Life In 30 Oct 2022 to 26th Mar 2023

A quarter of the year is over and as years go, this year has started at a much better pace than others.  There are good highs to go over, so lets get started

Started running again and joined Jayanagar Jaguars in HSR. It has been a crazy thing so far to meet the running schedule, my attendance would be around 50% only but I did manage to finish a 10K in 81 mins. Jatin invited us to a Jagsom organized run - Kanyathon 2023. Had a real good run and felt a high post run!

Puchka & Taco continue to bring joy with their cuteness. As I am writing this, Taco is sleeping on the table behind my monitor and Puchka is curled up in the cat tree. 

Kanishka also rescued a cute little baby kitten in her society and took care of her for a week. She called her Choco chips. Choco chips was adopted by a neighbor's friend.  If cats are cute, then baby kittens are hyper-cute and they lovingly crawl on you. They are yet to develop attitude (instincts :)) 

Events 

- Bengaluru Percussion Festival - Attended this awesome event at the ever beautiful Jayamahal palace. Very well organized, not a lot of crowd, decent food stalls and a very clean loo :) . Artist wise, V Selvaganesh was awesome. Other ones whom I did enjoy was Ta Dhom project (they have Rap compositions with rapper names as Tod Fod, Mawalli - any artists which takes itself lightly, has a panache to it, has my respect) , Kerala based Chemmeen band (tens of percussion instruments) 

Charnadas Chor at Rangashankara. Inspired by Habib Tanvir, it is the same script but different implementation. Did not like it at all.

Piyush Mishra has a band - Ballimaran, attended their concert at Phoenix Marketcity. Loved it. Piyush gets goofiness, applies in his songs, in his music. There is a playfulness in him. I love goofy (no wonder I have seen B99 many many times) . Most of the songs were new for me. 

Travels

Travelled to Ireland - Covered in my three part blog series

• Part 1 - Ireland Travelogue Part 1 - Why? Why in Dec?
• Part 2 - Ireland Travelogue Part 2 - Itinerary
• Part 3 - Ireland Travelogue Part 3 - Irish love, North vs South Ireland,  & some learnings

Chandigarh - 1 night 2 day trip to Chandigarh to attend Chinki's wedding. Amazing city, and amazing wedding. Very royal and lavish. Visited Chandigarh Handloom and in an hr bought 40 kgs worth of blankets, comforters, etc. It had to be couriered :)

Visited Delhi to meet Gurshi and Aman. Friends meeting after a long long time

Movies

Pathaan - 2.5/5 

Took a 6 member group to see Pathaan / SRK. Bad movie but had to do this for SRK. Good to see that this movie got so much love.

John Wick 4 - 4/5

Loved it. Very very satisfied with the ending. It is not easy to make endings bring closure (main difference between Lotr vs Got) , this one did. But before the end, it was out an out an action movie meant for fans of action who love world building. This one is for the fans. (Also disappointed that none in my friend circle was excited about this one)

Banshees of Insherein - 4/5

So heart-breakingly delightful. First of all an Irish movie :) A delightful thing to see after our Ireland trip. Plus, has a heart of a simple message - is being good enough? Powerful performances everywhere. 

Triangle of Sadness - 3/5

First movie in PVR Rex - a fancy recliner seat theatre. From the director, Rubrn Ostlund, who made The Square, ordinary is not expected. Keeps you at the edge of the seat, a brutal commentary on class and on our times.  Ruben Ostlund will continue to make us uncomfortable till he is alive. 

Aftersun - 3/5

A depressed father goes to a vacation trip with his early-teen daughter. He is separated with his wife. THe whole trip is about hiding depression from his daughter, they having fun together and the daughter coming of age. Deep study of relationships and depression. Slightly difficult to watch but very well acted. 

The Boys (Season 3) - 3.5/5

Well, it continues to have panache. Started off brilliantly, loved the momentum. The Boys continues on with its satire on consumerism, super hero culture and now also mainstreams the MAGA/QAnon culture in itself. I would have rated it higher if only it gave some satisfaction of killing atleast one main bad guy. Instead, the good guys just continue to loose. Bonus - side supes, their powers are just too bizarre and funny!

Everything Everywhere All At Once - 4.5/5

Dream big. And what a dream it is. What a story. Comes out of nowhere and just sweeps you in. And you go in and in only to reveal that it is a mother daughter film. Mind bending genre done right 

65 - 2.5/5 Skippable, average masala film.

Knives Out 2 A glass onion mystery. - 3/5

Again, a 0.5 extra for just the panache. Story is okay. Daniel Craig holds your interest till the end.

A Man called Otto - 3.5/5

I cried. I cried a lot in this one. I had read the book, I knew exactly what was going to happen, yet I sobbed. This is the power of cinema. I had not enjoyed the book as much but it was written for it to be made into a movie. Did not see Tom Hanks playing Otto, but now I ask who else . Supporting cast is amazing and I would say, just watch it.

The Fablemans - 3/5

Good Speilberg flic. Michelle Williams is an outstanding actress and Paul Dano never stops to surprise me (ever since There will be blood). Good story, acting, direction all around. Good movie to watch. 

She said - 3.5/5

Documentary done right. Based on the story that brought down Harvey Weinstein. I am anyways a softiy for good journalism based procedural, women lead cast even makes it better. This one is no Spotlight but it is still very good. 

His Dark Materials (Season 3) - 3/5

The thing about HDM is that it covers a lot of ground both in books and tv series is an almost faithful adaptation. It is good but it is never able to pass that boundary of going to excellent for me. It also lacks some elements in getting a satisfying closure in the end. 

Parties

- Went to Roxie for Anshika didi's anniversay celebration. Decent venue.

- Gawky Goose - Took my immediate team for a thank you lunch. Pretty good place

- Stories at BTM - Grub post dinner. Okay place. 

- Oz by Kebabci - Kanishka and I went for our anniversary

- Hanoi to celebrate Mummy's birthday

- Holika Dahan in Sobha

- MTR breakfast after the Kanyathon run

- Marco Polo cafe - treat by Parul on her birthday!

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New event innovation

Kanishka & I have created a new kind of event format to celebrate our special occasions - walking tour of an area.

For our anniversary, we walked from UB city to Brigade road, MG road, Lavelle road and back. No agenda, just walk, explore the city and have fun. 

For valentine's day, we did this at Jayanagar 4th block market. We covered about 5 kms but discovered some amazing places. 

Like Varanasi cafe which serves Tamatar Chat, launglatta among other things. 

Also, discovered in Jayanagar a physical shop for the ecom portal - https://www.worldebazaar.com/ - a site dedicated to selling K-pop merchandise, manga and some other amazing goodies 

These walking tours have been amazing to discover a place, and just soak it in. We typically do so when we travel outside but applying the same principles to local markets - never done that. 

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And before I sign off, here is another cat pic :)