The year in books

2011 was more or less the year of books for me!
And since I needed a challenge to keep going, I thought 'lets try to read 50 books this year'. Well, I finished 35 (honestly, I did not read last 30 pages of 'The Difficulty of being good'. Too much that book was!)


Here's a break down of the challenge, which I could not complete :D (this year onward, the challenge will be realistic :P)


Total books read - 35
Number of pages read - 12488
Top 5 books -   1. The book thief
                       2. Steve Jobs (biography)
                       3. Love in the time of cholera
                       4. The Pregnant King
                       5. Palace of Illusions and Storm of Swords
Honorable mentions - Open, The Time Traveler's wife, The wind up bird chronicle, The Hobbit, 100 years of solitude, the 4 hour workweek
Most boring read of the year (*drumroll*) - The difficulty of being good. Caused many headaches. too much!
The book which made me LOL a lot - God save the dork by Sidin
The book I badly wanted to finish but could not - Fooled by randomness by Nassim Taleb
Library reads - 6
Personal buys - 11
E-books - 4

being obsessive :D

I have a much lengthy and ever expanding reading list for this year.
Recos are always welcome!


The reading for this year has already begun.
Talk about being obsessive :D


Anywho, here's wishing y'all an year filled with peace, joy, fun, laughter and sunshine :)


-nightflier

warm tidings of december

N1 said very nonchalantly 'I always knew I was no good with academics beyond a limit, so I dropped out of the race and did something I could really cope with'. We beamed at her proudly. It takes rare self-awareness at a younger age to arrive at such decisions. Of course her family never objected because they must be the 'coolest parents' ever! 

N2 said very self aware-ly (at 27 also some people don't really have that!), 'I was a mess in college. Thank god for family and later getting away from home, to be on my own, I outdid myself and am in a much better shape.' Not that I agreed completely, but then she was so point blank honest, it was almost endearing!

I said, 'I have always been restless. I always need to find out whys, sometimes on my own. And I guess that is for now my 'calling'. Plus being good at studies in childhood, kind of shaped my decisions this way'. They seemed to agree.

Of course, we evaluate ourselves for fun. (remember how the whole is way bigger than the sum of parts and all that?) After spending eons of time in each other's company, not really growing up (or the other way round?) the candid and sometimes non sensical views on things/people, bring you together. Even if for a few hours. Bind you again, may be.

The most amusing thing is how non-insecure and compassionate everyone is. Questions/comments over one's hair/clothes/anything else as well evoke hearty laughs. We judge each other over our overt sense of no-dressing-sense during school. The dogs/cats in one's life at that point suddenly come into picture. And that stupid snob from school, who 'shows off' for no reason, rather every reason, is a point of conversation too! We almost exclaim, together, 'dude everyone has that/does that these days. What's the big deal!' From guys/husbands to the other woman (read his mother) in the husband/boyfriend 's life gets discussed. And how 'to each his own' needs to be the motto of the human race, echoes off the walls. 

In all this, the hotel manager can't really stand what good time we are having (despite the crates of food ordered) so rudely sends off the bill (very Puneri I tell you). We move on, find a coffee shop entirely forgetting that 2 of us have an office too! 'Lets eat something so that we dont get kicked out again' happens and dessert gets ordered. Of course 3 by 1 happens. Amidst more nonchalance towards office and winding up conversations with silly dialogues 'tu bilkul nahi badli' (you haven't changed a bit, when so much in you has actually changed!) and corny poses, the morning fades.

Warm tidings indeed!

Met school friends after a while, one after 5-6 years, the other after 2 months. Never been a nicer way to end an year (at least now that I know!). If I am allowed to be corny once more (other than the pics of course), they truly have seen the real me! :D

~nightflier

Secret Santa

On a rather dull work day, I read a Samit Basu tweet about a books giveaway and for fun indulged in creating a wishlist of books at uread.com
Ok, so on another note, as a bus commuter, having books ready for the coming month and planning accordingly becomes a huge part of the obsessive game plan. Plus the rule is the book should not be very huge so that it becomes a burden (literally!) to carry everyday. And I have stopped using the iTouch for reading books because it makes me squint too much! The other rule while creating a wishlist is to include items you are lusting over but which kind of disturb your monthly budget if you decide to splurge. (Yes. there has to be a limit to SPLURGING too!).


Anyway, I made my list of 5 books, tweeted it out to the people @UReadShop !


After a week or so, I guess on the 20th morning, I was groggy eyed (On most mornings the first thing I do is check my twitter feed :P)  and checking my mentions column when I read THIS. 

I wanted 1Q84 and Inheritance so bad that it hurt,
every time I saw their price tags :P

I WON IN THE GIVEAWAY :D
Whadda day it was! Woke brother up, jumping with joy, who thought I was day dreaming :P
Anyway, the books arrived yesterday. ->


So, the bottom 3 books will be reserved for the bus commutes and the humongous upper 2 will be be included in weekend reading :D


A special thank you to the awesome people at Uread who made this holiday season extra special :)

One thing I loved about the books is this. The bookmarks that accompanied them. Aren't they wonderful ?


Also, this unexpected gift from Santa makes me feel I have been a good child this year ;)
Always a great feeling! yay!




~nightflier


P.S. Of course, Mr. Nassim Taleb will think I am 'fooled by randomness'. But maths be set aside while I enjoy the books ;)

How do you fight ?

Since we are running out of lists to make this month, a recent fight with a friend drives me to write this.


I am not well with words during fights. Have never been in real physical fights. Oh well. I should stop taking things too literally. 


Anywho, since I am a sagittarius and aai normally warns me about that whenever I am angry (we are prone to sharp verbal attacks), I have learnt to not speak much during any kind of tiff. But planets be damned. I anyway don't speak much. Because I am an emotional shit during fights. So I cry my anger/frustration out. Crying lets out all the negative stuff out I might have said otherwise. But I do write stuff down in a cooler version of a fight. And when the self control switch is not working, sometimes emails get sent. There. Now what would have been a fleeting case of hurtful emotions bubbling, becomes a well etched memory. In someone's mailbox. Hmm. Now I know why aai warns me. May be spoken words are better. Given the memory span of our brain and its ability to overwrite stuff, the moment is lost as time goes by. But I have not been able to do that. The moment of bitterness scares me. So might as well stick to writing. *Send* buttons be damned.

*from google
The harbinger of peace

And once all the email servers have been uploaded with negative energy, I start feeling really lame. I tell my close friends, brother, aai how stupid/bad I was. Aai and brother have a standard response - 'close friends fight. Do say sorry. And try to grow up.' Dad really thinks that it must have been the other person's mistake. He loves me too much. And he believes in me too much. So that is there. Even though its great to have someone by your side who thinks you are invincible, after-battle-scenario doesn't require that validation.
Friends more or less proclaim 'Weirdo. Who fights over that! Give it time.' Cool. More lameness burden over my tiny shoulders.


So venting it out in the open space remains the only smart and peaceful option. Because the universe as they say is expanding. It can take it. No?


Anywho, point is *death by over-analysis* of a situation/fight is possible.
Abort mission.
Peace out.


~nightflier


P.S. I am sure you guys have really grown up ways of fighting. Hmmpf.

on time travel

I am reading the time traveler's wife. And as I progress in the book each day, I time travel. To chicago.

Its weird because, even today I just have to close my eyes to get transported to Michigan avenue. In front of the art Institute. Sometimes walking from Roosevelt station to Jewel Osco. Its wondrous that how we can store images of a place we don't belong to anymore and re live the moment. 

I love the city. Obvious to love any place if you study there. Also though I believe in trying to live the present and the moment, its at times absurd that I have to time travel to these images. Of past. Time gone by. Going to places where you want to linger but not necessarily live or be a part of. It is at times, better than looking at photographs. Words take me there effortlessly. So personal it is.

A friend of mine thinks, that may be I should not have come back. I sense regret there. But then would I have time traveled like this ?

Somehow I like the romantic notion of going back to images in your head. Fondly. Sometimes objectively.

~nightflier

Caricature-d

Total lunar eclipse.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's sarod + classical dance recital on the stage.
Getting caricatured by an artist*.
Awesome people for company.


= FUN evening!


also when you are dreading the weighing scale, because you expect grimaces from the people noting, a 3 kg tilt of the pointer just makes your day. ;)


This is such a merry weekend!


* anyone who can draw is an artist in my eyes.
P.S. the books in the picture were a friend's idea and the artist's imagination and implementation!

What keeps you going?

Sounds like a really philosophical question. But the other day read Neha's post and commented whatever came to my mind at that point (I like spontaneous comments, give you a clear picture, don't they?).

and she counter commented and asked the question in the title.

Hmm. Umm. Hmm. :D

But whatever I said in the comment, I hold true to it. I know there are days in a row when I have to give myself a reason to look forward to things coming along. It is not always easy but its fun. All the mind games my mind makes me play! :P

True to what I said earlier, here's a list (damn!) of things which make me hold back, particularly not in any order. Also a product of time and lifestyle. Many of these things were not a part of my life as a grad student or hostelite.

• Bus rides to work and books I read during that time. I have become really obsessive with books lately. (surprise!) With normally two books running parallel, and trying to read not more than 50 pages of a book any day,  the what's next in the book, keeps me going. Obsessions like these keep me going.
• On the days when I am not feeling like reading (never on any given morning and occasionally on return journeys from work), I sit immediately behind the driver. I like to feel the thrill of his rash driving. Its an old habit. And I am no Senna but speed makes me feel alive.
• Twitter banter with friends. Most of it is teenage-y and high school types. But what the heck! We aren't growing up anyway. Might as well relish it.
• Her posts.
• Buying vegetables from my subji-wale uncle and aunty. I like my vegetables fresh and hence indulge in this a lot.
• At work, its mostly some problem I have to solve. Totally kicks me.
• Strangely after more than 15 years of schooling, exams still excite me. Japanese or python. Tests bring the fighter out of me. Sheesh. I feel lame.
• Trying to imitate a aai-special dish. Sometimes just her style of fodni-tadka (what does one call this in english?) In general cooking lifts me up in more than one ways. *Always* works. Almost.
• The idea that there is so much to travel and explore. Day dreaming about Morocco, the north east, Bruges or Peru.

I guess I have bored Neha enough with all this :D

But anyway, discovering small things to be happy/grateful about is what holds me back. Most of the times. And on the utterly off days, I simply take a break and don't get out of my comforter :P Simple.

~nightflier

brand list

Read Upasna's post about the collective shopping experience. And since my blog is suffering (read no posts :() and the post made me nostalgic, I decided why not! Plus being year end and all this is going to be a month of lists, of things done, not done, to be done. Might as well start with some nostalgia!


So, here is the list of our *family* brands. As much as I can remember.

• Bapat kirana stores - Aai still prefers to buy their chakka (from which shrikhand, a typical maharashtrian dessert is prepared)
• Milton dresses - I cannot remember an year without a visit to them. After moving away from home and getting exposed to other brands, the trend has now subdued. But parents still visit, especially when they have to buy gifts.
• Bata shoes - OMG! We are truly a bata family (at list for the slippers :D). Still visited by parents. Comfy stuff according to me.
• Raaj - raajeshwari - for all miscellaneous shopping.
• Choudhari cutpiece center - Year after year all the bed sheets, cushion covers, sofa covers at home bear their seal!
• Hair and care - Dad still uses it!!!!!
• Moti/hamam/mysore sandal soaps - We are so-oh low profile with soaps :D
• Britania marie - These are our favorite tea time biscuits! to this day!
• Society tea - judge us :P
• Dhara oil - oh yes! jalebi!
• Videocon - our first tape recorder, in which countless tapes got recorded with yours truly reciting poems. sheesh. but true. :-|
• Whirlpool - I was so fond of that whirlpool-whirlpool ad that I made parents buy this fridge, when my opinion was asked for :P
• Haldiram - This is our default go-to shop for any impromptu sweets/snacks shopping, when in rush.

I want to add many more. But this is it for now.

shall update.

Do you remember your collective shopping experiences as a family ?

Will be fun to read!

~nightflier