Broken Earth Trilogy - Re-review

Broken Earth Trilogy

The Fifth Season

The Obelisk Gate

The Stone Sky

By Nk Jemisin.

2021 earlier review here

It is rare for me to re-read something. It is even rarer for me to post a review after the re-read. I had made a promise to myself that I would re-read this again. I have read many sci-fi fantasy series but none have come closer to the aha of Broken Earth books. Re-reading them after 5 years - there is nostalgia but there is now a deeper appreciation of the craft. For one, I think I liked the third book as good as the first

In this review, I want to document what happens in the book. This is a wiki entry for me, not a review. It has all spoilers. It is also told in chronological order. This is not a review. it is just for me.

T1 = When The Shattering happens (T3 minus 40,000 years)

T2 = When The Rifting happens (T3 minus 4 years)

T3 = Now

Before Shattering

At the beginning there were many tribes, one of then was Niess. Niess-folks were born with the ability to do 'magic' - a kind of energy source that is there inside the Earth, the nature and everything around us. It is the life-force. Niess-were able to see it, use and and then they built obelisks to revere it. Obelisks are kind of battery stores for 'magic'. Can not be used as weapons on their own. Niess folks were able to connect to Obelisks, but ordinary folks can not do so. Orogenes are able to connect to Obelisk. 

Orogeny is ability to sense and control physical things including planetary tectonic movements. Niess folks had the ability called 'Tuning', a way of using 'magic' and 'orogeny' in the right way. Niess-folks, even though they had the innate ability to channel and use 'magic', they lived with it harmoniously. 

Enter SylAnagists, a human tribe which has advanced capabilities and has captured most of the tribes on Earth. The key repeating motiff in Broken Earth is that one tribe of humans call themselves superior and they like to subjugate others. The human civilization exists with one group establishing their dominance over others. The others, the oppressed, are often considered 'below human'.

Syl Anagists through some means are able to conquer the Niess-folks and then realize that Niess-folks can use magic. To demonstrate their superiority, they call that Niess-folks are below human, their ability to generate magic, while a gift, is actually a sub-par feature and they have not evolved as humans yet. This is bogus but is used as a pretext for mass-killing, oppression etc. 

Syl Anagists discover that Niess-folks can use magic and they use them to create a Plutonic engine - a grid of 256 obelisk gates which will be used to mine 'magic' from Earth's core . This magic will power everything - from industries to personal space. To do so, they do two things (i) Even when Niess folks are slaughtered, their body still has magic, maybe they do not die completely but return to earth, grow as vines and can conduct magic. They do this to create the Plutonic engine. That is Niess folks are harvested for their magic(ii) To start the engine, they need a spark, an extra-ordinary surge of magic to jumpstart the engine. So, they artificially create 'Tuners' - bio-engineered humans from Niess folks who have the capacity to connect to Obelisks (because they are Niess underneath) and use the power in Obelisks to start the engine. 

T1 minus one week

This is where we meet our Tuners - Houzha, Gaewha, Remzha, and a few others who are being trained. But they are not able to control Obelisks for a long time. Enter Keleni - Keleni is the daughter of a Niess and Syl Anagist. This is hinted but not explicitly told. So, she can control Obelisks. But since she is Niess, she is considered non-human or below-human. She is tasked to train the Tuners to control obelisks. She takes them into a field trip where the Tuners realize the history of Niess-folks and that they are not completely dead and the Plutonic Engine is a device to rape Earth for magic. Tuners decide that they will foil this plan. 

Houzha liked Keleni - platonic love. She called him a 'thinker'. Houzha was intrinsically a loving human. 

T1 minus one day
Tuners go to moon 'Zero Site', along with Syl Anagists to start the engine. But their plan is to overload the engine and destroy it to kill everything, including themselves. But they did not factor one thing - 'Father Earth'. Father Earth is an alive being and magic is part of him. (it is interesting that Jemisin uses Father Earth and not mother earth). Father Earth considers Moon to be its son.  

T1 - Shattering 

Father Earth sees their engine and right when the Tuners put the spark, wakes up and destroys the engine. The Tuners, specifically Houzha, has to channel the 'magic' somewhere, since on Earth, it would destroy everything. So, he redirects the energy to the moon and it pushes the moon outside its orbit. Moon is no longer circling Earth and this makes the Father Earth more angry. 

Father Earth does few things - (i) Converts Tuners into Stone Eaters - Stone Eaters are like statues but they have heart of Tuners who are bio-engineered humans. So, in a way Stone Eaters are human hearted stones who can not die. They can use magic though. StoneEaters can not die (ii) The Syl Anagists who were trying to create the magic, Father Earth adds a corestone to their sessapaine (where the back-neck meets the spine). This allows the FatherEarth to control them and he calls them Guardians. The idea is that Guardians will be the means by which Father Earth can control humans. Guardians can access magic via their corestone.  (iii) Father Earth took control of the Obelisks and programmed them to drop 'magic' bombs on Earth and kill humans. However, Houzha interjected and add a 100-year delay in that, just so that humans have sometime to plan for this.  (iv) Everyone at Corepoint are killed

T1+100 years 

When the lag gets cover, the obelisks drop massive amounts of kinetric energy bombs and that is how the Fifth Seasons started. This is the crux of the story - this is how the Earth was broken, giving the name of the book - Broken Earth trilogy. 

In this 100 years, Keleni survived and her descendants were able to use orogeny. This is how Orogenes come from - they are all descendants of Keleni. 

In this 100 years, is where the stonelore was written. Stonelore is the history of the shattering and its aftermath. But later, the new rulers (Sanze-mat) would rewrite the history. 

The above is largely what is covered in book three. It is amazing that in book 1 and book 2, we read about how Sanze-Mat and Guardians are the new rulers/oppressors. But, Jemisin is saying that history is simply  repeating itself, with a different character cast. 

T2 minus thirty years 

Dayama is recruited from a small village and taken to Yumenes/Fulcrum - a place where Orogenes are trained. Orogenes, also called roggas (in a derogatory manner), is a trait, some people are born with it. Without training, they are called ferals. If orogenes can not control their orogeny, they often kill their near and dear ones. So, there is a school in Yumenes where the training happens. Orogenes go from zero to 10 rings. Ten-ringer are extremely powerful and can even have the ability to spot magic. 

As a joke, Jemisin names the land mass, where Yumenes and all the cities reside, Stillness. Stillness is anything but still - there are earthquakes, volcanic eruptions etc. Orogenes go there and control these tectonic movements. 

But Orogenes are under control. Guardians have the ability to control orogenes because Guradians have magic. Orognes are unable to perform in the presence of guardians. Guardians are employed by certain ruling class called Sanze-mat. Sanze-mat are oligarchs that control governments and everything that goes in Stillness. They are the ones who often rewrite history. (See the parallels) Orogenes do not have their free-will and are considered below-humans. Across stillness, communities throw orogenes out or kill them. Because of their powers, ordinary people are afraid of them. And where there is fear, there is subjugation. 

Dayama is taken to Yumenes and begins her formal training at the school. Many small incidents happen but they are not very important. Dayama is smart and learns quickly. She advanced to a three ringer. At some point they can chose a new name and Dayama choose Syenite. 

T2 minus 25 years 

At some point, Syenite is asked to serve a 10-ringer Alabaster. Serve here means to copulate and breed and have her kids.  Alabaster is a ten-ringer, least interested in sex, but has to play by the rules of the Sanze-mat. Such breedings etc are common practice. Ten-ringers have better freedoms, they can choose their own projects, live independently in lavish villas etc but still under control. 

Alabaster is given a mission to clear docks at Allia and she takes Syenite along with him. Along the way, they visit a node-maintainer citadel. Sanze-Mat has established these node-maintainer units across the Stillness. A node maintainer's job is to look at micro or small tectonic movements and quell then. It leads to region's stability. If the region is geo-logically stable, it will be economically prosperous. But who are node maintainers ? These are orogenes, drugged and fed via tubes who do this job 24x7 until they die. Often the children of ten-ringers are taken to do this. Or orogenes who do poor in training are assigned this duty. It is slavery + torture combined. Alabaster is aware of this but Syenite and us see this for the first time, to understand the horror of it and the price that is paid to establish the pretense of civilization development. 

At Allia, Alabaster is given a kind of poison and is unable to clear the docks. So he sends Syenite to clear the docks. Alabaseter is given poison because he demands respect that should be given to a ten-ringer but is not given. Sanze-mat also charges tax from these towns to send trained ten-ringers and these taxes are exorbitant. Allia leadership feels that they are extorted and they take it out on Alabaster. Jemisin gives us the glimpse of such politics but it is amazing how much it mirrors the current day affairs (think import/export tax etc) 

At the docks, Syenite clears the weeds but realizes that the weeds are there because there is something big underneath water which is blocking the flow of water. She sesses (just like eyes are for sight, sess is what you to do orogeny) and realizes that it is a big objet there. She tries to connect with it and realizes that she is able to connect and lift it. Once it comes over-ground, she realizes that it is a Obelisk and there is someone inside. Being of curious and helpful nature, she asks the person inside 'Are you ok?' This simple thing changes everything. Her humanity to check and do good is the crux of everything. Because, we later see that the inside thing was Houza, now the stone eater. 

But now that there is an Obelisk, the Sanze-Mat sends guardians to control this. When guardian comes, they attack Alabaster and try to control Syenite. Syenite in her effort to protect herself reaches out to the Obelisk and using the battery power stored there, she raises Earth and destroys the guardian and the entire town of Allia. 

Sensing destruction, Syenite and Alabaster are taken by StoneEater Antimony and taken to an island Meov. Antimony has decided to protect Alabaster, largely because of his ability to channel orogeny at a ten-ringer level. There is a bigger plan that is at play here.  

At Meov, Syenite and Alabaster give birth to their son - Corundrum. Meov is a inhabited by a tribe who are pirates by profession. They loot the Sanze-mat commercial ships. The Meov is led by a guy called Innon. Innon is a orogene (or a feral since he is not trained). Interestingly at this tribe, they revere folks with orogenical ability and make them leaders. They are a happy and self-sufficient bunch (except the pirating). Innon is also a bi-sexual and is attracted to both Syenite and Alabaster. The three of them have sex and also raise Corundrum together. 

T2 minus some 22 years

After living at Meov for 2-3 years, and after having their son, Syenite is getting bored. Alabaster is at peace, he enjoys the island's natural beauty, have family, have a son, and there is no oppression. But Syenite is restless. She convinces Innon to take her for pirating. They loot a ship, and on the way back, she convinces Innon to take her to see Allia. At Allia, Syenite sees the aftermath of her destruction, there are magma vents spewing lava and she decides to seal them. But she is spotted while doing so. 

After sometime, guardians visit the Meov island and try to take Syenite. Her own guardian Schadda is sent. In the process, Innon is killed. She realizes that she will be captured and so will be Corundrum. Corundrum is captured, being a son of a ten-ringer will become a node-maintainer. Sensing this, she kills Coru herself and connects with the Amethyst obelisk to cause a massive tectonic plate eruption which kills all folks of Meov, all guardians, and everyone. 

Schafa survives by making a deal with Father Earth - he gets amnesia and forgets everything. Father earth controls him completely by using corestone. He is given the mission to do what Father Earth asks him to do. 

Alabaster is saved by Antimony again. Antimony takes Alabaseter to Corepoint - the other side of the Stillness.  

Syenite survives and is taken by a fisherman. She takes a new name Essun and settles in a village called Tirimo. She later marries a knapper named Jija and has two children. She becomes a teacher and leads a normal life. 

Dayama - Syenite - Essun are the same person but in book one, Jemisin tells the story of each one independently without telling the reader that they are the same person. Essun is broken like an adult. Dayama is afraid but curious.  And Syenite has the youth hopeful spirit. One person going through a different life stages and shaped by their experiences. There is an aha moment when these are connected. 

T2 - The Rifting

Alabaster, standing next to Antimony, destroys the Yumenes/Fulcrum. Fulcrum is where orogenes are trained, where all guardians live, the most tectonically stable place across Stillness. Alabaster divides the entire plateau into two parts by using orogeny. To generate this much enormous power, he uses the network of all node maintainers, combines them, channels their orogeny into his and creates a giant rift. Everyone in Fulcrum dies. The rift is giant that it has impact across 1000s of miles. 

This how the trilogy starts. One of the best openings ever. 

Why did Alabaster do this? (i) Antimony has a game to play and she convinces Alabaster to do so. (ii) Alabaster is angry that guardians killed his son. So, he does this to take the revenge. (iii) Alabaster is sick and tired of the oppression that he decides to kill everyone and let the world start a-new. 

Reasons could be many but it is done. 

Tirimo is not impacted. Because when the tectonic shift comes to the village, Essun sesses it and redirects the wave around the town. But on the same morning before the Shattering is about to hit Tirimo, Essun's husband, Jija, discovers that his son, their son, Uche, is a rogga (or orogene). Driven by madness, he kills Uche, and drives away with his daughter, Nassun. Essun comes back to see Uche dead and is stunned. A broken Essun is broken again. Two of her three kids are now dead. Third one is abducted by her husband. 

T2 plus 2 days 

Essun is in shock for 2 days but then later realizes that she has to leave Tirimo and go after her daughter. As she is getting out, the village people realize that she could be the orogene who prevented the town catastrophe. Instead of thanking her, they decide to attack her. She attacks them back and in the process destroys the entire town (by breaking the water connection)

After traveling a day, she meets a small boy who has peculiar human like features but has pale white skin and eyes. His name is Hoa. And later, they meet another girl, Tonkee. Together, Essun, Hoa and Tonkee decide to pursue Jija to rescue Nassun. 

T2 plus 60 days 

The rifting has started the season. Sky is full of ash, acid rains, crops are about to get destroyed. The world is now a dust-box. It is now a time of survival. This season will last decades. perhaps centuries. 

Tonkee, Hoa and Essun stumble into a comm (short for community) Castrima. Castrima is also led by a rogga - Ykka, and they are an underground community. Ykka decides to give them shelter and Essun also so tired now takes it. They spend few months here. 

We are in book two here. 

At Castrima, there is Alabaster and Antomony. Alabaster is turning to stone. We learn that when orognes use too much 'magic', their body starts to turn into stone. Alabaster teaches Essun on how to use this much power - via obelisks, by creating a network of other orogenes and combine their power. He teaches Essun about 'magic' .

In parallel, Jija is taking Nassun to a place where it is believed that she can be cured - de-roggafied. It is somewhere up north and they reach there. The place is called 'New Moon' and is run by Schaffa, the guardian. Schaffa recruits Nassun but it is a lie. Schaffa and other guardians are recruited by Father Earth to recruit orogenes for his purposes. 

Nassun is also very skilled even though she is just 10 years old, she picks up things very fast. She is gifted, she is able to spot magic on her own. She calls it silver. Schaffa, along with other guardians, visit the Antartic Fulcrum and kill everyone (every orogene) there. 

Schaffa becomes very protective of Nassun and decides to dedicate his life for her protection. This is in contrast with Father Earth's wishes but Schaffa wants to do this one good to offset his other past crimes. 

Nassun is befriended by a StoneEater, she calls him Steel. Along with Steel, she learns how to use magic effectively. 

After couple of years there, Jija realizes that Nassun is not getting de-roggafied. So, he gets enraged and tried to kill her. Nassun kills her own father by using magic. Other guardians are killed by Schaffa and steel since they try to attack Nassun. 

Nassun realizes that there is no one who loves her. Except Schaffa. Schaffa is being controlled by Father Earth who wants to separate Schaffa from her. She does not like this and wants to kill everyone who stands in her way, who stands in she getting loved or kill everyone who wants to kill her or Schaffa. 

Meanwhile. at Castrima, the comm is attacked by another comm Rennais. Rennais is also supported by a stone eater, the same one with Nassun - Steel. Rennais gives ultimatum to Castrima - to join them or get killed. Joining comes with a caveat - no orogenes. 

Alabaster after teaching Essun turns into stone and is taken by Antimony somewhere. It is said that she will eat him and then reproduce, that is how stone-eaters are produced. Essun gives up the plan to catch up to Nassun because she can not survive alone out there during season and she wanted to learn from Alabaster. Alabaster teaches her about magic. 

Hoa is attacked by fellow stone eaters and is saved by Essun. He gets a new form, this time an adult Stone-Eater who has vowed to protect Essun. 

Apparently, there is a difference of opinion between Stone Eaters on what should happen next. Moon is going to be soon near the Earth. There is one faction, led by Steel who feel that we should use this opportunity to again channelize the magic and redirect moon's path and let it hit Earth. This will destroy everything, kill Father Earth and life as we know it. This will also kill Stone Eaters who at this point are eternal. The other faction is less negative. They want to put moon back in its old orbit and have a truce with Father Earth, to end all seasons. This faction is led by Hoa. 

Both factions are at war with each other. Hoa has recruited Essun, the mother. Steel has recruited Nassun, the daughter. Both are capable to draw enough 'magic' to do this. 

Castrima rejects Rennais offer. Rennais attacks Castrima. Essun uses the obelisk to channel enough magic to freeze everyone from Rennais comm. She also kills some stone eaters who were working with Rennais. In this process, since she has used so much magic, her body becomes to turn into stone. She redirects that to her left hand and her left-hand is now made of stone. Later, Hoa eats this stone so that she can move about. 

The underground layer is no longer livable. Castrima then decides to travel to Rennais, the place, since that is habitable now. 

This is largely book two. 

Now minus two days. 

Nassun along with Steel and Schaffa travel to Corepoint to do Steel's bidding and the world. So that there is no one to hate her. 

Essun, along with Hoa, also plan to visit Corepoint to redirect moon in its orbit. 

Later we realize that Hoa is same as Houzha and Steel is Remwha, Antimoney is Gaewha. What happened in book one (Dyama-> Syenite->Essun) is repeated with Houzha/Hoa. Another aha moment when it happens. 

Nassun reaches Corepoint earlier by traveling via Vehemat - a train journey through the core of the Earth, powered by magic. Schaffa does not fare well and is unconscious when he reaches there. Father Earth's pull is higher when they are in the core. 

Essun reaches Corepoint traveling with Hoa who can travel via stone. 

Now

At the Corepoint, moon is visible. Nassun has reached early. When evening comes, Nassun uses the network of all obelisks to draw the power of 'magic' to change moon's trajectory. Essun is late and sees Nassun in action. She reaches out to Nassun but Nassun does not respond back. Essun also tries to tackle the problem by using the most powerful obelisk - Onyx. But she needs more power, she uses the network of all guardians who are resting there. Guardians travel to Corepoint during seasons - that is how they survive seasons. She taps into their magic network and uses it to reach out to Onyx. 

Now both magic sources, Essun's and Nassun's are vying to change moon's trajectory. Essun now realizes Nassun's motives and instead to counter her, she lets her have her way and gives control of her network to Nassun. Since this is a massive use of magic, Essun is now completley transformed into a stone. Nassun realizes this to be a gesture of love, and then thinks that there are still some humans who love her and decides to cancel her plan, and instead does what Essun wanted to do - puts moon back in its right orbit.

Thus truce is reached. Father Earth ends the rifting and ensures that there won't be any new seasons. 

Essun is later re-born as a Stone Eater. Both she and Hoa decide to make Earth a better place. 

The Burning Kingdoms Trilogy - Book Review

 The Burning Kingdoms Trilogy

By Tasha Suri

Book 1 - The Jasmine Throne

Book 2 - The Oleander Sword

Book 3 - The Lotus Empire.

Genre - Fantasy

I read a decent about of fantasy but I have never read fantasy based on India. Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms is a refreshing read, it takes the genre and contextualizes it in Indian culture. Here the two women protagonists are fighting but they wear saris, wear flower garlands. The food mentions rotis, halwas. The worship/religion is similar to Hindu religion but never explicitly stated. The place and other references are based on Indian lingo, examples - Parijatdvipa, Malini, Priya and Yaksa. The feel of this book is Indian and that is what motivated me to pick it and I would recommend the series. 

The Jasmine throne starts when Malini is exiled by her brother to a remote place in the empire because she would not burn herself, that is sacrifice herself, for a prophecy that was foretold many eons ago. It is a form of imprisonment.  The book touches a lot of patriarchal subjects without making them obvious.  In this prison, Malini meets Priya who is assigned to take care of her. Priya is part of a old tribe who had magical powers and she can still feel the magic in herself. 

The magic system of Burning Kingdoms is really well done. It is based on nature. People are infected by a rot - that is they are turning into trees. Skins gets converted into tree-bark like texture, veins into plant-veins, leaves and flowers sprout from body's spores. It is wholesome, easy to visualize and builds nicely. Then there is deathless water, a secret place where you take three dips, each dip either kills you or gives you stronger magical powers. There is training to improve your strength to pass these water-tests. 

Tasha Suri builds the magic system gradually and her prose is awesome. Pages flip faster. The book is part of Sapphic fantasy genre - a subgenre of speculative fiction that features women-loving-women (WLW ) or nonbinary people in prominent roles. (I learnt about it recently). It is a love story of Priya and Malini against this backdrop of this magic system and evil logic of burning women. 

Fire and water occur frequently and play the role of power/revenge vs strength through the book. There are a lot of good subtle touches throughout the book - nameless gods, prophecies and a lot of politics, and diplomacy weaved in. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and that convinced me to read the trilogy. 

As trilogies go, books 2 and 3 expand on the world building. Where does the magic system come from? Why does the rot happen? As our main characters are going through their journey of self discoveries, sometimes, they find success, sometimes they hit roadblocks. Patience is tested, plans are re-drawn. And in between all of this, there is a longing between the two characters when they are not together and more so, when they are. The society has not accepted woman-woman relationship and they have to hide. Then, there is also the power dynamic - one wants to become an empress, other is a citizen of the empire. Tasha Suri, weaves all these into the plots neatly - the story keeps developing as these themes are explored. 

I really liked the world building expansion. The magic system comes from these god-like beings called Yasksa who are celestial beings who once ruled the earth but were killed. Now, they are coming back. As they come back, they have to take human bodies and there are nice inner-monologues on the meaning of human forms for celestial beings. The magic system goes from a celebrated power to a curse because Yaksa are the new threat - they want to rule the world. 

I also really liked the politics that goes. A woman to become an empress in the man's world - that does not go well. And there are different shades of it. They are those who support her claim unconditionally. Then there are those who want to remove the evil brother but are not sure of her claim. There are those who support her claim but are not ok with her proximity to the magic system/Priya, Each of these factions have their own political games and Malini dances around them. 

By the end of book two, Malini has become the empress and Priya's magical powers are at its peak. But Priya has tried to kill Malini unsuccessfully, So, they are apart now. Book three is about how they eventually come together to destroy the Yaksas. 

Book three opens with a strong velocity and I was gripped. But once they hit the early failures, the book takes time gets its pieces back. Somethings work - the Yaksa and anything related to them works for me. But the other things feel ingenuine - example  - a character leaves to search for a way to kill or slow down Yaksa and then finds something as the very first thing. No struggle, no challenge. It is the very first thing they stumble into. Some characters who were introduced in book 2, do not show up strongly in book 3. 

Tasha Suri manages to conclude nicely. The conclusion is logical, ties many plot points, bring closure and also our two characters end up together. It is a happy fantasy ending - one that is meant to be.  

Overall, the writing is tight, good pace and very relatable. I think for the first time, I felt that I am reading fantasy and I can relate to the universe of this. It feel personal and real. That the Indian culture can be used as the base was known but no one had done it (at-least I had not read so far) . I liked the books and I would definitely recommend.

Ratings - 

Book 1 - The Jasmine Throne - 3.5/5

Book 2 - The Oleander Sword - 3.5/5

Book 3 - The Lotus Empire. - 3/5

 

Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima (part 3)

This is part 3 of our Peru travelogue. 

Part 1 - Peru 2026 - a perfect itinerary

Part 2 - Peru trip - Cusco

Part 3 - Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima 

Day 6 - Puerto Maldonado - Tambopata (JunglePro Lodge)

We had booked JunglePro's 3 nights Tambopata tour of Amazon rainforest. As part of this, they provide airport pickup/drop, lodging inside rainforest and various rainforest activities. Amazon rainforest is huge and it borders almost all latin American countries, a small part of it is in Peru. In Peru, there are two places to see the rainforest - Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado. We chose this because of easier connectivity. 

We landed in Maldonado in the morning and were escorted to the JunglePro Lodge's base station. We had some time before another group had to come so we went to Plaza de Armas of Puerto Maldonado (where else). There we had our brunch - all local street food.  One of the famous street food breakfast in Peru is potato+eggs - two boiled potatoes + two boiled eggs with some mint/mustard sauce. It is healthy and tasty. We also had empanadas. The veg options are few but they are ok. We also had flan :)

We had a group of 4 other girls from Guam - an American colony near Taiwan. Our guide was a rainforest localite who learnt English. His name was Freddy and he was amazing - lot of jungle knowledge and stories. 

Our day 1 was a 3 hr boat ride on the Tambopata river to get to the jungle lodge. Along the way, we saw largest rodents on earth - capybaras. We also saw turtle, reptiles etc.  JunglePro's lodge is very well built - reminded me of the JungleLodges in Karnataka. They take care of food, stay, wooden based cottages with mosquito protection. 

At night, we had our first activity - Jungle nightwalk. Freedy led us into the dark forest. Forest is alive, lot of sounds at night. We had to wear gumboots - the trail was sludgy, and applied some mosquito repellants. Freddy carried a special UV torch - animals like scorpions can not be seen with naked eye but they light up under UV light. We saw tarantulas, large spiders, spider-webs, large ants, and many other animals. 

One of the best part of the JunglePro lodge were its meals. We had the best meal here of the entire trip. They would feed us breakfast, lunch dinner. Lunch or dinner had rice and dal - black masoor dal is a staple there. Having dal-chawal in peru was heavenly and it was well made. Since we had shared that we are vegetarians, they would make special dishses for us - sometimes mushrooms, sometimes sauted vegetables They had different salads, potatoes, tofu etc. After a long activity, we would have food and sleep peacefully. The food, stay, nature really reminded me of River Tern

They also had a bar counter where you had to pay for drinks. Interestingly, the payment was to be in cash only and that too in dollars. I have rarely seen a country accepting dollars instead of their own currency as cash. 

There was no cellphone reception, but they had wifi, so Whatsapp calling was possible. 

Day 7 - Macaws eating clay 

Day 7 began at 3 am. We had to leave the lodge at 330, travel up the river for 3 hrs to reach a clay hill. There, in the morning, colorful Macaws come to lick clay. Clay is natural detox. Macaws lick clay to neutralize acids and other minerals that is their in their wild diet.  

For the 330 am boat ride, the lodge guys gave us blankets. Thankfully, we had our jackets. When the cool breeze hit our faces, we slept. It is amazing how the boat guy navigated the river current. The river is not clean, so navigating the debris without daylight was a challenge. But these folks are pro now. 

Macaws are magestic birds - so much color, beautiful wingspan.  To just see them, it was splendid. The guide taught us to use telescope+phone camera to click highly zoomed in photos and videos. We saw parrots, owl, and even a sloth

The breakfast was organized next to the river only. They had boiled eggs, pancakes, banana chips, coffee, fruits etc. The boat-ride back was peaceful. 

In the evening, we went to visit a nearby lake (40 mins by boat) . Here, we saw rain - it was heavy. We first time realized that why is it called a rainforest :) 

Day 8 - Day hike and tower

We did a 4 hrs day hike to walk to a nearby lake. Anacondas live there appratently but we couldn't spot any. The walk on the way was refreshing - through the jungle and we saw many cool things. Before leaving, the guide cut out a termite nest and by the time we got back, we saw the nest has been fixed. We saw a trail of red-ants travelling with us for about half a km, on the trail to get some specific substance from a tree. We saw Peru monkeys, old huge trees with giant trunks. My cool photo is of this monkey eating banana here - 

JunglePro had constructed a 50-floor high watch tower near the lodge. In the evening, we went to climb there and see sunset. 

Day 9 - Tambopata - Puerto Maldonado - Lima

Day 9 was just traveling back from the lodge to Lima. We took boat from lodge to reach Puerto Maldoando, then a bus to reach airport, then a flight to reach Lima and then a Uber to reach our Airbnb. We had booked an Airbnb at Miraflores and it was centrally located. 

Our Airbnb was a 1BHK and a good kitchen with washing machine. It was spacious and well maintained. Rating is 3.5/5 . 

Our Airbnb was close to the Kennedy Park which is famous for having cats live there. Somehow, they have created an environment for the cats to happily exist there. The civil/municipal workers take care of feeding and cleaning them. (Some) Cats are friendly and they let to pet you 

Day 10 - Lima downtown

Lima is not a safe city. Only Miraflores and Barranco neighborhoods are considered safe for tourists. But, the downtown Lima, its Plaza de Armas, is at the centre. How to go there ? We ended up booking a walking tour and it took us there. Interestingly, the guide took us via public bus which was also a good experience. Lima, like any over-populated city is battling traffic problems. But, they have dedicated bus lanes, so buses do go faster. But, their bus stops have high demand. While coming back, we saw long queues of people waiting to get on. But, overall, bus management and cleanliness was good. 

At the historic centre, the guide took us to various churches - couple from inside and others outside, old Spanish houses, gave restaurant recommendations, and overall shared the history of Peru. He also cautioned on what was safe to walk and what is not. The tour was informative, weather good. So, overall a great experience. 

Once the tour was over, we had ice-cream near the Plaza. We took the guide on his recommendations and visited two restaurants - one which served traditional pisco sour, and second one in Chinatown. We did our own walking tour, aimlessly exploring the city. At one place, we saw dentist equipments, machines, drills, etc being sold like wholesale goods, and folks at the side-walk asking random people to get their root canals done, at 50% discount :). We saw couple of girls selling artisinal breads from a food truck . Walking without any aim was real fun. 

It is not fun when everything is going good. Some adventure has to be there. We were exhausted after walking the whole day, We took an Uber to reach back to our Airbnb, only to realize that we do not have the right keys, Turned out that at the icecream shop, I had used their restroom and returned the Airbnb keys instead of the restroom key (which had hombres on its keychain) . We quickly took the uber back to the cafe, did the traffic thing again. Fortunately, they had the key. We got the swap done, and finally, went back to airbnb, battling the traffic again. 

At Lima, we have been cooking breakfast and some meals. Near to where we were staying, we had Vivanda, a upscale grocery store. We bought water and veggies there. 

Day 11 - Museums

Day 11 was our Larco museum day. Larco museum hosts historic artifacts - both from Spanish time and before. It is rated very high and rightly so - very well maintained with a rich colletion of artifacts. It covers thousands of years on what happened to Peru, old settlers, their pottery, textiles etc. Very neatly explained with audio-guide as well. 

One thing that I remember very well is that Spanish folks looted a lot of gold from the Incans. The Incan royalty had the habit of weating gold-plated breast-plates, armors, crowns etc. So, Spaniards looted them all and took it back. Only to realize that it was only gold colored and didn't include actual gold. It is funny and sad at the same time. 

The museum was blasting AC and I was not wearing any jacket because the outside weather was warmer. So, upon reaching home, I had a little temperature and we decided to call it a day. We had plans to visit Barranco that day but we dropped it. My temperature reached 101+ later and I took Dolo and slept it off.

In the evening, we stepped out to taste good hot chocolate. The cafe next door had jigsaw puzzle setup. So, Kanishka and  I solved the puzzle and drank hot chocolate.

Mira Flores also has lot of Casinos and we were living walking distance from them. But, in this trip, I could not visit even a single one. 

Day 12 -  Sick in foreign land. 

This was the last day of our trip. Tomorrow was the flight back. Our plan was to eat at Astrid Y Gaston. We had made lunch reservation. Lima is well known for having 3 restaurants in top 50 restaurants in the world . We wanted to try one even though most of the dishes are non vegetarian. But, they did have some veg options. 

My fever persisted through the night. In the morning, it was not coming down. Since we had just returned from Puerto Maldonado, a thought came - could it be Dengue? There were a lot of mosquitoes in the rainforest. Earlier I was dismissive and then thought that so what if it is dengue. But, then a google search showed that flights during Dengue can be life threatening. Kanishka was also having similar symptoms, with fever.

So, we finally decided to get the blood work done. In a foreign land, visiting hospital, this was a first. The first two nearby diagnostic centres we went, the communication was hard, we used Google-Translate. But they said that it would give reports in 2 days. We didn't had the time. Kanishka then took us to British American Hospital. They were super helpful and took me to emergency. 

A doctor consultation in Lima is 350 Soles (~INR 10.5K) and emergency visit consult is around 600 soles. Healthcare is crazily expensive there. We took the emergency option to get 2 hr bloodwork done. The doctor was nice and the hospital very cooperative. Both Kanishka and I had tests done and got our reports negative. Huge relief. But, I was feeling low energy, so we bought electrolytes and kept on sipping that. Thankfully, Kanishka was able to claim insurance and we got 80% of our expense back. Phew!

Evening was peaceful. We just went out for dinner at a Japanese place, had ramen and then had churros for dessert. 

Day 13 - Travel back

Recovering back, there was some energy. So, we finally did the boardwalk in the morning. It was nice and walking felt good.  Boardwalk had the famous kiss statue there. We walked back to the Airbnb. We ended up visiting the Kennedy cats park for the third time :).

Flight back was ok. Watched a lot of movies. Diners card was very useful - we used lounge access in almost all departure lounges in Peru. They were small, crowded but good food, and free water :) 

Our return was very long - Lime - Amsterdam - Delhi and then to Bangalore. We could not check in to our Delhi - BLR flight, I think it was sold out, so we had to take premium economy. 

The reverse jet-lag and body recovery took another week. The fever indeed took almost 1.5 days from our trip. But no one can plan for these things.  It did leave with an interesting experience. 

Overall, a great trip - new country, new experiences, new memories. We may not go back to Peru - lots of things to see in the world, but it is a worthwhile experience to go there. Machu Picchu alone makes up for it. Rainforest is a bonus. But, it is a developing country with crime - not much motivation to re-visit it. But, worth every dime to experience it once.  

Peru trip - Cusco

This is part 2 of our Peru travelogue

Part 1 - Peru 2026 - a perfect itinerary

Part 2 - Peru trip - Cusco

Part 3 - Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima 

Day 0 - Flight 

BLR -> Paris -> Lima -> Cusco

We took the bold decision to directly go to Cusco, that is to not spend a night in Lima. We kept a gap of 4 hrs between landing at Lima and then flying to Cusco. We had to collect our luggage and re-check-in for the domestic flight. But, our flight departed late from BLR, landed late in Paris, the next flight from Paris was delayed and then we landed an hr late in Lima. But, thankfully, we were on time. As they say, fortune favors the brave... or in our country - this was a masterstroke of planning. 

At Lima airport, we got the first taste of lack of veg food options... if the airport had so few options, then what would happen. We landed at Cusco at 10 pm and the hotel had booked us a taxi for pickup. It was cold but manageable. 

Our stay was at Amaru Colonial Cusco, one of the rare original Spanish architecture based hotels. The entrance is via a small one-vehicle wide cobbled road with no space to park, but once you are inside, it was awesome. Overall, our hotel would be 4/5 for decor and 3.5 overall. 

Day 1 - Cusco

Kanishka found an excellent city tour. It covered - 

Plaza de Armas - Q'enco  - Saqsaywaman - Puka Pukara - Tambomachay - Coricancha 

The starting point was walkable from our hotel.  At the Plaza, some kids were practicing for the festival, we saw the dance and roamed around there. It is a pretty cool hangout places with fancy cafes and activities going on. 

We hopped on a bus to cover these places. Most of the places are ruins of Incas. Usecase of some are known but others, it is a guesswork. For example - Puka Pukara was a market, it sat at the intersection of the Incan trail and a detour to get to Cusco. Now, it is all ruins. 

My favorite of the mix was Saqsaywaman - this was built as the meeting place for the Cusco leaders to welcome guests. It has three layers (floors) of zig-zag well structured stones. Some of the stones are huge and they are not local. They were dragged from 12-15 kms away. Dragging those stones with human hands plus some ropes, would have been an engineering feat at that point. 

Our guide also shared a glimpse of local challenges. The rates at Plaza De Armas are 2-3x of rates at other places. There is a lot of corruption in Peru. The trust on govt. is low. Many of these sounded familiar to us. 

We were tired by the end, so we decided to skip Coricancha and instead headed for lunch. Our lunch was at Vida Vegan Bistro Cusco . I had my first taste of Vegan Pisco sour ( a national drink which typically contains egg). We had burger and pasta and paid 20 soles (INR 600) for two bottles of water. First lesson that water in restaurants are not free.  Post lunch, we went to hotel and crashed.

We stepped out in the evening and again visited the Plaza.  Our dinner was at this Chia Vegan restaurant. The food was amazing. Peru is known for its variety of potatoes and we had one here. 

Day 2 - Cusco to Ollantaytambo via Sacred Valley tour.

We checked out post breakfast and dragged our suitcases on the cobbled street to meet the tour-van. Our night stay was at Ollantaytambo. Kanishka did the clever booking - Sacred valley tours includes Ollantaytambo, so she found one who can give us the tour and also drop us there. That made things simpler

Sacred Valley tour started with a local textile shop Textile quechua . Cusco is known for making winterwear using LLama wool. At this shop, they showed the process of how the wool is made from the llama fur. Pretty good exerperience. They also were selling stuff, the quality seemed good but so did the prices, so, we didn't buy anything. 

Our next stop was Chinchero. Another Incan ruin with a beautiful step farming setup. It was burnt down to prevent the Spanish inquisition here. Next stop was Maras Moray - a circular terrace farming place. Our guide told story that it was like a farming laboratory for Incans. After returning back, I got curious and did more research. The farming laboratory theory is now called bogus. But to sell a narrative, it is pretty cool. The sights here were also great.  Maras Moray was peaceful, green, serene. 

Our next top were the Maras salt mines. We also stopped before at a salt shop and bought expensive salt :) Salt mines are unique, cool, and crowded. But, worth a visit. We had authentic buffet lunch after this. The buffet had few good veg options and flan for dessert. We were sorted. 

Upong reaching Ollantaytambo, we skipped the Ollantaytamo ruins from the Sacred valley tour. We wanted to do so at our own pace. We checked into the Airbnb, which was right next to the Plaza de Armas of Ollantaytambo. Our airbnb had kitchen, so we headed out to buy water and veggies :) 

At the local market, we saw a 7 gallon water being sold from 12 Soles to 30 Soles. Kanishka did her best to bargain but they were better. Veggies were fresh, juicy and delicious - this is an hilly area, so veggies are grown locally. The market was also like a local basement kind of market but still okay-ish clean. Not as clean as Japan ones :) but a lot better than Bangalore. 

At midnight we celebrated Kanishka's birthday. We bought a local brownie but got looted. The brownie was very small and it was for 15 soles. The Ollantaytambo market was a good walk, not much crowds in the evening, well lit and weather was also good. 

Day 3 - Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is worth the hype! 

It is hyper commercialized. The trains to reach there are expensive but they are luxurious. There is no road access.  Machu Pichu allows only 4500 visitors per day. One has to select which routes to pick for sightseeing, and the route #2 - where you can walk among the ruins get sold out the fastest. Then you have to book the trains, the bus from train station to entry point, a guide for local sight seeing etc. Kanishka did all the planning here and we booked the Panoramic route which in my opinion is the best one :) 

Machu Pichu was never finished. It was not a functional city, it was still under construction. It was abandoned when Spanish folks came. Spainiards never reached here, so it was under moss and ruins until it was rediscovered by a adventurer geologist. It is one of the new Seven wonders of the world. 

The train journey is very scenic. We follow the Urubamba river nestled in the mountains. It is like a Vista dome train. The attendants are multi-talented. The attendants does the job of ticket-checker, serving food-drinks, and in the onward journey, we had a mini traditional ritual that was performed by the attendants only. On the way back, Kanishka booked the other train company - Peru Rail and they are also getting into apparel. So, their attendants did a whole fashion show ramp walk. The number of things expected by attendants is just amazing. 

Machu Picchu was surreal. Our guide was an expert in taking Insta-worthy photos and made us pose. But once the photo-shoot was done, we got time to sit and admire the wonder. It is amazing. Between the mountains, so quite, peaceful. You get to see the whole thing only in the Panoramic route and I think it is the best one. If you are inside, you do not get to see the big picture, the expanse of it. Only in Panoramic, the beauty comes alive. 

The station town is called Aguas Calientes. After Machu Picchu, we walked the streets and had lunch at Iskcon themed vegan restaurant by the name of Govinda. The whole town is pricey.  We had some quinoa khichdi and it was yum! We walked through the markets, bought our souvenir magnets here. 

We had dinner at a train-bogey themed restaurant next to the station only. The food was awesome. We walked back to Airbnb. This was the highlight of the trip - best day. 

Day 4 - Ollantaytambo

Day 4 was meant to be chill day.  We had carried Theplas from home. Breakfast was boiled eggs, Thepla, yogurt and salad. I think our meals during travel are way more healthier than at home :) 

The market outside the ruins was interesting, After the walk, we ended up buying sweaters and caps. Kanishka demonstrated her bargaining skills - I could not believe that we got 60% discount. 

We did a leisurely walk to the Ollantaytambo ruins and explored it. Beyond the ruins, there were some spots even higher and we had to walk there. We took an easy stroll to climb and reach there - it was sunny but not super hot. 

The Ollantaytambo ruins are special - it was a living  city, fully functional one. When the Spaniards came, they attacked the city but a 19 year old warrior was able to defeat them. This is the reason they never reached Machu Picchu, they turned back there. All Incan ruins have certain things as common - a Sun temple for example. Incan worshipped the Sun god and June 24st, they celebrate the Inti Raymi,  a festival dedicated to Sun god. It is difficult to understand how people lived during those times but the space is huge and structure is solid. 

Post the ruin visit, we had lunch at the Plaza and had the worst Burrito ever. And at the cost of 50 soles, it was a loot. We visited our favorite local grocery store, bought bread, butter and stuff and then had a nice salad + bread as dinner. We also used this day to do laundry :) 

During the evening stroll, we tried local street food. One such drink was Emoliente - a herbal drink made of roasted barley, lemon, sugar and herbs. It is served hot and it was awesome! Our Airbnb had kitchen, heater and hot water. It was next to plaza. It was one of those Inca ancestral home, next to the cobbled streets. I would rate it 4/5 for the experience. 

Day 5 - Back to Cusco

We took a cab from Ollantaytambo to Cusco. It was a 3 hr ride. Our driver knew english. He was from the  jungle but spoke english fluently, On the way, we say these purple colored drinks sold in bottle and we asked him what it is. It was Chicha Morada , made of fermented corn. We bought it and it was awesome! 

Our one night stay at Cusco was at hotel Hacienda . This was far from the Plaza. The hotel was ok - basic, functional. It was next to the Pedro market, so that is where we started. 

Pedro market is the local grocery+food+chocolate market there. It has vendor stalls selling all kinds of things. One such thing is roasted guinea pigs :) We tried some cakes, some random items, empinada and finally found a vegan restaurant there - Vegan Pinto and had one of the best ROI (taste over money) meals. We were full but the meal was yum! 

After this, we went to see the Coricancha museum - it used to be an Incan temple taken over by Spanish clergy and it was then their sacred place. We didn't had a guide so we didn't enjoy it much. The one thing that I remember is reading about the history and it is here we learnt that Incans used to believe in sacrifices - they sacrificed kids too, sometimes burying them alive in ground. So, Incans were also superstitious and had places to offer sacrifices and many such weird rituals. 

Post Coricancha, we went back to the plaza. This was a parade day there - a local festical where they shift the statues of some renowned old priests from one church to another. It was festive atmosphere there. 

We had bought a group-pass to get access to multiple-sites. Kanishka figured out that it included a local cultural performance. It was fun. The music is really like the traditional one - lot of flute. It is a govt. run institution, so things are still how they were in 70s :) But we enjoyed it. 

Dinner was a walk to a pizza place - fresh oven baked pizza was good. By this time, we were using Uber, so we took the uber back to hotel. 

Next day, we took the flight to Puerto Maldonado

Peru trip 2026 - A perfect itinerary

Peru trip - 6th June to 21st June 2026.

This is part 1 of our Peru travelogue. 

Part 1 - Peru 2026 - a perfect itinerary

Part 2 - Peru trip - Cusco

Part 3 - Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima 

Why visit Peru?

Machu Picchu. Famous with very nice photos enough to pique an interest. First visit to South America. Peru is a four letter word country :) A new country, culture, language, world. A developing country - so always fascinating to see how other developing nations are doing the same things like we have done. 

Peru Plan

Kanishka did most of the planning this time. At a high level, the idea was to spend - 

Cusco - 5 days

Puerto Maldonado - 4 days

Lima - 4 days. 

Cusco is the base to visit Machu Picchu. It was also the headquarter of the Incans which ruled over five countries (Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Chile, Argentina) about five hundred years ago. Kanishka figured out that there is a part of Peru that overlaps with Amazon rain forest. There were two options - Iquitos or Puerto Maldonado. I think it was flight connectivity that led us to pick PEM. Lima being the capital - we decided to have sometime there to explore museums etc. 

Our original plan was to do Peru in Dec-end but I pulled a back muscle. So, we shifted the entire trip to June during Kanishka and my birthday week. 

What stood out in Peru - 

• Language and lack of vegetarian options - At the Lima airport, on day 1, we tried to get some vegetarian food. Now, typically, at capital-city airports, by now I expect folks in the hospitality industry to be able to speak English. But, it was not the case here. Staff were all Spanish, the menu options were all Spanish and there were not too many veg options. 
• This kind of thing made sense in Japan where most of the tourists are domestic. But here in Lima, this was surprising. I will later learn that this is largely because the number of Spanish knowing tourists is very high. We saw a lot of toursis from Brazil, Spain and US. Many folks from US know Spanish as their 2nd or 3rd language. 
• In Lima, Cusco and other places, we found a lot of veg/vegan options but at the airport, it was a struggle. 
• Crime and democracy in Peru - As you start to research more about the country, more so, beyond the tourism angle, you get to know different things. In this case, we learnt that Peru has had 10 presidents in last 10 years. Their government instability/corruption is well known. Not only that, in Lima there are only limited localities where tourists can stay - Miraflores and Barranco being the most common. In these two areas, there are upscale malls, good parks, shooping and food options and are (relatively) crime-free but there are many parts of Lima which are No-no for tourists. 
• Interestingly, the day we landed, the next day there were elections. At the airport I saw a TGIF and I thought I will try their famous local cocktail - Pisco Sour. But TGIF said that due to elections, they are not selling alcohol. This instantly reminded me of India :) 
• Cusco and Puerto Maldonado were all safe and we even walked at night in Cusco and it was all good. 
• Toilet Paper - It took me a while to accept this but in Peru, either there are no toilet paper in toilets or even if there are toilet paper, you are not allowed to flush them. It has got to do with their plumbing - their pipes are not large enough or something. You take the paper tissue from outside, wipe your ass and throw this in the trash can. Good news is that all rest-rooms had trash cans. 
• Now, this is bizarre to me that why they have not fixed this so far. Or if plumbing is an issue, then why not have water jets like we have in India. 
• Even at international airports, the restrooms had this issue. Typically, one would expect that airports will be taken care of correctly. 
• Mangoes at Peru - we were delighted to see mangoes in Peru. But interestingly, June is their winter and their summer are in Nov/December when the tree bear fruits. Peru being in Southern hemisphere, the weather patterns are opposite ours. 
• Spanish language - It was interesting to see that Spanish was the most spoken language, even in jungles and remote places. Their native language - Quechua is lesser spoken than Spanish. Our guide and driver were from jungle (in Peru instead of saying that we are from village, to talk about their remoteness, they would say that they are from jungle) and their first language was Spanish. 
• Even buildings - at Lima, most of the Spanish constructed buildings are now the parliament and key houses. 
• I didn't see any hostility to the Spanish conquest even in museums or walking tours. 
• Plaza de Armas - Every town / city in Peru had a plaza located right at the centre of the place. Plaza de armas actually means place to store weapons. But today, Plaza de Armas means a nice open space with posh restaurants or shopping outlets at its circumference. The open space is used for cultural programs and a great hangout place. We saw this in Cusco, Puerto Maldonado, in Lima. Liked the concept of plaza in general. 

Book Review - There is no antimemetics division

There is no Antimemetics Division

By QNTM

Rating - 4.5/5 

I have not read such a mind-blowing novel for sometime, or maybe ever. It is like reading the Matrix or rather Animatrix. 

Book premise - There are these organisms, called memes or unknowns, which prey on your memory. So, you do not even know they exist because they alter your memory. Yet, they are everywhere. There is an Antimemetics division created to fight them. The novel is an account of how they go about fighting these unknowns.

The book is bold and full of so many ideas that it is a powerhouse of new sci-fi. Many pages blows you away. The best part is that QNTM is able to put his ideas in words that it is easy to follow. Some things makes sense and some things do not. But it is ok. Because it is not a book that is meant to be easy. 

Each of the meme (or unknown) is different. They have their own power, attack, story. There is a wikipedia like collection for each meme that has been observed. Each such entry is redacted for general consumption. Each of this wiki chaper in the book is fascinating to read. 

How do you right such unknowns ? By inventing drugs that make you less forgetting. Is that enough? No. But it could just work. That's the trick. There are chapters where these Antimemtics division agents fight these memes - sometimes they are successful and sometimes they are not. The affair is bloody. There is horror in some pages but the settings is such that it is ok. 

I picked up this book as I was walking down the street in SF and stumbled onto Dog eared bookstore. The title was intriguing and it was there in the trendy section. It was SciFi. The best sellers in US are different than the best sellers in India. Expected. One really has to scan things to understand what new is out there. 

This one was intellectually stimulating. I am so happy to have read this one. 

Movies and Series 2026

Bugonia - 3.5/5

CEO of a corporation is kidnapped by a conspiracy theorist who believes that  she is an actual alien. A typical Yorgos Lanthimos film - meant to shock you, awe you and then something. Jessie Plemons and Emma Stone are both fantastic but its the story that shocks you. There is a commentary on the corporate office workings that goes on the side and it is subtle but very well done. The ending, will not spoil it, but it is one of those - "what if we do this" and someone will say "nah, you wouldn't) but Yorgos then will double down 

Nuremberg - 3/5

Based on the Nuremberg trials, a perspective from a psychologist who is tasked to understand how the Nazi leaders think, if they have any remorse, trying to understand the why etc. Rami Malek is one of the strangest actor to be in Hollywood - very unorthodox dialog delivery, mannerisms,  he has his own style but it works. The challenge with Nuremberg or any other such movies is that if they focus on one subject, the psychologist in this case, everyone else is shown as dumb people who are not listening to the right ideas. The protagonist is the most important person who saved the trials while others were not so good. This stereotyping is there everytime. Makes this a good plane ride movie. 

Train Dreams - 4/5 

A movie where nothing happens. Slice of life movie about a man who is a wood cutter, cutting wood to make railway tracks, bridges, houses or what not. Lives next to a lake, introvert, finds a girl by chance, happily married, with kids. Lives with nature, peace, but with inner turmoil and then, as is life, life happens. Slow pace, in no hurry. Fantastic women characters - both Kerry Condon and Felicity Jones are awesome. Felicity Jones from Rogue one and Kerry (from F1, Banshies of Insherin) are amazing. Joel Edgerton's perfmance is really good as well. 

All We Imagine as Light - 4.5/5

This one won the Cannes top prize 2 years ago. Took me sometime to watch it. Woke up one day at 5 and decided to see it - what an amazing way to start the day.  It is amazing and really difficult to believe that this was made in India. Kerala nurses working in a small hospital in Mumbai and going through their life journeys and challenges. A movie of a lot of nuance and texture - many small small things add flavor and meaning to this wonderful film. The camerawork puts the city is very amazing - simple shots of Mumbai local or markets brings out the best part of the city while hides the filth, the people. It is a must watch. Chaaya Kadam is there too and one should watch all her movies :) 

I was so impressed with All We Imagine as light that I saw a lot of Payal Kapadia's press interviews, her movie inspirations, cast interviews. This one is a special film. Payal's inspirations and her art, her lens of making movies is up there with the best of arthouses. I would like to see this one again. 

The Secret Agent - 4/5

This one won all the awards last year. The Secret Agent is a commentary on Brazil corruption and institutional killing back in the 70s. It takes a lot events that happened and weaves into a fictional story of a professor who is being hunted. The 70s period is captured very well via camera. Then there is a layer of current generation who is trying to research this story and the story also is non-linear - based on the tape recording the current generation decides to listen. Some very interesting narrative devices and some very memorable characters on the side. The real world incidents chosen have an element of magical realism to it. Reminds me of the present day India in many ways. In general, the absurd cinema does not work for me, but in this case, it is based on true newspaper clippings and that adds a fun element. Good cinema.

Sheep Detectives - 4/5

I laughed so much in this movie. The rating is high because sometimes you walk in to a movie that yeah, it is going to be a timepass one-time watch movie but the sheer comedy of it makes you laugh so much that not only you forget the time but also end of recommending this movie to everyone around you and they in turn are also equally happy. I loved Sheep Detectives and will likely watch it again. It combines a murder mystery with comedy, combines real world actors with animations (sheep), combines a small town feeling with cunning - I can go on and on. I love it. 

Sister Midnight - 3.5/5

It is actually 3/5 but the extra 0.5 is purely because it was made in India. It is a Radhika Apte talent showcase film - she is outstanding. I went in to see a marital distress film but I was so surprised to see the twist and turn that happened in there. Surreal. Dreamy. The fact that this was made in India is unbelievable. Yet, it did happen and the bold cinema that it carries with has to be saluted. So much new ground is broken. The chawl space is so effectively utilized. 

Tu Yaa Main - 2.75/5

I liked the masala. The thing is when you watch so few Bollywood films that when you do watch it, it is a refreshing experience. It is part nostalgia too. The songs or romance that is without a build up is acceptable. If there is a boy and girl, they will hate each other but will fall in love. You do not question this, you accept it. Two influencers are stuck in a diving swimming pool and a crocodile is there. The first part is disconnected from the second part but so what. It is two movies at the price of one :) 

-----------

The Boys - 4.5/5 (all season rating)

It is gory. It is madness. It is over the top. It is wild. Action, revenge. Anthony Starr (Homelander) and Karl Urban (Butcher) will forever be remembered for this series. Other cast is ok. But the highlight is the story, the premise and what an amazing social political commentary of our times. It is no kidding that we are living in a time when the exaggerated thing described in the show happens in real life and the show runners have to add extra messages to add that this is fiction. The commentary is spot on. 

The Boys ended its run after 5 seasons. Decent ending - little bit more predictable than what the series has been. I would have expected more catharsis. Online too, some fans are not too happy. But, landing an ending is never easy. I would say ending is 3/5. But the show is awesome. It is also funny - so much dark humor. The Boys is the typical American culture show - I do not think that any other country has seen so much capitalism and is secure enough to make fun of it. 

What surprises me is not that this show got made but so many folks have seen it - it is extremely gory, and liked it. Just the times that we are living in. I guess, the charm of people without power taking people with power, and to do so in style, some grandy style, makes it viral, as the V dose was. 

Daredevil Born again - 3/5 (Season 1 & 2)

It is one-time watch. Does not stand well on its own. Again, a show with lot of political commentary on our current live events. But, many things do not add up, especially the ending where Fisk gets an exile. The legal part of the show is almost gone. There is media, corruption, but the joy that should be there as the good folks take down the bad folks is subdued. Show wants to be gritty to show that good folks can not win but also wants to make a david v goliath story. It ends somewhere in the middle with some sense of flawed morales and story lines that does not make sense. Meh meh series. A 3-star only because of the nostalgia factor of what the show is .