2021

 1. What did you do in 2021 that you’d never done before?

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!

Also adopted a rambunctious dog who continues to drive us up the wall, but is probably one of the best decisions ever taken. :)

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


 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. 



3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes! Much excitement about second core baby. :)

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes.



5. What countries did you visit?

None.  


6. What would you like to have in 2022 that you lacked in 2021?

My own house and a brief respite from this terrible 2021 Mental Health Spiral. 



7. What date from 2021 will remain etched upon your memory?

11th January, because start of the vexing new job. 24th January, because Bhetki came home. 2nd May, because stressful close call with fascist regime. 1st November, because first core baby. 


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Not having a nervous breakdown every other day.


9. What was your biggest failure?

Not getting the house situation sorted. Not travelling. 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

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.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Nothing, really.


12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Mine. And sometimes Bhetki's.


13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

S'


14. Where did most of your money go?

Food and books and Uber. 



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

Going for a quick weekend trip to Digha with friends. This year was strangely devoid of excitement and full of grey, listless drudgery. 


16. What song/album will always remind you of 2020?

Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate - Debe live at Bozar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJUE03aeaQ4&list=RDpJUE03aeaQ4&start_radio=1

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

1. Happier or sadder? Sadder.
2. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.
3. Richer or poorer? Richer.


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

Travelling. Taking a minute to myself with a book. 


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

Work.


20. How will you be spending Christmas?


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.


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

Sadly enough, my boss.

22. Did you fall in love in 2021?

Nope.


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

None.


24. What was your favourite TV programme?

I discovered 'Succession' this year, and life will never be the same. 

'Hospital Playlist Season 2' and Wandavision should also get honourable mentions. I was a Marvel glutton this year.

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

Yup.

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

Slowly getting my reading groove back. Agatha Christie ALWAYS comes through. Best new book still remains Yaa Gyasi's 'Transcendent Kingdom'.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Whale in the Pond. Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate.

28. What did you want and get?

A new job.


29. What did you want and not get?

To move into the new house. Some contentment. 


30. What were your favourite films of this year?

Spiderman: No Way Home.

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

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.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
 
A little less work. A little more action. 

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?

Pajamas with ratty t-shirts.

34. What kept you sane?

Cats and dog and books and friends.


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

Siddhartha Mukherjee and Neil Gaiman.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I ... don't know where to start. Next question please.

37. Who did you miss?

The 'me' I was before 2019.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

T, maybe?!


39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.

This, too, shall pass.


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

"...In the clearing stands a boxer

And a fighter by his trade,

And he carries the reminders

Of every glove that laid him down

And cut him till he cried out

In his anger and his shame

"I am leaving, I am leaving"

But the fighter still remains, he still remains..."

Thakur pujo

 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.

https://youtu.be/6K97zuGWXY4

"একক অখন্ড ব্রহ্মান্ড  রাজ্যে,

পরম এক সেই রাজ রাজেন্দ্র রাজে।"

2020

 1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before?

Ahahahaha. AHAHAHA...What can I say. Survived an unprecedented global pandemic and saw our global descent into fascism?  

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


 No, and no. Resolution, shmesolution. Who has the time when the world is ending?



3. Did anyone close to you give birth?


Yes! First core baby. :) 

4. Did anyone close to you die?


Yes.



5. What countries did you visit?

None.  


6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?

An effective vaccine, dear god.



7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory?

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. 


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

• Not dying.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Fucking up my mental health. 


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Yup. Typhoid and fractured ankle and slow descent into madness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Rajdhani first class tickets to Kolkata.


12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

Mine. And sporadically S'.


13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

EVERYONE'S!


14. Where did most of your money go?

Books and Swiggy. 



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


Moving back to Kolkata.


16. What song/album will always remind you of 2020?

Jano kichu mone koro na...

[https://youtu.be/o1v3z2EUgcM]

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

1. Happier or sadder? Happier.
2. Thinner or fatter? Same.
3. Richer or poorer? Richer.


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

Walking around Delhi roads when I had the time and opportunity.


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

Work.


20. How will you be spending Christmas?


I spent Christmas drinking coffee with D and then driving around Kolkata with S. It was a good day. 


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

Shallow Hollows


22. Did you fall in love in 2020?

Nope.


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

None.


24. What was your favourite TV programme?

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.' 

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


Can't remember.

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

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.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?


Akhilbandhu Ghosh. 

28. What did you want and get?

To quit my super stressful job.


29. What did you want and not get?

Peace.


30. What were your favourite films of this year?

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?

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

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.


32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
 
A little less 'unprecedented' events please. It sucks to live through history. 


33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?

Aha. Ahaha. AHAHAHAHA. I gave away half my wardrobe before the cross-country move, and have solely survived on pajamas for a year.

34. What kept you sane?

Cats. 


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

David Tennant. Neil Gaiman. Riz Ahmed.


36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I ... don't know where to start. Next question please.

37. Who did you miss?

EVERY one. EVERY FUCKING ONE. 

38. Who was the best new person you met?

No new person was met. Everyone stayed put in their homes.


39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.

This, too, shall pass.


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

Aur bhi dukh hai zamane mein, mohabbat ke siva,

Raahatein aur bhi hai, vasl ki rahat ke siva...