Kindles...

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just don't have the same magic.

“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.” - Stephen Fry

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2013

For the first time in years, I've spent New Year's Eve at home and despite what many around me seem to think I've actually had a pretty good evening with my books and some television. And if how your feeling at the stroke of midnight is any indication for how the rest of the year will turn out, hopefully I'll be as content and as at peace through 2013 as I was this evening.

The New Year is a time for resolutions. To make pacts and to promise yourself however foolishly that this time your going to stick to your vows and not abandon them halfway through and I've been thinking about my resolutions for the New Year ever since November and I think I at least have my basic goals and aspirations for the year ahead firmly in place now. And they are as below in random order.






a) Lose Weight:

I've never been hung up on the way I look. I don't hate myself but neither do I love myself and at the best of times, I think I'm thoroughly average-looking. But lately I've not been very happy with myself. And a lot of this has been down to my recent weight gain. I don't feel confident and fit, my stamina levels are way down as well and that has upset me more than anything and I need to recapture that.

b) Read Books:

My family and friends think I read entirely too much. I, on the other hand, think I don't read enough and I think I've read less than I ever have before this year.  So, in 2013, I'm leaning on lists such as this and this to get myself back on track once again. It's not that I won't be reading any books outside of these, but I'm going to try and read everyone on them as my own personal task for this year.





c) House Work: I love my house, but I'm also very lazy when it comes to actually making it a better place to live in and I want to work on changing that in the coming year. I want to paint and hang up more pictures and twirl more fairy lights around pretty glass jars and make it my dream home. I want to learn how to cook. Properly. And how to bake. And not just rely on my superior Maggi and sandwich making skills to get by.





d) Family Matters: While I'm exactly short-tempered, I am hot-tempered and very often, I go up in smoke and snap, only to deeply regret it ten minutes later and then find that the damage is done. So I solemnly swear that in 2013 I'll try harder to keep a guard on my temper, to hold my tongue, to walk away, to not be snappy, to count to ten before I explode.

e) Friendship stuff:  I'm essentially an anti-social person. I have few friends but I'm not someone who opens up about stuff that is personal to me. And in recent years, this mean that I've made fewer friends than previously because I'm less outgoing now. So in 2012, I've made friends and lost friends. I've realised who is important to me and who isn't. I have a better understanding of where I've gone wrong and I'm willing to work on it. But I'm also not as ready to have my tolerance see me kicked in the arse. So, all in all, I'm going to try harder and aim to be a better friend in 2013 and hold on tight to the ones who are worth it.

f) Self-improvement: While this has been a good year, both in terms of work and my personal life, I definitely haven't done enough to enrich myself and this year I plan to take up the Spanish language courses I've been postponing for ages, as well as the dance classes. Hopefully, I'll end 2013 having learned something new.

g) Travel tales: As I once told a colleague, the entire world is like an apple that I want to take a bite out of and I want to travel everywhere. So I hope this year is better than the last in terms of travelling. And let's face it, 2012 was EPIC! I'm hoping I get to travel for work but beyond that I'm already planning my own trips to Tarkali in Maharashtra, Ladakh up north and to Spain, Turkey and Canada. So I'm going to do my best to ensure it all happens!




Besides these, I have some other resolutions that are just as if not more important, but more private and much more personal for me to talk about on here. So let's keep our fingers crossed that I reach my goals for the year ahead.

And equally, I hope that 2013 sees more good than bad, more happiness than grief, more desire than despair and much more sunshine than clouds.

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Work-Life Balance

The other day as I made my way home from work, a friend called and asked what I would be doing that evening, at which point I explained that I would be showering and heading out again to meet some other friends. At which point, she jumped in with a "I don't know how you do it. I couldn't go out again after a full day at work, I'd be too exhausted."

Now to be perfectly honest here, I was exhausted and I could have easily chosen not to go out once again but when I quit my last job, I promised myself in the new place that offers me better timings, I would maintain a better work-life balance.

And often, this is something I stick to it, even if it kills me to do it. Now, at this point, I know some of my friends are going to point out how I'm lucky enough to live bang in the centre of Bombay and that I have a mere 30 minute commute to work everyday. Sure, I have a job that has a 10 to 6 timing, but there's much more to it then that, I often have meetings, conferences and events that go on at all times of the day in different parts of the city and require me to hightail it from one end to the other.  But as I mentioned, some time in my previous job when I went through the rigours of a life on shifts, I felt I was losing some of my sparkle. I was tired and constantly cranky and all I wanted to do on the solitary day off that I had was spend it at home doing nothing. Which is not to say, that I don't have my off days now, where I beg off all social obligations and instead stay at home doing nothing but reading trashy magazines and watching television. But I often push myself hardest not to fall into that rut of work-home-dinner-bed. I travel and meet friends, or I spend much time in book stores buying more bags of books than I can afford, walking along Marine Drive or people-watching at coffee shops. None of which are earth-shattering things to do, but they're all important and they all define and enrich me in small ways.

Also, this means more often than not, that I am often declining work because I don't want it to take over my life. Now there are people here who will stand up and point out that the concept of work-life balance is bullshit and that work is a part of life. But I can only speak for myself here and my four and a half years of building a career for myself in a city as challenging and demanding as Bombay is that it is all too easy to allow work to take over everything else.

I think it was The Mad Momma who once pointed out her surprise when plans were made only for a Saturday night and I couldn't help but agree, considering how often it is I ask friends to meet up for coffee or a drink, only to have them put it off for the weekend. Now, I'm not speaking for parents here, but 90% of my friends are unmarried and don't have children, and still live with their parents so I can't really understand it. When did we become so rigid and inflexible? These are choices that we all have to make sooner or later, but I find myself breathing easier now that I know that I have time for family and friends and myself.

At 25, I might be worrying about this too early, but I'd rather have my priorities clear now and do what I believe in, then find myself floundering in uncharted waters later on, wondering whether all those hours I've suffered through work have been worth it.

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Helping Real Oviedo

A while ago, I published on this blog my bucket list. The 30 things I would like to do before I die. Now, contrary to perception, this is not a definitive list and I keep adding items on it to with a regularity that stuns those who know me well.

My love for football been a well-documented fact on this blog so I shall not go into it in detail and drive away the very few readers I have left. And this very love for the game is why I'm oftenest to be found on Twitter discussing, debating or even arguing on all things football related.

And recently, my favourite football writer Sid Lowe made several impassioned pleas on Twitter to help save his club Real Oviedo. A team in the third tier of Spanish football.

How could we help? By buying shares at approximately €10.75 each and help raise €1.9 million and let the fans take over the club which has seen financial mismanagement bring it to the brink. 

Why help Real Oviedo? Because despite their recent troubles, Real Oviedo have a rich history and a very promising youth academy. They've given the world Michu, Juan Mata and my favourite Spanish player behind Xavi and Andres Iniesta, the very classy Santi Cazorla. And it seems unbelievable to me that a club like that should be in so much trouble. 

So, last night, after three nights of trying and multiple attempts with different credit cards, I finally managed to buy myself two shares of Real Oviedo. €23 doesn't seem an excessive amount to me to help such a historic club.

Like a lot of my friends seem to think, I probably am crazy and I probably could have found much better uses for that money, but I doubt I'd have been as happy. 
After all, I'm now a part-owner of a football club in Spain and if all goes well, I've helped save a club that might well go on to give us such wonderful players again And all shareholders receive free tickets, so I now have another incentive to visit Spain and Oviedo in Asturias in particular and more motivation than ever before to take the Spanish language classes which I've been putting off for three years now! I can now also cross Owning a Football Club across my aforementioned bucket list.

When I woke up yesterday, I was just an ordinary person who didn't own any part of any football club. Now I'm a very proud shareholder!

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Gogoji, Aapka Ghagra

 Day 02 - Favourite Movie

In a confession that often astounds friends and family, I'm not much of a movie-watcher. I rarely watch movies. It took me over a year to watch 3 Idiots, I haven't seen Sholay, the definitive movie for millions of movie-going Indians and I haven't watched Avatar and I haven't watched Casablanca, Gone With The Wind or The Godfather either. Cinemas aren't really my thing and I go for the movie to be with my friends and have fun as opposed to intently watching a film for its own sake.

But what I do watch more than occasionally on the other hand is Zee Cinema. A certain friend of mine thinks that is proof that I'm actually 90, but that's neither here or there. So if any of you out there actually watch Zee Cinema, you'll know what I do. That one of the most repeated movies on Zee Cinema is Andaz Apna Apna. Now you may disagree with me here, but I do think that that film is a cult classic with good ol' slapstick comedy.

Luckily, for me, my brother loves this movie too and several evenings have been spent in front of the television in paroxysms of laughter. Also, a colleague of mine, I, is another huge fun and many dull work afternoons have passed with us quoting legendary dialogues from the movie to each other such as 'Kiske Mama Ki Gun", "Teja Main hoon, Mark Idhar hai, Aankhen nikaal kar gotiya khelunga' and my most favourite dialogue in the movie, "Gogoji, Aapka Ghagra".

Now I'm off to find a hole to hide myself in from this extremely embarrassing revelation.

What's your favourite movie? Go on, tell me!

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