Monday Moods: Things I am Grateful For in November 2020.

Hello Loves! 

 November is coming to an end and the last month of the year is here. 

What a year huh? 

And it's almost over. 

And not a moment too soon. 

While it's easy, more than easy to shit on this year, I think it's important to focus on the things we have to be grateful for. 

I try to focus on the silver linings, it's not easy, but it's something I try very hard to focus on. 

These are somethings I am very Grateful for: 

1. Books.

2. Stories. 

3. Writing. 

4. My health.

5. My family being safe. 

6. My hoarding habits: clothes, stationery and everything else that I hold on to and that has meant that I don't have to buy anything unnecessary this year or the next. I am pretty sorted. 

7. Being able to cook my meals. 

8. Films. 

9. OTT platforms. 

10. Comfort found in food, sweets and naps. 

Always grateful for lights. 

Loved that this year Diwali was all old-school and full of diyas. 

Grateful for books and leaves. 

Joba phool in full bloom. 

Love that I am here to see my Maa's winter garden come to life. 

This has been an odd sort of November. 

Quiet Festivity. 

Heartache. 

Being home. 

Loss. 

Reading a decent amount of books. 

Lots of homemade sweets. 

Binging Old Bengali Films. 

Some happy mail days. 

Ill-health. 

Winter. 

The best part of November for me was finally releasing two of my short stories in the world. It has been a long time coming and I am so glad I took the plunge in November and was brave and shared my stories with the world. 

For that alone, this November will always be super special to me. 

:)

But most of all I am grateful to everyone who bought my books and supported me. 

Thank you so much! 

You love and support means the absolute world to me! 

Weekend Reads: What I am Reading and Watching this Weekend.

 Hello! 

Honestly, this year weekends and weekdays have all been pretty much the same thing. 

Yet. every time the weekend rolls around, I feel like really getting down with my reading and finding something good to binge. 

This weekend my reading life looks a something like this: 

A Killer Among Us by Ushasi Sen Basu: First up, sister and I are buddy reading this thriller book that we found via Kindle Unlimited and we are both quite engrossed in. 

I am only 14% in and I can't wait to get back to it. 

Plot Summary: What can strip away the polite veneer of an apartment complex and lay bare a world of secrets and lies?

The discovery of a stranger’s body on its premises.
Ira Dutta is an ambitious journalist who dislikes the ‘middle-class stagnation’ of Panorama Apartments. Nandana Roy is a stay-at-home mom, in the throes of an early mid-life crisis. Mrs Ghoshal is an octogenarian whose life revolves around television soaps. Just three, among many, seemingly unconnected lives―until the murdered man is found in their building lift one night. 
The facade of neighbourliness comes undone as suspicion falls on each resident in turn. Who is the stranger? Why was he killed? And who among them is the culprit?

Sounds fun doesn't it? 

Hoping it read it over the weekend. 

My cup of coffee echoing my true feelings. 

:) 

I am still reading The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara and still loving it. The font in my paperback edition is so tiny that it's kinda hurting my eyes, which coupled with my cold is not the best thing in the world, so I've taken a tiny break from it till I am feeling a little bit better. 

As for what I'm watching. 

Right now I am watching Homeland with my Dad who is a big fan of the show. I had watched the first few seasons pretty diligently back in the day and then for one reason or the other, I stopped watching it. But Baba started re-watching it over during the lockdown and since we've been here, we've been watching it again. And I love how intense this show gets and how it keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

The other thing we've been watching, and judging and rolling our eyes at is the newest cringy max show

on Netflix. 

I am four episodes in and it's just too much...fun, cringe, fake,  silly and timepass. 

Watch it if you want something to roll your eyes at this weekend. 

It is very timepass and a look into how some people live their lives. 

Friday Favourites: Notebooks + Plants + Books + Current Reads + Pouches.

 

1. Floral Notebooks from The Ink Bucket. 

Things of beauty and perfect pocket sized journals. 

2. Two Great Books I Read Earlier in the Year. 

Both set in cities I've called home, 

Bombay and Bangalore. 

The Alchemy of Secrets by Priya Balasubramanian is set in Bangalore in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid Demolition and how communal tensions can effect even the most peaceful neighbourhoods and change lives forever. It was a moving read and so relevant in these times. I really enjoyed this book, the writing was lovely and it brought to life the simmering tensions that we all felt in the aftermath of the riots of 1992 and that we occasionally feel every now and then. 

4/5 

Bombay Balchao by Jane Borges: This is one of the best things I've read all year. 

Bombay back in the day and a wonderful sense of community and a host of charming characters. 

So good! 

5/5 

3. Pouches from iTokri: I recently got these two embroidered pouches from iTokri. I love the NGO that makes these pouches, it's called Dastakar Ranthambore, the make beautiful things and work in animal conservation. I've bought many things from them over the years: cushion covers, little pillows, bags and pouches. We saw that they had some new designs and we had to get them. 

4. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara: My current read is a thing of beauty. 

Plot Summary: The stunning debut novel, from the author of A Little Life.

It is 1950 when Norton Perina, a young doctor, embarks on an expedition to a remote Micronesian island in search of a rumoured lost tribe. There he encounters a strange group of forest dwellers who appear to have attained a form of immortality that preserves the body but not the mind. Perina uncovers their secret and returns with it to America, where he soon finds great success. But his discovery has come at a terrible cost, not only for the islanders, but for Perina himself.

A faux memoir about a scientist and a Nobel Prize winner who is currently in jail after being convicted of sexual offences. A bit odd. A bit out there. But so incredibly well-written and I am only a little bit in, like 40 odd pages, but I am really loving this tale. I read A Little Life back when it came out and it felt like a punch to the gut...in mostly a good way, so I always meant to read the author's debut novel and it's taken me quite sometime to get to it. Well, better late than never. 

:) 

5. Flowers: My parent's winder garden is in bloom and nothing makes me happier. We have had a bad bout of something called mealy worms which we've managed to subdue with some rose and lavender toner and some detergent water. 

Uff! 

Be gone you creepy bugs. 

The poor Aparajita flowers were the worst affected. But it's on the mend now. 

Hope you are well this Friday evening. 

I am down with a bad bout of cold and occasionally cough. 

UGH! 

:( 

So hoping to rest this weekend and read my book and lie down. 

Hope you have a good weekend! 

TV Shows and Movies We've Loved on OTTs Lately

Hello, hello!

Hope you've been doing well! 

It has gotten cold in our corner of the world and I am loving these colder wintry days- perfect to sip on hot beverages and watch cozy thrillers or feel-good movies! 

So, here are some movies and TV series from various OTT platforms that we've enjoyed lately: 

Truth Be Told 

Adapted from Kathleen Barber's book Are You Sleeping (review here), Truth Be Told tells the story of a journalist turned podcaster- Poppy Parnell, who, 19 years ago, had played a peripheral yet key role in the sentencing of a 17 year old boy to life in prison for the brutal murder of an author. The reveal of some new evidence in the case makes her question her original stance on the case. So, now, Poppy decides to reinvestigate this case on her podcast in an effort to exonerate the accused. 

Starring the fabulous Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul, this Apple TV show is truly gripping! Would highly recommend! 

Big Sky 

Just one-episode old, Big Sky (available on Disney+ Hotstar) is a gripping show about a serial kidnapper/ possibly-human trafficker and a team of private detectives trying to save the two sisters that he has recently kidnapped. 

Set against the gorgeous backdrop of rural Montana, this show is full of twists and turns! 

Ludo 

Ludo is a hilarious (for the most part) and poignant look at the interconnected lives of 5 people in Bhopal. When Sattu Bhaiyya (brilliantly portrayed by Pankaj Tripathi) decides to kill a rich builder and steal his diamonds, he sets off a series of events, which pulls in a bunch of people, who'd have never run into each other now. 

Rajkumar Rao, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Abhishek Bachchan and relative new comers Rohit Saraf and Pearle Maaney were so insanely good! However, more than individual performances, it is the storytelling and the zany dialogues that make this such a fun ride! 

Ludo is streaming on Netflix. 

Tansener Tanpura Part 2 (Bengali)

Hoichoi's Tansener Tanpura Part 1 ended on a cliff-hanger and viewers were left wondering, who was trying to stop Alaap and Shruti from finding Tansen's tanpura. 

Part 2 takes off from that point onwards with the dynamic duo outsmarting an unknown villain and solving more riddles on the quest to find the famous tanpura. 

This is a great show for those of you, who enjoyed the Guptodhon series of movies. 

Next 

A malicious AI (Artificial Intelligence) entity (?)/ programme (?) has gone rogue and is smartly targeting and killing anyone, who seems to have caught on to its presence. 

On the trail to stop it is its original creator and an FBI officer. A very gripping and thought-provoking series about the age-old dilemma of creating something we are not equipped to control! 

Next is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. 

Stationery Sunday: Planner Love + Little Updates + New Book.

 Hello! 

Gosh! It's been far too long since my last post. Yikes! I have no real clue as to why I've let things slide on here. I wrote and released my Short Story and quickly started work on the next one, which is up on Amazon by the way. 

You can find it here. 

It's called A Girl Possessed and it's a 90s ghost story set in Lucknow. 

It's spooky and nostalgic and even funny in parts, if I say so myself! 

:) 

Here's the little cover I made for the book, featuring Lucknow's iconic Imambara. 

:) 

OK. 

Now to other things. 

The last few weeks have been kinda busy. 

I've been writing, which makes me sooooo happy and I am so grateful to everyone who bought my books and have said such kind things to me about them. 

Thank-you so much. 

Lights at home. 

We only put up diyas and tea lights this year. 

There is nothing quite like the classic diya for Diwali. 

Apart from that I was a little busy with Diwali, it was spent at home. I didn't even go out to go see the Kali  Pujo celebrations that are a big deal in my small town. 

While things were quiet at home, they were excruciatingly loud around me. 

Thankfully, not crackers! 

But Loudspeakers blaring music till late at night. It's the one thing I despise about West Bengal, it's love for loudspeakers for all sorts of occasions. 

I am so glad that cacophony is now over and I can sleep and think and just be in peace. I was close to tears from all the loud music. 

Now, since this is a Stationery Sunday post, let's get to the Stationery part shall we? 

Today I want to talk about my Planner for 2020. 

Somedays, during the last few months I wondered why I even got a damn planner for 2020. But chalo, no one saw this garbage fire coming and my planner has been a good way to document this odd sorta year and it will hopefully be interesting to look back on it later in life. 

Here are some happy pages from my planner, from I think back in May. 

My mini Blog Planner. 

It came free with my Big Planner and it's been very useful. 

Stickers from the planner itself. 

April 2020.

When the world was confusing and scary and we were all stuck at home. 

So I tried to make my pages as happy as I could and filled them up with flowers and joy. 

So while the world seemed bleak, my planner looked a shade happier. 

Most of the stickers used here are from shops on Ali Express, Etsy and Wish. 

Same for the Washi Tapes. 

Beginning of April and a girl in a summery outfit. 

Since I spent all summer indoors, this was as close as I got to summer styles in 2020. 

More summery things. 

This is the little planner. 

A Year of Cheer. 

Good one! 

:( 

A lot of people have been asking me what Planner I intend to use in 2021 and what planner I'd recommend they use. 

Well, I am going back to The Ink Bucket planner for 2021, I used their planner in 2019 and really liked it. I will talk more about the 2021 planner once it arrives. 

This year I used the Alicia Souza planner for the first time and I was very impressed with it. 

It's cute. 

User Friendly. 

Comes with Stickers. 

Good Paper Quality. 

& 

I think they have some great deals on right now. 

So net-net, it's a planner I'd recommend. 

You can go check them out. 

I just went back to Ink Bucket for a change and I LOVE LOVE LOVE their aesthetic very much. 

&

We, sister and I, got our planners on a HUGE discount when they went on pre-order. I think we got them even before they went on pre-order on some special VVIP deal, which I am super grateful for. So apart for planners, we got sticker books and some other stuff too. 

That offer is no longer on. 

It was a strictly two day thing. 

So we made the most of it and got ourselves two planner. 

You can go check out  The Ink Bucket Planners and maybe get yourself a thing of beauty! 

I am getting the pink floral one, in case you were wondering. 

:) 

Have you already decided on your 2021 planner? 

Sunday Special: Self-Published My FIRST Short Story- The Stranger in the Hotel Room

 

Hello, hello! 

I did a brave (for a shy writer like me) little thing earlier today! 

I self-published a short story on Amazon via Kindle's Direct Publishing service. 

For the past 8 weeks or so, I have been sharing real-life ghost stories via a series on my Instagram Stories called 'Scary Stories'. These are stories of real-life paranormal experiences and have been pretty well-received by my community on Instagram. This has given me a much-needed boost of confidence and so, I decided to flesh out the next story in my series and share it via Amazon. 

Here is the link to my little book.

I've priced it at INR 50, so that everybody, who wants to read it can! 

If you'd like to read my short story, click on the link above and you can read it on your Kindle or the iOS or Android Kindle app. 

Thank you, as ever, for reading my blog, sharing your kind words on Instagram and for just being all-round lovely people! 

Book Review: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

 

Book: A Man Called Ove 

Author: Fredrik Backman 

Pages: 337 

Read: The paperback copy pictured above 

Read in: ~3.5 hours 

Plot Summary: A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. 

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Things I Liked:

1. First of all, let me get this out of the way, this is the book you need to read right now. In a world full of divisiveness and us vs. them kind of thinking, this is the right book to read to remind us of the beauty of community and the importance of standing up for one another. 

2. A Man Called Ove is the story of a man called Ove (duh!), who, at the face of it, is a surly, curmudgeon

sort of a man. He is honest to a fault, often sees things in black and white and has, pretty much, lost all faith in humanity. We meet Ove during the darkest time in his life- the love of his life- his wife- passed away after battling cancer for four years, he was let go from his job of 25 years and, suddenly, his life didn't seem worth living. It is them Parvaneh and her little family move in next door and Ove's life as he knew it, changed forever. (Not saying anything more, else I am going to spoil the book!)

3. This book has some really lovely characters- Ove, his wife, Parvaneh, her husband, Ove's neighbour- Jimmy and many more. Each of them has their own struggles and even those little stories are so lovely to read. 

4. This book has many moments that will make you laugh out loud, moments that will make you so incandescent with rage and moments that will make you bawl your eyes out! This is that kind of a book. You'll "catch the feels" as the kids like to say! 

5. As a bonus, the writing and world-building in this book is great! Once you get pulled into Ove's world at the Residents' Association, you will inhabit it for days! 

Rating: 5/5 

Highly, highly recommend this book! 

Hello November 2020 + Current Read + Slow Days + TV Loves.

 

Hello November! 

Hello Winter! 

Hello Celebrations Big and Small, thanks to Diwali and my Sister's birthday. 

I am so happy November is here. 

:) 

It's on of my favourite months of the year. Though I can't quite believe we are already in November! 

This year, while trying and plain mean, does seem to be chugging along nicely. 

I started my month on a bit of a sad note. 

Today is my Thakurda's death anniversary and like every year, this month begins on a sombre note. 

Also I had this horrendous experience with an Instagram shop and have spent most of last night and today pissed, annoyed and disappointed. Seriously, as much as I love buying from small shops and supporting indie brands, this heartache of mismanaged logistics and incompetent shop owners is just too much to stomach. 

Ugh! 

But let's focus on the good and ignore people not worthy of a second of my time. 

I've been savouring Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie today. 

It's a short story that is just as brilliant as everything that Adichie writes. I am going to finish it tonight and figure out my next read. 

:) 

I've also been watching some amazing things. 

The Looming Tower: It's available on Prime and it's based on a Pulitzer Prize wining book of the same name. It's about the events leading up to 9/11 and the many internal politics of the CIA and FBI. Well-researched and brilliantly brought to live by a stellar cast of characters. We binged this in two days and I cannot recommend it enough. It's so good. Difficult to watch in parts but so good. This morning, as we were finishing up the last few episodes of the show, our help Mala Di sat down and watched along. She didn't follow the language, of course, but she was very invested in the show and its twists and turns. 

Home Before Dark: I started watching this darling little show on Apple TV last night and I am so smitten. It's about a nine year old girl, who is a reporter and is very passionate about her job. Her family moves from New York to her father's hometown and she smells a mystery and gets on it. 

I am only one episode in and I am really excited to watch the rest of it. 

Goynar Baksho: I am right this moment re-watching one of my favourite new-ish Bengali films. Goynar Baksho is an adaptation of the novella of the same name. It's been translated as The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die and it's brilliant in both versions. 

The film with subtitles is available on Hotstar. 

I hope November is good for you and me. 

I hope it's a month full of books and slow days and maybe a few safe and socially distanced outings and long drives. 

:)