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.

Revival (of sorts)..

If I had continued blogging this would be the 10th year of this blog. But after 2015, I took a hiatus from which I did not want to return. But then things change. I know I'm not perfect and my blog is as inconsistent as I am but sincere Thanks to all those people who happened to drop by and left some kind words even when I was off air. 

So, for starters, without further ado, I will let this pic of the Canadian terrain I snapped from around 35,000 feet on a cold winter morning sometime last year do all the talking. Enjoy. 

A cold winter morning somewhere over Canada. 

So That Was 2015

Like I mentioned in my previous post, 2015 had been a tumultuous year for me. But it has not been without its high points. The highest point being flying over the North Pole (can't get higher than this, literally) on a quiet summer day. 

As the aircraft flew over the North Pole

North Pole

And a can of Coke that made me realize what I am (or not).

Am I one?

Here's looking forward to 2016. And to the new adventures that lie ahead. 

Life With A Dash Of Lime

Phew! It is almost the end of the year and looking back I would be hardpressed to say that this year has been anything but memorable. For various reasons. Managing health of loved ones, heartbreaks, moping, picking up the pieces and then finally finding solace in travel. Yeah, it has been quite a tumultuous year to say the least.

It all started on last year's Christmas Eve. Yeah, it does sound like that 'Wham!' song 'Last Christmas'. A routine check up for my Dad revealed an unpleasant surprise and what followed was yet another lesson in how to cope up with the unpleasant surprises life throws at you. Long story short, constant check ups and weekends after weekends of waiting in OPDs all the while managing a non-stop work schedule consumed hours, days and months. Thus went the first half of the year. As the year progressed and things began to quieten down a bit, I tried to focus on picking up my life from where I had left it (before Christmas Eve) only to realize that it was no longer there. Well, I wasn't expecting it to be as it had been teetering and was going south even before that eventful December. With too many false starts, too many bad endings and of course with a timing that couldn't have been more wrong, I guess it wasn't going to end with a 'happily ever after' ending.

The elusive horizon where the treelines meet

People say that everything happens for a reason. I disagree. In my opinion, things happen and then we try to find reasons to explain them. And in many cases, finding a reason or a bunch of reasons does not help. You just have to move on and rewrite your story. And it is the rewriting that is the hard part. Since you can never fully ever move on. But I digress.

Life gives you lemons. Period. Naturally, with lemons in picture, acidic thoughts are not far behind. They corrode away your mind and start eating away every little bit of sensibility you are left with. And during this time, if time slows down, which it inevitably does, it just gets worse. Speaking of which, isn't it strange that the goodness of your thoughts is inversely proportional to the time you have in your hands? The more time you have and the less preoccupied you are, the more depressing the thoughts? You just get flooded with sad thoughts, wicked thoughts, evil thoughts, more evil thoughts and all other sorts of thoughts that can create havoc with whatever little sensibility and intelligence you might possess as a person. In other words, a perfect recipe for a perfect disaster. With constant thoughts of what went wrong and what I could have done better to right that wrong, I was slowly but surely reaching that point of perfect disaster. So, instead of moping around, I decided to keep away from taking any decisions for some time come. At least till I came back to my normal senses. But that's easier said than done. It takes time to achieve normalcy (at least for me) and as they say, an idle brain is almost always a free rental for a certain bad guy waiting to set up his workshop.

Got ride, will travel

So on one not-so-fine rainy weekend, having resolved to do something about doing nothing, I stepped out. Spotting my vehicle, I said to myself, 'Got ride, will travel.' I do travel a bit but this was a different travel than other travels (by which I mean travels which I have shoddily chronicled elsewhere in this blog of mine). This travel was what I would call a 'life-gives-you-lemons-so-what?' travel. So I dusted my old school atlas, opened the map of the South Indian peninsula, closed my eyes and tried to blindly pick a place. And in my usual style I picked up a place somewhere in the middle of Bay of Bengal. A lovely place indeed. In a funny way, it couldn't have been more apt considering that this Bay is an epicenter for depressions (cyclonic and monsoon causing depressions, that is). But I am a landlubber. So is my ride. Plus I had had more than my fair share of depression for one year. So I decided to have another go at 'got ride, will travel' game. And this time I picked up some place in the vicinity of Kurnool. Not exactly a tourist's first choice but hey, it was depression free! Also, since I didn't want to keep jabbing my finger at oceans and other inaccessible regions, I decided to mark it with a big 'X'. And thus began my journey. 

The road beckons

Weekend after weekend, whenever I found time, I began to discover places with history, culture, people and their stories. In the process, I started to rewrite my story. Kurnool, Ahobilam, Dharmapuri, Warangal, Nagarjuna Sagar, Bangalore and so the list went on. 

Structures and their stories

With every place I traveled to for the first time, it felt like stepping on the moon. One small step, a giant leap. With every place I had been to previously, well, it felt like revisiting old memories. But more than the destination, it was the journey that had a more soothing effect. I experienced the joy of driving in midst of a downpour, in the stillness of the night, under pleasant overcast skies and so on. I discovered the joy of getting lost and getting back on track. I discovered the joy of slowing down to admire the scenery, feel the grass under my feet and got to see the stars in the sky. It may all sound a little clichéd but for me it was an experience in itself. Most of all, I met people who I would have otherwise never met. In the process, I discovered that unless you start seeing the world around you and discover the surprises it has in store for you, you would be only end up discovering the sorrows within you.

Ruins of a glorious past

In lemons and life lingo, when life does give you lemons, at least one should try to make the best lemonade in town. And for that, you have to go around the town to figure out who your competitors are.  And for that, just step out of your world and discover the life around you. It might not always have a 'happily ever after' ending but in the short term, it definitely comes quite close. OK, a close third if not second. Because one can never completely move on.

Stopover Dubai

One of my good friends who had lived in Dubai for a while once mentioned to me that living in Dubai was like living in a theme park. At that time, I wasn't sure what he meant because I had never been to Dubai. 

Tall buildings, really tall buildings, really really tall buildings including the the tallest building in the world (a.k.a. TTBITW) Burj Khalifa (I had to crane my neck at an awkward angle whenever I wanted to see its top), a seven-star hotel, shopping malls the size of small cities, luxury cars, dune bashing in boys toys' SUVs, and all of this in the middle of a desert. This is the vision that conjures up when you think of Dubai. In short, a playground for the rich. Was all this true?

There was only one way to find out. So I packed my bags.

Day 1:

TTBITW by night

As the aircraft descends onto the runway of the Dubai International Airport, if you happen to sit on the right side of the fuselage, you experience a mirage-like vision of an oasis and a town appearing in your window - a mirage that one would normally experience after spending a long hot day in the desert - coming up to meet you. Only in this case, it seems to be a mirage of epic proportions sprawling for miles. And as the wheels touch the ground, it begins to sink in that it is not just a mirage but a real city with real people fighting hard against the elements to make it the greatest city on earth.

Burj-Khalifa from the Mall of the Emirates

And thus, the imagination seamlessly merges into reality. 

Step outside and you are hit by an intense heat that reminds you that you are indeed in the middle of desert. And if you land on a regular day, you will see a haze created by sandstorms common in these parts. All in all, interesting first impressions.

Entrance to the MotE

So as my pal in Dubai kickstarted the tour of the city, I got more and more intrigued by the way city was being constructed. Yes, the metropolis is still a work in progress because wherever you look around, you will see a lot of new buildings (tall and really tall) under various stages of construction as you drive through the highways (the main being the Sheikh Zayed Road) and expressways of the city. You get the feeling that the stories you keep hearing of a global slowdown are just that. Stories. Apparently, the city was gearing up for some international convention that is supposed to happen in 2020. In some strange way, all those construction cranes, construction pits and skeletons of upcoming buildings reminded me of Las Vegas where at any given time some hotel gets torn down and a new one keeps coming up on the so-called 'Strip'. I realized that the skyline I was seeing on that day would no longer be the same if I ever happened to return to the city again. Like shifting sand dunes during a sandstorm, the skylines would keep shifting as the construction companies would try to outdo each other in making the next prominent address enclosed in a glass skyscraper. Surreal. So much for summer afternoon sight seeing.

Shifting skyline? Dubai Marina

And then there were the shopping malls. Well, they are in a league of their own. Because of the kind of heat you face when you step outside, people prefer the shelter of the air conditioned malls to a nice walk around the city. And honestly, the heat outside is difficult to deal with. You need to flit from one air-conditioned structure to another without getting caught up in the heat. And as long as you do that, your life is as comfy as a silkworm's in its cocoon. One can't help but spare a thought for all those construction workers - whom you happen to see as you pass by - who spend most of their time in such harsh environment to make life better for the rest of the world. Apparently some of the companies operate construction activities in the night to avoid heat exhaustion. Good for them. But I digress. Coming back to the shopping malls, it is not an exaggeration to say that you get everything you can imagine under the roofs of these mega structures. Books, electronics, clothing, accessories, food, more food, cinemas, entertainment zones (for all ages), you name it, you have it. Such is the scale of these malls that it almost took me a whole day to see half of Emirates Mall a.k.a. the Mall of the Emirates (MotE). And all I did was window shopping. I must admit that most of my time was spent at the Kinokuniya bookstore. If you are a book lover then this bookstore is a must visit. It is almost like a small library. Make that a medium library. The remaining time was taken up in walking along the enclosed concourse from the Metro station to the Mall and back (Gosh! It IS a long walkway). MotE is the closest you can get to Burj Khalifa if you are not ready to pay a small fortune in going to the top of the world. But did I mention that you end up craning your neck to an awkward angle to get a good shot of the Burj Khalifa a.k.a. TBITW?

Day 2:

Mirdif City Center

Shop of Lights - MCC

The skylight at MCC - Very nice use of natural light

But my instant favorite hangout spot was the Mirdif City Center. In my opinion it fully utilizes the sunlight with it its unique architecture and space management. I would highly recommend it to a visitor. It is far from the madding crowd of the MotE plus it is much more relaxing.

An evening boat ride at the Dubai creek

And that's how the boats get decked up for a leisurely evening.

Day 3:

Atlantis is another place people would want to visit because of the unique place it is located in plus the monorail that takes you passing right through the heart of the exotic Palm Jumeirah. Highlight: An ATM that dispenses gold. However, if you are not a guest of the Atlantis, you would be constantly put off by the discreet 'guards' who keep popping up from nowhere (one popped out right from a bush like a creepy zombie) to 're-direct' you from areas which are out-of-bounds for visitors. Reminded me of Las Vegas. Yet again. Thankfully, the view of the sunset over Persian Gulf is not 'off-limits'.

The Atlantis - Notice the bushes? That's where the 'guards' are stationed :-)

Bling box - ATM that dispenses Gold.

Of course, there is the Burj-al-Arab. Off limits again if you don't have an appointment at the 7-star hotel. I didn't have one. So I gave it a miss and took a passing glance while travelling from MotE to Atlantis in the metro. Some other day, some other time.

Sunset over the Persian Gulf

Day 4:

More bling - Gold on display at the Gold souk

Covered walkway at the Gold souk

But what one should not miss is to taste and buy dates and a visit to the Gold and Spice souks. Gold Souk is the place where you get the feel of the authentic Dubai. A place where you see people a little less dressed up, a little less ostentatious and a little more business minded unlike the folks you'd see in the starry Malls. The shops are quite normal and do not have a pretty face to welcome you. A place that is not decked up like the city center and the Jumeirah. In short, a little less 'westernized'. Plus you get to see lots and lots of gold in one place and lots and lots of spices to smell at one place. So much so, that you get the feeling that the gold here smells like spice. Gold Spice. Hmm. That sounds like a nice name for a cosmetic business. Nevertheless, this is the true business district of Dubai and the real deal if you ask me.

As I wrapped up my trip, I began to realize that Dubai has its own charm and offers a little bit of something for everyone. It is a melting pot of cultures and people come from faraway lands to start a life or improve upon their existing ones. Dubai is also a good oasis and has enough glitter and glamour to attract tourists, shoppers, tourist shoppers and business. As long as you don't mind that you are in the middle of a desert. 

So, coming back to my friend's opinion about it being a theme park, well, I do have to admit that there is a fair bit of truth in it. It is indeed a playground for the rich and the famous as Piers Morgan proclaimed. But like I mentioned, it offers a little bit of something for everyone. For me, well, Dubai is an oasis where I happened to drop by for a little look-see (of sorts).

Roman Sudoku

Now that I have proved myself to be a dud in crosswords without external help and other things related to life, I decided to do something about the situation. With more time on my hands, and with little progress on the crosswords front, I diverted my attention to the other popular daily newspaper puzzle, Sudoku. However, don't for a moment think that I am good at Sudoku. Somewhere in my earlier posts, I had mentioned about how the Sudoku mafia had totally put me off Sudoku. So the return to Sudoku was kind of ironic. Like the return of the prodigal puzzle solver. Rather, an amateur 'puzzled' solver. Sudoku always tested (and continues to test) my limited mental faculties. And also my very limited patience. Whenever I try to solve a Sudoku puzzle, I end up with enough mistakes that the grid becomes one big mess of scratches and dirty ink blots. It never ceases to amaze me that I commit a mistake (or mistakes) that stares right back at my face but I am not able to figure it out until it's too late. So much so, that I finally throw the newspaper away in disgust. So it was high time I fixed this. And worked on my patience too.

Roman Sudoku :-)

Thus started a train of thought. It was a long train and a whole lot of thought went into it (about 2 minutes worth of it) and just when I was about to give up, it hit me like a Roman column falling on my head! (just like that legendary apple that fell on a scientist's head) Why not use Roman numerals as opposed to Indo-Arabic numerals? Ancient Romans, like me, must have hated Math. And Indo-Arabic numerals (maybe because they did not invent them). And maybe that's why they tried to demystify counting by using the Roman alphabet instead. Of course, they didn't know about the zero '0' but who needs a '0' in Sudoku. And that's exactly what I planned to take advantage of. I decided that I will use Roman numerals to fill in the Sudoku grid instead of the regular numbers. You see, when you think of it, it kind of makes sense. For example, it is far easier to change a '2' into '3' when you use Roman numerals. Suppose if I put 1 instead of 2 or 3, all I would have to do is add another 'i' next to 'i' or add 2 'i's to make a 'iii'. If its a 4 then its still easier. All one has to do is add a 'v' on the right of 'i' without striking anything off. So, 'i' can transmogrify to 'ii', 'iii','iv', even 'v', etc., and sometimes even 'iii' can be changed to 'iv' (with a little bit of artistry, of course). But then you would ask, what if it was a 1 instead of a 2? Well simple, all I have to do is strike off one 'i' and the grid will still have one 'i' standing. At least it won't look like a messy ink blot anymore. And with practised hands and a little creativity you can change 'iv' to 'v' (or 'i') or 'vi'. Or 'iv' into 'ix' and vice versa. I am yet to figure how to change 'v' to 'i' but eventually I will get there. But I guess you get the drift. At the end of it, I'd still have a reasonably clean grid and a solved puzzle. Veni, vidi, I solved!! Nice, no? Ave, Caesar! Or is it Q. E. D.?