2018 - Thattathin Marayathu to '96 and an Apple Watch

The title of this post kind of sums up my 2018. I admit that I have been quite irregular updating my blog for the past few years. Having said that, I haven't completely abandoned it. At least not yet. I guess that would be difficult. I have too many memories attached to this blog which I don't want to get rid of right away. Okay, I understand that blogging about anything non-tech or non-food is passe these days but I guess I'm old-fashioned that way. While I would love to vlog one day, I haven't decided when that day's gonna come.

Coming to this post, as I mentioned, the title kind of sums up my 2018. Watching several regional movies and taking the fitness plunge has been the hallmark of 2018 for me. The year started off well and all was going good when things suddenly took a downward spiral and life was hurled into a new personal low in July. A freak accident jolted the family in the second half of the year and things continued that way into early October. Thankfully, the situation kind of evened out as the year progressed into November. Whilst I won't go into the details of the low phase, all I can say is that sometimes discovering that inner strength at a painfully difficult time can rebuild you into a stronger individual. At least after experiencing it first hand, I can vouch for that statement. 

So, what did I do while life was taking the roller coaster trip? I struck off movies that were on my movies-to-watch (MTW) list and while doing so I also found time to join a gym. Before getting into the details, let me explain some things. 

While I am a regular movie buff, I am an infrequent viewer. That might sound contradictory but that's exactly how it is. My annual quota has never exceeded more than six movies for the past 10 years. And that too in a good year. And this includes movies from all languages. And yes, I haven't watched a single Avenger movie after Thor. Still I will insist that I do love movies. Its like saying I love sweets but I do them in moderation if you know what I mean. Due to my moderation, I have a to-watch list that keeps growing and growing and far exceeds my self-imposed quota. This year happened to be different though. I bought a subscription to watch movies at home and also had some free time to watch them. So I started off at the beginning of the list. Thattathin Marayathu (TM). This Malayalam movie had been languishing at the top of my (MTW) list since 2013 after a person who was once close to me recommended it. And I am glad that I struck it off the list first. While I am not into romance, I do love my comedys. So I don't mind watching romcoms or tragicomedies. Thattathin Marayathu was a good start that way. It rekindled my slacking interest in South Indian and Hindi movies. So I decided to go down the list one by one. What followed were movies like Vikram Vedha, Newton, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, Premam, Kshanam, Tholi Prema, Rangasthalam, Nibunan, Geetha Govindam and so on. The final one on the list that brought me up to speed was '96. Yes, that very beautiful movie (with no storyline if I dare say so) which made me take a U-turn (another movie that I watched this year) on life. I must admit '96 and Rangasthalam were two movies that I would love to watch again just because, well, I want to. I am not surprised that '96 received rave reviews all throughout. I still am haunted by that lovely scene where Janu finally sings the "Yamuna nadhi" song for Ramachandran, sorry, K. Ramachandran. Drumroll please. With that I averaged around 2 movies a month this year. That in itself is a record for me since we left Patna during my childhood days.

Coming to fitness, I am neither a fitness buff nor am I remotely interested in looking fit. I just loathe physical activity. I don't believe that a vegetarian like me can bulk up like an MCU (that's Marvel Comic Universe to the uninitiated) superhero or have any fitness goals that can be attainable. However, all this changed when I was smitten by the Apple Watch after I saw its reviews online late last year. And I was sold when my very tech-savvy friend, let's call him TFS, bought one and never stopped singing praises about it. So when I finally could afford one in April, I promptly bought one. That was the beginning. Of the change. In the initial days, I just used it for checking time, changing dial faces every hour and trying to make Siri understand my English. Then I discovered the rings. The Activity Rings to be exact. Since I have an OCD for all things symmetrical, I could not stand the fact that the activity rings were not closing at the end of every day due to my inactivity. Incomplete rings made me restless and sleepless. So, I decided to close them. After my sister's not-so-gentle push, I  joined a gym. Just to close the rings. It was like entering a new universe through a portal I had discovered under my bed. This was the universe of resistance training, running, watching people pushing harder after a hard day's work. What started of as a toning and circles' closing exercise turned out to be a good stress buster. Here I will have to thank the personal trainer who helped me with this journey for the past 6 months. For the first time in a long time, I am seeing tangible results of hard work paying off. I might not be a MCU superhero, but I can now safely say that I am fitter than before. Bottomline, I feel good. The regimen also helped me cope through the tough personal months from July to October. And now I frequently (if not regularly) close the Activity Rings. Apple Watch, best gadget I ever bought. 

In summary, 2018 will be a year I will remember for various reasons. But I would mainly remember it for rediscovering my love for movies and discovering the fact that fitness, like all those sportspersons say, is a good thing indeed.

Run with the wind and walk with a child

There are times when you need to run with the wind. And then there are times when you need to walk with a child. Such is life. Like it or not, you have to adapt to the speed of the moment. Nowadays, one would naturally think that speed is of the essence. But this is definitely not true in case of city traffic. With the ever worsening traffic conditions the average speed during city commute seems to be in a constant free-fall. This means having a zippy small car to drive around has become less of a breeze and more of a liability. And that is exactly what happened with me and my zippy little city runabout. The fun of darting in and out of traffic was slowly turning into epic frustration thanks to never ending stop-go and unsafe traffic conditions. So, I decided to rethink my options. Essentially, I had two choices. One, I could Uber and forget about the chaos around me, or, two, I could spend a bomb and buy a car that would negotiate the treacherous city roads at reasonable speeds without being zippy. Considering that I am penny wise and pound foolish, I went for option two. I decided to upgrade. Rather, downgrade. So I swapped my my daily feisty little city runabout with a more sedate little car. 

Whilst my friends are scared that I have lost my edge or in this case lost my zippy-ness (no pun intended), I can safely say that my sedate little car has helped me skip some anger management sessions. In the past, while the slowest car would be in my front, the fastest car would always be tailgating me. This meant there was a real risk of me rear-ending the guy in front just in case s/he decided to spill their coffee or veer off while live Whatsapping/tweeting their commute horror (while conveniently forgetting that they were not driving an autonomous Tesla). This also posed the risk of the guy behind rear-ending me. And a couple of times, the risk had become real. Now, such is no longer the case. Nowadays I get an immense amount of satisfaction in frustrating other drivers with my patented 'crawl' driving mode. I brake at my leisure because the fastest vehicle is already miles ahead of me and the slowest one, well, I am the slowest so there's no one behind me. So no question of me rear-ending someone or someone rear-ending me in turn. 

Then there are the motorcyclists. They have this notion that the 2-second rule or the safe braking distance between two cars is actually a reserved driving space for their bikes. So they just plonk themselves in while discussing their evening plans (or sweet nothings) with their pillion riding girlfriends (or boyfriends as the case may be) while I would be left with 0.02 second rule or the really panic braking distance rule. Now, even the slowest biker seems to have zoomed off into the sunset even as I try to pick up speed. The safe braking distance is now twice of what it used to be before. Ergo, 2-second rule problem is solved. 

Speaking of other advantages, I can stop well in advance for pedestrians who were never good at Math or Physics or common sense crossing at unmarked places. Remember, when a 1-tonne mechanical object (in this case, my car) travelling at a speed of 25-30 kph collides with another body (in this case, a self-propelled pedestrian glued to their mobile screen with a death wish) weighing 70-90 kg that is travelling at 5 kph perpendicular to the aforementioned 1-tonne object, the consequences for the 70-90 kg pedestrian would be a little more serious than for the 1-tonne object. This is Physics. Or one can do quick Math. Or if one doesn't know either, they can use their head i.e. common-sense. But since some peds are not mentally agile, having a slow car can make up for such lack of agility on their part. By the time I reach an unofficial ped crossing, all the peds and their cousins and their chickens have already crossed without causing any trouble to me. Coincidentally, my consumption of pepto bismol has also come down. Bliss!

I could go on about the virtues of being a cautious driver in a slow car but I must admit that I never realized that being a slowpoke was so much fun. Instead of always being in a hurry and never reaching on time, I now arrive fashionably late. The only downside, I have to hear myself karaoke-ing with the radio but that's nothing compared to being a zippy driver. My friends these days are betting that I am slower than the planes and trains arriving and departing from New Delhi during the foggy months of November and December. I wouldn't bet against them if I were you. All these days, I was running with the wind, but now, I am learning to walk with a child. Everything is normal once again.