Category: Books

2020 Lockdown Itinerary!

More than halfway through 2020. I ended up reading about a dozen books, Losing track of time. It hardly made me realise it’s been five months, I haven’t travelled anywhere at all. Not even Mumbai which is the closest Metro city from my hometown Nashik.

This also made me question am I liking it to be in one place, without moving at all.

Well, To be honest. It’s a first for me and while I couldn’t travel physically anywhere. Not even to a restaurant or cafe.

I have been having the best of food cuisines right from Thai, Chinese, and Italian pizzas to freshly baked desserts and cakes at home. This doesn’t mean I don’t miss going out.

I Sure do because, when we go out, We go for the experience of going somewhere, Trying something new, different or sometimes just for the ambience and service of being served, rather than helping ourselves. You also go for the occasional noise that’s part of the environment. People chit-chatting having conversations, to you finding the solution and clearing your doubts from not knowing what to order, to going with the suggestion by the waiter serving you to missing out a menu option, that the order table guest has just ordered.

As far as travelling goes as a tourist- The Books have been helping me by taking me to America by going on a history tour by having a well-researched guide (Bill Bryson) To telling me about Indian history by making me meet Historians such as William Dalrymple. Reading makes me feel sometimes “Lost in Japan” by either overhearing a mysterious case “Under The Midnight Sun” or giving it a realism-magical sense of the place by letting me know about “Kafka on The Shores” To making me Revisit Turkey But this time also making me experiencing the “Snow” by a local Orhan Pamuk and taking me to a lesser-known city in the country Kars.

Reading made me understand a doctor’s life by sharing the concept of “Being Mortal” to making me meet some interesting personalities, Michelle Obama & Robert Iger.

All these experiences while sipping coffee and hopping around the different corners of my home, enjoying the weather and trying to do my best while sitting at home.

But, Yes Travelling physically cannot be replaced by reading books. But, reading can comfort you in planning out your next travel journey.

Some More of my Writing Part -2

Indian Matchmaking! Now Streaming

It’s Funny! How many things I have done related to weddings, Right from a  show on a popular television channel that highlighted a designer doing a makeover for the bride for their wedding to ending up in Wedding planning with a destination wedding planning organisation to being one of the contenders for the series on the streaming platform. And over the years, working with so many different aspects of weddings & relationship, there are quite a few things I learnt, and quite a few questions to those who answer aren’t justified. 
While working on the makeover for the bride about five years ago, I realised girls and women are now taking their time to settle down, They are more confident and independent. 
While working with wedding planners – I Realised marriage is more of a “Show Business” 
And while auditioning for “India Matchmaking” It was the first time  I got the answer to some of the question, which I always looked for. 
“Why do people get married” – A Question which is never asked by the boy & girl who would be spending their life together. 
What do I really look in a partner – The Answer to this question is always looking at a friends/ role model’s marriage and answering those points without looking into what the person is actually looking for?
Why haven’t you found anybody yet and why arranged marriage? – Maybe it truly is the fault in my stars. 
And lastly, when the series streamed and I watched the complete series, none of the genders knew exactly what they were looking for in each other? 
While the fascination for the west and international audience on the concept of “Arrange Marriage/ Matchmaking”  questioned them about the Indian culture of marriage in many ways, Why is our media shying away from admitting who we are actually? 
Why is marriage so important? Today thank god. Marriage by some isn’t prioritised like a Goal or landmark. While for the others their only “Goal” is to be married not because they are “ready”, not because they have “connected” but rather because of the peer & family pressure that forces them not to question what marriage is? Why some question it too much and have high expectations, others just follow the checklist one should follow in a regular “Life” 
   

Some More of My Writing #2

What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

 

 

What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Reading a Malcolm Gladwell after about two~three years and it was the title that interested me to read another one of Malcolm Gladwell. This is the 5th Book that I read from Malcolm and this one is as insightful as the previous ones But this has had more case studies that I could relate to personally after a long time and the writing style and the writing is similar to all his previous work – The Tipping Point, Blink, Outlier and David Goliath. Some of the case studies that I could relate to were the Heinz case studies & Prego case studies as these were both I had heard about a long time ago. Is Talent overrated and The Mind hunter we’re other case studies I could relate to. -As I had just watched Mindhunter on Netflix a couple of months ago so it was interesting to live so many stories again.

Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

The Final novel by Ernest Hemingway, Which is believed to be an unfinished Work, for me a rather disappointing read.

The story is about Catherine involving herself & her husband David who is a writer in a strange, erotic triangle with another young woman – And we really never know why until a couple of chapters before the bookend.

This was one book – that was lying on my bookshelf for years and now that I was spending too much time at home and no books to read. I found another book that I was hoping to read “One Day” That day came last week and within a week, I was done reading the book. Maybe I picked the wrong “Hemingway Book” Maybe I had huge expectations. May Be I was just wanting to read a book and that’s why I chose “Garden of Eden”

The style of Hemingway Books are normally incomplete sentences, not too descriptive and just always giving us an outline, not many details of anything much – The setting, and the story takes too long to make you realise what is the actual story. Being my first, I still wanted to know if at all anything happens?

And yes they do, but it too late for that. Leaving the reader to think why did it take this long.

Maybe, Because I have read it today after so many years of it’s the publication and the Era that this story belongs, doesn’t really connect and hence maybe I haven’t enjoyed reading a book from one of the finest writers – Ernest Hemingway.