For me too that was a perfect bridge from the old year to the new year. My quick take on 2023 on a lighter note
- A new colleague who had joined was sitting next to me on the flight. I wasn’t sure if it was the same person whom I had met in the office once. I had to check the organization announcement mail to see his photo and then start the conversation. Time to go back to the office more often…
- My elder daughter doing “helicopter parenting” using the “Find My Phone” function on her phone to locate me when I was traveling to meet her in the city.
- Eating experiences with different people and in different places like ordering Chinese noodles in “fisherman’s wharf.”
- My younger daughter gave me an unexpected hug when we bought her a new bed and study table as she wanted to bring in some new vibes for the next level of life.
- Was very fascinated with the way my wife interacted on stage during her book launch followed by a visit to Apple shop.
- Fascination with Urdu lines and newfound interest in learning Hindi, thanks to the Pavilion show and also my trips to the Hindi heartland.
- Fascination with humor thanks to Marimayam a satire show in Malayalam and Amit Tandon- a standup comedian.
- I love books and establishing a library which is turning out to be my “happy space”
- Music playlist curation and playlists for occasions keep updating thanks to the Shazam App and my daughters.
- Exercises took a beating in 2023 but walking became my solo activity and was so hooked on to the app to meet daily targets of a minimum of 4kms.
- How I was looking for my old “blue bag” in the airport carousel after I forgot that I had changed to a new one and also trying to do a self-check-in on an airline with the boarding pass of another airline!
- Cricket Fever which started around the Asia Cup and continued into 2024. Took some time to get over our World Cup defeat. I wear that “Dream 11” T-shirt once in a while.
Here is my wrap-up of January 2024
Let me start with Movies
I saw “12th Fail“, “We Bought a Zoo” ( thanks to OTT Algorithm as I am a fan of Matt Damon), a Malayalam courtroom drama “Neru“, a Short movie “Black Stallion“, and finally convinced my wife to give company to see ” Fighter” who in turn got my in-laws also to see it in the theatres. Hope VFX made it up for otherwise a pretty pedestrian commercial movie. No doubt the best among the lot was “12th Fail” which is based on a true story. I enjoyed all the movies and seeing them made me get some nuanced narratives of of storytelling. There are moments in movies that give me the chill!
Let me get into cricket now.
There is no denying that I have become a big fan these days of cricket. I enjoyed watching that 642 Balls test cricket ( as Times of India caption: That was quick). Never before have I been fascinated with test cricket like these days and of course with the current series. My wife was tensed watching me drive yesterday which was a marked departure from the past. She mentioned that since you were occasionally seeing the live telecast of the test match and parallelly you were looking at those two dogs on the footpath. I remember those days in school and college when I eagerly looked forward to finishing tuition to run home and watch cricket. These days we watch cricket on all screens. How can we forget the T22 (T20 plus two super overs!) series with Afghanistan? Cricket brings to me memories from my school days and these days I listen to the technicalities of the game with my wife as commentators like Harsh Bogle make it very entertaining. How can we forget this one?
Finally, Food
Let me share some of the changes I am trying on a day-to-day basis. Observe intermittent fasting and then do mindful eating. The thing I failed to do in January was to avoid cheat meals. Look like I had thrown caution to the wind and was at my best savoring all the Biriyanis. In fact, in one of my lunches with my colleague, he saw my interest in Biriyani and explained the historical significance of the same. They say, “Kolkatta style biriyani with its mandatory aloo and egg was introduced by the last king of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah when exiled by the blandished Brits to Kolkata’s outskirts in 1856″. I told my wife a couple of times, ” Food is an emotion”. Her reply was to do more “meditation” to get it under control!
So apart from Movies, Cricket, and Food, I noticed that I had planned a lot of things to accomplish this year. So February with 29 days this year might bring something different.
Carpe Diem!
