Oh wow, what a 4 months it has been. This is the pinjra-tod period. This is the revenge against the life period. It has been one weekend after another of breaking norm barriers of last two years.
To being with, first came the punch - Both Kanishka & I got Covid. The real sad part was that it happened even after taking a whole bunch of precautions. It took us a month to recover from this ordeal. Read the blog for more details.
What followed was "revenge" - getting back at life. For so long we had played by the rules from Person of Interest below
We celebrated our Covid recovery by eating out at TBC HSR.
Then came Onam. We did not plan for any Onam celebration except for the very last day when everything had been booked. Managed to get a spot at a local HSR Kerala restaurant and had meals after a very long time!
A trip to Coorg to just get the hell out - A 2 night trip to Coorg where we stayed at The Hidden Place. The room Arka was very nice. Lot of special attention given to architecture, lighting, seating etc. The next day we switched to Vipra and that was very disappointing. The drive to Coorg was really good.
Finally, we went and tried out Byg Brewski Hennur. This has been pending for almost two years now. Too crowded, good seats are few only. Beer is alright, the kumkum flavored one is interesting ! 
We also went out for Basil Bistro one fine evening in HSR.
And, also did a morning breakfast trip to Murugan Idli, Krishnagiri with a visit to the dam. This was with Abhishek's family where Arjun gave an awesome head massage to me while driving back!
Also, first visit to a mall (for me!) since the pandemic began. First movie seen - Shang-chi and the legend of ten rings. Followed by No Time To Die at IMAX.
First trip to Decathlon happened too.
Also, shopped for a new Sofa, new soundbar - Both long pending items!
Books
His Dark Materials - The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman - 3/5
We binge watched His Dark Materials during our Covid times. The TV series only covers first two books of the trilogy. Rather than to wait for the third season, I decided to read the books. Started with book two and then finished the third one.
These are okay-ish reads. Pace of the story is good enough and world building is decent too. However, many things happen without any reason for me. Foe example - why did Lyra & Will have to go to the land of the dead is not clear. Why the dead are not dying, what it the use of keeping them there? The death of metatron is also very dull. The Authority in the Oxford do nothing much villaneous. Anyways, it was ok to read.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman - 4/5
It is good. Very good. Bold in its vision, lots of literary liberties taken - sequences of dream go on. Also, lines are blurred between reality and fiction a lot. Gaiman shines in giving personal stories to its characters. He also shines in parts when he writes how gods came to America. Somewhere the newer gods are not that fleshed out. But smooth writing makes up for the most of it. It is a good read!
Dune - 5/5 Frank Herbet
Re-read Dune to prepare for the movie that is to come next week. I remembered now why I loved it so much, why the book is loved so much. The pacing is so damn good, world building very smooth. Yet, it all comes together in the end.
This time I am going to read the whole trilogy or the duo-trilogy :)
---
Covid made us binge watch many series. And that kind of continued post that too.
His Dark Materials, Season1,2 - 3/5
Killing Eve - 2.5/5 (Only saw this due to Covid)
Sharp Objects - 4/5
The Undoing - 3/5 (okayish one time watch)
Big Little lies, Season 2 - 3/5 (misses the punch of season 1 but still ok)
Fast & furious, season 1 - 2/5 (Very bad)
Scam 1992 - 4/5
Lucifer Season 1 - 1.5/5. Only two episodes of season 2.
Comedy premier league - 2.5/5 - What disappointment it has been
Mahrani tv series - 3/5
To Sir with Love - 4/5 - Very good one.
Good Fight Season 5 - 2.5/5 (Why did they remove Rose Leslie??)
Black Widow - 2.5/5
Unbelievable - 4/5 - Binge watched it in one night. Loved it!
And a whole lot of real life based films.
And in between all this, we did housewarming of Aarti's Elan home.
Just yesterday, we came back from a full family 2 day vacation from River Tern Lodge where we did both Jeep and Boat Safari. We saw a spotted leopard and some real good natural scenic beauty.
