or for fun or just to place your foot in another country, that too Pakistan, it makes a great travel story. But you have to work for it. In this post, I will share a step by step guide on how to plan your visit to Kartarpur Sahib, what to expect and dos and donts. 

Step 1 - Application

Govt. of India has a website where you have to submit an application to visit the Gurudwara.  There is an upper limit of 5000 people who can travel in a day. You need to know your travel date in advance. Yes, dates are not flexible and you have to return the same day, you can not stay overnight. Filling application is easy and takes max 20 mins. You will need your passport handy. Kanishka and I submitted our applications independently. At the end, we got an application number that is needed for all tracking purposes. We applied about 8 weeks before our travel date. 

Step 2 - Police verification

The next step after submitting application is police verification. The form asks details of your local police station. For us, it was Bandepalya Police station. The station inspector was surprised to receive such a request. We were asked a lot of questions - why did we want to travel, how come VISA is not needed, can you escape into Pakistan? For me, my birthplace is in Kochi Kerala, so I had to explain why a Mallu wants to go to Gurudwara :) 

We had to visit the station twice - first to meet an inspector where we were asked to write a letter requesting to approve the background verification. Second time, the station chief wanted to meet with us, asking the same questions again. Very likely it was the first case of this kind for them, it was a mix of curiosity and surprise for them. 

Step 3 - Waiting

Next step is on Pakistan where they have to approve each request. While the police inspector confirmed that they have verified us and approved our request, we did not hear back for a long time. The website also did not share any updates. Turns out, the actual confirmation comes 4-5 days before the travel date. It came via SMS, almost parallel for both of us. So, there will be a period of uncertainty but that is expected, part of the plan and faith - agar likha hai toh hoga 

Step 4 - Preparation & getting there. 

A visit to Kartarpur needs passport, copy of the confirmation slip and a negative RT-PCR report. Yes, they still need one. We missed it and got it from the nearby govt hospital. 

The nearest border town on the Indian side is called Dera Baba Nanak , about 50 kms from Amritsar. The landport opens at 8 am and you have to be back by 5 pm. Our taxi picked us up from the airport and charged us around INR 2000. The driver waited while we visited the Gurudwara at the landport. It takes about 1.5 hrs to get there from Amritsar, one way. 

Step 5 - What to expect there

Just like at an airport, one goes through a rigorous security check at Dera Baba Nanak landport as well. There are couple of more steps - they count your money, including coins. One can only take INR 9000 per person across the border. Kindle is not allowed.

At the landport, you need to collect dollars - $20 per person to be paid at the Pakistan side. This is the entry charge. They also gave us polio drops, apparently polio is common on that side. 

After that, you go through immigration where they affix a stamp, not on your passport but on the confirmation slip. Once through immigration, a golf cart takes you to the border gate. 

Once you cross the border on foot, a bus awaits on the other side that takes you to the Pakistan embassy. Here you pay the entry fees, and then go through immigration on their side. They again affix a stamp, not on the passport but on a slip that has to be returned to them when you are back. Keep this slip handy. You go through another security check, this time a lenient one. Once through another bus will take you to the gurudwara. 

There is a canteen at the landport but it is not accessible once you are inside. The only food next is langar at the gurudwara. Our golf cart driver was a Sikh shared that eat langar first before you go to Gurudwara, there is a Sikh saying - pehle Pangat phir Sangat.   One can only meditate once you are full stomach. Langar at Gurudwara was nice Chole Pudi, roti and halwa. 

Once you reach the Gurudwara, there will be a welcome and some instructions shared. Listen carefully. You can take photos and videos at the Gurudwara (videos are not allowed for Pakistan folks for some reason). Behind the gurudwara, there is also a market where you can buy some artifacts and clothes. Indian currency to Pakistan currency ration is 1:2.7 and market is cheaper on the other side. There is a Pakistan bank there where you can exchange notes. You can not bring back a single Pakistan currency note or coin back. Indian govt is very strict about it and you will be in jail if you do so. 

They speak hindi and you can bargain to some degree. 

Gurudwara itself is lovely. Its huge, with not many travellers. So, it is very peaceful. We went inside and heard gurbani for about an hr before heading back. 

The story of how Indians were allowed to travel VISA-free is interesting. Apparently, it is because of cricket and politics - When Imrank Khan became PM, he invited Sidhu who attended and this gesture of an Indian visiting Pakistan, a friendship has led to this. 

There may be enmity between nations but not among people. We were greeted warmly by everyone there. We had to wait for a bus for about 20 mins, the person in-charge apologized for us to wait. There was no need for him to do so. Inside Gurudwara, it is like any Sikh gurudwara, you get the feeling that people are doing sewa. Folks in market also spoke kindly. Their voice / language definitely has a touch of royalty and izzat, tehzeeb to it, something that is missing on our side now. 

The 4km corridor though has barbed wire running on both sides, it is actually in the middle of farmlands and it was covered with green wheat fields this time of the year. Weather was hot. Pakistan as a country looks less developed than ours, their landport much underwhelming, it was as if we were in a rural village, not a historic temple-town. 

It is a visit just for the bragging rights but the Gurudwara itself is a treat to visit. It wins your heart. It is majestic. A land less explored, preserved through centuries. It made me wish the radcliffe line was 4 kms on that side but then maybe, it will not be as special as it is now. Things with effort are savored more! 

Varanasi - 2023

Varanasi - 2023 - A business leisure trip 

What is a business leisure trip? When you travel for business but end up making a leisure trip out of it. 

Varanasi happened because of IIT-BHU hiring as part of my workplace. Stars had to align for this one because we do not typically visit BHU for hiring, this was happening for the first time as part of our campus expansion. Next, I was slated for a different campus but because the other campus was to happen over a weekend when I was not available, I was re-assigned and lo and behold, I am going to Varanasi - hometown of my better half and out of nowhere, we had a trip at our hands. 

Day 0 - Thu - Flight to Varanasi.

We flew on Thu because I wanted to attend some meetings on Fri, virtually. Thu 2nd half flight meant landing in Varanasi just in time for dinner. Kanishka in her last trip had showed pics of Baati Chokha and it had been in my list since then. We wasted no time and started dinner at Baati Chokha restaurant. I liked the food overall, also the ambience. 

Varanasi in July/Aug timeframe is hot and humid - kind of the worst season to travel. To top this, we are from Bengaluru where we are spoilt from weather point of view. Plus, this was Saavan season in Varanasi when crowds throng this holy city. So, it was people people everywhere. All this combination would have meant that I stay in my AC hotel room and do not venture out but then it is Varanasi. Even in its best of seasons, crowd goes down only by hairline :) So, the only way to enjoy the city is to embrace it, embrace the weather (wear antiwick shirts :) ) and then go out there. 

Day 1 - Friday. S

Day 1 started by visiting to Assi ghat to witness Subah-e-benares. Subah-e-benares is a morning 5 am Aarti at the Assi ghat. We woke up at 4 am to reach the ghats at 430 am. There is a daily morning ritual which includes Aarti, classical music, Yoga session and some prayers. We attended the Aarti and then took a boat ride. 

Our companions were two colleageus from workplace - Gnanavel who was with me at IIT-Bombay hiring event previous year and Bhagya, alumni of IIT BHU, acting as a campus ambassdor this year. For whatever reason, they were ok to trust the trip itinerary in my hands, and that meant in Kanishka's hands since it was her 'gadh', her backyard. But even Kanishka had not attended Subah-e-benares yet. While she discovered this event, I can claim credit for the event, atleast 50%. 

Subah-e-beanres was very good. The morning sunrise, the spiritual Aarti, bhajans in the morning, lesser crowds, all of it makes it a really good experience. Place was clean too. We followed the Aarti by taking a boat ride seeing all Ghats. Ganga level was quiet high so only motor boats were allowed. We were lucky since sometimes boat rides do not happen in monsoon season. 

What is Benares without the morning breakfast of Kachodis. While returning back from the boat-ride, a thela guy had already setup his breakfast joint and Kanishka had to try it. I too ate it and it was pretty good. Kachodis are small, stuffed with alus with a kala-chana gravy (for protein you know :) ) and some chutney on top with some more crunchy triangle namkeen. A good taste overall. 

I slept after this morning excursion to wake up to Bedmi Poodi and alu for breakfast. Kanishka had went out and got it packed along with famous lassi of Benaras. A perfect bedtime breakfast. We were staying at Vijaigarh Kothi - a recommeded place at a walking distance from Assi ghat. Room was really spacious with AC working :)  

Post breakfast, I attended my calls virtually and then travelled to BHU campus. The e-rickshaw guy dropped me just outside the Vishwanath temple and I had to walk at noon to the guest house 1.2 kms away, in that sun/humid condition. I was drenched. But I did stop at the Samosa place next to temple and had that INR 7 samosa, a highlight of this trip. They are really good. Rest of the evening went in campus hiring and work. Our dinner was at Cafe ROma which I felt was a much over-hyped place. 

Day 2 - Sat. Travel starts

Day 2 started by us changing accommodation from Vijaigarh Kothi to Shree Ganesha place at Girja Ghar. The morning plan was to take the offered candidates out for lunch. We took them to Taj Ganges a 5-star place where we were the only guests. Taj's service was really slow, food was also ok. On the way back we hit traffic and then asked us to be dropped down at the Bharat Mata ka Mandir. 

Bharat Mata ka mandir, as the name suggests, a temple dedicated to motherland India. It has a marble-made map of India in a temple like setting. It is an interesting concept but it needs something more to be made into a good place. Rest of the evening was planned - Kanishka had helped hire a local guide for us to do sightseeing. 

Bhawna from The Ghumakkads was our guide and she is really good (5/5). We covered Durga mata mandir,  Tulsi Manas Mandir, Sankat Mochan Mandir and then finally to Vishwanath temple inside BHU campus. Yes, it was a temple hopping tour :). Along the way, Bhawna shared history of each temple. Behind Durga Mata temple, due to the month of Saavn, a mela was going on and we walked through the mela as well. At Tulsi Manas Mandir, there were Jhaakis setup, a special once a year event that should be seen. 

Vishwanath temple was more peaceful. Mostly visited by students. Post the temple visit, we had the famous cold coffee and samosa from shops just outside. It did not disappoint which is a compliment. We also had Pehalwan ki lassi and then walked to Assi ghat for some coin shopping. Our plan was to see evening Aarti but that did not materialize since we were late. 

Dinner was at Deena Chat house. The pani-puri was good along with the Chats. Post dinner, we walked to a local thandai shop which serves bhaang flavored Thandai, legally. There are legal Govt. Bhaang shops as well, a unique thing about Varanasi. The bhaang thandai was shared by Kanishka, Gnan and myself. It had no effect on me, I just went to hotel and slept. 

Day 3 - Ghat walks

Day 3 morning was by another walking organizer - Mr. Aman from Varanasi Vibes. The idea was just to walk in the galis and ghats of Varanasi. This Ghat walk is an experience. It does not matter what you visit, you just have to see these galis and ghats on foot. The lanes are narrow, people going from here and there. Next to every turn is a temple, some small, some big. Walls are covered with painting, there are food-stalls on cycles, small shops, people living in their homes, hostels, guest houses, restaurants making malpuas, kachodis, and more temples, more shivlings. And then crowds, people going from here to there, on foot, on cycles, on bikes, whatever that can fit in these lanes. Then there are ghats, temples on ghats, cremation happening on ghats, there is the famous Vishwanath temple, with thousands of people standing in queue to visit the temple, there is the new corridor that govt has constructed, there is an entry to this temple that goes to the ghat, giant spaces and buildings, all newly built, sanwiched in between ghats which are centuries old. It is difficult to explain but one has to experience this. This is true Kashi - the oldest city, the holy city. 

My favorite of all places that we visited was the Nepali temple - a Shiv temple built by king of Nepal. It is situated at the river where the river turns slightly. So you get a beautiful view of the river. They have also carved out space to sit and enjoy the scenery. It had rained in the night so weather was good, bearable and enjoyable. The fact that amidst all the chaos of the city, there is a place just to enjoy the beauty is awesome. The opposite of Ganges is all trees and it makes a good sight. You could see how Tulsidas would have sat here and wrote Ramayan in Awadhi language. You could see why kings will visit this place, centuries ago and fall in love with this place. 

We saw all sort of temples - big, small, and underground. The one below was the unique of them all - The actual Shivling is down, 15 feet down and there is a hole on top to see it below. Unless you know that it is there, you will not know. Our guide knew. So bizarre of a temple.  Each temple has a caretaker, someone who lives near it, or within the premises. Temples can not be neglected. It is a full time job for them. 28,000 temples someone wrote a book too . A lot of temples are hidden, not underground, but hidden due to construction all around them. Some where purposefully hidden to prevent them from destruction years ago. 

There is no walk in Kashi without its food. We had Kachodis- both small one, the Poodi one, we had Malpuas, visited the iconic Blue lassi shop. We saw the flower market. Again, it is not the food that matters, it is the experience - having food while sitting 2 feet away where poodis are being fried. In that low roofed, small corner place. Same food brought home would be rated bad but at that time, in the middle this small gali, when the hot food is just served right from frying pan, it is lajawaab, tasty. You ask for one more serving even when you know that you are full, you do not want that another poodi, you want to immerse yourself one more time in that experience, spend more time in that den of a restaurant, on the uncomfortable chair but you have a place to sit now. 

Our walk took us to Manikarnika Ghat, to Vishwanath temple's gate that leads to the ghat, to Nepali temple, to Kedar ghat and some galis etc evenutally bring us back to our hotel. Folks were tired at the end of it. We retired to our rooms. Kanishka and I stepped out after an hr for some shopping. Our lunch was late at Kaashi chat bhandar, again walkable from our hotel. Varanasi is actually a very small city. its like HSR and Koramangala put together, maybe Domlur too :) But just like in BLR, distance is measured in time not in kms.  We had the evening flight back. 

I am not sure if I will ever go back to Varanasi. It is an experience lived but is it repeatable? I am not sure but I find the answer leaning more towards a yes than a no. It is surprising. I am not sure why is it so? Fundamentally, Kashi and its galis is the microcosm of India, you have to embrace the city just like you embrace this country. with all its positives and what nots. Who knows what future holds. Maybe there are more ghat walks. 

Merthi Gudda - A 'technical' trek

 Merthi Gudda - A 'technical' trek

Monsoon treks in Western Ghat is an experience in itself. You do it just for the experience of trekking, because most likely your views are going to be cloudy. And then there are leeches as well, you have to get used to them. Wet trails, slippery rocks, slushy ground, all makes the trek to be fairly interesting, sometimes risky as well. 

Merthi Gudda is a lesser known peak in the Kudremukh range. Our plan was to do Kudremukh trek but due to some incident (someone had died), they had closed the trek for two weeks. Our plan then changed to go to Merthi Gudda. This was a guided trek organized by Shyam, an avid runner. I got connected via my running group (JJ - Jayanagar Jaguars) 

Shyam was really awesome and so were my trek friends. Theirs was an existing circle and I was the newbie noob.  Most of them were kannadigas but they made me feel welcome. They helped me a lot in the trail when some patches were difficult to climb.

The itinerary - Take the bus from Majestic on Fri night. Reach Kalasa in the morning. Get a hotel to freshen up. Have an early breakfast and start the trek. Finish the trek by evening, go back to hotel and clean up. Dinner and take the bus back on Sat night. The Sat night bus was sleeper and Fri night was semi-sleeper. It was a packed schedule. We were asked to carry tiffin boxes for packed lunch. 

The trail of Merthi Gudda is amazing. I loved it. It was 'technical' - a new term shared by Shyam during the trail. I liked the term, did not understood it how a trail can be 'technical'. But on the trail I realized why was it called so - it was not a slam dunk easy. The trek will be called moderate difficulty level but there are some portions, like some rock steps where one has to take extra precautions (and sometimes support of peers) to climb up. 

There were leeches but I did not bother - that is the trick. It had a decent uphill climb, first 20 mins in sludgy mud where I struggled. And some more climbs after that :) But the best part of this trail is that a significant portion is ridge walk - you walk from one hill to another, walking on the ridge. I have always wanted to do ridge walks.  Whenever I see hill outlines from a distance, my first thought is how it will be to walk on the ridge, LOTR scenes on ridge walks were my fav as well, they had always fascinated me. Ridge walks made this trail awesome but I also learnt a lesson - Ridge walks are not that easy either, sure it depends on the ridge but not all of it was easy. 

We climbed couple of hills,  one was a steep one. The hill tops were view-less, surrounded by clouds, extremely windy. It rained most of the time, raincoats were helpful. Truth be told, compared to the gang, I had struggled, I was the last one in the group. They were very kind to give me company in the end, I was not a lot behind but my fitness or the lack of it was in display. I was also trekking after a very long time. My fitness thankfully had improved due to recent runs. I was ok, not that bad either but not like them. 

We had our packed lunch somewhere between hills. I had got some leech bites but it was not painful. The walk down was through this amazing treeline - this is yet another awesome thing about this trail - the upstream and downstream are totally different trails.  We walked a total of about 9kms. I was fairly tired by the end of it. 

Back at the hotel, there was no hot water so a cold bath was also an experience. I slept like a baby in the bus ride back. And slept through most of my Sunday as well :) Overall, very happy to have done the trek. Liked the trail, the group and everything about it. 

Guide to buying managed farmland in Bangalore 2023

Should I buy a farmland? What is the purpose of owning a farmland? Is this a new fad going on? If you are plagued by these questions, then perhaps this post will be useful. 

Reasons to invest in a farmland?

-  Connect with the roots - Most of us have come from tier-2/tier-3 towns and now have settled in cities. It is an adjusted life, now a lifestyle, but somewhere in the back of the head, we miss the life of living amongst fields, away from the traffic. I remember my growing years were spent in a house which had a garden with large trees. Very low population, even less pollution. Let's admit, most of our weekend excursions are to get away from the city, we head to Coorg/Chikamgalur to enjoy trees, nature and some tranquility.

- Be a farmer - Not my reason, but I have heard folks say this. A variant of connect-with-the-roots, many folks come from farming families and this is their way to get back to it. Some do for commercial farming like coffee or arecanut. Others, want to grow their own food, completely organic they say. 

- Retirement home - Where will you be once you retire? Existential life questions are more difficult to answer but having an option now does not hurt. 

-  Weekend getaway - After lot of weekend getaways, one realizes that it is not the destination that matters, it is the mindset. The ability to switch off your daily life, relax in nature, go for long walks, enjoy the sunrise, sunset, sound of birds, read a book and have a simple life. 

- Financial investment - This is a new entry to the canon, managed farmlands is a growing industry and this may be another financial investment instrument.

No matter what your reasons are, it is eventually an emotional decision. 

Being a farmer is a very idealistic notion, do one week of back bending farm work, looking at economics, water issues, rainfall etc, one realizes that in practice it requires 120% commitment to make it work. We are so inured in our city lifestyles - access to doctors, dentists, cinema halls, high speed internet connectivity that decoupling from this is like entering a de-addiction program. Can be done, hard at first but it is realizable. 

So, one has to accept that it is going to be an emotional decision. 

How much area do I need ? 

Once the emotional decision is reached, there comes the next practical one - how much area (sq.ft / acres) should I go for. Typically, managed farmlands start with 0.25 acres (~11k sq. ft) and then go to 0.5 acres, 1 acres and beyond. 

The answer to this is deceptively simple. You buy land that you can financially afford. There is no end to the area that you will need to make satisfy your needs. Similarly, your neighbors, friends will always have something that you desire - bigger areas, lake inside their plot, what not, what not. 

So, stick to a decent financial discipline. One blessing in disguise here is that there are not bank-loans for buying a farmland, so you will have to dip in your savings/investments to buy this.

Keep in mind that legally, only 10% of the farmland can be used for residential purpose. Remaining has to be for agriculture purpose only. 

Why should I go the managed route? Why not buy directly? 

In my observation, a managed farmland is at-least 2.5x more expensive than buying directly. 2.5x is a fairly steep multiplier when it comes to real-estate. So, why bother going the managed route ?

• Authenticity of title - Buying land is fraught with so many title verification intricacies that it is very difficult to navigate this. Particularly, when you are not versed with local language / local laws. The company, which manages the farmland, plays a key role to validate the authenticity, get necessary approvals etc to ensure that it can not be disputed in any court of law. 
• Maintaining the land - Let's be realistic. No-matter what happens, it is not that you will leave your city home and move to this farmland. So, in your absence, you need someone to maintain the place, ensure trees, crops are getting nutrition etc. A key part is water maintenance - in city you just assume that you will get water, rain-water drainage exists. In farmlands, water will accumulate in your plot, mechanisms are needed for harvesting, preservation etc. This is a fairly important part of this management. 
• Security - Khosla-ka-ghosla situations are not uncommon, atleast the fear is always there. Having a company ensure security provides that comfort to sleep peacefully. 
• Having a community - Sense of commune, group of folks agreeing to live by a common set of dreams and rules, having the social fabric to rely on each other is not only appealing but a key ingredient for happiness.
• Clubhouse and other amenities - Most managed farmland companies also maintain a clubhouse kind of setup, with few rooms to stay. This is needed to stay there, tend to your plot while you get it in a shape that you can enjoy. Some companies are planning to make this into resort-like setup with swimming pools, kids play area etc while others are keeping it minimal. 

One more side-case scenario is when a bunch of friends come together to buy a large land and then divide amongst themselves. Then the management is split between the group instead of one. This is also a good option, provided you have such good friends who are aligned to this idea. In the absence of it, managed one seems like the next best option. 

Managed Farmland considerations

Ok, so you have decided to buy a managed farmland. What are the other factors that should be considered?

Distance (or time) from your current place - There are options in Chikamagalur, Coorg, Kanakpura, North Bangalore, as far as Goa as well. However, they key factor is how much you are ok to travel to visit this farmland. A related question is how frequently you want to travel. 

In our case, we know that the charm of traveling will wave off after few months and after that it would be a chore to visit. Hence, having so in close proximity to where we live is an important factor. A 2 hr commute to get to this place is acceptable. 4 hrs is not. 2-3 hr is manageable but not ideal. 

Location of the property - Since we live in HSR, we explored options at Thalli, Denkanikottai and Kanakapura. Jain farms near Hosur was also an option but they didn't respond back in time. 

The location you decide influences your cost of per sq. ft. Kanakpura is huge, the away you go from Nice road, the price decreases and you are more towards nature. Closer to BLR is expensive, it is simple.

One other factor is Hosur and south of it is actually in Tamil Nadu while Kanakapura is in Karnataka. State change have implications in registration charges, language and other laws. In Karnataka, up until recently, one can not buy a farmland directly, this rule was  changed only in last 3-4 years. Tamil Nadu is more friendly but they have a higher stamp duty charges. For us, state boundaries were never a consideration. Price per sq. ft definitely was :) 

Location of the plot within the property- Even within a community, plot location implies amount of wind, water that you get. Some are at slightly higher altitude leading to better air flow while others may have better options for lake etc. And just like any real estate, plots tend to sell quickly, so once you like it, make an offer as quickly as possible. 

Quality of the management company - Just like in apartments, builder matters, similarly, the management company matters a lot. You can get early hints on how they are crafting the message, their brochure, their temporary setup, calls etc. We saw one farmland plot which is surrounded by hills on all sides, lush green and an amazing locale and we saw a really good plot. But, the management was not up to the bar. They didn't had drinking water available, local staff was also ill equipped to handle queries. 

There are also some management companies which are ok for their plot owners to use more than 10% of the plot size for residential purpose. We visited one which was again looking like a concrete city type construction, just at a bigger scale. We also saw other companies which were little more pedantic on the farming side, very prescriptive on things like you can not have your own boundary fencing as it will destroy the aesthetic look. So there is a spectrum here. 

Other important factor is who are the promoters of the company. Many real estate companies are venturing into this as a mechanism of financial instrument diversity. There are also few startup-ish firms who are trying to make this as first class lifestyle decision choice. 

Amenities - My usecase of this place was that it should be usable as a weekend getaway. It is likely that we will not build any house immediately, so having a clubhouse with amenities like swimming pool will be helpful for us to visit this place as a weekend getaway. So, clubhouse rooms with kitchen setup and amenities became an important consideration for us to consider a commune. 

The golden rule of any real estate buying is sabko sab kuch nahin milta (You do not get everything). The key is to know which trade offs are acceptable and which ones are not. Eventually, you have to make a decision. 

Management companies that we explored - 

It does not make sense to talk in terms of projects because most of them are selling out quickly.  Each company has its philosophy and principles. Below is merely our observations and you may or may not agree to them. It is a biased subset with our prejudiced notions. Disclaimer shared to avoid any future defamation cases :)

Hosachiguru 

Properties visited - Sambramha farms Denkanikottai, Dhanvi farms Kanakpura

Hosachiguru is very active in digital media - they have ads on Insta, webinars happening every weekend, largely on educating a farmland but targeting to the digital IT crowd of BLR. Hosachiguru can be credited for seeding this whole farmland idea to many IT people. 

I liked Hosachiguru, they were more oriented towards the agricultural aspects. They had well defined water pathways that flow through their plots. They also had a more extensive brochure on trees and plantations. They were fairly limited on amenities though.

UrbanFarmer

Properties visited - Bird berry Kanakpura. 

Quiet a fancy website. Absolutely stunner of location in Kanakapura. Just the drive to bird berry was amazing. It is meant for a resort :) But quiet far from our place - their brochure says only "1 hour" from Nice road as if Nice road was city centre. They can definitely improve their on-site experience, when we visited it was looking deserted. Plus, didn't look like any agriculture thing was going on. 

Aranyakaa farms

Properties visited - Vrindavan, Tapovan, Shivalik hills. 

Offering a nice balance between real estate world and farmlands, Aranyakaa seems to be heavily betting on this space. Like a young start-up, they are moving fast and have invested in good onsite experience as well. Vrindavan for example has a igloo-like tent setup for stay as well. Each project has a clubhouse with food options. Some projects have more amenities than others. 

Prakruthi farms

Properties visited - Prakruthi farms, Nature senses. 

Prakruthi farms seems to be more mature, didnt had an office. We took a trip in our car only. Nature senses is a huge project and they seem to be focussing on it.

We didn't explore north of Bangalore options because it would be too far and also, heard that water options on that side are limited.  Other farms considered - Jain farms but did not get any revert. Sanvi Sandalwood - called them but never visited them. 

Other things to keep in mind - 

• Move fast :)  - Plots will get sold out. Your interest may dwindle. So, once you have momentum, leverage it and then close at the earliest. 
• Asking around may not help since everyone else is doing it as an experiment. This is a second-home concept. Most folks are unaware and those who have done so, have done it with varied reasons. 
• Proximity to hospitals was a criterion that many folks shared but I have not included here. I think hospitals will develop over time, and nothing will compare to BLR facilities. Plus, I have a personal belief that life should not be governed based on proximity to hospitals. Rather live in nature and invest in health so that this becomes a moot point. 
• Manage finances well - there are no home loans available. 
• Get a lawyer to review documents.

For any interesting ideas, questions, you can reach out to me at arvindbatra@gmail.com 

Malnad 2023 - A perfect monsoon escapade

 

Monsoon in Western Ghats is meant to be explored. One has to get outside, soak in the rain and walk amidst the clouds. Yes, there are leeches but they only suck the bad blood :) Once you accept the sight of blood coming out, slimy creatures crawling inside your shoe cracks, you realize that it is not painful, then, it is just another part of nature and the whole idea in the first place is to soak yourself in nature. 

This was an Eid long weekend and it was known that everyone from BLR is traveling. There are certain areas in Western Ghats which are insanely crowded that instead of enjoying nature, it sometimes becomes a walk through metro train. So, the place that you choose becomes very important. The irony is not lost on me that I am part of the problem of this man-in-nature and this blog is going to make unknown places more discoverable, but hey, there is a price to pay to travel in India and one has to be selective about it. 

We decided to travel to Kodachadri/Nittur region. Shimoga/Sharavati valley is something that I was meaning to explore for sometime. Kodachadri's views are something that I wanted to see for a long time. This was anyways a plan hatched 10 days before the travel time, so places were sold out. Fortunately, we found a nice Airbnb - Haalkere homes. 

Day 1 - BLR to Sharavati valley

We left BLR at around 4:20 am with all luggage packed in our i10 car (equivalent to Thar for us :) ) Breakfast was at Upadhyay veg Chitradurga which can be avoided. Not a great start food-wise. We were little hungry and this place was rated well on G-maps. But, it was not the case. 

Our first stop was at Tunga Bhadra Sangama Kudli - a place where rivers Tunga and Bhadra join. It is a beautiful place with a 9th century era clean temple next to it. But our experience was marred since the Sangama was littered with idols, trash from Puja etc. This should have been an extreme serene place, it is a serene place but we have kind of destroyed its natural calmness. I did not enjoy this place as much as I would have liked to. 

We stopped for lunch in Hosanagar. The highest recommended place was closed and a Udupi aahara thali had a match stick dipped in the dal. So, we ditched it and our it looked like that this will be a bad-food-trip. Weended up a hole-in-the-wall place called Malnad mess and catering, and it was very a homely authentic Malnad food with thin and soft Akki roti, Jowar roti, hot sambhar and very tasty palaya (sabzi). Our food fate just turned.

For stay, our Airbnb was about 45 mins from Nittur, base town for Kodachadri. Haalkere homes, is right at the banks of Sharavati valley/back-waters and I have been meaning to visit this place for about 10 years now. Get-Beyond-Limits was an outdoor trek organizer (they have shut shop now :( ), they had this trek to Sharavati valley and their cover photo had this back water with dead wooden trees standing erect with black crows sitting on them. This imagery amidst green forest always wanted me to travel here. It is amazing how a photo seen a decade ago can leave such a subconscious impression. 

Sharavati valley was dry - a sign that rainfall has not been enough this year. The good part here was that now we could walk on this valley floor and it was soft, muddy. We did a short 3-4km walk. There were no other people, just the two of us walking with forests on the left and right banks, with slight drizzle, it was surreal. 

Haalkere homes is a rustic no-frills homestay where our warm hosts served authentic local Malnad cuisine. Malnad meal is a two course dinner - first is Roti with paalya (sabzi) and next course is rice, sambhar, rasam. We relished it. Homestay is decent, but we were expecting toileteries, towels etc but we had to buy them. 

Day 2 - Kodachadri

There is no network at Haalkere homes, thankfully they had wifi to make some internet calls. Thankfully our homestay owners had booked us a Jeep to take us to the top of Kodachadri. Day 2 started with a homemade dosas, sambhar, chutney and then a drive to Nittur. 

Nittur is a small town and our driver met us on the road, just guessing that we would arrive at the intended time. I just love it when folks show up on time, old-school coordination - time and place is all that is needed. No calls to further coordinate. 

There are two ways to enjoy western ghats - One for the views (Oct onwards) and one for the weather (monsoon). 

Kodachadri can be trekked to the top with a 8Km long trail but we took the Jeep and walked the last 1.5 kms. It was full misty but the trek was enjoyable. We were walking through the clouds :) There is a temple on top of Kodachadri with decent footfalls, we saw lot of families, old Aunties in Saris, walking this narrow trail to get to the top. With trekking pole, anti-leech socks, we were definitely over dressed :) leading to good stares. 

By the time. we came back to the car, clouds cleared up a bit. Our luck with mist continues to be there . Fortunately, there was a spot (known as Shooting point) where we could get some good views 

After getting down from Kodachadri, we went to have lunch at Annapurna hotel in Nittur. We got company of a stranger who had come solo and was ok to join us. Post lunch, we went to Hidlumane falls. 

Hidlumane falls trail is something, our driver said that falls have multiple steps and after 2nd step, you will have to use rope to climb. It was insanely slippery and Kanishka after seeing the trail decided to return after the first two steps. I was looking for ropes only to realize that these are roots of trees that can be used as ropes. I made the daring call to climb up and go to the main fall. Water flow was not that much, again not much rains. It was a difficult trail, slippery but I managed to do it

Kanishka drove us back to the homestay, from Nittur to Haalkere homes, her first time in ghats and rain. Dinner was same but this time, it was beetroot Sambhar. 

Day 3 - Kaveledurga fort 

Breakfast was homemade Katori idlis. We stopped at Annapurna again to have their Mangalore buns but that was a disappointment. Day 3 plan was to visit Kaveledurga fort and then night stay at Elephant camp, Jungle lodges. 

Drive to Kavaledurga fort was really good, scenic and very few cars. We really loved the fort, it was a perfect mix of hike, awesome views, walking in rain, stony trail, forest trail.  It was a 2k+1km hike one way, 2km to get to the fort and 1Km from there to reach to the top point. We stopped near the fort first to get some good views

After the fort, there is trail that goes to the top of the hill. Very beautiful trail and easily doable. When we started to climb, it was clear sky but by the time we reached the peak, weather gods smiled and gave us a cloudy experience. 

Kavaledurga is a nice excursion and one I would highly recommend. 

Lunch was at Tirthahalli at cafe Mayura. Okay-ish lunch. We drove to Sakrabyle elephant camp and reached there by 4 pm. At this point, I wanted to relax and I decided to skip all the Jungle lodge activities - walk, see elephants etc. Sakrabyle Jungle lodge is neat, well maintained and living within forest. Stay-wise, it is very good. Activity-wise, no way close to River tern :) (Yes, I will compare)

I relaxed on the hammock, read some book and then slept early. Next day morning, we left early to reach BLR by lunch time. We wanted to have Sunday evening to relax and get back to routine. 

This was a perfect monsoon escapade with lot of walks in rain. Ponchos, trekking poles had the highest ROI. So happy to have done it this season and maybe one such trip has to happen every year. Also, Kodachadri deserves one more trip to see the views :) 

Life in 27th Mar 2023 to July 16 2023

Just as objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear, similarly time in hindsight, (like when I sit to write down this blog), appears to be only yesterday. Feels like it was only a few days ago, I wrote the previous instance of my life-in series. 

A lot of other blog posts are due, some travel posts, and some more. This will be a summary recap and hopefully, I will get time today/this week to cover the rest. 

First things first 

(Things that I have done first time in my life)

Colored my hair - Long outstanding bucket list item to color my hair. Had to act urgently since hairfall is going on :) 

Thinking what have I done

Made Vettu Cake - Kanishka and I decided to take the plunge and make Vettu cake. As usual, we had multiple experiments going on. Different sugar types, different shapes. They turned out to be decent, ofcourse no where good to where it should be. But, decent experiment to begin.  

Color coordinated t-shirts - Kanishka and I decided to have same color coordinate T-shirts for our combined birthday treat. 

- Purchased a farm land near Bangalore, detailed post to be published.

- Thindi walks - Thindi Walk in N.R. Colony organized by Ajit/Enthu-cutlets, Thindi walk in Malleshwaram organized by Kanishka

Travel

(1) Short trip to Goa - Apr 6 - Apr 8. Partly driven by the desire to just rest, partly to go to Casino and rest to just get out of town :) 

(2) Kodachadri/Malnad - A near perfect monsoon outing to a perfect area in Western Ghats. Detailed post to come but just to say, this was amazing! 

(3) Merthi Gudda trek - A short 1-day trip to an amazing trek to Merthi Gudda. Just loved everything about this trek. Full in nature, very few people, great company, 'technical' trek,  and an amazing monsoon weather 

(4) Upcoming trips - Because once the wheels start to roll, then they roll :) Likely to go to Varanasi for campus hiring (IIT BHU), Amritsar/Delhi in Aug, Bali in Oct. 

Outings - Social and otherwise

- Club Cabana - A day trip team offsite to the adventure park Club Cabana. Played Mafia :)

- Mother's day dinner at Chula Chauki Da dhaba, Sarjapur

- First Haldiram's in HSR - gotta have that Bhatura

- IPL finals at Boho's Koramangala

- Kanishka Birthday dinner at Rim Naam

- Namo's birthday at Sultans of Spice, Koramangala

- Anshika didi'40 birthday celebration

- BBQ treat of Kanishka & my birthday

- Lunch with Parul at Yuki Koramangala - Great place for pan-Asian cuisine with crafted beer

Other Misc

- Went to Board game meetup vipo-games at Dialogues cafe, Koramangala

- Ran 15K and participated in HSR Jatre 10K race. 

- Went again to N.R. Colony for a mini Thindi walk on Aarti's bday. 

- Board games are back - Played almost all board games, whose rules I know again, in March/April timeframe. Including a back to back game of Powergrid with Justin. Felt good to be back in board-game world 

- Attended Dance performance by Aarti at the White house 

Movies/TV-Series

Surprisingly, I have seen only one movie in cinema hall in this time period - 

Suzume - 3.5/5 - Good fun anime movie. Made by Makoto Shinkai (Your Name, Weathering with you), lot of action and kind of a road-movie :)

Babylon  - 3/5 - Takes something to make a film like Babylon. At 3hrs+, it is definitely an experience. Babylon covers time in Hollywood where silent era of films is ending and sound is coming. Brad Pitt was miscast IMO, rest was decent. 

Lidia Poet TV Series - 3/5 - Gets 3 only for the costumes and concept. Rest is ok. 

Citizen Kane - 4/5 - Finally, I have seen it :) . One of my top bucket list movies, took me a while to find time to check it. Liked it, definitely lot of fun but somewhat stretched as well. 

Alaska daily (TV Series) - 3.5/5 - Intersection of journalism, politics with a David vs Goliath battle, I do have a soft spot for such series. 

The Diplomat (TV Series) - 3/5 - Well, its politics, made by folks who were associated with West wing, has Keri Russel of Americans fame, intrigue and mostly office politics. Sign me up! waiting for season 2 

The Bear (TV Series)  - 4/5 - Binge watched this in an evening, 8-10, 30 min episodes. Liked the food-drama genre. Nicely done!

The Recruit - 1/5 I wish I did not see this

Night agent - 2.5/5 - decent masala series. 

Rewatched West wing - Season 2-5 . Just like that :) (5/5) even in repeat watching.