15 Aug weekend is a long weekend this year. And I intend to make the most of it to get back to my blog updates which have been pending for a while.
- NYTimes Wordle and crossword -
When Wordle got acquired by NYT, it was already a daily habit. I soon bought the Games subscription and since then, have been fairly active on Crossword, mini-crossword and spelling bee. My Wordle stats are decent, having lost only one so far. Crossword - I am fairly decent at Mon/Tue ones and attempt other ones with autocheck on. Sun one takes 2-3 hrs. Overall, I love the whole gameplay thing.
- Puchka & Taco -
I love playing with them. They are amazing. I love the fact that whenever I come home, Taco is at the door to greet. Puchka stays hidden but she can see me. Love that they make this noise in the morning to get food. I love designing random activities for them and then for them to go at it.
- Office parties :)
As office opened up, we decided to get together with colleagues and go to different locations. So far, we have gone to
- Bowling at the Grid followed by party at Biergarten
- Ironhill - thrice. Farewell of a colleague, a team dinner and a team lunch
- Bombay brasserie - Another team's lunch that we got self-invited.
- Irish house
- Black Pearl Kadubeesanhalli
- Hilton whitefield - CEO's India visit
- Prestige Oasis - Kanishka' office colleague party at his grand villa
Family parties
- Bombay brasserie - Mother's day celebration
- Chung Wah - Kanishka's mummy bday celebration
- Xochi - Aarti/Anshika's bday celebration.
- Arvind & Kanishka's bday celebration at home
- Authentic Andhra restaurant - Father's day celebration
- Fisherman's wharf - Dinner with Aarti
- Home - Papa's birthday celebration
- Elan Home - Rakhi celebration
Parties with Kanishka
- Ironhill
- Irish house - Kadibeesanhalli
- Fenny's kitchen and lounge - Koramangala
- MG/Brigade road - walking + street food
- Broadway HSR
Some venues are repeated because Kanishka has a list of places where I have been and she has not been and vice versa. The idea is to get places off her list asap :) . I also have a similar list and it is getting longer :)
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Travels & Tours
Mumbai - Office trip - for hiring. But also did a city heritage tour via Heritage tours, attended an Atul Khatri performance, walked on Marine drive, had amazing Pizza at Pizza by the bay. Great outing!
Meditation retreat at Bodhi Zendo and Kodai - Big thanks to Parul for pushing us to sign up for meditation
An upcoming trip to Delhi is planned
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Books
By Robert Jordan
Found it so-so. For the first half, it seems like a giant rip-off of LOTR but after mid-point or so, it gets its own arc. I am ok with chosen-one protagonist tropes but I do not like a bit if they get there without going through the phase of learning/challenges. To me, the end here is something of that sort.
By Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu
Loved it. Highly recommended!
This was on the reading list ever since I watched Scam 1992 last year. More so, when the news came recently on the chief of NSE getting her instructions via an online Guru etc. Before we get to the scams, this is an amazing appreciation book on the coming up of NSE in India. It covers the adhoc-ness of then BSE, challenges in setting up NSE, its noble objectives and how somer really good people came together to do their best work and in the process set up a world class trading exchange!
But power corrupts and one unpunished deed leads to another. The regulatory authority has to be vigilant, action swift and the price of not doing the right thing is always very high. Hats off to its authors.
By Frank Herbert
I for some reason did not like it. It lacked the flow that Dune had for me. New concepts like Ghola seemed more mechanical and there was a weirdness in visualizing them. There are elements of Dune but not too many. Maybe, I will try the third one :)
Poems by Rupi Kaur
I am a fan-boy :) . She belongs to the saare-gunaah-maaf league. I have read both of her books, front to end, at-least twice now. This is also now my number one gift item to give!
By Tony Joseph
80% read.
Part of my non-fiction reading streak. Early Indians traces the migrations of pre-historic humans to the geography that we call India now. Using genetic research which is able to point out patterns of human migration over years, the book is very lucky to come out at the right time. At the heart of it, it basically argues that there were two migrations coming out of Africa spread apart by few decades which is basically an Ice-age in between. It is by far the best account of origin of Aryan race, Dravidian race and where we all came from - which is, as we all know, from Africa.
It is fascinating read. Tony breaks the complex scientific paper articles into an easy to follow language. Must read for fans of history.
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Movies & TV
Lincoln Lawyer - TV Series on Netflix - 3/5
Guilty pleasure, legal drama :)
Reacher - TV Series on Prime video - 3/5
Same - guilty pleasure - this one I enjoyed more than I hoped I would :)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Series ends - 5/5
This one goes to my top-10 ever. Dard ki dawa hai yeh :) My goto series when I am not well.
I love the goofiness in the series. Love the characters, the desire to laugh, the over the top heists, cool side of police, do-gooders doing good. Made by the same team who made Good place. This one is for the ages!
Modern Family - Series - 3.5/5
I do not know why I like this one but I do. Motley characters going through daily life experiences, creating a goody-goody vibe. I may not re-watch it, may not recommend it but it is something that I love watching with my meals. I am currently on season 7 and I like it.
Big Bang theory - Series - 1.5/5
May have binge watched upto third season. I absolutely hate it. I do not know why I went to season three. Maybe Sheldon's idiosyncrasy made me curious but it gets so much repetitive. Also, beyond a point, it is obnoxious to live with him, to watch him. I can not empathize with a person who depends on others for basic life things, no matter how smart they are. Sorry, cannot do it. Also, this is even below Friends for me.
Succession -4/5
(Season 1, 2 & half of season three)
The reason I am half of season three is that I do not want to binge watch and end the excitement. It did not start well but once I understood what this is, it is very fascinating. Ultra-ultra rich people are ass*** and are so up in their heads that they have no idea what happens on the ground. I really like the sets that they come up with - bachelor's party, or birthday party or yatch party, or a fundraising dinner. These events are so obscene that they do not look appealing either.
But the series is a gem, again a series of characters not known before but perfectly cast for this. Narration includes corporate manoeuvrings which are interesting but more than that, it is just the greed, the sense of entitlement, the lack of any empathy, it just makes riveting TV.
Some good cinema - https://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2022/08/good-cinema-2022.html
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Among other things -
- Applied to renew my tourist Visa for US. Appointment coming up.
- Took Puchka & Taco for their annual vaccinations - Puchka did not come to me for a month after the visit.
- Kanishka & I got booster-vaccinated
- Went to a play - Tajmahal ka tender at Ranga Shankara - Decent. 3/5
- Lastly, we had a grand Holi celebration this time !
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