tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-207883832024-03-13T21:41:00.951+05:30Norwegian WoodI was alone, this bird had flown.March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-35735582588935132622023-12-30T21:50:00.003+05:302023-12-30T21:50:55.106+05:302023, the Watershed Year<p> <span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">1. What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before?</span></p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">Many new things, but primarily this one: </span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5C5GrpHQh6HE7SnS5uuwnWah1-sFL6DYZ8aOjd2hEhBTa7wJRRxec371pcmZR2s7yKau7EuKHsW8Yc8875WQlcnu88QusAMBj_XJdxofTqov7cNOTaUNk8IPLQJNvQouSDrerKH7wq4sMb-xHRnI-E1zix8kF8yNKyu3tQUAHtIdul0TPB8s9A/s6000/0M8A3715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5C5GrpHQh6HE7SnS5uuwnWah1-sFL6DYZ8aOjd2hEhBTa7wJRRxec371pcmZR2s7yKau7EuKHsW8Yc8875WQlcnu88QusAMBj_XJdxofTqov7cNOTaUNk8IPLQJNvQouSDrerKH7wq4sMb-xHRnI-E1zix8kF8yNKyu3tQUAHtIdul0TPB8s9A/s320/0M8A3715.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Nada. Zip. Zilch.</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">LOL. Please refer to question 1. <br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Yes. Several. Four-legged and two. This was a horrific year of intense personal losses amidst bouts of joy. <br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">None. </span><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">6. What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023?</span><br /><br />Fewer people falling sick and/or dying would be nice please. A little more sleep would also not hurt.<br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">7. What date from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3rd January, for bone-crushing grief.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">And 23rd July, for obvious reasons. :)</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Holding on to my sanity by a thread. <br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">No regrets. I really was a baller this year.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Is growing an entire living being inside you and then getting it out count as illness or injury?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">A few therapy sessions.<br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Mine, no doubt.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br /><br />BE's<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">New human being and moving to (yet another) new house.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>The Bangalore trip! And the other obvious thing!<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2020?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">The Mandalorian title track</span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">Hatali lal by Noor Benju</span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">1. Happier or sadder? Intense happiness with bouts of intense sadness. It's all a muddle at this point.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter, definitely.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Richer or poorer? Poorer. Things are expensive!</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yoga. Sleep. </span><br /><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>Doomscrolling.<br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>A quiet Christmas was had with a leisurely late breakfast (a luxury these days!) and a good book. Everyone needed time to recuperate after the rousing Christmas eve party that turned my house upside down!<br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">If "on the phone" means texting, then S and D's group chats kept me sane during this humdinger of a year!</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">22. Did you fall in love in 2023?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span>Yes! :)<br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span>LOL. If I get any night free, I would like to sleep please. Anything else can take a hike.<br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>The Boys, House of the Dragon, The Last of Us. </i>The new seasons of <i>What We Do In The Shadows </i>and <i>The Bear. </i></span></span></div><div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>Yes.</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br /><br />This was an appalling year books wise. I spent the year doomscrolling through social media while being insanely sleep deprived or nauseous. Having said that, I found Robert Galbraith's <i>The Running Grave </i>extremely engaging, and sacrificed precious sleep to finish the book. [The politics of reading Galbraith is something I'm still figuring out. But that's a whole other story.]</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>Noor Benju!</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">28. What did you want and get?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">A long leave from the job.</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span>A respite from relentless grief.<br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><i>Ballabhpurer Roopkatha</i> </span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">I was 35. Spent the day getting my passport renewed, then fought with S and went out for dinner alone -- stuffing my face with tandoori chicken and a gigantic icecream. It was quite a grown-up birthday! Had a lovely party with friends later though. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"> </span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Some people/animals not dying would have been nice.<br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">It was a good day if I remembered to take a shower.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">34. What kept you sane?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">My friends</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br /><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">Neil Gaiman, forever and ever.</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULGi8stUivyADDGZIu_bvAI1yELReZ5dWe6pOivWkbserkn3WSwMWL9yfxDTvj-bo0sQ02llRENqTULbOjQKcC34lkhMrHG9Fef-xccESYAMlqWEhQPb94kXNXLvbnLigS4KgohhMcZTdaB3GJvtBFzRI0jTWB8JCr_-mu7Y3KeoKzxoY53FURA/s700/watermelon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="700" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULGi8stUivyADDGZIu_bvAI1yELReZ5dWe6pOivWkbserkn3WSwMWL9yfxDTvj-bo0sQ02llRENqTULbOjQKcC34lkhMrHG9Fef-xccESYAMlqWEhQPb94kXNXLvbnLigS4KgohhMcZTdaB3GJvtBFzRI0jTWB8JCr_-mu7Y3KeoKzxoY53FURA/s320/watermelon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">37. Who did you miss?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Puti.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">New human! :)<br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023.</span><br /><br />How you spend your days is, of course, how you spend your life.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Pressure pushin' down on me</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Pressin' down on you, no man ask for</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Under pressure that brings a building down</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Splits a family in two, puts people on streets</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Pressure pushing down on me, pushing down on you, no man ask for</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Under pressure that brings a building down,</i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>Splits a family in two, puts people on streets</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>That's okay,</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>That's the terror of knowing what this world is about,</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>Watchin' some good friends screamin' "let me out",</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>Pray tomorrow gets me higher,</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>Pressure on people, people on streets,</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;"><i>That's okay!</i></span></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div>March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-54607185050927778052022-12-31T11:56:00.002+05:302022-12-31T11:56:30.717+05:302022, you weren't half bad<p> <span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: large;">1. What did you do in 2022 that you’d never done before?</span></p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;">Successfully moved to the new house! Being a landlord suits me I think. <insert ironic sunglasses emoji here> </span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;">Also spent a few months taking a break from work and regrouping mentally. I've never actually not had a job as an adult and it was a necessary but sometimes anxiety inducing endeavour.<br /></span><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">I think I did manage to lose some weight, but happily gained it all back by the end of the year. Hallelujah! [And nope.] </span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yes! A cousin/friend! Much excaiite. :) <br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">No, fingers crossed.<br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">None. </span><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">6. What would you like to have in 2023 that you lacked in 2022?</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Better health, a new passport, and figuring out the South Calcutta shifting situation. </span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">7. What date from 2022 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">6th May, because new! house! </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6th December, just because! </span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Successfully holding on to my mental health with the new job. <br /></span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Not restarting couples counselling. Not travelling as much as I would like to. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">I keep on falling and spraining various limbs, and suffered from the mysterious-fever-that-could-be-covid-or-dengue-or-typhoid-we-don't-know right after pujo. So that was fun!</span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br />Tickets to Shillong!<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Mine, no doubt.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">S'</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">New house and the bane of Swiggy.</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>The epic Shillong and Talshari trips with friends! Moving out of PP! <br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2020?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">Starman - David Bowie</span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">Baynabilashi - Sahana Bajpaei and Samantak Sinha</span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">Shaq - Swanand Kirkire et al</span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">This random rendition of sandhya raga by Ravi Shankar that has refused to leave my brain for months.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">1. Happier or sadder? Same, I think</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Thinner or fatter? Same.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Richer or poorer? Richer.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Travelling. Yoga. </span><br /><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Stressing.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">I spent the whole day napping under a blanket after a particularly tiring Christmas eve. Had biriyani for lunch, followed by the new <i>Knives Out </i>movie on Netflix. 'Twas a satisfying day for me, though S' extrovert ass hated it.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">No one is calling anyone anymore. It's 2022!</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">22. Did you fall in love in 2022?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Nope.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">None.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i>Moon Knight</i> and <i>What We Do In The Shadows</i> and <i>The Bear</i>. Honourable mention to <i>Bridgerton Season 2</i>, which short-circuited my brain when I realized they were playing <i>Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham</i> in Victorian England. The absolute beauty of Jonathan Bailey did not hurt either.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Nope.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br /><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">The Earthsea trilogy by Ursula Le Guin. Why didn't anyone tell me about her sooner?!</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>Not a discovery per se, but I've been listening to a lot of Ulhas Kashalkar after attending his stunning concert last month. </span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">28. What did you want and get?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">A new job.</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Happiness is a warm gun -- bang bang shoot shoot :) </span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><i>The Banshees of Inisherin</i></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">I was 34. Had a superb daytime party at Anderson with friends later in the week. The day of the birthday was spent having a good lunch at The Cafe and cuddling with all my animals. Wasn't a bad day.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"> </span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">A little more yoga. A little more contentment. <br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2022?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Non-existent, nightie adjacent.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">34. What kept you sane?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Cats and dog and books and friends.</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br /><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: black;">The (newly single!) Neil Gaiman, forever and ever.</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br />I ... don't know where to start. Next question please.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">37. Who did you miss?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">The friends lost. This was a major year of friendships dissolving.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Absolutely no idea.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022.</span><br /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">This, too, shall pass.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>There's a Starman waiting in the sky</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>He'd like to come and meet us</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>But he thinks he'd blow our minds</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>There's a Starman waiting in the sky</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>He's told us not to blow it</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>He told me</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Let the children lose it</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Let the children use it</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><i>Let all the children boogie...</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"></div></div></div></div>March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-41283494546146368132021-12-29T12:09:00.005+05:302021-12-29T12:35:48.248+05:302021<p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"> 1. What did you do in 2021 that you’d never done before?</span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Learnt how to drive and got my driver's license. I'm still a terrible driver and literally have miles to go before I sleep, but baby steps darling!</span></span></span><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;">Also adopted a rambunctious dog who continues to drive us up the wall, but is probably one of the best decisions ever taken. :)<br /></span><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"> I have zero recollection about resolving to do anything last year. I will absolutely NOT make any resolution for 2022. Existence during apocalypse is all bullshit anyway. </span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yes! Much excitement about second core baby. :)<br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yes.</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">None. </span><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">6. What would you like to have in 2022 that you lacked in 2021?</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">My own house and a brief respite from this terrible 2021 Mental Health Spiral. </span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">7. What date from 2021 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">11th January, because start of the vexing new job. 24th January, because Bhetki came home. 2nd May, because stressful close call with fascist regime. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">1st November, because first core baby. </span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Not having a nervous breakdown every other day.<br /></span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Not getting the house situation sorted. Not travelling. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Working for 12 hours on a shitty keyboard has relegated me to the Carpal Tunnel Forever corner. And of course, mental health stuff went from bad to worse.</span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br />Nothing, really.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Mine. And sometimes Bhetki's.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">S'</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Food and books and Uber. </span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>Going for a quick weekend trip to Digha with friends. This year was strangely devoid of excitement and full of grey, listless drudgery. <br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2020?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;">Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate - Debe live at Bozar</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJUE03aeaQ4&list=RDpJUE03aeaQ4&start_radio=1"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJUE03aeaQ4&list=RDpJUE03aeaQ4&start_radio=1</span></a></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">1. Happier or sadder? Sadder.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Richer or poorer? Richer.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Travelling. Taking a minute to myself with a book. </span><br /><br /></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Work.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">We woke up late after a rousing Christmas eve and sat around nursing strong cups of coffee. Then we stuffed ourselves full at Manzilat and I took a 3 hour nap in the evening. 'Twas the best day.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Sadly enough, my boss.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">22. Did you fall in love in 2021?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Nope.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">None.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>I discovered 'Succession' this year, and life will never be the same. </span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;">'Hospital Playlist Season 2' and Wandavision should also get honourable mentions. I was a Marvel glutton this year.</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Yup.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br /><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Slowly getting my reading groove back. Agatha Christie ALWAYS comes through. Best new book still remains Yaa Gyasi's 'Transcendent Kingdom'.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>Whale in the Pond. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate.</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">28. What did you want and get?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">A new job.</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">To move into the new house. Some contentment. </span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span>Spiderman: No Way Home.</span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">I was 33. Had a good partywithfriends the day before, and spent the morning drinking coffee and shooting the shit with D. Met parents in the afternoon for a biriyani lunch before coming home and having a supernova-sized fight with S. It was a ... mixed sort of day.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"> </span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">A little less work. A little more action. <br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Pajamas with ratty t-shirts.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">34. What kept you sane?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">Cats and dog and books and friends.</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br />Siddhartha Mukherjee and Neil Gaiman.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br />I ... don't know where to start. Next question please.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">37. Who did you miss?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">The 'me' I was before 2019.</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">T, maybe?!<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.</span><br /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">This, too, shall pass.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">"...In the clearing stands a boxer</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">And a fighter by his trade,</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">And he carries the reminders</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">Of every glove that laid him down</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">And cut him till he cried out</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">In his anger and his shame</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">"I am leaving, I am leaving"</i></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: black;">But the fighter still remains, he still remains..."</i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"></div></div></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><i><br /></i></span></div></div>March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-51979192398393309712021-05-09T19:36:00.002+05:302021-05-09T19:37:36.126+05:30Thakur pujo<p> In a year of unrelenting, bone deep, breathless grief, I've discovered that NOTHING hits the spot quite like Robi Thakur. From wild, untamed sadness to the gritty melancholy -- he has a song for everything. I've spent more hours listening to his music in the past one year than I have in my life. As the world burned, his quiet words soothed as nothing else could. Let posterity record that collective Bengali grief always turns towards this man for relief.</p><p><br /></p><p>https://youtu.be/6K97zuGWXY4</p><p><br /></p><p>"একক অখন্ড ব্রহ্মান্ড রাজ্যে,</p><p>পরম এক সেই রাজ রাজেন্দ্র রাজে।"</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-50083202306283203502021-01-15T16:27:00.000+05:302021-01-15T16:27:07.835+05:302020<p> <span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before?</span></p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">Ahahahaha. AHAHAHA...What can I say. Survived an unprecedented global pandemic and saw our global descent into fascism? </span><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"> No, and no. Resolution, shmesolution. Who has the time when the world is ending?</span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yes! First core baby. :) <br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yes.</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">None. </span></span><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;" /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">An effective vaccine, dear god.</span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">18th March, because that was the day I started working from home, expecting this weird new disease to go away in a couple of months. And well...it's now January and I haven't been back in the office since. And also 29th August, because that's when we came back for good. </span></span><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;" /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span><br /><ul style="background-color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><li><span style="color: white;">Not dying.</span></li></ul><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;"></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">Fucking up my mental health. </span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: 13px;"></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Yup. Typhoid and fractured ankle and slow descent into madness.</span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Rajdhani first class tickets to Kolkata.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Mine. And sporadically S'.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">EVERYONE'S!</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Books and Swiggy. </span><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Moving back to Kolkata.</span></span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2020?</span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">Jano kichu mone koro na...</i></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">[https://youtu.be/o1v3z2EUgcM]</i></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: black;">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">1. Happier or sadder? Happier.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">2. Thinner or fatter? Same.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">3. Richer or poorer? Richer.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Walking around Delhi roads when I had the time and opportunity.</span><br /><br /></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Work.</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">I spent Christmas drinking coffee with D and then driving around Kolkata with S. It was a good day. </span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Shallow Hollows</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">22. Did you fall in love in 2020?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Nope.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">None.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span></div><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">This was the year I discovered Korean drama! While the world died around me and I stayed at home for months on end, I wore my mask and watched impossibly good looking people having complicated lovelives and ridiculous problems. My favourites were 'Crash Landing On You', 'Because This is my First Life' and 'Hospital Playlist.' </span></div><div><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">Can't remember.</span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br /><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">One of the most distressing things about this extraordinary year was the fact that it took away my ability to read. I spent hours doomscrolling on my phone or just staring at the ceiling, but couldn't bring myself to finish books. Reading has always been my go-to method to relax, and in a year when I needed it most...I just couldn't. Anyway, all this to say that I didn't read much, but I DID discover Georgette Heyer. Her 'Why Shoot A Butler' was easily the most heartwarming thing I read in a year full of heartbreaks.</span><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">Akhilbandhu Ghosh. </span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">28. What did you want and get?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">To quit my super stressful job.</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">Peace.</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span style="color: white;">I truly cannot remember a single movie I watched this year. I do recall rewatching 'Asa Jawar Majhe' with S, and being struck by its deliciousness anew. Does that count?</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">I was 32. Was just recuperating from a nasty bout of Typhoid, so couldn't eat anything but boiled rice and eggs and idli. But had friends over, fed them good food, and lived a little vicariously. So that was good. This was right before the world shut down, and thank god for that.</span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"> </span></span><br /><span style="color: white;">A little less 'unprecedented' events please. It sucks to live through history. </span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br />Aha. Ahaha. AHAHAHAHA. I gave away half my wardrobe before the cross-country move, and have solely survived on pajamas for a year.</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">34. What kept you sane?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">Cats. </span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">David Tennant. Neil Gaiman. Riz Ahmed.</span><br /><br /><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><br />I ... don't know where to start. Next question please.</span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">37. Who did you miss?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">EVERY one. EVERY FUCKING ONE. <br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;"><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">No new person was met. Everyone stayed put in their homes.<br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.</span><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /><span face="trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif">This, too, shall pass.</span><br /><span face=""trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: white;">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: white;"><i>Aur bhi dukh hai zamane mein, mohabbat ke siva,</i></span></div><div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: white;"><i>Raahatein aur bhi hai, vasl ki rahat ke siva...<br /></i></span><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><div><i style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-58458711188209881502019-12-29T21:48:00.003+05:302019-12-29T21:48:47.212+05:30Begone 2019, this year of horror<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">1. What did you do in 2019 that you’d never done before?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Oh jesus. Nothing, and everything. Does that make sense? Everything seemed old and jaded this year AS WELL AS bewilderingly new and overwhelming. This truly was the year best summed up by the age-old adage of "Well, at least you didn't die..." </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"> I did, surprisingly. And then I realized that those resolutions were shit in the first place, and keeping them did not make me happy and content after all. So there's that.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Definitely making more resolutions for next year, though. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Yes! Multiple friends had multiple ickle babies this year! 2019 was full of progeny!</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">No, thank god.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Vietnam! But that was a continuation of my December 2018 trip -- so it probably does not count. Within India, we went to Gushaini in Himachal for Holi, and then for a surprisingly calming trip to Bangalore in June. There was a kinda awkward, but okay work trip to Nainital in July as well. And of course the obligatory Kolkata and Benares things happened. We're also set to go to Shimla for a quick year-end getaway. Looking back, this year was very VERY low in travel. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;" /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">6. What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Work-life balance. Oh dear God, some work-life balance would be good.]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">7. What date from 2018 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">7th June, I think. I left a long and dearly held job for newer horizons that day. It was a disorienting time. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;" /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span><br />
<ul style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="color: white;">Changing my job</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;">Starting the side thing</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;">Not losing my mind completely</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Not getting the side thing off and running, like we thought we would. Not sticking to the health resolutions. Really not paying attention to friends and family, and pouring all my energy into work instead. </span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Yup. Brain completely melted, taking my mental health with it.</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Tickets to Bangalore, I think.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Pnuti's.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Most of India's.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Flight tickets. Food. Cats. Books. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Nothing. Not a single damn thing elicited any sort of overwhelming excitement. It was a shitty, shitty year, Watson.</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2019?</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><i>Cold/Mess</i> - Prateek Kuhad</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black;">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">1. Happier or sadder? Sadder.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">2. Thinner or fatter? Same.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">3. Richer or poorer? Richer, but not happier about it.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Just chilling. Staring at the skies. Walking around the city. Pottering around the house. Essentially, anything that's not work.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Work.</span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">I spent Christmas watching a movie, and then drinking spiked hot chocolate with old friends. There was pasta and chicken too. 'Twas a good day.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Office people. (Blergh.)</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">22. Did you fall in love in 2019?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Nope.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">None.</span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br /><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span><br />
<ul style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li>Killing Eve</li>
<li>Fleabag</li>
<li>Russian Doll</li>
<li>Queer Eye Japan</li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(TV was quite deliciously good this year.)</span><br />
<div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Yes.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Paul Kalanithi's "When Breath Becomes Air" made me publicly bawl in a metro. So, that was something. I was also introduced to Patrick Rothfuss, who provided my yearly fantasy fix quite satisfactorily.</span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Prateek Kuhad, I think. Though that was hardly a new discovery. I just listened to him a lot this year. Also, all the old comforting Faiz songs were played on loop.</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">28. What did you want and get?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">The new job.</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">A work-life balance. Peace.</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Marriage Story was absolutely delicious. I loved Lady Bird too. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Quite disappointing birthday all around. Even the birthday dinner was kinda shit. Hoping this next year is better.</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Just figuring out the thing that would provide me the most mental peace.</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2019?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Corporate slave, but forgot to comb her hair.</span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">34. What kept you sane?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Books and therapy and cats. </span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Neil Gaiman, in perpetuity.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Oh God, so many. I went to so many protests this year. Marched so many times. This world is going to hell in a handbasket, and I have decided to not go silently into the night. Kashmir was fucked, and so were minorities in India. </span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">BJP won an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha elections. </span><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Boris Johnson became UK's PM, and it looks like Brexit is a done deal. But maybe it is true that it is the darkest before dawn. (Fingers crossed).</span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">37. Who did you miss?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">My friends, all in one place.</span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">M, maybe? But the bar is rather low.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018.</span></span><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">Be careful, for what you wish for might just become true.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span><br /><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div>
<i style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div>
<i style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">I wish I could leave you my love,</span></span></i></div>
<div>
<i style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">But my heart is a mess...</span></span></i></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-29324867685747844372019-07-25T11:40:00.001+05:302019-07-25T11:40:33.970+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Work has been crazy, for both me and S -- so much so that last week we saw each other 30 minutes tops each day. 30 minutes awake in the same room, before one person had to go to bed or shut themselves in a room with more work.<br />
<br />
So we decided to go out to dinner after work on a weekday, to spend that elusive time together. The food was lovely, but it was after work, so I spent the entire time wishing that I could take off my bra. (My Pavlovian brain always goes: End of work day = No bra). And we were so hungry we barely exchanged a word once the food arrived. And when the meal ended, both of us felt EXTREMELY sleepy. So we quickly cabbed it home and fell asleep.<br />
<br />
These middle-aged bones are not meant to go out on weekdays, is the moral of the story. </div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-59080033996848505092019-06-04T15:45:00.002+05:302019-06-04T15:45:36.266+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Life needs reboot, pronto. How long can one live half a life, really.</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-55124259082546725332019-01-07T17:54:00.001+05:302019-01-07T17:54:21.181+05:302018: going, going, gone...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2018 was a garbage fire of a year, a dumpster engulfed in flames that refused to go out. Now that I look back, I legit did not do any single *new* thing this year. I grinded away at the same old, same old. <i>Thor bori khara, purono pajama...</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But I did exercise semi-regularly for the first time in my life, and started a new, potential sidegig-y thing that got okay reviews and is still under production. So I guess ... I adulted? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nope. Yes.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Nope. But 2019 promises to make up for the temporary lull in procreation in my social circle.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">No, thank god.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Vietnam! It was a surprisingly great vacation, where we wandered the length of the country, eating delicious food and walking aimlessly through pretty streets. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Within India, I went to Kalpa in Himachal, and the usual suspects of Benares and Calcutta. Maybe 2019's resolution can be to travel a bit more within the country. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">I also visited the Nizamuddin dargah for the first time, after living in Delhi for 8 years ... does that count?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">6. What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Money money money money....MONEY. [Please sing along with me]</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">7. What date from 2018 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Hmmm...maybe 31st December? But frankly, that's probably because that's the freshest in my mind, and I really did have the greatest time that day. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Exercising semi-regularly</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Going on that much-awaited trip</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Staying contentedly alone for long stretches of time</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Not getting out of the rut at work, I think. Change is terrifying and HARD, y'all.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Yes, a badly timed horrible bout of fever that made me partially miss a much-anticipated wedding, and several horrid cases of food poisoning. In retrospect, maybe stress really IS the silent killer.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Tickets to Vietnam!</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Mine. Without a shadow of doubt. Maybe S' too, but the jury is still out on that one.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">No comments, because remember how I'm adulting now? Responsible adults do not crib in public.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Travel. Food. Cats. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Vietnam trip! The business-y sidegig-y thing *fingers crossed*</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2018?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><i>Sakalbana</i> - especially the Coke Studio version</span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">This was also the year I discovered podcasts, and I *could not* be more of a convert. They make household chores and errand running 100% better. My current favourites are Potterless, Harry Potter And The Sacred Text, Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard, and Spirits. Maybe 2019 can be my year of discovering Indian podcasts. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Podcasts for president!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: black;">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. Happier or sadder? Same.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Richer or poorer? Same.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Go outside. Shut down my computer and go for walks/picnics/runs. The amount of time I spent in front of a screen -- either working or trying to work -- is ridiculous.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Procrastination. Sitting on my ass, scrolling through the social media hellscapes.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Christmas was spent in Vietnam -- exploring caves in Halong bay and then coming back to Hanoi to walk around the city, visit a local church, and ingest Banh Mis and many cups of delightful Vietnamese coffee. So it was all good. :) </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Americans from work. (This answer is the same as last year, which is a truly depressing state of being.)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">22. Did you fall in love in 2018?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Nope.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">None.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">GLOW</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Brooklyn Nine Nine</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Queer Eye</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Anne With An E</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(TV was quite deliciously good this year.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Yes.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Hmm...let's see. "Ones Who Eat Darkness" by Richard Lloyd Perry and "All That Remains" by Sue Black were both stunning works of non-fiction. This was the year where fiction really did disappoint -- Katherine Arden's "Girl In The Tower" being one of the few exceptions. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">I also completed my Goodreads challenge of reading 36 books. So that was something. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nothing at all. All the old comforts were played on loop to keep real life at bay.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">28. What did you want and get?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">The Vietnam trip.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Job satisfaction.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Mukkabaz. Manmarziyan. Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I turned the big three o! There was cosy lunch party with few friends the weekend before. Many gifts from S and colleagues the day and day after. Spent the day chilling at home with cats, reading happily in bed -- and went out to fancy dinner with S in the evening. Best goddamn steak I've had in Delhi -- which is a true birthday miracle.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Less procrastinating, more doing. Maybe a little bit of therapy?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2018?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Boring corporate slave with red/green hair a remnant of rebellion.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: trebuchet ms, trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">34. What kept you sane?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Cats and books and yoga. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Lin Manuel Miranda. Ranveer Singh. Neil Gaiman [WHO REPLIED TO ONE OF MY TWEETS AND MADE ME DELIRIOUS WITH JOY]. David Tennant. Hasan Minhaj. Riz Ahmed. (My list doesn't change much, does it? I am loyal towards my celebrity crushes.)</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Scrapping of Section 377 from the Indian penal code! Yeah babeh!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">37. Who did you miss?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Didimoni</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">No one</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As I recently read on the Interwebz -- DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span><br />
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<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Wahaan kaun hai tera,</span></span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Musaafir, jayega kahaan?</span></span></i></div>
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March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-15011508710940194322018-01-02T00:02:00.002+05:302018-01-02T13:44:48.782+05:302017, in a nutshell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Bought a large important thing. Does that make me sound unbearably adult and pretentious? I think it does, and that makes me sad. But I did. I (we, actually) bought a large important thing, and now I am a large, important thing owner. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">This was also the year I mastered PROPER swimming -- as opposed to nervous thrashing about that I was doing last year. The long summer was spent swimming endless laps of the local pool. I think I have finally found my favourite sport in the world.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Also, took a trip to Goa with friends. After planning for, like, 20,000 years. (No, seriously...people had been talking about "doing Goa" for at least a decade.) The wait was totally worth it, though. Goa was all sorts of magical fun and narcotics-fuelled days bleeding into one another -- just like I had pictured it as a teenager.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">I also started wearing lipstick regularly for the first time in my adult life. Does that count? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Partly. Yes.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Yes! So many babies this year! 2017 was truly the year of procreation.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">No</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">5. What countries did you visit?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It was a pretty tame year, travel-wise. Largely because all our money had already gone towards large important thing. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Within India, I went to Barot and Gushaini in Himachal, Goa, Bangalore, Benares, Lansdowne, and Calcutta. Maybe next year will be better? (Fingers crossed, knock on wood, spit in fire, etc.) </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Discipline. Contentment. Job satisfaction.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">7. What date from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Weirdly enough, no single date comes to mind. This was one long slog of a year, punctuated by brief moments of calm joy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Buying the big important thing</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Working 13 hour days for months at a stretch, and not giving up</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Sticking to my commitment of regular yoga practice</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">9. What was your biggest failure?</span></span><br />
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<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">A spectacularly botched up work transition in the middle of the year. If not for the Goa trip, I wouldn't have survived summer this year without a nervous breakdown</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Money</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nothing major (thank God) except for persistent, bone-deep weariness.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">The BIG! IMPORTANT! THING!</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Mine. Without a shadow of doubt.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Everyone else'.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">14. Where did most of your money go?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Travel. Food. Big Important Thing.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Goa trip! Finally buying important thing I keep writing about. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2017?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"Udd gaye" by Rivtiz from Bacardi House Party Sessions; </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Makeba by Jain; </span><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"You'll be back" from Hamilton</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: black;">17.Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. Happier or sadder? Happier, I think.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Richer or poorer? Richer.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Work. Which is ridiculous, since I worked a LOT. This does tell you about the current unhealthy relationship I have with my work, though. (Also, do you see the difference between last year's answers and this year's? Last year I was all angsty and revolting at being made to work so much. This year I'm wishing I had worked even more. My conversion to a slave of capitalism has been completed. Brainwash successful. Ting ting ti ting!)</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Procrastination. Complaining. 2018 is going to be my year of sucking it up and dealing with it. I'm tired of being bitchy about circumstances, which is how I spent most of last year. Working or bitching -- I must have been a delight to be around.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Christmas was spent with long-lost family, old friends, mulled wine, and beef biriyani from ZamZam. Life was good. :) </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Americans from work. (Google Hangouts to the rescue.)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">22. Did you fall in love in 2017?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Does falling in love with Lin Manuel Miranda count?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">None.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Big Little Lies</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">This Is Us</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Game of Thrones</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Parks and Recreation</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Shetland</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">Off-script With AIB</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(Dammit, I watched a lot of TV this year.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Yes.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">26. What was the best book(s) you read?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Oooh. This is my favourite question. Let's see -- this was my year of the detective novels, and I read a number of good ones. After exhausting all of Tana French, Anne Cleeves was my favourite whodunit discovery. My favourite Cleeves this year was "Telling Tales". Among non-detective stories, I loved Liu Cixin's "Three Body Problem" and Kamila Shamsie's "Home Fire". Another absolute stunner was Margaret Atwood's "Alias Grace". It was the kind of book that changes lives.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">I also completed the Goodreads Challenge I had set myself, and managed to read 35 books this year. All in all, reading was the one thing that kept me sane. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Fleetwood Mac. Lin Manuel Miranda (AGAIN!) </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">28. What did you want and get?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">The big important thing</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">29. What did you want and not get?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">More money. A less stressful job.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Hidden Figures. Haraamkhor. A Death In The Gunj. The Big Sick. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">This wasn't a year for movie watching. This was the year of binge watching Netflix shows. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I turned 29. There was a big blowout lunch the weekend before, and a quiet day on the day of the birthday. I took the day off work, watched two whole movies, and had a lovely dinner with friends at Big Chill where I stuffed my face with as much cheesecake as possible. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">More money. Better time management.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Finally adulting.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">34. What kept you sane?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Cats and books and yoga. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Lin Manuel Miranda. Ranveer Singh. Neil Gaiman. David Tennant. Hasan Minhaj. Riz Ahmed. (My list doesn't change much, does it? I am loyal towards my celebrity crushes.)</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Aadhaar. Right to privacy act. Gujarat elections. Fucking Padmavati not being released. The sexual harrassment purge in USA.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> 2017 was a shitty SHITTY year for my politics. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">37. Who did you miss?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px;">Didimoni</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">No one</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There's nothing that hard work won't fix. Kindness is MUCH more important than any other virtue. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">We hold these truths to be self-evident</span></span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">That all men are created equal,</span></span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">And when I meet Thomas Jefferson</span></span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">I'm 'a compel him to include women in the sequel </span></span></i><br />
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March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-64510678219258175562016-12-26T13:54:00.002+05:302017-01-02T10:59:03.625+05:30The Traditional Goodbye To This Spectacularly Horrific Year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Visited the UK (England, Scotland, Ireland). Watched a play in Shakespeare's Globe. Strolled down narrow London roads. Did touristy things in double-decker buses. Sang aloud in Irish pubs -- slightly tipsy on endless glasses of cider. Walked around deserted Edinburgh streets and grey Scottish villages. Cradled a cup of steaming soup in a quaint eatery next to Loch Ness.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It was the dream of a lifetime -- a country I had read about all my life, stories I had studied for five years in college. Walking back to our central London hostel after many a random adventure, pleasantly tired and eating salted caramel ice cream was the closest thing to contentment I felt all of this year.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Mourning my grandmother. She was, quite simply, my most favourite person on earth. And 2016 took her away. This year, I grieved like I've never grieved before. I'm still not fully normal -- and every few days, I'm hit with a wave of longing so intense that it takes my breath away. 2016, you were such a fucker.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Kind of. Yes.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Did anyone close to you give birth?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">No.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">4. Did anyone close to you die?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Yes.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">5. What countries did you visit?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">England, Ireland, Scotland</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Also, the following places within India: Gushaini (Himachal), Kashipur, Benares, Calcutta.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Apart from the UK trip, this was not a travelling year. I didn't even go home for Pujo OR Christmas.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Money. Happiness. Motivation. Rest.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">7. What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">17th July. Made sure that I won't be forgetting 2016 in a hurry.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;">(</span><span style="background-color: black;">Also, the first two weeks of December, when a plethora of friends got married and Calcutta was magical. But mostly, 17th July.)</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?</span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Making the UK happen</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Not breaking down in public every other day</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">9. What was your biggest failure?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Money. Work. Contentment.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">10. Did you suffer illness or injury?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nothing worth remembering anyway. Does heartache count? </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">11. What was the best thing you bought?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> Tickets for the UK. Books on Kindle. Wacom tablet for S.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Mine. S'.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2016's</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">14. Where did most of your money go?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Travel. Food. Books.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The UK trip. The December weddings. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">16. What song/album will always remind you of 2016?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">"Hosanna..." from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">"Ophelia..." by the Lumineers</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">The entire soundtrack of Hamilton (Young, scrappy, and hungry!)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">"Aguner poroshmoni..."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: white;">1</span><span style="background-color: black;">7. Compared to this time last year, are you:</span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1. Happier or sadder? Sadder.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3. Richer or poorer? Poorer.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">18. What do you wish you’d done more of?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Spending time with my grandmother. Oh God, the regret is like a metallic taste in my tongue. It lurks in corners, never too far to give me a nudge, a poke, a swat.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">19. What do you wish you’d done less of?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Working. Good fucking lord, the American bosses took over my life this year. I worked 12/13 hour days for weeks at a time. 2016, you were spectacularly bad for my hobbies, my posture, my sanity, and my ability to keep my house clean and spend time with S.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">20. How will you be spending Christmas?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Christmas was spent with good friends and wine at an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet, followed by arguably the best Bollywood movie I've seen this year. It was all good. :) </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The mother. The mother-in-law. The boss. (Google Hangouts count, right?)</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">22. Did you fall in love in 2015?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Nope.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">23. How many one night stands in this last year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">None.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">24. What was your favourite TV programme?</span></span></span><br />
<ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Jessica Jones</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Stranger Things</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Game of Thrones</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Relationship Goals (on Buzzfeed Violet)</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Yes.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">26. What was the best book(s) you read? </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Books were the one thing that did not suck this year. I read a ton of whodunits (that were mostly good) and a bunch of "in the news, hyped" books (that were mostly bad). I also completed the GoodReads reading challenge of 32 books in a year. So there's that.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">However, the best book, by far, was Siddhartha Mukherjee's "The Emperor of All Maladies". This is the kind of book that changes lives. If I had read this in high school, I would surely have been more interested in biology than I was. Weirdly enough, I was reading this right around the time my grandmum passed away. This book, and its story of man's essential mortality, helped soothe me in those days when little else could. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Since then, I've listened to a number of Mukherjee's talks on YouTube, and developed a full blown crush on this bearded, bespectacled Bengali boy with a Pulitzer prize under his belt. I'm saving his latest book on genes for next year, savouring the delicious anticipation.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">27. What was your greatest musical discovery?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Lumineers. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">28. What did you want and get?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">The UK trip</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">29. What did you want and not get?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My grandmother. Job satisfaction. Success. Money.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">30. What were your favourite films of this year?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Howl's Moving Castle. Dangal. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-size: 13px;">(Much like travelling, this was not a year for serious movie watching. I spent all my time working or grieving or mindlessly watching Buzzfeed videos.)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">28. A full on lunch party the day before. Basking in the sunshine with my cats and eating sushi and tiramisu on the actual day.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> More money. A better job. My grandmother. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Trying hard.</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">34. What kept you sane?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">S. Books. Cats. Sleep.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Siddhartha Mukherjee. Riz Ahmed. Lin Manuel Miranda. (And of course, the usuals of Gaiman, Tennant, Adichie and Ranveer Singh)</span></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">36. What political issue stirred you the most?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">JNU. Brexit. Trump. Demonetization. 2016 was a year of shitty SHITTY politics. Every issue I cared about went the opposite way. Every person I hated ascended the throne. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">37. Who did you miss?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My grandmother.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">38. Who was the best new person you met?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">N, maybe?</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Keep calm and carry on. (And maybe sometimes cry a little.) </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Catch a boat to England, baby, </span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Maybe to Spain </span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Wherever I have gone, </span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Wherever I've been and gone </span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">Wherever I have gone </span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.4px; text-align: center;">The blues are all the same.</span></span></i></span></div>
</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-41187659489995840542016-12-18T23:45:00.000+05:302016-12-19T11:11:58.697+05:30Five Unpopular Opinions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I just had a deeply satisfactory weekend. This involved hectic socialising and chores on Saturday, and drinking coffee under the blanket on Sunday. Therefore, for the first time in days, I feel rested enough to be restless. Ergo, random tags on this defunct blog.<br />
<br />
1. I think all kinds of beer and whiskey taste terrible. Doesn't matter how rare and expensive your single malt is, it'll always be wasted on me.<br />
<br />
2. I think Harry Potter is a superior piece of literature than Lord Of The Rings.<br />
<br />
3. I'm an avid meat eater. I also have two cats that I love to bits, and have not met a dog I haven't adored. However, I find myself curiously indifferent to the Yulin dog meat festival (that seems to have taken over my Facebook feed). Since I eat pig and cow and goat with gusto, I find it a little hypocritical to decry the custom of eating another kind of four legged animal. Isn't it all conditioning, at the end of the day?<br />
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4. I hate fudge. It's overtly sweet, tastes like nothing, and turns into glue inside one's mouth.<br />
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5. I think Seinfeld is overrated.</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-16114801738945823432016-11-21T18:16:00.001+05:302016-11-21T18:16:57.566+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Randomly took the day off from work. Watched 8 episodes of Modern Family back to back. Ate a laddu for lunch. Took a long luxurious shower. Drank a good cup of coffee. Finished a long-pending magazine.<br />
<br />
Haven't been this happy in ages. It was as if I was almost... content?!<br />
<br />
Are coffee and solitude really the answers to my life's problems?</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-83049477811290348252016-10-12T10:51:00.003+05:302016-10-12T10:51:59.529+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I didn't realize Pujo in Delhi would be *this* underwhelming.<br />
<br />
More than Pujo, it's just...home that I miss. I haven't been home in months. Haven't slept on my own bed, haven't lounged around on the hideous red sofa, haven't taken the auto to the Golpark CCD. I miss Kolkata and my grandparents and my half-boiled eggs for breakfast. I miss my mother and my brother and Champa mashi and my whole extended, annoying family. I miss life as it was before 2014.<br />
<br />
I think I need to take a week off just to go home and lick my wounds. </div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-21100176495234268832016-07-19T16:22:00.001+05:302016-07-19T16:22:28.888+05:30Didimoni<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In 1947, when didimoni abandoned her ancestral house in Mymensingha to make that fateful journey to the west, she left behind a lot of things. Most of her sarees, the certainty of her life as a district topper, and, more importantly, almost all her prize books. They had her names inscribed on them, she would recall wistfully. Leather harbound books, with golden letters. Certificates praising her for her memorizing things. But that was okay, she said. She was going to a new country, and memories could always be remade. Besides, she could always memorize new things.<br />
<br />
My earliest memories of didimoni involve her memorizing things. She would put me to sleep, reciting all of "Abol Tabol" from memory. "You're just making this up", I would insist. "That's really not how it goes." "Yes, that's exactly how it goes", she would smugly assert. And that really, was, exactly how it went. To this day, the genius of Sukumar Ray and the brilliance of my grandmother are inseparable in my mind. <br />
<br />
I remember two kinds of people from my childhood - the talkers, who would discuss things endlessly, and the do-ers, who would skip the discussions to get things done. Didimoni was, very firmly, in the latter group. She would cook, knit, sew, advise, mend, create, and comfort - mostly simultaneously, almost everyday, without breaking a sweat. When I remember my grandmother, I remember a flurry of movements, with just a few, brief flashes of pause. The soft, cotton saree anchal, the turmeric-stained fingers, the paan-bata with the supuris, the best mutton curry and patisaptas in the world, the wavy hair that I inherited, the sharp intellect that I didn't quite come into.<br />
<br />
In an age when women weren't, really, out and about, my slip of a grandmother - a refugee in a strange country - managed to quietly thumb her nose at the world. She enrolled in a college, got incredible marks, got married, raised two children, ran a household, got herself a job with the RBI, gave it up, and then finally settled on an auditing position with the state government. My mother tells me how she would leave every morning, in her starched sarees and ironed blouses, hair in a bun, spring in her steps - *after* cooking a full meal for the family, packing off children to school, and dealing with a cantankerous mother-in-law. Me? I can barely manage to get my solitary self to work on most days. And most of my t-shirts are rumpled.<br />
<br />
<br />
Didimoni taught me to memorize. She taught me to love Pujabarshikis, Russian literature, and Darjeeling tea. She taught me to admire Sukumar Ray and afternoon soaps and piping hot jilipis for breakfast. She taught me to cook, to count,to observe the world. To juggle responsibilites and to love Charles Dickens and to always keep a clean handkerchief handy. She kept a cold glass of lebur jol ready for me in summer, and made mowas on misty Saraswati pujo mornings - the smell of warm jaggery seeping into her pores. She taught me to not slow down. She taught me to survive.<br />
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Didimoni used to read after lunch. Every day, after the table was wiped down and the food was put away and the extended family hunkered down for the afternoon siesta, she would lean back with her favourite "Desh". We spoke about the world on those magical afternoons. My five-year old self frantically trying to keep up with her observations about world affairs. Never stop looking outwards, she would say. Kupomonduks are the worst.<br />
<br />
My grandmother - Sati Sen - Partition surviver and household runner and starched saree-wearer and life tip-giver, passed away yesterday. She was 85. The nature of grief is that it comes in waves. Losing dadumoni and didimoni in quick succession means that, every few minutes, I'm being hit by waves of finality so overwhelming, that it takes my breath away.<br />
<br />
I spent my childhood in a rundown house in south Calcutta, being mostly brought up by my two eccentric, lovable, efficient, exasperating grandparents. These two, like millions of others, immigrated across the border during tumultous times, and then set about building a life in a strange country with characteristic aplomb.<br />
<br />
And that's what I keep telling myself. That they've just moved across the border somewhere. And it's okay, because they've done this before. And they're out there somewhere, setting up house and cooking mutton and watching cricket matches after lunch. And maybe, sometime, they're looking down at me too.<br />
<br />
They're just somewhere else. That's all that it is.<br />
<br />
<br />
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March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-46917641595728122352016-05-18T00:32:00.000+05:302016-05-18T00:32:57.536+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My list currently includes:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Neil Gaiman</li>
<li>David Tennant</li>
<li>Benedict Cumberbatch</li>
<li>Lin Manual Miranda</li>
</ul>
<div>
I obviously have a major thing for pale, thin (mostly) British men.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How is it, then, that I ended up marrying a decidedly non-thin, non-British person? Ah, the mysteries of life.</div>
</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-70438523781317896462016-02-16T00:04:00.000+05:302016-02-16T00:04:46.914+05:30Jonmodin!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Things I did on my birthday:<br />
<br />
1. One full-on-all-out lunch party the day before, with about 15 guests, in my tiny apartment. This actually included getting up at the crack of dawn to score nihari and bheja curry from Old Delhi, cleaning house like a maniac, and preventing the cats from destroying the rugs. I was very proud of myself, but old, creaky bones meant that I passed out before the last guest had left. (which was, admittedly, at 11 pm. And I had been up from 5:30. But still.).<br />
<br />
2. A day off from work on the actual birthday.<br />
<br />
3. Afternoon nap under the blanket, warming my toes in the buttery winter sun.<br />
<br />
4. Cuddling with the cats.<br />
<br />
5. Finishing one whole Neil Gaiman book.<br />
<br />
6. Ordering and eating one whole pizza by myself. (It was a small pizza, but I think that still counts.)<br />
<br />
7. Walking around CP and stuffing my face with sushi and nasi goreng and tiramisu ice cream for dinner.<br />
<br />
In short, a pretty awesome time was had, even if I say so myself.<br />
<br />
The rest of the week has meetings and office dinners till 10 every day, and, to put it mildly, looks bleak. I am so glad I have this stuff to think about when shit hits the fan, as it is often wont to do in this corporate jungle.<br />
<br />
[I wonder if I should change this blog to a confessional style page, where I write about such mundane happenings in my decidedly average life. Would that help me write here more often? Hmmm, I wonder.]</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-24729012542560461982016-01-25T20:39:00.001+05:302016-01-25T20:42:03.549+05:30Bottoms of my trousers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
People want to reach for the stars, be famous, write novels, break down (metaphorical AND literal) barriers.<br />
<br />
Me? I just want to get back home, cuddle my cats, read a book, and maybe have some cake. Cakes and cats versus all-encompassing ambition and white hot brilliance. Cakes and cats always win. Always.<br />
<br />
I like my friends. I like to socialise. I like to dress up and put on my party face. But mostly, I like to get back home and watch some TV. Cook some mutton. Read some books.<br />
<br />
I spent most of last Saturday under my quilt, drinking coffee in bed, and watching Jessica Jones. It was the most perfect fucking Saturday I've spent in a long long while.<br />
<br />
Does that make me boring? Average? Passé? All of the above?<br />
<br />
I grow old, I grow old. Are the bottoms of my trousers rolled?</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-82541057146558801682015-12-31T15:33:00.002+05:302015-12-31T15:33:38.024+05:30Because, some things are traditions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
1. What did you do in 2015 that you’d never done before?<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Visited Cambodia and Thailand. Sat on the steps of the Angkor temples at dawn, effectively crossing off one thing from my bucket list.</li>
<li>Adopted a cat, my first pet ever. </li>
<li>Adopted another cat.</li>
<li>Re-learnt swimming. Swam relentlessly all summer.</li>
<li>Started volunteering at a community library for underprivileged kids (It soon became my highlight of the week)</li>
<li>Set up a translation blog that people actually read.</li>
<li>Completed my 2015 Goodreads Challenge (30 books were successfully read in 2015.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?<br />
Kind of. Yes.<br />
<br />
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?<br />
No.<br />
<br />
4. Did anyone close to you die?<br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
5. What countries did you visit?<br />
Cambodia! Thailand!<br />
Also, the following places within India: Jaipur, Gushaini (Himachal), Bangalore, Bikaner, Jim Corbett National Park, Kashipur, Benares.<br />
<br />
<br />
6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?<br />
Job satisfaction. Money.<br />
<br />
7. What date from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory?<br />
19 December, for heartbreaking reasons<br />
<br />
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Finally getting my act together to change teams within my company </li>
<li>Making Cambodia happen</li>
</ul>
<br />
9. What was your biggest failure?<br /> Money, mostly <br />
<br />
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?<br />
Nothing horrific, thank God (fingers crossed, knock on wood)<br />
<br />
11. What was the best thing you bought?<br /> Tickets for Cambodia. Sushi for my birthday lunch. My first ever smartphone.<br />
<br />
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?<br />
Mine. S'. D's (surprisingly enough) <br />
<br />
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?<br />
K's, I think.<br />
<br />
14. Where did most of your money go?<br />
Travel. Food. Cat stuff.<br />
<br />
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?<br />
Cambodia. My cats. <br />
<br />
16. What song/album will always remind you of 2015?<br />"Matargashti." <br />
"Mohakaler koley eshe, gouri holo mohakali..."<br />
"Everything is awesome."<br />
<br />
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:<br />
1. Happier or sadder? The same, I think.<br />
2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.<br />
3. Richer or poorer? Richer.<br />
<br />
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?<br />
Swimming. Dancing. Reading. Spending time with my grandfather.<br />
<br />
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?<br />
Procrastinating. (Good God, the procrastination. I think it's become some sort of a disease.)<br />
<br />
20. How will you be spending Christmas?<br />
I spent Christmas with good friends, eating cake and biriyani, and drinking mulled wine. It was a good Christmas. <br />
<br />
21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?<br />
The mother and the mother-in-law. (Such domesticity. Shudder.)<br />
<br />
22. Did you fall in love in 2015?<br />
Nope.<br />
<br />
23. How many one night stands in this last year?<br />
None.<br />
<br />
24. What was your favourite TV programme?<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
True Detective</li>
<li>Masterchef Australia</li>
<li>Inside Amy Schumer </li>
<li>Lizzie Bennett Diaries; Pitchers; Permanent Roommates (Evidently, this was the year of the Web series.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?<br />
No<br />
<br />
26. What was the best book(s) you read?<br />
Ooh ooh, this was the year of author discoveries. Fell in love with Chimamanda N'gozi Adichie and read "Americanah", "That Thing Around Your Neck", and "Half of a Yellow Sun" in one go. I also discovered Margaret Atwood, and was riveted by "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Stone Mattress: Nine Tales". This was the year of much good reading. <br />
<br />
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?<br />
The existence of 8tracks<br />
<br />
28. What did you want and get?<br />
A new job<br />
<br />
29. What did you want and not get?<br />
Money. Peace.<br />
<br />
30. What were your favourite films of this year?<br />Masaan. Asa Jawar Majhe. Ugly.<br />
(This was also the year I discovered Star Wars, which should, I think, get at least an honorary mention.) <br />
<br />
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?<br />
27. Sushi for lunch, and a party the day before.<br />
<br />
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?<br /> More money. A bit more spine. <br />
<br />
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?<br />
Lazy. <br />
<br />
34. What kept you sane?<br /> Cats. Books. In that order.<br />
<br />
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?<br /> Ranveer Singh. Neil Gaiman. Chimamanda N'gozi Adichie. John Oliver.<br />
<br />
36. What political issue stirred you the most?<br />
The "intolerance" debate, and everything that happened around it.<br />
<br />
37. Who did you miss?<br />
Dadumoni.<br />
<br />
38. Who was the best new person you met?<br />
M and M. Hands down.<br />
<br />
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015.<br />
Mortality is a bitch. <br />
<br />
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?<br />
"Here comes the sun/ And I say, it's all right.<br />
Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter..."</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-25240858918334415082015-12-21T17:26:00.003+05:302015-12-21T17:26:25.774+05:30Dadumoni<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="_39k5">
<div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
Dadumoni loved his coffee, even though, due to health issues, coffee was a strictly regulated treat. That was a pity, because every time he drank coffee, he told me stories about Dhaka. To this day, Bangladesh evokes memories of sitting on top of a large dining table, sharing a bowl of <i><span class="_5yi_">muri</span></i> and an occasional sip of coffee, listening to stories about countries torn apart; countries mended.</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
My earliest memories of my grandfather mostly involve that very large dining table. He would sit at his customary chair and tell me stories about the "homeland" across the border. About graduating, and struggling for a job. About being friends with Bhanu Banerjee and being taught by Satyendranath Bose and Mohitlal Majumdar. About being stuck in the "wrong locality" during a Hindu-Muslim riot, and about his thrilling escape after running into his Muslim dentist. He spoke about the interminable journey from East to West, when there was so much emptiness inside, but not much outside. He made "bhush bhush" sounds with his hands while talking about the packed steamer from Goalondo. And he smacked his lips when he spoke about the delicious chicken curry to be found aboard those steamers.</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
Dadumoni was a writer. The house was full of diaries where he wrote about hilarious real-life anecdotes. Stories about how he bluffed his way through exams, helped his sibling shelter truant freedom fighters from the British police, and made friends at work. Dadumoni taught me to love afternoon soaps, Sri Lankan batting, and the <i><span class="_5yi_">“lyaja”</span></i> piece of the fish. He taught me how to sharpen pencils with a piece of blade, how to create elaborate collages by cutting up old pictures and newspapers, how to craft greeting cards for every occasion, and how to laugh without restraint. A belly laugh, he called it. He gave me my very first copy of Charles Lambs' "<i><span class="_5yi_">Tales from Shakespeare</span></i>", and was the first person who read to me from Wordsworth. </div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
He was also usually the first person to get up in the morning, generally by five. He would go about brushing his teeth and entertaining my infant brother by lustily singing "<i><span class="_5yi_">Dhono dhanyo pushpo bhora</span></i>" or "<i><span class="_5yi_">Tomarei koriachhi jeebonero dhrubotara</span></i>" at the top of his voice. (Even today, lines from these songs remind me of groggy winter mornings and a smiling grandparent.) Eventually, he would totter off to the market, with his walking stick and his precious <i>bajaarer bag</i> in tow. I learnt my first "<i><span class="_5yi_">bajaar</span></i> skills" from him (always check the gills of the fish), and my first <i><span class="_5yi_">Nojrulgeeti</span></i> (“<span class="_5yi_"><i>Mohakaler koley eshe gouri holo mohakali</i>...</span>”). Everytime you went somewhere with Dadumoni in the picture, you had to build in an extra fifteen minutes, because he would invariably delay you with his inane anecdotes and his insistence of waving at you from the main gate whenever you left the house. (He couldn't walk fast due to acute arthritis. Not that you ever heard him complain.) And on exam days, when I would quickly do a perfunctory <i><span class="_5yi_">pronaam</span></i> and try to rush out of the house, he would always take his time blessing me, whispering "<i><span class="_5yi_">Hori hori hori bolo/ Ajker porikkha bhalo/ Buchu porbe bhalo/ Buchu likhbe bhalo</span></i>" in my ears. Strangely enough, the days that I insisted that I didn't have time for the prolonged blessing were invariably the days when the question papers seemed particularly tough.</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
Like millions of others, he immigrated across the border during tumultous times, and went on to live his life with unapologetic aplomb. He sang songs, drank coffee, hosted get-togethers, and opened his doors to guests from all over the world. </div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
Dadumoni collected coins. He would give away shiny two-rupee coins every <span class="_5yi_"><i>poila baishakh</i> </span>and <i><span class="_5yi_">bijoya</span></i>. Once, on my birthday, he gave me a chocolate box full of old coins of various denominations. I carry around a few coins from that box till today. They are my lucky charms, my hereditary talisman.</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx _2vxa">
My grandfather, Arun Kumar Sen—fish lover, Partition survivor, Ranatunga admirer, belly laugher, collage enthusiast, <i><span class="_5yi_">adda</span></i> addict, Wordsworth aficionado—passed away in his sleep two days ago. But that's not how I imagine him going. I imagine him striding into wherever he is right now, demanding coffee,<span class="_5yi_"> <i>adda</i></span>, loud songs, Goalondo chicken curry, and an uninterrupted cricket match. And sometimes, I imagine him looking down at me, and smiling, as I curl my fist around my lucky coin, and demand the same from life.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-85127305384261099052015-03-25T16:23:00.003+05:302015-03-25T16:23:59.625+05:30Jaipur<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The first thing I notice about Jaipur, this time around, is how sunny it is. The second thing I notice are the pigeons. They are everywhere. Local men in bright turbans feed them grains. Backpacking white couples in patchy t-shirts and broken sandles take photos of Indian Birds Being Fed By Indian Men. When we manage to reach Amer Fort one sunny morning, flocks of birds periodically rise up from its courtyard. It's as if the whole city is forever perched on the edge of a rooftop, ready to soar up or swoop down at a moment's notice.<br />
<br />
The Lit Fest crowd is the same. I run into bespectacled, thin young things at the Diggi Palace grounds. They all wear huge, tortoise shell eyeglasses and ethnic printed harem pants; they all have kohl-rimmed eyes; and they all stalk Dalrymple from one tent to the next. "Historical fiction is so passe", I overhear one of them saying. "If you want to impress the JNU types, read difficult poetry."<br />
<br />
It's S' 31st birthday, and he takes off by himself, refusing to accompany me to the Fest. He roams the streets aimlessly and takes pictures of birds and monkeys. A man in a streetside stall feeds him Rajasthani kadhi-chawal, and he strikes up a conversation with an ancient camera-walla near the City Palace. The camera is one hundred years old and held together with strings. He brings back a black and white picture of himself that the man had shot. It looks exactly like one of my parents' old pictures - all faded and soft focus. I, on the other hand, spend the day getting almost squashed by an exuberant crowd running after Abdul Kalam. I also spend 30 bucks on tepid tea. (I wonder if I should have gone off with S.)<br />
<br />
But the Fest goes on. Shamsie and Catton are delightful. Naipaul is heartbreaking. The awkward silence after his halting, senility-laden speech is deafening. I never did like that man, but it's difficult to see an arrogant soul being reduced to this.<br />
<br />
When I step out of the palace grounds at dusk, I spot a group of bedraggled sparrows near the garbage dump that masquerades as the auto stand.They look tiny and frail and brown. They look tired. I am exhausted too.This constant exhibition of intellect has drained me.<br />
<br />
Once I'm back, I order <i>masala chai </i>and french fries, and watch old reruns of CID to make myself feel better. Later in the evening, we go out and stuff our faces with <i>laal maas</i> and <i>missi roti. </i><br />
<br />
After the food-induced haze has cleared, I realize that I'll always like CID reruns more than obscure poetry. "JNU-types" might shun me, but Jaipur, I think, will never judge me for that.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-72276944361562651942014-12-26T17:13:00.001+05:302014-12-26T17:13:38.817+05:30Easing back slowly.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
1.What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?<br />
Signed on the effing dotted line. (Refer to previous post. Ahem.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, travelled alone a lot for work. Moved in with a
member of the opposite sex as the only roommate. <br />
<br />
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next
year?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I did join yoga, and managed to do it on and off for the
whole year. So I’ll give myself pass marks for last year’s resolutions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next year? Ah well. Who knows? I’m too tired, and it’s too
cold to be productive and determined.<br />
<br />
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?<br />
Yes! <br />
<br />
4. Did anyone close to you die?<br />
Yes. <br />
<br />
5. What countries did you visit?<br />
None. But plans are afoot to remedy that soon. Places within India are a different
matter, though. Here is the list: Kolkata, Benares, Bardhaman, Gobordanga,
Indore, Bhopal, Jaipur, Dharamshala, McLeodgunj, Kasol, Jibhi, Trivandrum,
Poovar, Munnar, Alleppey<br />
<br />
6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?<br />
Satisfaction from a job well done; Courage; Discipline</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?<br />
5<sup>th</sup> December, for obvious and clichéd reasons<br />
<br />
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?<br />
Not quitting my job; Navigating December without losing my mind; Finding an
effing flat in this godforesaken city within my effing budget (LOOK AT HOW
DOMESTIC I HAVE BECOME. I LIST HOUSEHUNTING AS ONE OF MY ACHIEVEMENTS).<br />
<br />
9. What was your biggest failure?<br />
Communication.<br />
<br />
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?<br />
Except for a painfully twisted knee and another severely twisted ankle while
skipping around the Himalayas, nothing much else. (Fingers crossed. Dear God,
don’t let me break all my limbs as soon as I finish typing this sentence.)<br />
<br />
11. What was the best thing you bought?<br />
The microwave, I guess? (FURTHER PROOF OF DOMESTICITY! I MIGHT AS WELL CALL
MYSELF MARTHA STEWART NOW.)<br />
<br />
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?<br />
Mine. (Is that weird to write down? Ah well.)<br />
<br />
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?<br />
Let us not open the floodgates now, shall we?<br />
<br />
14. Where did most of your money go?<br />
Food. Books. Travelling. (The three pillars of my life.)<br />
<br />
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?<br />
December. Because, friends. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><br />
And January. Because, friends again. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
16. What song/album will always remind you of 2014?<br />
<i>Maahi ve</i> – A R Rahman; <i>Orpheo looks back</i> – Andrew Bird<br />
<br />
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:<br />
a. Happier or sadder? Not happier, not sadder. Just pensiver. (Is that a word?
That should be a word.)<br />
b. Thinner or fatter? Thinner, I think.<br />
c. Richer or poorer? Richer.<br />
<br />
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?<br />
Pausing and thinking and taking it all in.<br />
<br />
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?<br />
Seeking approval.<br />
<br />
20. How will you be spending Christmas?<br />
Christmas was spent with good friends and good food and good alcohol. So it’s
all good. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> I
did fail to put up a small tree and some twinkly lights, but there is always a
next time.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?<br />
The two sets of parents, I think.<br />
<br />
22. Did you fall in love in 2014?<br />
Abar?<br />
<br />
23. How many one night stands in this last year?<br />
Seriously?<br />
<br />
24. What was your favourite TV programme?<br />
<i>Legend of Korra</i>; <i>The Good Wife</i>; <i>True Detective</i>;
<i>Top of the Lake</i>; <i>Doctor Who</i> (Peter Capaldi!)<br />
<br />
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?<br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
26. What was the best book(s) you read?<br />
<i>Wild</i> - Cheryl Strayed; <i>Daytripper
</i>- Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon; <i>The
Silkworm</i> - Robert Galbraith<br />
<br />
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?<br />
Andrew Bird; The Peninsula Studios; Preservation Hall Jazz Band<br />
<br />
28. What did you want and get?<br />
A Kindle<br />
<br />
29. What did you want and not get?<br />
Job satisfaction<br />
<br />
30. What were your favourite films of this year?<br />
<i>Highway</i>; <i>Haider; Dedh Ishqiya; Guardians of the Galaxy</i><br />
<br />
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?<br />
26. Spent the morning recovering from wonderful night-before alcoholic shenanigans.
Went to watch the godawful <i>Gunday</i>.
Had incredible Malayali food for lunch. Evening was spent watching <i>Doctor Who</i> and devouring one whole large
sundae. It was a good day. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><br />
<br />
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?<br />
Job satisfaction<br />
<br />
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?<br />
Make an effort once a month.<br />
<br />
34. What kept you sane?<br />
Books and friends, in that order.<br />
<br />
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?<br />
Benedict Cumberbatch; Neil Gaiman; Ranveer Singh<br />
<br />
36. What political issue stirred you the most?<br />
These elections with their incredibly depressing results, and all the hell that
has been breaking loose since then. <br />
<br />
37. Who did you miss?<br />
Calcutta.<br />
<br />
38. Who was the best new person you met?<br />
M, I think. <br />
<br />
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.<br />
Let go.<br />
<br />
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?<br />
<i>I keep a close watch on this heart of
mine/<br />
I keep my eyes wide open all the time/<br />
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds/<br />
Because you're mine, I walk the line.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-69461633615787833502014-12-22T18:36:00.001+05:302014-12-22T18:36:21.952+05:30So.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So. This happened.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VDMOFAYTvGo/VJgWfNEg1SI/AAAAAAAAAsw/AefJE5cVZwU/s1600/DSC00760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VDMOFAYTvGo/VJgWfNEg1SI/AAAAAAAAAsw/AefJE5cVZwU/s1600/DSC00760.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And I think I want this space back. Being away from this made me way more sad than I thought it would.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-83798000187938857072014-08-24T20:35:00.000+05:302014-08-24T20:35:13.420+05:30Khattam shud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To be truthful, this post was a long time coming. And chances are, my remaining one (or maybe two?) readers knew this long before I did.<br />
<br />
Thing is, this blog is dying. And there's nothing I can do to resurrect it.<br />
<br />
I started this blog when I was still a wee thing in college, and when my idea of great writing involved lots of ellipses and strange words. The problem, however, is that I am not a wee thing any more...and frankly...adulthood has made me realize what *great* writing really is.<br />
<br />
It's silly to make excuses for not blogging. Hundreds of people hold down three jobs and five kids, and still manage to write amazingly well. I, sadly enough, do not even find time to pack my lunch every day.<br />
<br />
That's it then, I guess. I've moved out of cities, jobs, houses these past eight years. It's time I moved out of this space too.<br />
<br />
I'm leaving this place up, though. I am a fickle-minded soul...and who knows, I might come back to this one day.<br />
<br />
But for now, this is the way it ends. Not with a bang, or a whimper, but with some awkward words.</div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20788383.post-50733561141356386352014-02-06T16:06:00.000+05:302014-02-06T16:09:22.122+05:3098, 99, and others<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On my ninth birthday (which, obviously, is a big deal since I am a big girl and soon to go on to high school) I demand, and get, a big party. School friends come over. And they bring books. And I'm not sure if I am more thrilled with the former or the latter. Near the end of the day, I curl up in a corner and read a shiny new <i>Rebecca</i>, and am surprised at the intensity with which I just want people to leave NOW so that I can finish it in peace.<br />
<br />
My<i> mama </i>gets married the day I turn ten. And I am delirious with happiness. The bright lights. The happy, shiny people. The house full of excited words. The thrill of wearing a saree. The fish fries. Food and BIRTHDAY and people and laughter and glitter. I try to prolong the day by doing my best to not fall asleep that night - I am <i>that</i> high on people.<br />
<br />
The next year, on the 15th of February, which is also my birthday, my dance teacher slaps me senseless and pinches me so hard on my hands and feet, that they bleed and turn blue. I am shocked. Mostly because she slapped me. But more because nothing horrible is supposed to happen to me on my BIRTHDAY. I go home and howl to my heart's content. Even the shiny new Enid Blyton refuses to console me. I feign stomach ache when it's time to go for my classes next week. The week after, I turn up...but the dread that has settled in my stomach refuses to go away. I quit <i>bharatnatyam</i> soon after. The dance form still makes my hand turn cold and clammy. </div>
March Harehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08179423902475376450noreply@blogger.com5