Japan 2025 - Perfect 9 day trip - Part 2

 

This is Part 2 of Kanishka and my Japan trip 2025. The first part covered what we liked and didn''t like about Japan.  In this blog, we will share our itinerary. 

Our itineraries are crafted to perfection. They have mix of things that we like - some museums, some local / cultural bits,  some outdoorsy, some touristy, some rustic - a unique blend of experiences that are chosen carefully.  

Day 1 - Our flight landed in Tokyo in the afternoon. Our first thing was to go from airport to Tokyo station, via the Narita express, and then take the train to Kanazawa. It was a daring plan, new country, different train systems and no idea how to switch trains etc. All in a short window to reach hotel by reasonable time. Our hotel in Kanazawa was carefully booked to be about 700m from the train station. 

Why go via all the hurry? Our visit coincided with the annual festival of Kanazawa . The next day, there was going to be an awesome parade as part of the festival itinerary. We wanted to attend it. 

Onboarding to Narita was simple but at the Tokyo station, it was a world of its own. Underground stations have markets, shops, a whole city in itself. At the ticket line to buy ticket to Kanazawa, the guy asked for our tickets that we had used to reach the Tokyo station, thankfully, we had not thrown them away. Still not sure why he asked for it. The train journey to Kanazawa was good. By the time we reached the hotel, it was 8ish pm. 

Our dinner was at Izakaya Musashi, a quaint Gastropub which had good veg options. Our first introduction to Izakaya was delicious, a little pricey though. At night, we strolled on the quite streets of Kanazawa - nicely lit by street lights.

Day 2 - Out hotel in Kanazawa was Hotel Forza Kanazawa. It had complimentary breakfast which we enjoyed each day. Forza kanawa was next to the local Omichi market. After breakfast, we did a quick stroll through the market. I had never seen a cleaner sabji-mandi/fish-market ever. Not even in US. Japan is another level in its cleanliness

Day 2 was busy. We walked to the local Kanazawa castle where they had all these stalls owing to their festival. It was a mela. The stalls were of nearby prefectures who were asking residents of Kanazawa and tourists like us to travel to their towns, selling their town tourism. To get traction, some of them had folks dressed as samurai, some had freebies. 

At Kanazawa castle information centre, we learnt that there is a volunteer led group which gives free english tours of their garden - Kenroku-en. We took their offer and a nice lady gave us a free 90 mins tour. Kenroku-en garden is amazing. It has a waterfall (manmade), a lake, beautiful trails and trees. It is not huge either.  There is also a residence home inside the garden. Each garden is like a king's summer retreat and has a place to stay/relax. The residence was now hosting a dolls exhibition which was good to explore. Post the garden, we also visited the Kanazawa shrine

After Kenroku-en, we walked our way down to the parade route. Along the way, we had cabbage hotdog kind of item on a stick with some very long french fries. The ice cream above  has god leaf covering - something which is unique to Kanazawa

The parade was grand, festive and full of local spirit. It had giesha, bands, boy scouts, ninja, dragon, fights and what not. Very local and cultural. Very Japanese - highly organized, clean and simple. 

After the parade, we rested for sometime at the hotel. Our day was far from being over. In the evening, there was a flute performance - a Geisha would play flute on a boat at the Kenroku-en lake, under the moonlight. It was too good to miss. so we went and saw that. The performance was good but only for 15 mins long. There was also the threatre performance of Noh at the castle. We attended the performance but found it to be too slow for our taste. hat 

After the performance, we went to have dinner. Most places were closed and we wanted to try local. We found one places and were lucky since another family had just got in, perhaps after closing hrs. Our local restaurant did not speak English. But our other family were kind enough to translate for us. We bonded over Google-translate :) 

Here is where we had the template for our Izakaya - soya sauce, sticky rice and vegetable tempura. Here they also gave us edmame

The day was not yet over. On the walk back to hotel, we saw a long night food market and when there is night market, we have to go check it out. We were full in stomach, tired, but we walked the length of market

Day 3 

Day 3 was meant to be light - we woke up cozily and had a sumptuous breakfast. We walked to see local houses os Samurai or other foot soldiers. Kanazawa is a castle town, so there were kings, samurais and soldiers in the old days. The Samurai house are a treat to visit - they have lovely architecture, simple interior decor and an amazing personal garden :) . Inside one of the Samurai houses, we had our first and only tea-tasting ceremony. A matcha tea which is okayish to drink but almost like a habit for locals. 

After the Samurai houses, it was time for some introspection and zen, So we went to D.T. Suzuki museum. Mr. D.T. Suzuki was a zen practitioner and a philosopher who had significant influence on Japanese culture. His museum was serene, and relaxing. we stopped there for a bit. On the way to museum, Kanishka briefly went to McDonalds and I clicked a picture. Right outside, the D.T. Suzuki museum was another Samurai garden, albeit a public one. It was amazingly beautiful. 

We walked down to checkout a museum of bowls. Similar to Berlin's museum island, Kanazawa has a section where there are 4-5 museums. We checked out one and then decided to walk back to hotel.  Our lunch was at this curry place which had chole with tofu curry. What more can we want

Our dinner was hotel-made, bought from local shops. Kanishka got soya sauce and some other items from nearby grocery store. 

Day 3 - Day 3 was departure from Kanazawa. But before I check out, I wanted to share this pic of their breakfast tray - a nice 6 bowl tray that we had used daily. 

Day 3 itinerary was to move from Kanazawa to Kaga - an onsen town. We had to take a train for this. 

Kaga for me was the best part of the trip. It is a village with a main downtown street, some temples etc. We ended up just strolling the entire village. Stopped at small restaurants and had local delicacies, one of them being Kuzu bar. Kaza also had a old traditional bathhouses and this was our first experience with a Japanese bathhouse. 

Japanese bathhouse, separate sections for men and women. You go in full naked into a hot water pool and relax there. After that, there are taps along-side the pool for you to apply soap/shampoo and have a bath. It is incredibly relaxing. In the old days, when soldiers would travel, then these bathhouses (onsen) were build for them for communal baths. Makes sense to conserve water. Also, there was procedures which makes sure that the hot water is clean. It is a unique and refreshing experience. It is a concept that we saw in Germany also. 

We had booked our stay at Rurikoh which is an onsen hotel. We ended up doing onsen hopping, first at the old and moden public bathouses and then later in the night at a private onsen.  The hot water is really hot. Rurikoh also gave us Yukata for free which we gladly wore and roamed around the streets there. 

This was also Kanishka's 40th birthday. We had a noodle dessert, known as Mont Blanc for cake cutting. Dinner was at a local Izakaya. There was a drum show at the hotel and in the night, we dipped our feet in hot water. 

Day 4

Day 4 morning - the Kaga experience continued. In the morning, we went to the public bath of Rurikoh and it was open air hot-spring. It was just surreal, pure natural hot water under an overcast sky. We were debating if we had enough of Onsens but this was a right decision. Onsens also freshens you up like anything. This was followed by a authentic Japanese breakfast buffet, served on the table. It was awesome. 

Rurikoh remains the best stay place and Kaga was the best destination for me. It was away from crowds, no itinerary, no frills. Perhaps, the closest glimpse of authentic Japanese culture. Our next stops were Kyoto and then Tokyo, and now we were getting into the touristy territory :) 

It is the small acts that make you remember the travel. One such act has been imprinted on me. We were at the Kaga station and had to take a train to Kyoto. There were no direct trains. We had to go to a station (forgot the name, lets say X) and change train. I was not sure if I should buy both Kaga to X and then go to X and then buy ticket to Kyoto or can I buy both here. It is a small village railway station with only one employee at the counter and she was dealing with a customer ahead of us and that took 5 mins. We were patiently waiting behind. She seemed very diligent about our job. When our turn came, we asked tickets to go to X,  then I paid for them and she printed those. Later, I asked her if I can buy tickets from X to Kyoto here as well, or should I buy this at X.  She realized that I can save money if I buy a direct ticket to Kyoto via X. She explained the math and it was pretty substantial saving(~30%).  She didn't had to do this since she had already printed one and the easiest would have been to print another one. She also didn't berate us by saying that yo should have told this earlier. She cancelled our current ticket, refunded the amount and then issued a new ticket. During all of this, we were communicating in broken English, with some google-translate thrown in.  The sense of duty and helping others is so much ingrained to them and it is just amazing. The pride-in-the-job concept is so powerful. I feel that if you have to build stronger nations, this is the key. When everyone does their job well, strong nations are built. 

Our Kyoto stay was at Hotel Tomiya with Ms, a Scandinavian decor hotel, close to station with no lobby. a machine an entrance but thankfully, they had help staff to guide us.  Our first stop in Kyoto sightseeing was Ninja museum and it was a very touristy experience. Meant to be insta-grammable. But still fun. We had dinner at a local vegan Ramen place  (Moon and back ramen bar).  Kanishka had booked a walking tour in the night but it was raining heavily. Like heavy heavy downpour. I was thinking that they would cancel the tour but that was not the case. There were 6 of us plus the tour guide and he conducted the entire tour in this heavy dowpour with umbrellas. The good thing was that streets were empty, so we had the place to ourselves. But, we were wet, our shoes, socks, feet were wet. But, it was an amazing experience. Kyoto still has an active Geisha culture and we learnt a lot about their world. 

Day 5

It was still raining on Day 5 morning. So, we decided to go to a museum, thinking it will be indoors and less crowded. But, boy was I wrong. I had never seen a more crowded museum before. Seemed like entire Kyoto was there. We spent couple of hrs learnings about the Japanese history. Even though the museum was crowded, the people were super chill about it. They would take their time to wait in lines to see the exhibits in order. Move slowly, take their time and were extremely patient about it. Again, a part of culture that shocked me.  We had lunch at a local vegan shop and it had a nice poster below

We walked a lot and then visited the handicraft museum. This is actually a local handicraft store, two buildings of local craft that they were selling. Like Delhi-haat or dastkar but in a fancy shop-like setting. Good experience. Mostly expensive items

From here, we walked to a cat-cafe. Japan has this culture of cat cafes where you can spend time with cats. You pay for time and drinks there. Buying drinks is mandatory. This cafe had healthy well-fed cats and it was fun to play with them for sometime. 

Post cat cafe, we were looking for dinner options and stumbled into Nijiya Kyoto - a hole in the wall joint which serves the best Vegana Izakaya. The place is so small that it can only seat 6 people at a time, at a bar-counter kind of setting. This food was perhaps the best food of the trip. There were two people serving the food and it was just amazing how much can be packed in such a small place.  

After food, we were full but craving for some nice ice creams. 

Day 6 

Today was checkout and take the train to Tokyo. Kyoto to Tokyo trains run as if they are local, every 5-6 mins. These two stations are 250+kms apart. We had no prior reservation, so we just walked and booked and had trouble finding seats - many trains were full. Trains in Japan are extremely comfortable. 

We had to change trains, walk a lot dragging our suitcase, but finally we were at our hotel. At Tokyo, we were staying at Ryokan asakusa Shigetsu . Ryokan means traditional Japanese inn. We picked this hotel because it had an onsen on top. You sleep on the ground, on  a mattress on top of bamboo chatai . It is an authentic experience. This place was also next to Tokyo's oldest temple and walkable to a train station. 

Near the oldest temple was a huge market, including a market which sells all the plastic food items. Plastic food items are also such a brilliant Japanese idea - instead of putting real food items on display where food will go waste, there are these plastic replicas which look exactly as the food. And then there is a market dedicated to it.  We just strolled in the market. 

In the evening, we went to the Museum of roadside art and I have never seen anything as bizarre as this one. It is so bizarre that it is cool. Walking with no expectations, it takes sometime to understand WTF is this. But, then the writings on the wall say - what is art - isn't it meant to challenge you . And this museum challenges in you in many many ways. The best part is that we had no idea before we walked in. Tokyo is known for its quirky museums but this one is a topper. I will highly recommend this, but it is not for faint hearted folks. 

Near Asakusa, there is a space needle which gives you a high-rise view of the city but it is expensive. The internet hack is that, nearby, there is a Asahi HQ building who have a beer joint on their top floor and you get equally good view of it. You get good beer and it is cheaper. We went to the Asahi place and enjoyed the lighted Tokyo city. 

Day 7

Day 7 started with a walking tour starting from Akihabara. The walking tour was okay-ish. Since, between Shogun and the Kyoto walking tour, and the Ninja museum, we knew the history. But Akihabara was awesome! 

Akihabara is an experience that again is quintessential Japanese. It is a world of its own. First, there are these massive figurines/manga shops. We decided to check one building which had 9 floors, each with a different aspect of this, full of people. Then there are these arcade game centers where you can just spend the whole day playing arcade games, claw machines etc. And then it has these maid-cafes; we went to maidcafe-athome which is the birthplace of moe moe kyun . Each experience in Akihabara was like something that one will never get outside. 

Day 7 was also the day we had Sushi. We went to a Sushi-bar . At a Sushi bar, you sit on a bar counter and on the other side, there is a chef making live-Sushi for you. It was like an everyday QSR restaurant, nothing fancy, but it had good Sushi. Day 7 dinner was at home (hotel). Japan sells curd, soya sauce satchets, cut cabbage etc and you can make salads at home. We also got Theplas from IN and it made a quirky dinner but delicious. 

Day 8 

Today was 14 June and it was my birthday. We had a great day planned ahead of us. But our first stop was visiting toilets. Tokyo hosted olympics and as part of that they had an art project to have designer toilets installed at various places. It was called the Toilet Project. Each one designed by a different art designer. One of them is designed that the toilet is transparent when not in use and then as soon as you lock in from inside, it changes color and becomes opaque. Just fascinating. We ended up visiting two of such installations

We were now just walking and our next stop was to see the Shibuya crossing. Known as the busiest crossing, we had time to just check it out. 15 year old me would have never gone there, saying that it is just an intersection where people cross roads,  but I am mellow-er now. Anyways, we want and it was okayish. Along the way, Kanishka clicked whole bunch of flower photos. 

Next two events were planned by Kanishka for my 40th. First one was lunch at a Michelin star restaurant - Daigo. This was going to be our first Michelin star restaurant. Food was good, small portions, multipe courses. Each item explained to us by the staff, setup in a cozy setting where we were only ones in the room and the room had a private garden. The food was good. I do not have the palette to understand what makes a Michelin star and what does not. So, I can not comment on that, but it was good. But, what we also remember, and probably will never forget, is that their dessert menu was a slice of watermelon. Japan, a place known for its desserts, a michelin-star restaurant known for its creativity, and we got watermelon slice for a dessert. We cannot forget this. 

We went home, slept for a while and our late-evening program was to visit TeamLabs Planets. Before TeamLabs, we were hungry and next to the planets venue, there is a open barbeque place and we had fries and sprouts there. A very Americanish experience in Japan :)  Team Labs was awesome. So much creativity, experiences packed in one place. we loved all the art installations. In another world, I would just go and spend a day here. The experiences are amazing and I think it is the feeling that  we carry more than anything else. 

Day 9 

This was the journey back day. But, we had a morning to ourselves. In a city with so many things to do, what do you pick up if you have 3 hrs. We decided to keep it simple and go back to basics - visit a garden. We visited the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden - it is one of those decisions which makes this itinerary a perfect one. It was raining mildly and the garden was in its prime green beauty. Plus, understanding the design of Japanese garden, it is simple but an awe-inspiring experience. Garden is paid entry, small-ish one but had all hallmarks - stone bridge, flower garden, ponds, waterfall - you name it.  This was a perfect way to end the trip! 

I do not think that I have experienced so many new things in one country as much as we experienced in Japan. From gardens, to onsen, to concept cafes - cats, maids, to teamLabs, to roadside art museum, to Izakayas, to Michelin-star restaurants, to samurais and parades. Japan has been a perfect way to spend our 40th birthdays. 

Thank you for reading. 

Japan 2025 - Perfect 9 day trip

 

Japan

A bucket list country for a long long time. Stars were not aligning for us to visit. The plan was to visit in April this year during Cherry blossom season but it didn't happen. So, in April we decided to book the trip anyways, in June, on our 40th birthdays. 

Interesting tidbits about Japan/what I liked - 

• Japan's tourism industry is mostly domestic. Japanese folks love to travel and only 10% or so of Japanese have passports. So, majority travel domestically. What does it mean? It means that many destinations/restaurants are not geared to cater for outsiders. Many restaurants have menus in Japanese only, museums have exhibits mostly in Japanese. Fortunately, google-translate helps a lot. Touristy cities like Kyoto-Tokyo is where people know English but in 2nd/3rd tier towns, it is rather difficult. 
• Gardens - I had never appreciated the Japanese gardens before this trip. There was one Japanese garden in SF, I visited there once but did not realize what was special about it. Now, I am wiser. Japanese gardens are an art in itself - there is a man-made waterfall, a lake, bridges, flower gardens, tea-houses inside gardens. Gardens are designed that if you are standing at one place, you can only see a part of the garden, there would be trees or paths obstructing the other parts so that each area stands out. Gardens are also inspired by local places/hills/routes and their design is just fascinating. We based our trip to see one of the three perfect gardens - Kenroku-en. 
• Cleanliness - without trash cans. There are no public trash cans in Japan. Yet, the city is beautifully clean. It is just a way of life for folks - do not litter. Outside = inside. It is an unwritten rule that folks do not eat in public places, including gardens. You buy from the shop and then you go home or office and eat there. No walking and eating, not even coffee. No eating in trains unless the trains have trays. 
• Public transport - Kyoto to Tokyo is ~450kms and the train covers this in 2.5 hrs, a train runs every 5 min in the peak hrs. Locally everywhere in Tokyo or even in interior towns, there is public transport. The coverage and punctuality is awesome. We took public transport everywhere and if we missed one train, there was another  5 mins away. I had not seen this good public transport even in Europe. 
• Walking/footpaths - We were walking everywhere in Japan. Their footpaths or walking trails were just amazing. From stations, we would drag our suitcase for 1 km and it was easy - footpaths had ramp built in everywhere. 
• Shogun - I saw the TV series Shogun before my visit. to culturally immerse myself and it was a good thing. It helped me relate to many things that I would later hear in tours, like seppuku. 
• Plastic food - This is so obvious and it is a wonder why it is not everywhere. In India, every darshini will have a photo of Idli or dosa outside to give a feel of how the dish would look like. In Japan, it is the same, except that instead of a photo, it is real-looking replica of the food made out of plastic. The dish looks exactly like the plastic replica. It is amazing! Since it is made out of plastic, it is forever. It provides a visual representation of the dish. I had not seen this in US or anywhere. But, now that I think about it, it so makes sense. There is a whole market which sells this plastic food items. 
• Public baths - When one army is traveling from one place to another, usually to attack, the soldiers travel in a group and they would like to take bath together. This is the concept of public baths - a giant hot-tub where folks can take bath together - saves water, social activity and is scalable. Separate ones for men vs women. Why is this not common everywhere. 
• Automate everything - If there is a usecase, then there should be a machine to handle it. At the end of the trip, we wanted to return our local subway cards (known as IC cards). We get money back on returning the IC card. We checked and were redirected to a kiosk where this can be returned. It is just amazing how much of this country is ahead of everyone else. 

What we didn't like - 

• Food, specifically vegetarian food - Japan is not for vegetarians. We tried vegan restaurants, we tried vegetarian Izakaya restaurants, we tried ordering vegetarian dishes at normal restaurants - we never got the taste. Not a big fan of matcha flavor, did not like moshi desserts, and sobu noodles were too bland for us. Vegetable tempura and sobu noodles with soya sauce filled stomach but we did not relish the food. It was not a foodie trip. 
• The train/subway IC cards are confusing - Cards bought in one city does not work in the other. There are different rail systems, each having their own cards, and some are inter-operable and some are not. We lost some money in this confusion. 
• Tourist spots have many tourists :) - Yeah, an Indian complaining about population is ironic. We were mindful to avoid many tourist spots/activities. But, when there were people, even in this non-touristy season, there were many. Kind of hard to avoid. 

Life In - 1 Sept'24 to March 8, 2025

That is a real long time for a life-in post. Interesting times, I forgot that I had a blog to update. Such is the wheel of time. Lets jump right into it

Travel

Kabir workshop at Ooty - 

Kanishka and I travelled to Ooty to attend the Kabir workshop. Burn down the house is a new book on Kabir by Shabnam Virmani. Both Shabnam and Linda Heiss were there to take a niche cozy Kabir workshop at Narayana Gurukulam Aashram. It was a great workshop and the experience is something that I would remember for a long time. An intimate setting gave an opportunity to directly interact with both of them along with fellow attendees. 

We stayed at the nearby Sterling Fern Hill Resort and that was good too. We did try to stay at the Gurukul but the facilities were too basic for me.  The book is great too ! 

Trip to Nagpur - 

Papa, Mummy and I travelled to Nagpur for some real estate business. All ties with Nagpur are now cut. Beyond the business, there was lot of fun things - Maharashtian food was one. But also was watching the movie The Wild Robot. We went to see the movie but due to only three of us, they would not let us buy tickets. I asked him how many people do you need and they said that they need minimum 6 tickets. So, I bought 6 tickets @ 150 INR each and they played the movie for us. A new first for me!

 

Kannur in December

Kanishka and I travelled to Kannur to do our naturapathy fasting treatment. Before starting we went to Mulbagal Dosa corner in Mysore to taste their new variety of dosa. The dosa was indeed yummy. 

Kannur trip was good as always. We played board games (played root), went for walks, went to Chootad beach and this time did the boat cruise on Jan 1 to welcome the new year. All in all, it was a great work-break, and a healthy detox experience as well. 

Events

Stargazing camp at Ecoland farms

Kanishka, Kanishka mummy, Aarti and me attended the Stargazing event. Saw Venus, Jupiter, Mars and many many starts. Slept in tent with nice mattress below us. Great experience. Also played foozball next day. 

Also visited our farmland - Vrindavan and Shivalik. Trees are small but surviving. Great to see that. 

NIFT HSR - Flea market

Did a whole bunch of shopping at NIFT HSR Flea market. Also, met Parul there. 

Onam festival lunch at Indian Coffee house, HSR

Anopther get together at Tiger trails restaurant situated inside Royal Orchid. Its ambience is awesome

Wedding anniversary celebration - 

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with family at Zen @ Leela. Great social - amazing food, good ambience, bouquet, cake custom made for us. 

Kanishka and I travelled to Serai Bandipur to celebrate our anniversary privately. Our first Serai stay (excluding Barefoot at Havelock which is now a Serai property). Stay was good. We also booked a romantic private dinner to make it cheesy! 

In 2023, we baked a Christmas cake. At that time, we soaked some dry druits in alcohol and let them be for a year. In 2024, we baked another Christmas cake with soaked raisins from a year ago. It was the best chirsrmas cake ever! The taste of rum was there and it was just the right amount of sweet! 

Went for an Indian Ocean concert on Jan 31. Attended an Indian ocean concert after 4-5 years.More nostalgia than enjoyment but enjoyment was also very high! 

Attended my first Lavani dance event on Valentine's day - it was awesome. would highly recommend!

Went to Brahma Brews after the dance performance, based on a friend's recommendation. Their Ananas beer was tasty!

Installed a pet door and moved cat litter boxes outside.  Taco having fun below - 

And here is Puchka being cute - 

Baked Madelines as covered here - https://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2024/12/diwali-ritual-2024.html

Lastly, here is a video to wrap up this post. 

Book Review - Mistborn Trilogy By Brandon Sanderson

 Book Review - Mistborn Trilogy 

By Brandon Sanderson

What Brandon Sanderson did with the ending of The Wheel of Time is indeed commendable. That and the massive amount of hype that comes with his name is the reason I picked up the series. Pretty much any of the Fantasy reader/influencer on Youtube lists Sanderson in their top 5 or 10. 

My overall verdict for the series is 3 out of 5. It is a enjoyable one-time read that will fade away from memory. Nothing stands out except the magic system which is indeed where Sanderson thrives and one that he is proud of. 

The good part of Sanderson' books is that he establishes boundaries and rules for his magic system. Then he plays along with them, within them, and likes to use them with ingenuity. This is a reason why he was the apt choice to translate TWOT. Take the example of the space-warp circles that you can draw in the air that aids you to go from one place to another. In the Jordan era, the TWOT world changed after this was re-discovered and made folks travel from one place to another in no time. In the Sanderson era, he uses these circles as spy devices, drawing them 50 ft above the ground for folks to see what is going on below. When it comes the first time on pages, it is an aha moment and adds so much richness to the rule that was used hundreds of times before. 

Similarly, in Mistborn series, (spoilers ahead), Kandra have a rule that they cannot kill humans. But there is no rule for Kandra killing kandra. One would expect that rule will preclude Kandra killing other kandra,  but Sanderson enjoys these gaps and later exploits them. 

Sanderson's books are known for its world building. How does he do that? It is indeed based on layering. In the beginning, we learn about different metals, their properties and powers, pushing and pulling aspects. We come to know that this is Allomancy. Later on, we learn that there are other forms using the same metals and in fact that there are three - Allomanncy. Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. Sanderson weaves each form in his stories/characters. Later, in book three, we get to know that Allomancy is from Preservation and Hemalurgy is from Ruin. Sanderson explores the role of Preservation and Ruin and how they balance each other out. 

A good rule of world building is that it should always add room to add scope at each layer and able to build more layer on top it. Sanderson does it effectively. He can expand horizontally - example -  add more metals (layer 1), add more techniques (layer 2) or expand verticals - where does Preservation or Ruin come from.  Sanderson is master of this craft and it shows in the text. 

Compare this to the world building of Harry Potter. I have been thinking of which books did I enjoy more - Harry Potter series or Sanderson. Internet says that kids enjoy HP while adults enjoy Mistborn. I am not sure. I feel that Rowling's world building is definitely magical but lacks rules. There could be a spell for anything, it is vague, vast and also lacks a grounded basis. Such limitlessness results in author-convenience, you can create a way out by inventing a new spell. 

However, in contrast I found the characters to be more relatable in HP series than Mistborn. In general, I like books where there is a sense of purpose and people coming together to do something magical. It is easy to create a sense of purpose, for all fantasy books are basically a re-telling of good vs bad. But people coming together, relying on each other to achieve the end goal, overcoming what they thought they could achieve, against all odds is what makes the journey satisfying. See, LOTR, it is the fellowship that establishes the bond. In HP, it is the batchmates of Hogwarts class where friendships are made. 

My biggest gripe with TWOT is that the camaraderie does not shine, seems forced and folks are often jealous or arguing with each other. It is not that bad in mistborn though. Book one is by far my favorite of the three precisely because of this reason. The characters and their fellowship shines the most in book 1. In book two and three, it dilutes down. 

The second trope that I do not like at all is when characters get power without deserving them. Sure, they may be born with it but their process of discovery is important. In TWOT, I could never associate with Matt. In Mistborn, the protagonist, Vin's self discovery is palatable but Elend - I could still see his path to get to become the king (done actually well with Tindwyl)  but for him to become Allomancer is just cheating in my mind. I love the fact that in the land of magic, how people without magic can not only survive but also lead (think - Aragorn, Frodo, Varys), it makes them more powerful. Sanderson throws away that edge in book 3 and I had a hard time enjoying book 3 for this very reason. 

Character arcs - Other aspect of fantasy books is how character arcs shape up, not just the protagonist but the side characters too. The Spook arc in book 3 is well done and satisfying. Vin and Sazed shine in parts but not everytime. This is where I think Sanderson's books are biased towards world building than character arcs. Sazed love interest turned grief mode seems unconvincing since the book shows him in love only for 2 months in his god knows how long life. Sanderson avoids the hero-savior trope by balancing Vin's page-time but he also does not enough meat in it. 

No review of Mistborn is done without Kelseir - the hero of book 1, the spirit of the trilogy and perhaps the best character of the entire series. Book 1 is practically a heist plot, a heist against the God (literally) and Kelseir is the plotter. It is a david vs goliath trope, fellowship trope, new hero discovery and training trope, revenge trope, good vs evil trope in which few good people will die,  it is everything that you would expect from a good fantasy book.  Kelseir is the Tyrion of GoT - a character that everyone falls in love with.  

The other premise that is really good with Mistborn is the class struggle - the Skaa(workers) vs the nobles. Mistborn world is actually pretty dystopian but Sanderson tones it down. The brutality by the nobles, the helplessness of the Skaa, are really good subjects and Sanderson engages with both of them. But, I feel tha they could have been explored more deeply. But, the fact that Sanderson brought them to the forefront and had chose such a setting is indeed commendable. 

Book1 - The Final Empire - 3.5/5

Book 2 - The Well of Ascension - 2.5/5

Book 3 - The Hero of Ages - 3/5

The reason I got the HP comparison is because I felt the writing styles of Rowling and Sanderson are similar. The prose is okay-ish, easy to follow up but does not stand out. Words exist to create the worlds, push the plot along and for the narration to happen. But the wordsmith-ness is not there. Some books have a beauty when you read them. Like Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin for me.  Mistborn is not of that genre. 

Read Mistborn for its world building and it is a great introduction to fantasy, similar to HP series but in a more real world setting. 

The Song Post of 2024 - Minimalism Edition

 The last time, there was a song post (posts with 'songs' label) on this blog was back in 2012.  12 years and no song post, that is almost a crime. The reality is that my song exploration indeed has slowed down, but it is not zero either. Most of my song discovery happens via movies/TV-shows. My favorite genre is minimalism. In this post, let me share some songs that I have played discovered/re-discovered. 

Ludwig Göransson's score of Oppenheimer was amazing. In this song 'Can you hear the music', as the song starts, there is a feeling of joy, lighness about it but then it transforms into some epic scale out of the world kind of vibe. And when you layer it with the movie Oppenheimer, you feel the excitement of scientific research in the making of the bomb, and then the impact that it can have to this world and now, we know what it was. 

Max Richter - Max Richeter is a god. He belongs to Saare gunah maaf category. 

Here are a few songs to get hooked - 

• On the Nature of Daylight
• November 
• The Departure
• Dona Nobis Pacem 3 - gives me goose bumps 
• Also, this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNwXUhaklVs
• And hear this music here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhHuXcvD1EE
• Watch the whole movie Sleep 
• Max Richter's on Vivaldi's four seasons is awesome
• 
  

The Landing by Justin Huruwitz - Became my ringotne after listening to this. The recursion is awesome. The song has a sense of energy, momentum to it. 

The Winner is by DeVotchKa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leZsqe2w5AY

A song that is meant to make you optimistic. Cheers me up everytime I hear it. No matter what I am doing. World becomes bearable, things will get better and life will go on. 

Arvo Pärt- Spiegel im Spiegel 

I seem to discover Arvo part and then loose it, only to discover again. The last time I got this was while watching Ted Lasso Season 3.  It is such a beautiful composition. 

Hans Zimmer is also a god. Iske be saare gunaah maaf hain

• Intersteller theme music is mind blowing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpz8lpoLvrA
• Inception Time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SswRnJgX1_s
• Dark Knight theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGx5a1ifSDs 

Nitin Sawhney's score of Namesake is awesome. It is so soothing to listen to this. Time slows down. It is full of nostalgia, makes you a small kid. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U1siICQV38

Also, Reprise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7TTvWgXfwA and maybe the full album here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMZAerdMHjU&list=PLFiP2KLOpjPK9NwStoYeqZf8ty2wyt_MX 

Alexander Desplat - Satutues and Lily's theme

Jon Brion - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind

Diwali ritual - 2024

 How do you celebrate Diwali ?

In my 2008 Diwali post (https://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2008/10/diwali-post.html), I had asked this question - how does one celebrate Diwali ? For someone who does not like bursting crackers (pollution, money, ROI, you name it, there are many reasons to not do it), not too much in Pooja either, how does one celebrate the festival? 

(Side note - It is amazing that I had asked this question back in 2008 :), sometimes I look back at this blog and it is just amazing to reconnect with a past of myself)

Anyways, responding to this in 2024, I can proudly say that this question has been answered. Kanishka and I have created our own Diwali ritual and have followed this tradition over the last 10 years. 

Our ritual is that we will prepare one sweet from scratch on the day of Diwali. It has to be a sweet that we have never prepared before, we like it and hopefully prepare-able within a day. We have done with almost consistently. 

Diwali 2014 - Malpua

Diwali 2015 - Imarthi

Diwali 2016 - Kala Jamun

Diwali 2017 - Badam Katli

2018 - No sweet. Spent Diwali in New Zealand :) 

Diwali 2019 - Chennapoda

Diwali 2020 - Sandesh

Diwali 2021 - No sweet. Spent Diwali in Goa :)

Diwali 2022 - Mawa Jalebi

Diwali 2023 - No sweet. Were lazy this year :) 

Diwali 2024 - Madeleine

2024 dessert of the year was Madeleines - a French tea cake. We had Madeleines made by deepali Sawant and also in US. It was yum. We gave it a try. There are hundreds (or may be thousands) recipes for this. But, the one that really worked for us was by PastryLiving - https://pastryliving.com/vanilla-madeleines/ . Her Youtube video was very helpful and in the comments, we learnt a lot of what can go wrong. 

(Bonus Tip - In youtube videos, the way to judge a good recipe is to read the comments and learn from folks who have tried it. There are always some quirks, and dos and donts that are not covered, which are discussed in the comments. Comments determine the video/recipe value. In this case, the fact that the batter and the tray had to be refrigerated for the madeleines to get the right shape. was a very good tip)

Like every year, we do not make one recipe but we make variations and do our experimentation. This year, we tried Vanilla madeleines, Chocolate covered madeleines and chocolate madeleines. We tried two or three different variations but the pastryliving was incredibly useful. 

Madeleines were a definite hit this year and almost everyone liked it. It is not so common, so I am guessing that folks didn't had a good reference point either to compare :) . Anyways, they are always nice to us. so gave glowing reviews. 

Overall, we made close to 200 madeleines and it took us almost the entire day :) 

2024 - 

2022 - 

2021 - 

2019 - 

2017 - 

2016 - 

2015 - 

2014 - 

I love the fact that we have innovated our own Diwali Ritual. This way of celebration resonates much more closely - both of us have a sweet tooth. Also, making something on your own has a lot of fun. It is a great way to spend the Diwali day and it makes the day memorable too. What else is Diwali if not to create memories and spend it with the loved ones. 

Book Review - The Word for the World is Forest

 

The Word for the World is Forest

By Ursulla LeGuinn

A short novel. Ursulla LeGuin writes a story on a new planetary colonization by humans. This new planet, New Tahiti, is 27 years away from Earth. This new planet has a human-like folks who have learnt to live in harmony with nature. They do not kill each other, and when they get angry, they sing. Societies are ruled by woman because they excel in politics while men excel in intellect. The best part is that they can dream while being awake and there is something called dream-time and real-time. They are surrounded by trees and in their language, the term used to describe the world is 'forest'

LeGuin's takes us into this world where such abstract concepts and imagery is brought to light in an easing manner. I wanted to visit this place, learn how to dream while being awake, live among these people for a while. They were content folks. Until the colonizers came. 

The colonizers are cliche-like brutal except one person who is a do-gooder. Earth beings, or yumens, as they are called by the natives, are cruel to the natives, use them as slaves and hunt them for pleasure. Classic tropes are done to create this duality of good vs evil. I am more familiar with this trope from the movie Avatar but as it usually is, Ursulla did it first :) 

It is a good over evil story, so native species win. In that manner, it is a positive ending. But along the way, they learn something from humans - the ability to kill each other. LeGuin leaves the question hanging on how this would change them but hints it enough that it will change them. 

Overall, a short and good read. 3.5/5

My Vipassana experience - 2024

 My Vipassana experience - 2024

Vipassana is a 10 day meditation course where you are not supposed to talk to each other, no phones or books allowed. The idea is for you to focus on yourself and learn this meditation technique. I had no idea beyond this before I registered. A good number of my friends had done it and recommended it. Being a curious person, I wanted to explore this. 

Vipassana meditation is organized by Dhamma.org group with courses running at various centres. Some research online showed that there is something called Executive course where you get a private room instead of sharing beds in a dorm. Only a selected few centres offer this executive course, one of them was the Kathmandu one, so I signed up for it. 

Before Day Zero

My course was from Aug 15 to 24. I flew to Kathmandu 4 days before, over the weekend to do some sight seeing and work from Kathmandu for a couple of days. There is no direct flight from BLR and it takes a whole day to travel. I later realized that Kathmandu has legalized casinos and there are a few. So, before my Vipassana meditation, I spent days in either working (two days) or sightseeing Kathmandu (one day) and nights at casino (limited loss, Day 2 night, I recovered most of my money). So, I reached the centre in a very sleep deprived state. 

Day Zero 

Having slept only 4 hrs in the night, I got ready and called the cab guy. (The cab company owner was also taking this retreat, same batch as mine. So, he understood my requirements to come and pick me up and why I will not be calling him to remind of pickup) . I spent the morning in some more sight seeing and reached the centre by noon. After the formalities, I had to surrender my phone, laptop, books and everything that could distract me. I was taken to my room, given some snacks at around 4 pm and then I slept. There was an introduction session at 7 pm and then it started. 

On day zero, you also take five committments that for the period of this course, you will not kill, no lies, no sexual activity, no speaking (or communicating) etc. No kill was interesting because it applies to animals too and the centre was at the verge of a forest with lot of insects/spiders roaming in your room. This Guardian article nicely explains some of my feelings there but it is good that I am not archanophbic 

Day 1 to Day 3

The first part of meditation course was to focus on your breath. Train your mind to concentrate on your breath. It is not easy as it sounds since the mind wanders off. Within seconds. Less than 5 seconds. On day 1, that is what happened to me. I had never done any kind of meditation before beyond the Zendo retreats. So, I was aware of this phenomenon. The goal of first three days is to increase the time so that atleast you can concentrate on your breath for a full minute without the mind wandering away. 

On day 1 with no phones, no distractions, I definitely found peace. But more than that, my body complained of exhaustion. It needed sleep, it needed rest. So, a lot of my meditation hrs were spent in sleeping. 

At 1pm, you can have a 1:1 setting with your teacher and ask questions or your doubts. On day 1, I told him that I feel very sleepy and he said that you may be fatigued. Give it some time. 

The course schedule was also daunting. It had 10 hrs of meditation per day and a ~2 hr long discourse from SN Goenka (founder of the dhamma group). This discourse shared the theory behind the practice and also clarified some common questions that many folks had in their minds. The day started with a 4am gong to wake up. First meditation is from 430 am to 630 am (2 hrs). Then breakfast is served at 6:30 with a break till 8 am. There is a group sitting from 8am to 9am, followed by a 5 min break and then a medidation session from 9am to 11am. Group sittings happen in a common hall. Lunch is served at 11 and then there is a break till 1pm. From 1pm to 5 pm, there is back to back meditation sessions - 1 to 2:30 pm, followed by 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm group sitting and then another one from 330 to 5pm. There is a break from 5 to 6pm for tea and fruits. 6pm to 7pm is the third group sitting of the day and then there is the discourse to close the day. A total of 10 hrs of meditation and 2 hrs of discourse. 12 hrs of sitting without a backrest

On day 3, I went to my teacher sharing that my back is killing me and can I get backrest support. He politely declined and shared that by the time you get to day 6 or 7, it will go away. On day 3, day 6 was an eternity away. 

Day 4 to day 6

On day 4, we were introduced to the technique of Vipassana. It is a new form of meditation, I had never heard about it before (thanks to my no research policy). The evening discourse covered the theory and common FAQs around this new technique. On day 5 and day 6, we were asked to focus on this technique and practice it. The evening discourses covered various aspects around this technique and how it is different from other practices.

The core aspect of Vipassana is that you can work on yourself, both body and mind, to train them so that you are equanimous. When our Indriyan (ear, nose, skin, mind and tongue) consume some signal (food, smell, touch etc), they send this signal to the brain and then interprets this signal. As part of this interpretation, it generates sensation on the body. For example, if you read something and you become angry, some part of you body will become hot, that is there will be heat sensation on your body. The brain has both conscious and subconscious aspects, these sensations on your body as part of the reaction to signal happen instinctively, done by the subconscious mind. Interestingly, the reaction from your mind broadly can be classified into two parts - either it is a craving of something (in hindi - raag) or an aversion to something (dwesh). Both these cravings or aversions then lead to misery or suffering. 

What Gautam Buddha discovered, as part of his search of enlightenment is that you can train your mind to do two things - First, to identify the sensations being generated on your body - some sensations would be gross (like a pain or an itch) and some would be subtle (like skin reacting to air or cloth). You need to meditate here, that is focus on each body part at a time to identify what kind of sensation you are feeling. Second is that once you have identified the sensation, you train your mind to ignore it, that is be equanimous towards it - be it a good sensation or a bad one. The underlying principle here is the principle of impermanence - everything dies. These sensations are also temporary and they will go away in sometime. By training your mind to be equanimous, while you acknowledge the sensation, you are not reacting to it.  

It is the reaction to these sensations that causes cravings or aversions. When you feel angry, lets say you are stuck in traffic or you read something and feel angry, the angry reaction (which is a form of aversion) is not coming because you are stuck in traffic or you read something. What you read is a signal, that the brain intercepts and instinctively generate these sensations. You react to these sensations and this reaction created anger in you. So, your emotions or suffering is largely coming because your mind is reacting to these subtle or gross sensations. Gautam Buddha figured out that if you train your mind to ignore these reactions, you can be equanimous. 

The impermanence principle is key - just like a candle flame, even though it is a continuous flame, underneath, there is the wax that is used to create this flame. Every second, some wax is getting burnt that leads to the flame. Same applies to a light bulb which is consuming some electricity everytime to create that illusion of continuous light. Similarly, in body, even a sensation if pain is basically, some atoms or wavelengths generating a sensation of pain, then dying only to be replaced by a new wavelength carrying the same sensation of pain. So, every sensation dies in the end. If you train your mind that this sensation will die soon, and train it to not react to it, that is be equanimous towards it, you will find peace. That is how you end your suffering. 

The teaching come from Gautam Buddha who discovered this 2500 years ago and it has been passed won via Guru-shishya tradition. It got lost in India some 2000 years ago but some small group in Burma kept this going. SN Goenka was in Burma and he stumbled on it, found its value and got it back to India. 

I was able to feel the gross sensations and sometimes the subtle ones too. I was able to ignore them and I did observe that they went away. My back pain also got resolved in this period. Day 4 to day 6 was the period to try this new thing and see what it is.

One of things that they ask you from day 5 onwards is 'athishtaan', that is when you sit for group sitting, you make the strong determination that whatever happens, you will not move your legs, arms or open your eyes. For the three group sitting that happen in a day, one is supposed to meditate without moving any part. I found it incredibly difficult and max that I lasted was about 48 mins. 

Day 7 to day 9. 

I was doing quite well till day 6. But from day 7, I started feeling homesick. The technique was also becoming difficult and while my backpain resolved, my pain in legs was still there. It was not the feeling of talking or the need of phones that was there but just the idea to leave this place and go back to the comfort of home and family. Day 7 to day 9 were very difficult. 

On Day 7, we were introduced to this concept of Shunya-ghar - Zero-house. It is a small 3 ft by 6 ft room, where you can sit and meditate. The idea is that for your non-group sittings, you go to this place and then meditate there - by yourself in silence. I liked this since here I could stretch my legs atleast and I had back-rest too :) 

However, this longing for home, which is a craving and hence the exact thing that we were asked to not generate, was strong. From a technique point of view, we were taught of some optimizations to the core technique. While I had made some progress on the core technique, I was still far away from where they expected me to be and these optimizations were next level. 

I also met with my teacher everyday during this period to ask if I am doing things correctly or not. His responses were helpful but many answers lie within myself. It was becoming clear that I needed a lot of work on myself to see the gains here. My homesickness was not helping but it has been 10 days away from home and I wanted to go back.

Somehow, I survived day 7 to day 9. The weather here was extremely rainy. On day 7, it rained for 36 hrs straight. My room was next to a waterfall/stream running down a hill and it had the nice sound of water flowing. The view from my room was this giant mountain covered with dark green dense trees. When rains came, it became very beautiful. I spent a lot of time just watching this scenery. It gave me a lot of peace. 

From day 2 onwards, I also dropped the 5 pm fruit thing and instead used the 5-6pm hr for working out. Being on a hill, the space had about 6 storeys  worth of stairs and walking path. I used to go up and down for about 40 mins each day and that also helped me. It also made my intermittent fasting for 19 hrs - having sone Kannur, this was easy. 

Day 10 and Day 11

Day 10 is when you break the noble silence and can interact with your peers. You are expected to meditate only for three hrs. It is a day to get you accustomed to real life before you leave the centre. Otherwise, it would be a big shock of transition. While you can talk, phone or laptops are still not given.

While talking to peers, we realized that there was only one more person from India there. Everyone else was from Nepal. There was also a book exhibition, a documentary on Vipassana courses in Tihar and some other things to keep us busy. It was also raining the whole time. 

By day 10, all I could think was to get back. I was counting hrs. At the start, I had made the determination that I will not quit this course no matter what happens. I was happy on day 10 to have survived it and now only it was a matter of time that I would be back.

On day 11, there is discourse at 430 am for a couple of hrs before it ends. In this, they share to practice what you have learnt everyday - an hr in the morning and an hr in the evening. It is a very tall ask and if I can do 30 mins each day, I would be very happy.

With all the challenges of the program, I found the experience to be very rewarding and grateful that I have done it. I definitely feel that I am not ready to incorporate this in my daily life but when I get ready, I know that it will be this technique and this way. It is the only way that I have learnt that does not mix with any religion or any other influences.  It asks you to work on yourself, just shows the way on how to do so. I liked this aspect. 

On day 11, after the morning discourse, I collected my phone, laptop etc and rushed to the airport for my way back. 

Life In 24 Mar to 31 Aug'24

 

No time to waste, so lets get down to the deets. In no particular order. 

Thindi Walk in Rajajinagar with Aarti. 

Thindi Walk

1. We started at a Chiblu idli van that is yet to be found on Google maps. Mandya Halaguru Chiblu Idli, Rajajinagara. -pillowy, fresh chiblu idlis, love rice bath items (pudina, puliyogare and chitranna), masal vadE. All good!
2. THE Ajji hotel with the sakkath khara kanninda neeru baruthe chutney, fantastic chitranna, idli and bondas.
3. Sri Guru raghavendra dosa and veg corner. Shavige bath, Kesari Bhat and vade
4. Siri coffee Mane for some fresh coffee
5. Manjunatha fast foods - Puri with Sunday special tarkari sagu (brilliant!), garlic chutney smeared masal dosE, soft thatte idlis with a dash of ghee
6. Davangere benne dosE angadi, open dosE, benne Khali, benne masalE
7. Lastly, we went to O.G. Varier bakery - a very famous one 

Restaurants explored - 

• Kampot Bellandur - Went with office colleagues for Kajal's farewell. Good Asian food. Not much crowded and no music.
• Biergarten Bellandur - Went with Rick and team. Good beer and near to office. It is a huge place inside. 
• Street 1522, Sarjarpur road with Masi - Good variety of food. Nice combination of food court and restaurant. 
• Multiple visits to Deck of brews from office
• Hotel Annapurna Tiffin Center - Nearby office. Took a cab once and had breakfast before going to office. 
• The Filter Coffee - Tried both Indiranagar (with Manas) and the Brookfiled one (with Rick)

Movies / TV Series

• Kill  - John Wick equivalent from India. Loved it. 3.5/5
• Amar Singh Chamkila - Biopic done well. I liked it a lot. 3.5/5 
• Barbie - 3/5
• Watched Oppenheimer again. I think it is just brilliant. 4.5/5
• Broadchurch - Season 1 & 2. 4/5 . Both David Tennant and Olivia Coleman are awesome! 
• The Bear season 3 - 3.5/5 Still has a lot of heart but story does not move that much forward. 
• Masala series - Tracker (2.5/5), Poker Face (3/5) 
• Masala movies - The Union, Twisters (2024), Twister(1996), Anyone but you. 
• Rewatched Ted Lasso during my Dengue time. 

Travels

1. Trip to Mussourie
2. Surya Top Trek with IndiaHikes
3. US trip - LA, Vegas and Grand Canyon. Details to come
4. Kathmandu + Vipassana  - Details to come. 

Books

Started a book club in office to read management books. 

• On Leadership - HBR's 10 best reads 
• No Rule Rules - Netflix and the culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer
• The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
• Siddartha by Herman Hesse
• The Art of Living - Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka
• The devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino 

What Else

• Got Dengue - Was out for 2 weeks. Kanishka and mummy fed me lot of juices which helped me recover soon. 
• Did a fruit only detox diet from Team Sharan for a week.