5 July - Dec 30 2020 aka Life in 2020 part-2

 

2020 will be a year to remember. Life will not be same now. But even in this lockdown year, it was not a dull year. The second part became even more colorful with us adopting a pair of kittens and life changed again for us. 

Puchka & Fryums

As I shared earlier, Fryums passed away on Dec 5.  Fryums was the one who had grown closer to us. Puchka was the shy one, more sneaky one. After Dec 5, it took us lot of strength for us to move on. We thought that the worst was over. We wanted to spend time with Puchka and make sure she moves on as well. However, after 5 days, on Dec 10, Puchka had vomiting, loose motions and after couple of vet visits, a blood test, it came out that her White blood cell count is critically low and all her symptoms point to FPV - Feline Parvovirus. 

FPV was supposedly over but it has taken a resurgence in last 1-2 years. It is more contagious than Covid is in humans, it has no cure, (there is a vaccine but out kitten was not vaccinated), and has about 70% fatality rate. GIven the low WBC count of Puchka, vets were very concerned. Puchka refused to have any food and we had to take her to the clinic for morning and evening IV fluid drips so that she can be hydrated. This was a painful 10 day time period. Her conditioned worsened where in she even showed symptoms of FCV - Feline Calcivirus. Her mouth had ulcers, she was drooling everywhere. Loose motion would not stop. A kitten having both FPV & FCV is incredibly rare and for someone to survive this is a miracle. Big shout out to vets at My Pets Choice who were very knowledgable and handled her with due care. 

Kanishka took it upon herself to ensure that Puchka gets full love and affection. The cold weather in Bangalore required us to give her heat packs whose water had to be changed every four hrs. Kanishka kept alarms and slept with her to ease her pain. She regularly cleaned all poop and made sure her surroundings are clean. I mostly got the vet duty and figured out clever ways to keep her quiet when her IV drips were going on. 

After the 10 day period, Puchka's health improved. She came out of IV, and is now also out of oral medications. This Sunday, we got her first vaccine treatment. Her energy is coming back, her hunger is unstoppable. Here are some of her recent excursions - 

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Cooking 

Made authentic alcohol filled plum cake during this Christmas. Came out very well. 

Sandesh during Diwali

Our Diwali sweet this time was Sandesh, specifically Naren gur Sandesh. We made Sandesh in three different varieties - one using milkmaid, one using Naren gur and third one using chocolate

Chinese style chilli Tofu and veggies

No pic unfortunately but it came out pretty well. 

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Movies / TV

Once upon a time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino

4/5 - There is a different energy in each of Tarantino's movies, even when they are not westerns :) Although this one is both a western and not one either. 

Ak vs AK by Vikramaditya Motwane

2.5/5 - Masala movie that is one time watch. 

Kim's convenience - Season 1 & 2

Could have been an Indian family. Lovely Canadian show (Canadian TV is awesome) perfect for family.

Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda

4/5 - Poignant story about what is a family, about survival and poverty.

Line of Duty - Season 4

3.5/5 - Less gritty than the previous ones. But still pretty good. 

Mandalorian - Season 1 & 2

2.5/5 - I wanted some mindless masala when I started this. It delivers on that. Yes, baby yoda is cute. 

The trial of Chicago seven by Aaron Sorkin

3.5/5 - Pretty good. Great actors, decent script. Semi-based on a true story. Sorkin fans will love it

Morning Show - Season 1

2.5/5 - I honestly watched it for Billy Cudrup and Mimi Leder (of Leftovers fame). Reese Witherspoon definitely provides the energy needed for this show.  Never a fan of Jennifer Anniston. Story arc was ok.

More AV here - http://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2020/10/av-report-june-sept-2020.html

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- Presently reading Sandman vol - 5. Brilliant series. 

- Installed Swing at home. 

- Travelled to Sakleshpur, Kabini and a day out to Nature's village to celebrate Babu's bday. 

- Home deep cleaning done, ahoy! so much effort it is.

Books and Reading in 2020

It is becoming difficult to focus on books these days. Takes extra effort to read with all the distractions coming along.  But once the fascination kicks in, it is a breeze through to finish a book. 2019 in book world will be remembered when I discovered Ursulla Leguin's EarthSea world.  How much I wish to read them again :)

2020 started with me becoming a Murakami fanboy. It started with Kafka on the shore and then I read 1Q84 which actually turned out to be a trilogy.  Without further adieu, here is my entire reading list of 2020

Kafka on the Shore, 1Q84. 

Haruki Murakami

Murakami blends magic realism with narrative storytelling in which characters are trying to rediscover themselves. Characters drive themselves, often pushing themselves, outside of their comfort zones; there is a sense of journey in his novels. Eventually, good things happen to good people which makes his work feel good. Kafka on the shore was much better than 1Q84. Detailed review here

The rise and fall of Third Reich

William Shirer

My motivation to read this came from the question posed by White Ribbon - Where does evil come from? I had always wondered about the rise of Hitler.  William Shirer's 1100 page long covers the saga starting from the early days of Hitler, his education and youth, how he came into politics, what shaped his ideology. The book covers his rise to power in Germany and how institutions failed to prevent this. The second part is the path to war starting with  Germany's bordering nations, how WW-1 victors namely France and Britan kept quiet and let the whole thing escalate to proportions that we know now. The third part of the book is about how the war ended, role played by US and UK into it. 

Throughout the book, Shirer keeps on reminding that the Third Reich was meant to last a 100 years but it collapsed in about 18 years. So, there is hope in humanity. However, the sense of parallels that led to rise of Hitler and in the present day is non trivial. One big difference however is that under Hitler, common many did get a sense of economic security and prosperity, something that is missing in today's times. 

The book undermines the tour de force was Hitler's will. He took a lot of risks and many were successful.  However, the book could have done a better job in emphasizing the role of his commanders who were actually in the battlefield.  Hitler, being the ego-maniac that he was, took credit for all of his victories. 

Shirer benefits from all the records that were made public, testimonies of folks made during the Nuremberg trials and other media reports. It is definitely a fascinating read, with some scary and sad content. Unfinished book review is here. 

Bride of the Forest: The Untold Story of Yayati’s Daughter

Madhavi Madhavan

Yayati's daughter was given a boon/curse that she would be bearer of kings and she would be a virgin forever. In a society where one of king's duties is to bear a male heir, a society where boys are preferred over girls and in a society where virgins are sacred, this is a curse. I loved this book, actually a lot. Madhavi weaves the tale adding so much detail, character and imagery that it is difficult to put down.  Her writing has a flow, it has a sense of melancholy, not just for the main character but also what happens to folks around them. 

Our mythological stories surely has insane amount of creativity in them. Rishis get jealous of kings, stubborn kings want to prove themselves, gods come with certain expectations, so much happens and then there are curses, opposite of the spells of Harry Potter. 

The story is truly a sad one. The ending lifts the story as it becomes a story of ultimate sacrifice. We do not know about Drishatvati because she traded her fame to ensure Yayati goes to heaven. I would very much like to watch a modern day retelling of this book. This is magical realism in one of its finest writings.

Brave new world

Aldous Huxley

One of the science fiction books that is in top 100 Time books to read. Brave New World imagines a society where the science of artificial birthing has been engineered. The true purpose of society is to maintain an order. Natural instincts of human beings tend to disrupt order and hence they need to be neutered. Mental stimulation comes with games, sexual apetite is fulfilled by making it a mundane part of life. Sleep learning shapes the mind to internalize the new world as a tautum. And then there is soma, a drug, that makes one feel good. It is recommended to consume soma in limited amounts daily to bear the existence of life. 

Much of the book is about the world building, how would such a structure exist. It imagines a class-hierarchy based society where every class is trained to not question the other one and how they are better than others. The conflict originates when there are few folks who are at ill-ease in such an order. To propel the narrative, Huxley adds a comparison with a conservation area in Mexico where human beings still live in their primitive lifestyle. In a key twist, Huxley brings in a character from the primitive world to this new world of order without all the trainings. 

Sandman

Neil Gaimon

I have read books 1 to 4 of this 10 part comic series. Sandman, also known as Morpheus or Dream, is the one of the endless who rules the Dream world. Each book is a collection of stories that revolve around dream, dreamworld and ofcourse, our Sandman. 

It is insanely good. Book 4 has been the best, followed by two, one and three. The series is very anti climactic. To give you an example, in book four, Sandman has to go to Hell, whose ruler is Lucifer. In his last visit to hell, things did not go well between Sandman and Lucifer. This present visit is setup as a big show down between these two characters and Morpheus is definitely the weaker one. However, as he reaches Hell, Lucifer had decided to call it quits and is in the process of locking the gates. Gaiman repeats this trope in different forms and is always a delight. 

Into the Woods - How Stories work and why we tell them.

John Yorke

This classic book breaks down the story in its raw forms - structure, arcs, characters, conflict. What is a 3 Act play, what is a 5 art structure. It is all about the nuts and bolts of a story that is coming since the days of Greek tragedies. The book analyzes screenplays of popular movies and shares how all of them follow the same principles under the hood. 

Lolita

Vladimir Nobokov

I can see why this is considered a classic. Lolita is a story about a middle aged man who likes underage girls, nymphets. He likes one in particular the most, Dolores also known as Lolita, and eventually becomes her stepfather and a lover. 

It is a hilarious, non-erotic treatment of a difficult subject, written in a way that evokes empathy for the main character. Part road book, part memoir, part observational commentary, it has great things going for it. Yet, I found it difficult to finish. Outside of the nymphomania, Lolita's point of view is mostly non-existent or comes across as a YA, young-adult, which is not something that I relish reading on.

To me the best part was the last meeting between Lolita and her stepfather where they are meeting after four years. It is very raw, fresh and gives you a summation of the her childhood and the impact of such a relationship has on children. 

A memory called empire

Arkady Martine

I simply love when I read/watch something before it gets insanely popular. The way I discovered it because it came via highly recommended from folks who are strong influencers. This book won the Hugo award this year. 

A memory called empire is a space opera where one planet has figured out how to encode memories and consciousness of a person into a neuro capsules that can be fitted inside others. The recipient of such a capsule is living the lives of two people, one of their own and the second from the capsule. The capsule person could themselves had a capsule and as such generations of knowledge can be passed down using this technology. Arkady uses an ambassador who takes this technology to the epicenter of the empire where the king is dying with no heir. Such tech would keep the king alive through a different vessel and all interesting geo political things happen when tech meets sci-fi world building. 

Written beautifully, the text has a sense of simplicity in a chaotic world. Characters with different motivations work independently which makes sense, however it may not be good as a whole. Loved the book and waiting for its sequel. 

Getting More

Stuart Diamond

Detailed review here

Unfinished Book Review - The Rise and Fall of Third Reich

The rise and fall of Third Reich
By William Shirer

My biggest accomplishment for a furlough week given by my employer has been to finish this mammoth book - over 1100 pages written in a smallish font.  Shirer was there when it happened. He couples his personal observations with documentary evidence made public at Nuremberg trials along with diaries of key people of Third Reich.

The book covers the whole saga in three parts - The rise of Hitler and Third Reich, this section ends when Hitler has established a totalitarian regime by dismantling all democratic structures in the government. The next section covers the war - how it started from Austria and then goes by one country after another. The last section is on how the war ended which includes mistakes made by Third Reich and entry of USA.

Section 1 - The rise of Third Reich aka how it parallel with our times. 

Hitler had confidence. Hitler had no accomplishments to claim when he launched his political campaign.  What gave him confidence to run is beyond anyone.  Shirer adopts a tone of surrealism and contempt using this fact. Even later, after Hitler has won multiple battles, he still taunts him as a low corporal officer at the help of affairs.

Hitler developed a disdain for Jews during his stay at Vienna. This, and some botched up teaching of history made him start a Nationalist Socialist party with the objective to have a pure Aryan race take control of affairs of Germany and beyond. The means to this end have a parallel with today's times that is difficult to unsee.

Hitler frequently pointed out that Jews are seducing young Christian girls and thus adulterating their blood.  It is eerily similar to Love Jihad theory practised more commonly in northern states of India.

Normalisation of lies
For a lie to be sold, it has to be made truth. This is a playbook that that is common from Iraq war to Gujarat model. Hitler penned German's defeat of first world war on few traitors at home. These traitors were mostly Jews or people in power who had to be removed. Such a lie was packaged, repeated and sold as truth.

Even later, his Beer hall putsch, an amateur attempt to win a local election by force which was actually a failure by all accounts was deemed a success and celebrated in later years as the first true victory that created Third Reich.

Army and Politics
Many democracies including India had this principle of keeping the hierarchy of Army outside politics. Politicians should not influence how Army hierarchy works and army should not have any vested say in the party which rules. Hitler realized much early on that he can not come to power without the support of Army.

Hitler convinced army to join his cause to overthrow the government. He used the failures of current state -  a struggling one after the first world war loss restrictions.  In one of his moves, he created a new rank to which the chiefs of Army, Navy and Airforce will report. Much of these are similar to moves made by govt in last 4-5 years. It is commonplace now for ex-veterans to appear on TV shows and share their politically biased opinions.

The idea of state based on race
Hitler strongly believed in the purity of race. His book Mein Kampf is filled with his diatribe on this subject.  His idea of state, culture, economy all revolved around this race. What is good and what is bad based on this. He publicly decried his hate for other races, in particular Jews. 

A corollary of this race theory is the glorification of past when only pure race existed. Be it "Make America Great Again" or be it Hindu Rashtra, a nation concept is created based on mythology.  For struggling states, this becomes a rallying cry to come out of its misery. The means appear to justify its ends. citizens are forced to believe it as there does not exist any other alternative.

While the truth has always been that trade has helped countries flourish. A company thrives if it has diversity, a nation flourishes when it has citizens from different backgrounds. We are living in an age where we are connected like never before, information travels instantly. Even in these times, to call for a past which had no language diversity, no exchange of ideas is definitely an alarm.


Fragmented opposition
Germany after first world war had too many political parties. Each one serving its own ideology with a core group of supporters. Shirer writes that -

The cardinal error of Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.

A look at our present times and this is deja vu.


Section 2 - The World War

It started with race. First was the neighboring country Austria as it had many Germans. Next was Czechoslovakia. Same argument. Both Austria and Germany were won without a bullet being fired. Both were given an ultimatum. Their respective armies were no match for Germany which was still not as developed as in the prime of war.

Czech even had a pact with Britan and France to intervene in case any one of the country was attacked.

This review remains unfinished. 

Life of Fryums - 28-Jul to 5-Dec 2020

Fryums came into our lives two weeks ago. He was a loving soul, who really wanted to give and share love. In his four months of life, two weeks with us, he gave us profound joy He loved exploring our house, basking in the sunlight, freaking us out by walking on balcony rails without a safety net, staring our open aquarium and most importantly, sleeping on top of our laptops - lid open was preferred. 

When separated from his sister, he would meow like there is no tomorrow. When we let him in the same room as hers, he would see and then go on as if everything is normal in life again. He would not eat his food unless his sister, Puchka, is eating and would like to have the food from the same bowl. His favorite sleeping spot was our bed's drawer. He was not a big foodie but loved the square shaped Whiskas dry food crunchie. 

On his fifth day home, we saw an increased breathing rate and took him to a vet. Upon X-ray, water was found in his lungs. He cried and did not let the docs do an echo. We gave him meds and his condition stabilized but after 4 days it deteriorated again. He was placed in an incubator and upon an echo, it was found that he had an enlarged heart. He was put on life long medicine course. We were giving him regular meds, finding creative ways to hide in his food, getting adept in giving syringe based antibiotics. On Friday, his breathing became very heavy again, he did not had any food on Friday night. We woke up at 4 am on Sat morning to try once again but he refused. We were planning to take him to hospital once things opened up but by 7:30 am, he collapsed and left us with an unimaginable grief that we did not knew that it was in us. 

He is missed. 

His sister is still looking for him. 

More pics can be seen here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/GTHw6mgGp7WaGYiY7

2020 - The year of Zoom calls

2020 will be remembered by the year of family zoom calls. Where the birthday parties, marriage ceremonies, anniversary celebrations all went remote. 

One such artifact of this has been to send in the pre-recorded videos of wishes. We were part of few and ended up recording the following videos - 

Bhanu didi's 50th birthday

18th Birthday message for Shraddha - 

70th Birthday of Buaji

Ekta and Ivan's birthday

Taiji's 70th birthday

Jatin's 18th birthday

Travel in Covid times - Sakleshpur, Kabini 2020

After about 6 months of sitting at home, barely stepping outside, the traveller inside me wanted to break free. With almost everything else open, no more restrictions, and no end to this pandemic, I realized that there is no point in waiting. Travel can be done under some restrictions, mostly self imposed - 

• Destination should be reachable by car.  Flights are still too risky. This also meant that the in-between stops can be avoided if we carry over own food.  However, we did stop for food.
• Place of stay should be following some guidelines for Covid restrictions. It should enforce wearing mask for all of its guest. Typically, recent reviews or the homestay/hotel's website will mention something to this effect. 
• Destination should be in Karnataka - This is an artificial one as the rules of inter-state travel keep on changing. This one is just to be on the safe side. 
• We should be prepared to wear mask and carry all precautionary items such as sanitizers, change mask daily or every other day, sprays etc. 

With the above guidelines, we (Kanishka and myself) have done two multi-day trips and one day trip with family. This is an account for all of them

Kabini

Place of Stay - Red Earth

Sept 12-13, 2020. One night stay

Kabini remained one of the places which was still in the bucket list. We had touched the waters on our way to Wayanad during our honeymoon trip. Since then, it was in the wishlist.  Red Earth's website had mentioned that they were following safety procedures. And so it was locked. 

Day 1

We booked a room which had private Jacuzzi. Our trip to Red Earth had the customary stop at Kamat on Mysore road. One could see people, majority of them, without mask - both at the restaurant and on the way.  Weather stayed very good for both days - no rain, no Sun, just pleasant weather - the one that is perfect to travel.

We tried to use Jacuzzi when we reached but the moment we got in, it started to drizzle and the moment we came out, in 5 mins, it stopped. Indra god wanted us to not try our luck. Red Earth had taken bunch of precautions but (1) it was running full - all 21 cottages full and (2) their food was actually a buffet. During meal times, it became difficult but in all other times, we were in sufficient distance with others. 

We took the Coracle ride in evening. That was the best part of trip. I had assumed that given the resort was full, there would be a queue for coracle but it was not the case. People were just content in doing nothing :) After our ride, couple of more groups got interested. Water was calm, weather good - a perfect combination. I played Richter's On the nature of daylight in background and it was perfect!

Post this, we walked outside and spent the dusk hours just sitting in our balcony. Chilling out !

Day 2

Day 2 started with us going to Safari. We reached an hour early, me unable to read basic time information. After driving for an hr, we hopped on to Safari. Safaris were also running full. Safaris are the most boring thing ever - you sit inside a bus and hope to see a tiger. What a lame thing. The bus drivers just coordinate with one another to check if any group has spotted one so that they can take all groups there. Our group dis spot one, hiding under shade of trees. Barely visible. Folks in our bus got their massive DSLRs out and spent another 45 mins just trying to click something. I slept all this time. 

Post Safari, we had breakfast and packed our bags for departure. 

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Sakleshpur

Place of Stay - Hema Koota Homestay

24 Oct - 28 Oct: 3nights

I had taken a week long break from office. I was trying to find a place to go and just relax. Do nothing was the mantra. Preferably without network :) . I was scouting for locations near Western Ghats and remembered Western Ghats. Saw a video in which a car goes up on a green hill which has views of hills 360 degrees. Got sold and booked the best homestay that I could find. What followed was a treat! 

Day 1

We had a delayed start from BLR, wanted to have proper sleep before driving. Our breakfast stop was at Halli Mane (opp. Swathi restaurant). Great variety of local cuisine. Fully crowded though :(.  We reached Hema Kooty at about lunch time. Had awesome pulao and raita for lunch. After driving for ~6 hrs, I was tired and retired to sleep. In the evening, Eshanye, our host took to a local hillock for a sunset. While the Sunset was behind clouds, it became a great introduction to Sakleshpur.

Sakleshpur can be best described as the closest thing that I have seen to South New Zealand in India. It has mountains upon mountains, mostly covered with bright green grass which is natural. It is mostly non-commercialized yet. You can see amazing view points all around you. Mostly empty with roads, main roads at-least, in good condition. It is a trekker's place. Unfortunately, due to Kanishka's knee injury, we toned down our walking, yet our nature enjoyment was awesome!

Day 2

We started our day by visiting to Mookanamane waterfalls. The paved road becomes dirt road about a km before the parking lot down there. Kanishka warned me that we would not be able to come up but I had confidence on my i10 car. We could not see the actual waterfall as it required a lot of walking but we did see the river that was going to fall. Our main adventure happened on the way up when the car refused to climb a normal slope. The soil was loose with the rain and somewhere it was not letting us climb. We could see black tyre marks and a burning smell. After 5 mins of trying, we gave up. I walked up and asked for a tow truck. Thankfully, the tow truck came after 10 mins and we were rescued. Good start for the day!

Our next stop was Kaghinare pond/fort. After travelling on a dirt road again, the way looked risky and we abandoned the idea given the morning experience. We ended up at the Kaghinare view point which was a delight. Alone, total peace, great scenery and good weather. We spent 45 mins just soaking it all in.

After great breakfast, homemade Malanad cuisine, (Hema Kooty homestay was awesome!), and sleeping in the morning, we played board games, read books. Post lunch, we had hired a jeep to take us on top of Hosahalli Betta. The ride to the top is similar to a ride deemed highly adveturous in an amusement park. With virtually no road, big holes on the dirt road, it is a miracle and skill of our driver that we made it on top. At the top, it was beautiful, amazingly beautiful. 360 degree view of hills all around, a sun about to set and awesome weather. 

There were about 60 people on top when we reached there.  Sunset at this point is very famous. Sunset did not disappoint. 

Night was spent in playing board games! 

Day 3

Our plan was to see Sunrise at Patla betta on day 3. We were anyways on a high after the sunset of Day 2. It felt that it can not be matched but we were so wrong. We left the homestay at 5:40 am and reached the top at 6:25 am, again using the Bolero Pickup. This time, the dirt road was not that bad.  The view from top at that time was all covered in mist. It was dawn but Sun was not visible yet. We thought this is going to be yet another time where everything would be covered in mist. But Sun rose after few mins and it was a sunrise to remember. 

Once the Sun rose, it cleared away the mist. We saw the entire range around us - all green. Being early in the morning, there was no one else there. We spent close to two hrs at this place. Going from one end to another, you look at any direction and it is just a photo to be captured. 

After Patla Betta, I decided to travel while standing at the trunk of Jeep. A preview of the dirt road is shared here - 

After Patla betta, we visited the Bisle Ghat view point. While it was beautiful, it could not match the Patla betta sunrise. We saw and quickly came back. We briefly stopped at Ride point. The beauty of Ridge point is that any rain towards its left goes to Arabian Sea and rain on its right goes to Bay of Bengal. Amazing, isn't it?

After sightseeing, we decided to spend the remainder of day at the homestay. Our homestay was very homely and we thoroughly enjoyed the food and the hospitality. In the evening, we did a brief walk to paddy fields nearby and sat around bonfire at the night.

Day 4

Day 4 had an interesting start. Kanishka woke me up at 330 am saying that few stars were visible. Past two nights, it was either cloudy or raining at night. We decided to drive to a dark spot to improve our night vision visibility. We drove about 5 kms away, parked our car and waited our eyes to adjust to the dark. After about 10 mins or so, unfortunately, clouds came back and made the starts invisible. We drove back :) 

We left after having very tasty dosa, chutney.  Our road trip back was smooth. We stopped at Empire at around 11 since we were very hungry. It was horrible, beyond words. We drove back to Bangalore and went to Cafe Azzure on MG/Brigade road to have out lunch. Sizzlers and paneer grileed with lemon soda. First food in a cafe like that. It was good !

Other good part of the trip was that there was no phone connectivity at Hema Kooty. No Airtel/Vodafone, only Jio/BSNL. No TV in rooms either. This allowed us to truly unwind and focus on books.

I finished the very awesome book Bride of the forest by Madahavi Mahadevan.   Slept a lot and just relaxed. Also drank pomegranate wine :)

The therapy of Schitts Creek

 

Schitt's Creek won ALL the Emmy awards this year under the comedy/musical category. This was indeed the last year of Schitt's Creek. Earlier this year, the show said goodbye, and though no one cried - we all whispered a sigh of joy in how it ended. 

Schitt's creek started with a question - What if high rich people lost all their money and were forced to live in a small town with little or no money? From that premise - Schitt's creek got the best of both world - from the rich it got the panache, fashion styles in lavish dresses and wigs, and a sense of not working to make a living. From the small town, it got the sense of community, living off the treadmill, a small but healthy distaste of the city-life and lastly, a pondering on existence in such a small town in the context of personal ambitions. 

The rich people here are Rose's who are confined to a motel. They can not travel because of no-money. Confined to this two room existence, a lot of viewers have felt this to be similar to our existence in lockdown. 

Watching Schitt's Creek is a therapy of sorts.  It is a show that accepts gay love as the way it should be - completely normal and should not require any ifs and buts. It never decries the small town folks - yes, their mannerisms could be different but all of them are treated with a respect that seems in place. (Kudos to Moira Rose who walks this line so delicately in almost all of her episodes that she pulls it off by putting the focus where it should be - on herself :) ) 

My favorite bit of Schitt's Creek is Rose apothecary - a super store market selling all organic locally sourced products in a stored designed like an Apple store fashion sense. The fact that it exists in a small town, that it could be a viable business, that, yes, why this is not the acceptable way of how a small store should operate; and finally it doubles as a space for local events. Rose apothecary should be a norm; it should be the icon for 'small is beautiful'. It is run by folks who care. 

My favorite character of the show is Stevie. Stevie is the motel owner/manager where Rose are forced to live. Her character oozes empathy, plays the kind of friend that one could wish for and finally her character brings out the dilemma faced by so many small town people - should they stay there or move to cities for better opportunities. 

Schitt's creek existence itself is miraculous as it is a show that would never have been made had it not hatched out in a corner, away from all the influences that spoil the thought, creation of a practical town filled with ideas of an ideal society. 

Watching Schitt's creek while sitting in the present day India feels as much as if Schitt's creek is Westeros.  Lacking of emapthy, decency, basic tenets of societal living.  Schitts creek is escapism at its best, a wish for good. 

AV report June- Sept 2020

Nolan's Tenet has been released and deemed a dud.  Cinema theatres are about to open from Oct 15. Covid cases are still rising. Confined to our homes, Movies and TV are the only window to the external world out there. 

Real escapism is needed to escape the reality of our times.  Lot of escapism is needed :)

So, with that, here is how I have survived the last few months 

Movies

I vitelloni

With unemployment more than 25%, do you know how the unemployed youth is spending their time? When you have no work to do, the days are longer and the emptiness in abundance. Fellini's I Vitelloni covers the  story of such youth after world war 2 - no work, no jobs, carefree, with limited money, each one finding faults in the society in its own way.  This belongs to the 'slice in time'  genre of movies - a story of 4-5 friends and how they decide to spend their days and their years. They dance, drink, tease women and are philanderers. They are naive. As with all of us, they do not see any fault in themselves. I Vitelloni captures the times, the wastage of youth, the idiocy of their actions in a very real manner. 

4/5 - this cinema was not escapist at all :) 

LA Confidential

Take a great cast, put it in a great story, characters dying at any moment, add politics, mafia, corruption and an idealist cop who understands the politics of all of it, a hard hitting muscular cop who understands that his role in the system, a media who wants to profit from this shit-show who very well knows that the audience in real world loves this pulp-fiction and lastly a sensual mix from a prostitute who wants to break free but can not - all done in an incredible stylized manner, neo-noir genre is what it is called. The twists and turns come till the last moment. Great film to escape the current times. 

4/5

Old guard

Old Guard is a group of people who are blessed with a gift of immortality, rather a curse, but with a twist that the immortality has an end date which is unknown. What would you do if you are immortal? Living for 500+ years. Seen regime changes, world wars, famines and also all the good things. You still have to hide yourself as the immortality has to be kept a secret. There are interesting things to theorize with this premise and Old Guard does a decent job. By making this into a super-hero genre, it is able to do se with some nice action, albeit with a cliched villain who wants to replicate their immortality in a lab. Charlize Theoren is excellent, action choreography well done and supporting cast holds the fort.  Not so loud, not very flashy, Old Guard takes a reserved approach to a super hero genre. All in all, a perfect masala escapist movie .

3.5/5

Ford vs ferrari

The worst thing about Ford vs Ferrari is its title. Honestly,  this is like Mahabhratha being titled Pandavs vs Kaurava. Once you get past the initial 15 mins of the movie, it is all about the behind the scenes of speed racing - what research is done, identifying risks, research, trial, error, can money buy progress? and how speed racing is an art not some capitalistic tool. Yet, it is what it is - Ford throws money to build the fastest car, but it is not enough.  Matt Damon and Christian Bale are excellent. Best part of the film is that it does not take itself too seriously and it also does not make the speed racing very flashy. 

3.5/5

Frozen 2

Frozen 2 cashes on top of Frozen 1 with a bizarre storyline, too much of feel goodiness and honestly the emotional heartfelt touches seem too artificial even for an animation world

1.5/5

Psycho

Psycho is actually a masterclass in film making but it much effort to identify the mastery. How is the director trying to show a particular scene, what does this scene signify. Even for those who know the ending, the movie is very taught, it pulls you in though its sheer mastery. The camera effects are brilliant. Hitchcock had a great knack of knowing what the audience is thinking at a given time and then he uses this to deliberately not resolve this. The conflict is within the audience's minds and that I think is the ingenuity of Psycho. 

4/5

Les diabolique

Is he dead or is he alive? Was that a perfect murder? Who is lying? What is the truth? Les diaboliques  was truly ahead of its time in bring such complex plots to screen. The setting of a boys boarding school adds whole level of eeriness to it.  

3.5/5

Martian

The Martian is a feel good movie with feel good actors - Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.  This was a re-watch.

3/5

Pyaasa

Pyaasa is all about Sahir Ludhianvi and S.D. Burman - it is a movie with damn good songs with damn good lyrics and nothing else matters here. Yes, the plot is there, it is ahead of its times as it shows a red light area, protagonist landing in a  mental institution, media trials and what not. The jumps between scenes are not smooth; too many things happen in too few scenes until a songs comes in and adds a depth to a scene that is so profound that - nothing else matters. Above all, its ending is a positive one. 

5/5

Homemade

Homemade is a product of 2020 - a movie made by 20+ filmmakers while respecting social distancing/varying degrees of quarantine norms and made minimally with minimum crew. Some are fairly very creative, some very funny ones. I liked the auto-biographical aspect of Gunindher Chaddha's one - mainly because it has a foray into the lives of Indians in these times. Overall, it has various nuggets to please every kind of viewer, including one where Pope and Queen go skinny dipping :) 

3.5/5

TV Series

Laakhon mein ek - Season 1

A good one time watch - reasonably well made series. Although, it has some cliches but some of the lines are good. A honest attempt to capture the lives of people struggling to fit in.

3/5

Homecoming Season 1 & 2

A fantastic season 1 followed by a dud season 2. Sam Esmail is a genius - both Mr. Robot and Homecoming follow the same style of cinema making applied to two different stories. The store delivery is top notch. 

Season 1 - 4/5

Season 2 - 2.5/5

Schitts creek - Needs a separate review

The leftovers - Needs a separate review

Life in Mar 30, 2020 to 4 July 2020

Woah, what has been this quarter! The world as we know has been altered. The economic impact will be told in time to come. The social impact is visible.

Lockdown notes - 
Washing utensils is not a difficult activity. It takes some time but it is quite relaxing. I did it while watching movies on my mobile.
Cooking is more difficult especially when it is to be done a daily basis. While the variations to experiment are too many, it is still a time consuming chore.
We can live in an apartment where the jhaadhu-pocha is done once a week. It is liveable.
Travel is always there in the back of my mind. I was not aware of how much it impacts my routine. Not being able to travel is a great setback.
Very difficult to focus on workouts in this period. Wearing masks is mandatory and workout with masks is very tedious.
You soon get into a phase where watching TV/Netflix is also not interesting.



Books
- Getting more by Stuart Diamond - Book review
- In the middle of The Rise and Fall of Third Reich by William Shirer
- Re-read The story of us by Ted Chiang.
- 1Q84

Movies/TV-shows
Re-watch list : Rewatched a whole bunch of movies
Gangs of Wasseypur 1&2, Newton, Masaan, Matrix 2 & 3, Three colors: Blue & white, Bananas,
Irrfan Khan collection - Life in a metro, Lunchbox, Maqbool

New movies -
White Ribbon - 4/5
How evil takes place in today's world. Well made.

Mammo - 3/5
Good acting but still little lacking in pace.

Fleabag - 4/5
Very bold. Stylish. Lovely writing. It is the new level of Seinfeld. Modern definition of love. Very very good.

Laakhon mein ek - 3.5/5
Yeah, its cliched but very well made. Cinematography is very well done. Very good attention to detail.

The portrait of a lady on fire - 4.5/5
Very very good movie. All women case made by woman director. Each frame is crafted to perfection.

Money Heist season 4 - 2.5/5
God, they are just milking it now. Gone is the crispness of the show.

Fargo - season 1 - 3 -
Season 1&2 - 4.5/5
Season 3 - 3.5/5
Loved the humor, the storytelling, slow burn, dialogues and above all the characters. So much body count and yet so fascinating.  Best series of the year so far.


Predestination - 3.5/5
Ethan Hawke is terrific. Sci-fi idea is something that is truly out there. Total circular loop it is.


El Camino A Breaking bad movie - 3.5/5
For fans of Breaking bad only. Deja vu feeling. Some elements are good, some ok.

Pataal Lok - 3.5/5
Great writing and cast. Ending is little stretched, does not add up. But addictive storytelling.

New board games - 
Blink - 2.5/5
Azul - 3.5/5 Great fun.
Jaipur - rediscovered.
Pandemic - 4/5 Loved it. The perfect game for the times that we are living in.

Other things to note - 
- Finished Amit Varma's course on The art of clear writing.  Very useful.

- Attended and partly organized Numo's wedding. Good fun but should have been shorter ideally. Hectic times.

- Did a Whatsapp based mystery game, thanks to Aman and Divya for inviting. Good fun.

- Put Pashmina on rent in these times.  phew!

- Started contributing to IFF, MC, Scroll and AltNews. Feeling good about it!

- Got slightly addicted to Catan online colonist.io but it is ok now.

- On a 9 day furlough break from office starting today. First thing to do was to write this blog :)

Book Review: Getting More by Stuart Diamond

Getting More
By Stuart Diamond



Getting more is a book on the art of negotiation. The book begins by giving a framework behind a successful negotiation.  What are the ingredients that go into a negotiation.  What are the factors that should be kept in mind while negotiating.   How to overcome tough situations. 

The book is riddled with examples that go alongside with the framework. The latter part of the book are case studies in different areas - relationships, job, travel, markets, parenting etc.  Each category covers various stories on how people used principles from the framework to get what they wanted. In some cases, it is all good and decent. In others, it does come across little bit manipulative. 

The book is self-aware and self-congratulating.  It refers to itself "Getting More" multiple times highlighting how effective this is. This can be off-putting for readers who would like to read without a deluge of adjectives of effusive praise.  

In this post, I have summarised the framework. For detailed analysis and applications, one should definitely read the book. 

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Different Ways of Negotiating - 

1. Forcing people to do what you will them to do (physical violence)
2. Getting people to think what you want them to think (rationalizations)
3. Getting people to perceive what you want them to perceive (towards a common goal)
4. Getting people to feel what you want them to feel. (includes irrationality as well)

When the other party realizes that you care about their feelings, they will listen more making them easy to persuade.  We typically operate in 2 or 3 above. The ideal state is to be in 4.  


Steps of a Negotiation -
- What are my Goals?
- Who are "they" ?
- What will it take to persuade them?

The above is like the first principle approach of a negotiation. Whenever stuck, one should ask these questions and work on the responses.

Goal setting is very important. Goals should not be too vague or too specific. The book describes Goal to be the end state. Everything that is done, is done in the service of the goal. Hence, goal setting should be very precise; should capture what is truly desired. Not any intermediate state but the final state.

An interesting corollary is how Stuart defines competitiveness. 

Competitiveness is one's ability to meet the goals. 

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People

Once goals are defined, the next question relates to people. People are almost everything in this. What is the other person feeling? What is the picture in their heads? How are they perceiving the situation?

Stuart claims following to be ingredients of a negotiation -

• People - 55%
• Process - 37%
• Substance - 8%

They key to getting other people to give you what you want is to value the other party.
By valuing, you are acknowledging their power. In this particular context, they have an upper hand as they have the decision making ability. This has to be duly recognized and acknowledged.

A big component of any people related discussion is  Trust

Stuart writes  that one should "Do what it takes to establish trust". May be it could be give them more than they expect. You have to convince them that you are willing to work with them. Trust should not be part of just straight talk, but should be encoded in the deal itself. As part of the negotiation, you should articulate on where you are placing your trust on them. They should be made aware of the criticality of this. Also, articulate what you are agreeing to as part of earning their trust.

In certain cases, the trust can not be encoded in the negotiation itself. In those scenarios, an alternative has to be created. For example, how banks take collateral or how apartment owners take security deposit. Those are mechanical structures created outside of the direct deal structure to bring in trust between the two parties.

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Communication

The mechanism of delivery is extremely critical in a negotiation.  Stuart claims that - 

Biggest cause of negotiation failure -> Miscommunication
Biggest cause of Communication failure -> Misperception

Perception is everything. It is the core of #4 way above- feeling based negotiation. Perception encompasses all the irrationalities and emotions  into it. 

To convince people of different perceptions, you should start with perceptions, not facts. When you read it, it sounds intuitive but in practice we do the exact opposite of it. We always start with facts. Facts can be interpreted in more than one ways. It is their interpretation matters.

In such scenarios, Stuart gives the following framework 

1. What am I perceiving?
2. What are they perceiving?
3. Is there a mismatch?
4. If so, why?

A tool to understand perception gap is to ask a lot of questions. Stuart has a nice anecdote  here - If son's room is not clean, instead of saying it is not fair, try asking - Could you tell me why is your room not clean?

Asking and listening go a long way in understanding the other side. Stuart further breaks it down in finer details -

Here are the basic components of effective communication: (1) always communicate, (2) listen and ask questions, (3) value, don’t blame them, (4) summarize often, (5) do role reversal, (6) be dispassionate, (7) articulate goals, (8) be firm without damaging the relationship, (9) look for small signals, (10) discuss perceptual differences, (11) find out how they make commitments, (12) consult before deciding, (13) focus on what you can control, and (14) avoid debating who is right.

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Using Standards 

Where are negotiations needed? 
When there are certain expectations and those expectations are not met.  

What leads us to have those expectations?
Standards.

You go to a hotel, check in and find that the Air conditioner is not working. Or the restaurant has served you a dish that is cold or unpalatable. You have a certain expectation on how your work will be rewarded. Organizations create those career ladders to set standards. There are standards everywhere around us. Our constitution is a document on standards on how we would like to live with each other.  

Stuart has a very interesting insight that is biggest leverage in a negotiation - People hate to contradict themselves . It is a psychological trait of humanity.

When we define a standard, we like to stick to it. When we write that breakfast will be complimentary or wifi will be provided, we want to honor it.

Using Standards is the basics of negotiation. The expectation gap is best served by negotiating on the standards.

The other corollary to Using Standards is Being Incremental. First, align "them" on the standards. Ask questions in order to establish the standard. Each question should be crafted that it covers all aspects of Standard that is in question. Once, the standard is established, it is now time to ask about the instance when it is being violated. Since, people do not like to normally violate the standard that they have agreed to, it becomes easier for them to agree on.

Sometimes, the standards are not very clear. In such cases, ask.   Be precise in your questions.

Two things needs to be kept in mind during this exercise - 

1. It is not about winning or loosing. You may not get what you wanted. Your line of being incremental may go on a different tangent.  Or standards may not be what you expect. In such cases, focus on the goals. Go back to basics. Start again. There could be other standards as well, other approaches. Let not the past dictate the future. It is ok to admit the failure but it is not ok to give up.
2. What also matters is your competitive attitude. Remember, the definition of competitiveness previously - ability to meet your goals. Attitude matters a lot in a negotiation.

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Emotions

When dealing with people, one has to deal with emotions.  Stuart has two comments in his book that I  would like to share - 

Emotion is the enemy of effective negotiations and of effective negotiators.

Emotion destroys negotiations and limits creativity. Focus is lost. Decision-making is poor. Retaliation often occurs.

To work with emotions, the following things should be kept in mind -

- Find the cause of emotions, perceptions and what are their goals.
- Be ready to apologize, empathize, or acknowledge.
- Trust. Establishing trust is very important.
- Apply Standards. But not before the above three are addressed.
- Correct facts if mistaken or misunderstood.


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Miscellaneous but important 

- Identify the decision maker - If you are applying all the above to a person who is not in a position to take the decision call, it will not work.

- Small talk is important - Small talk in the beginning of a conversation helps in knowing the other person. It establishes a connection that can be used later on. Identifying common enemies are great topics of small talk, example - weather, traffic, bad performance from a common sports team etc.

- Worst case scenario - Sometimes, it helps to share the fallout of this negotiation. If it fails, then this could be the worst case scenario. No wants if this happens. It propels people to make concessions.

- Naming Bad behavior - If there is a bad behavior, it has to be called out. Example - visible display of gender bias or verbal abuses.