Oh this mundane existence

1. What did you do in 2024 that you’d never done before?

Parent, mostly. 

And took a metro to Chowringhee every day for work -- just like our forefathers intended office-going to be. 

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?


LOL, no. And yes. [বৃথা আশা মরিতে মরিতেও মরে না।]


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope, for a change. 

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No one I was close to, but there were deaths in friends' families that really threw me for a loop. 



5. What countries did you visit?

Thailand! [Bardhaman, Jim Corbett National Park, Delhi, and Puri within India. Went on a few trips this year after what seems like a lifetime.] 


6. What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023?

An additional bedroom and a few more hours of sleep everyday.



7. What date from 2024 will remain etched upon your memory?

This was a strangely memorable yet mundane year. There was a deep sense of inevitability. exhaustion and inexplicably exciting boredom baked into the days.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting a new job. Completing a new certification. Successfully keeping the little human alive for more than a year. 

9. What was your biggest failure?

Zero sleep health. Zero mental health. Zero physical health. LMFAO.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

The end of the year was replete with mystery illnesses that necessitated much poking and prodding with alien objects.  

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Tickets to Bangkok. :)

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Little human's, no doubt!


13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

*Gestures wildly at the world around us*


14. Where did most of your money go?

Upkeep of two- and four-legged progenies. Veritable Mother India I have now become!


15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Travel plans!


16. What song/album will always remind you of 2024?

Sandhya Raga by Ravi Shankar (Live in Moscow sessions)

17.Compared to this time last year, are you:

1. Happier or sadder? Happier, I think. More content and settled for sure.
2. Thinner or fatter? Oh, so much fatter.
3. Richer or poorer? Oh, so much poorer. LOL.


18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Read. 


19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Obsess


20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Christmas was spent like responsible parents attending a Carnival, where Little Human ran around like a monkey and refused to climb out of a toy train. In the evening we escaped to a party for a couple of mimosas before dutifully heading back home for childcare duties. 

Look at us! Turning into our parents in front of our eyes! Veritable middle age knocking at our doors -- mimosas in one hand and Saridon in another!


21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?

The Core Group groupchat!

22. Did you fall in love in 2024?

Yes! :)


23. How many one night stands in this last year?

Are you kidding me?!


24. What was your favourite TV programme?

This was a terrible year TV wise. I spent the entire year hopped up on caffeine and Instagram reels. Don't remember the last show I actually started and finished watching. 

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Yes.

26. What was the best book(s) you read?

Number of books read this year did not move to double digits, much to my disappointment. However, even among these meagre rations, Babel by R.F. Kuang stood out as an extraordinary piece of imagination. 

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Alas, Miss Rachel's Phonics song is now tattooed on my brain.

28. What did you want and get?

Stability among this humdrum middle-class existence.


29. What did you want and not get?

A moment to relax with a drink and a book. A few slow mornings with a cup of coffee.


30. What were your favourite films of this year?

All We Imagine As Light [At the risk of sounding corny, it is an absolutely beautiful piece of cinema.] 

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I was 36. An uneventful day was had with a vegetarian (!) lunch from Burma Burma. In my defense, it was great food -- even if meatless. 

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
 
"What is this life if, full of care,/
We have no time to stand and stare..."


33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2024?

Oversized clothes and a little bit of self loathing

34. What kept you sane?

My friends


35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

All my teenage fantasies were ground to dust because Gaiman was exposed as a predator. I'm taking a break from hero worship for now.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

[Also, the day that DIMPLE BHABHI HATIYE trended on Indian social media. #iykyk]

37. Who did you miss?

My old, less frazzled self.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

No one.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2024.

"The truth is of course that there's no journey. We're arriving and departing all at the same time."


40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?

https://youtu.be/PiFeGLc18_A?si=RTsKqdnk1udyhiZb