Books

Books I read in August 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in August 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
Project Hail MaryAndy Weir10/10
RecursionBlake Crouch8/10
ArtemisAndy Weir9/10
UpgradeBlake Crouch7/10
Randomize (Forward Collection)Andy Weir5/10
ExhalationTed Chiang7/10
Books I read in August 2023

In August, I decided to continue my Science Fiction streak. I saw an advertisement for Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and decided to give it a go. Within a few pages, it was clear to me that this was the best Science Fiction novel I had ever read.

Andy Weir is quite unlike the other Sci-Fi authors I normally read (Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov etc). While the latter are serious and scientific, I found Andy Weir to be positively comic. But that doesn’t mean the science is lacking; that is also explained in detail. After a long time, I had found a book that I couldn’t put down and was completely engrossed.

Apparently, there would be a movie based on this book which I will surely go watch it.

After this, I tried reading The Devgarh Royals trilogy by Alisha Kay, but didn’t like it after a few pages and abandoned it.

Flip-Flop

I saw a recommendation from Andy Weir for a book called Recursion by Blake Crouch, so decided to give it a go. Recursion is a psychological thriller mixed with Sci-Fi. It took a lot of mental power to keep track of all the time travel, but the story was engaging. I was afraid it would become as complicated as Tenet, but thankfully, it didn’t. One of the most intense books I have ever read.

After this, I went back to Andy Weir‘s Artemis. Just like Project Hail Mary, it was humorous Sci-Fi. The book also has a unique protagonist – A promiscuous–saudi female porter on the moon. I really enjoyed the book, although I found some parts a bit hard to believe.

After this, I went back to Blake Crouch‘s Upgrade. It was entertaining, but nothing special. I probably won’t go back to the author again.

Wanting to go back to Andy Weir; I considered reading The Martian, but since I had already seen the movie twice, gave it a skip. Instead, I bought Randomize (Forward Collection). The story started off interested, but then ended within 40 pages on a cliffhanger. WTF!

Amazon recommended me Exhalation by Ted Chiang, which is a collection of short stories. The short parables were perfect for weekday reading, where I could finish 1 story before I went to bed. The stories had a definite Black Mirror vibe.

PS: I also switched from reading on my Kindle Paperwhite to the Kindle app on the iPad, because I also wanted to read magazines. Below are the magazines I am reading

  1. Reader’s Digest India
  2. Travel+Leisure India
Weather

Bangkok Rains & Onam

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May to September is the season when it rains in Bangkok. I love the rains. Reduces my stress levels so much. I love it so much, can’t stop gushing about it.

Bangkok Rains

The best part about rains here are the fact that 99% of the times, it happens at convenient times. It almost never rains

  1. 7:00 to 08:00 – When it’s time to go to school and office
  2. 12:00 to 13:00 – When it’s time to go for lunch
  3. 16:30 to 17:30 – When it’s time to go back home from office

Last year I remember getting stuck at office without transportation only a couple of times. This time, luckily it has happened only once, and I just walked home with an umbrella.

This is also the time to celebrate Onam. Looking around on Facebook, I found a restaurant (Jhol) which was serving Onam Sadya. We ordered some to eat home and it was so delicious, I still cannot believe it.

Onam Sadya
Onam Sadya

The quality of the food was incredible and the taste was amazing. There were total 32 dishes and even though the quantity was much more than I could normally eat, the taste more than made up for it.

Onam Sadya at Jhol
Onam Sadya at Jhol
Books

Books I read in July 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in July 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
2001: A Space OdysseyArthur C. Clarke8/10
2010: Odyssey TwoArthur C. Clarke9/10
2061: Odyssey ThreeArthur C. Clarke7/10
3001: The Final OdysseyArthur C. Clarke7/10
Books I read in July 2023

In July, I went back to my trusty Kindle. I had a yearning to read Sci-Fi and not able to find anything new that I wanted to read, I went back to books I had already read.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the rare books, which was adapted from the screenplay of a movie, also written by Arthur C. Clarke along with Stanley Kubrick. Now, there are 2 versions of the book. The original one and the one based on the movie screenplay. I seem to have read the original one, because when I moved on to the second part, I could see several inconsistencies. That is because the second book onwards are adapted from the screenplay version instead.

2010: Odyssey Two is even better than the first part and I enjoyed reading it.

2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey were both above average, but not awesome. Although I had read all these books, it was long ago. And I did enjoy reading them again.

2001: Differences between original book and movie

After spotting the inconsistencies between the books 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: Odyssey Two, I decided to watch the movie, and document the differences, because I did not find a good summary online

  1. In the book, TMA-2 is on Iapetus, a moon of Saturn. But in the movie and the sequels, TMA-2 is in Orbit around Io, a moon of Jupiter.
  2. In the book, Frank Poole is killed by HAL 9000 and floats away. But in the movie and the sequels Dave Bowman goes out to rescue him and gets locked out of the ship by HAL.
  3. In the book, Discovery uses Hydrogen as a propellant. But in the movie and the sequels, the propellant is Ammonia.
  4. In the book, Discovery carried only enough propellant to go into Orbit around Iapetus. But in the movie and the sequels, Discovery has enough propellant to return back to earth.
  5. In the book, Discovery was already running out of air when Dave Bowman left. But in the movie and the sequels, Discovery has sufficient air even after jettisoning the stale putrid air into space.
Books

Books I read in May & June 2023

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Continuing my series, as promised. In this post, I present the books I read in May & June 2023, in sequence.

BookAuthorMy Rating
The Blue UmbrellaRuskin Bond7/10
The Gopi Diaries: Coming HomeSudha Murty8/10
The Gopi Diaries: Finding LoveSudha Murty7/10
The Gopi Diaries: Growing UpSudha Murty8/10
ChowringheeSankar7/10
Books I read in May & June 2023

I had an exam in May that I needed to prepare for. I also had guests over for a few days, so I didn’t read anything at all, all May. At the end of May, I started reading The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond. It was a nice sweet story about a little Garhwali girl who lives in the mountains. The only problem with this book was that it was too short.

Next, I moved on to Sudha Murty. I remember reading her books to my daughter when she was small and she had just launched a new book series, so I gave it a go.

The series is about a dog that Murty’s rich family adopts and how life is with him over the years. It was a nice read, although I feel it is targeted more towards children.

In July, my wife gifted me Chowringhee by Sankar, which is about the life of people working and staying at a Hotel in Kolkata. The book reminded me of the book Hotel by Arthur Hailey which I had read when I was young. It was still refreshing to read Chowringhee, as it brings many things new. The ending was too grim, however.

Food & Beverage, TV Shows

Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan

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What is Indian food? If you ask a Caucasian, he would probably say Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Naan. But the real answer is, there’s no one thing called “Indian Food”. How do you define it, then? That’s the question that the TV show Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan tries to answer. I mentioned this show briefly in my list of favourite TV shows of all time and believe that it now needs its own post.

Raja, Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan is probably the most comprehensive look into what Indian food is. Each episode takes a look into a different part of Indian cuisine, divided carefully using state/region or cities. They discuss the following parameters for each of these cuisines

  • History of the cuisine
  • History of the various produce being used in these cuisines, along with their country of origin and when they came to India
  • Which meat is used where and why
  • The evolution of the cuisine over centuries
  • The role of royal families in preserving these cuisines

My favourite episodes over 4 seasons, in chronological order are the ones below

My Favourite Episodes

  1. S01E01 – Jodhpur and Jaipur
  2. S01E03 – Delhi and Rampur
  3. S01E04 – Jammu and Kashmir
  4. S01E05 – Amritsar and Punjab
  5. S01E08 – Lucknow and Mehmudabad
  6. S01E11 – Gujarat
  7. S02E01 – Hyderabad
  8. S02E04 – Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
  9. S02E05 – Pondicherry
  10. S02E06 – Kolkata
  11. S02E07 – Mangalore
  12. S02E08 – Goa
  13. S02E09 – Maharashtra
  14. S02E15 – Mumbai
  15. S02E19 – Uttarakhand
  16. S02E20 – Madhya Pradesh
  17. S03E01 – Bikaner
  18. S03E02 – Bhopal
  19. S03E03 – Kochi

Overall, it seems that the only Indian cuisine I don’t love is Eastern and North Eastern.

The narration by Manwendra Tripathy is very good and I really enjoy the appearances of Pushpesh Pant in most of the episodes.

Pushpesh Pant in Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan
Pushpesh Pant in Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan

I am watching the entire series again for the second time and really enjoying it. If you like Indian food and interested to know more about it, I definitely recommend this show. Streaming on EpicOn (All Seasons), Netflix (Only 1 season) and Discovery+ (First 3 seasons).

Also, fuck the Nagas for eating dog meat.

Music

My favourite Live Albums

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This post is a follow up to my last one. I was introduced to Live Albums when I moved to Nagpur. People in our college used to share 3-in-1 live concert DVDs with each other. I have already written about my favourite concerts, so this post is only about live albums. Below is the list of my favourite live albums of all time.

Hell Freezes Over (1994) – Eagles

Hell Freezes Over : Eagles

My favourite live album of all time and my introduction to Eagles, as a band. In fact I didn’t even hear the original version of Hotel California till years later and was then surprised to find out it was so different. Overall, this album is just magical. Everyone performed perfectly. I remember the first time I heard it, at a friend’s house, his father had found the DVD. It was also Eagles’ reunion concert and as Don Henley says, “we never broke up, we just took a 14 year vacation”.

This concert was part of the MTV unplugged series.

My only gripe with the album is that they replaced many songs’ live versions with studio versions which are inherently inferior. One example of this is “Learn to be still”.

Pulse (1995) – Pink Floyd

Pulse : Pink Floyd

One of my favourite live albums of all time, Pulse is Pink Floyd at its epic live psychedelic best. I have listened to this album countless times and can never get tired of it. The album starts with the epic “Shine on you crazy diamond” and ends with an epic rendition of “Comfortably Numb” with extended solos.

Honourable mention to Delicate Sound of Thunder, which is almost as good as Pulse, but not quite.

This concert also reminds me of a disaster that occurred back in 2006.

MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) – Nirvana

MTV Unplugged in New York : Nirvana

This live album reminds me of Whoreko, I don’t know why. I am not a huge fan of Nirvana‘s heavier work, but this concert showed their “acoustic side” and boy, was it awesome. This concert also introduced the Meat Puppets & Pat Smear to the world.

Another concert from MTV unplugged series.

Live at Pompeii (1972) – Pink Floyd

Live at Pompeii : Pink Floyd

Ok, Ok, so technically this is not a live album, but it is shot as such, simulating a concert in Pompeii (without audience). The tracks are all psychedelic and the version of echoes in this album is a masterpiece, especially the bass.

One Night Only (1998) – Bee Gees

One Night Only : Bee Gees

Not a huge fan of Bee Gees, but this live album is just awesome. Such beautiful, soulful music. Reminds me of my days in Chandigarh.

Supernatural Live (2003) – Santana

Supernatural Live : Santana

I got this as part of a 3-concert pirated DVD. The music is awesome and features guest appearances by Dave Matthews, Erik Schrody, Rob Thomas, among others. Entertaining much.

The Corrs Unplugged (1999) – The Corrs

The Corrs Unplugged : The Corrs

Another part of the 3-concert pirated DVD. I am not a Corrs fan. In fact I have never heard of them outside this concert. But the music in this album is soothing and beautiful.

This is also the album where I heard Dreams for the first time, much before the original version.

Another concert from MTV unplugged series.

A special mention to Roger Waters’ The Wall – Live in Berlin for being one of the shittiest live albums I have ever had the misfortune of listening to and making me dislike him forever after.

Music

My favourite Studio Albums

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I am a studio album guy. Playlists are not for me, nor is shuffle. I don’t like compilations either. I generally listen to music by the album and in most cases I listen to the album whole, in one sitting. Below is a list of my favourite studio albums.

The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) – Pink Floyd

The Dark Side of the Moon : Pink Floyd

There was never any real competition for the first slot in my list of favourite studio albums. I didn’t have to think twice. For me, The Dark Side of the Moon will always be as close to a perfect album that is technically possible. I can listen to this album and zone out with ease.

The only black-mark on this otherwise perfect album? – On the run. Can’t stand it and always have to skip over it. All the other tracks are just perfect in every way.

Highly recommend the Classic Albums episode on this album, narrated by Alan Parsons himself.

Rumours (1977) – Fleetwood Mac

Rumours : Fleetwood Mac

This album is rock bordering on pop. Which is why I was so surprised that I liked it so much. I listened to Dreams for the first time in Kolkata, but the first time I listened to the whole album was during a road-trip from Delhi to Chandigarh. Most of the songs are more or less perfect. My favourites are Dreams, Go your own way, The Chain & You make loving fun.

Even more fascinating is the background behind this album, the breakups, drugs and internal turmoils the band members were going through during recording. Highly recommend the Classic Albums episode on this album.

Animals (1977) – Pink Floyd

Animals : Pink Floyd

There’s absolutely no bad track in this album. All the songs are more or less perfect. But my absolute favourites are Dogs and Sheep.

This album always reminds me of our first Think Floyd concert.

The Long Run (1979) – Eagles

The Long Run : Eagles

This is my favourite studio album from Eagles. I really like the tracks The Long Run, In the City, King of Hollywood, Heartache Tonight & The Sad cafe. Additionally, I can’t tell you why is perhaps one of my most favourite songs ever. Beautiful album. So much soul.

This is also the last Eagles album before Don Felder was booted from the band.

Hybrid Theory (2000) – Linkin Park

Hybrid Theory : Linking Park

I am not into the genre that Linkin Park represents. But Linkin park is undoubtedly a big part of my college years and there are hundreds of memories associated with its albums. Out of them, Hybrid theory is perhaps the one that defines Linkin Park for me. My favourite tracks are Papercut, One Step Closer, Crawling, In the End, Pushing me away and My December. The last track only appears on the Japanese version of the album and which I heard through piracy. I probably won’t have been into them if I had heard them for the first time in any other stage of my life.

So what if the instruments are simplistic? They sound good and that’s all that matters.

I still listen to them but only when I go for runs. Transports me back to my college days.

The Division Bell (1994) – Pink Floyd

The Division Bell : Pink Floyd

This album gets a lot of flak for “being terrible”, but even though it is far moved from the 70s and 80s Pink Floyd sound, I still love it. This album is more David Gilmour than any other Pink Floyd album before it. It shows in the soulful long-winded solos. My favourite tracks from this album are Marooned, Wearing the inside out, Coming back to life, Keep talking and High Hopes.

High hopes transports me back to college days to a specific night when Whoreko was staying with us to appear for some exams and he showed me his Sony Walkman series phone. I chose High Hopes to test the music quality and was blown away by the amazing bass.

Coming back to life takes me back to my Kolkata days, going to Someplace Else and listening to The Hip Pocket.

Azadi (1997) – Junoon

Azadi : Junoon

This album was my introduction to Rock music. And what an album! And from Pakistan, of all places. Amazing soulful sufi-inspired music with rock riffs.

I remember falling asleep to this album every night listening to it on my Aiwa Walkman. This was when I stayed in Durgapur. I also remember once hooking up my radio antenna to our apartment window and catching FM radio from Kolkata and this was the track playing.

My favourite tracks from this album are Sayonee, Meri awaz suno, Mukh gae & Lal meri pat.

Too bad the band couldn’t continue their success after this album.

Wish you were here (1975) – Pink Floyd

Wish you were here : Pink Floyd

This album is carried by one track and that is Shine on you crazy diamond. At one point of time, I listened to this song every single day. The track starts out slow and soulful, picks up tempo, then goes slow again.

The title song is good, too.

The Man-Machine (1978) – Kraftwerk

The Man-Machine : Kraftwerk

I am not into electronic music, but I love Kraftwerk. The Man-machine is an album of epic proportions. Just like Azadi, I listened to it while falling asleep in Durgapur. Every song in this album is great and I will never be tired of listening to it.

After writing this, I realise that 6 out of my 9 favourite studio albums all came out within the 7 years between 1973 and 1979. What a time it must have been to be alive back then!

Health & Fitness

Running Part-2

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This post is a continuation of my last post about running, back in 2020. After I moved to Bangkok, I stopped exercising. For a few months last year, I started going to the gym, but couldn’t sustain it long enough, as it was too time-consuming. Looking to get some exercise while not spending too much time, I started running again. In the beginning, it felt difficult due to the heat and humidity, but I was able to get used to it soon.

After doing it for a few months, I developed severe ankle pain. In the beginning, I would recover during my rest days, but then it continued to extend over my rest days to the next workouts, too.

The cryptmaster kindly educated me on the importance of good shoes. Turns out, my running shoes were dirt-cheap and 8 years old. And that was not acceptable. I promptly ordered some new shoes. Thankfully, my ankle pain reduced considerably, thereafter.

Running Pace
Running Pace
Running Heart Rate Zones
Running Heart Rate Zones

I have now been continuing my runs 4 days a week, 4km each time for more than 6 months now. Although I have steadily made progress with my pace, unfortunately, my VO2 max has plateaued. Try what I may, I am not able to reach my VO2 max levels from 2021.

VO2 max in 2021
VO2 max in 2021
VO2 Max
VO2 Max plateaued

Overall, though, I am very happy that I am keeping healthy and exercising is definitely a great mood elevator for me. It boosts the mood for the rest of the day. The only problem is, I have been losing weight consistently and need to improve my diet to make up for lost calories.

Weight Loss
Weight Loss
Movies

Indiana Jones is just an Entitled White Man

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I wrote this article a few weeks ago on how I hadn’t never seen some famous movies. So we decided to start watching the Indiana Jones series, especially considering there’s a new instalment out soon. People make Indiana Jones out to be a sort of folk hero, so we were interesting in knowing the character better. What we found out was that Indy is just another toxic entitled white man.

The movie starts with Indy in a South American jungle trying to “retrieve” some priceless relic. But who gave a white American the right to take relics from another country? The mission eventually ends in failure when another white mean steals said relic instead, but not before Indy is able to kill a few Peruvian tribals.

The movie also uses the easiest movie villains ever-Nazis. Indy’s job is to prevent the arc of covenant from falling into the hands of Nazis. Because something like that can only be possessed by white people – the wrong white people or the right white people.

Indiana Jones, the rapist

The next thing we know about Indiana Jones is that he is a child abuser. His ex-lover Marion says so in no small words, accusing him of having sex with her when she was “just a child”. His comeback? “You knew what you were doing”.

The childhood rape has clearly damaged Marion beyond repair, who is now a raging alcoholic and a sex addict. Their relationship is also messed up, with her addressing him as “Indiana Jones” even in throes of lust, instead of his actual name. Indy has clearly been punished for his transgressions, too, because he fails to have sex with her on multiple occasions.

Indiana Jones, the ethnic cleanser

Not satisfied with killing Peruvian tribals, he goes to Nepal and whips and shoots a bunch of Nepalis, in their own country. Later, when he travels to Egypt, he whips and shoots a bunch of Egyptians in their own country. His lover even justifies this behaviour by yelling “I am American”, because that makes it acceptable.

At one point, Indiana Jones is surrounded by a bunch of Egyptian people, who, overwhelmed by the sight of a white man suddenly start begging. Indy tosses a few coins at a distance and the beggars crawl all over the ground to retrieve them. After destroying an entire marketplace, killing many people and blowing up a truck, he simply relaxes and openly drinks whiskey in the middle of the same marketplace. No repercussions, because he is white, na.

via GIPHY

Not surprisingly, the only people he doesn’t directly kill are Nazis, limiting himself to just beating them up, because the Nazis are white too, na.

Later, he hires some Egyptian labourers, using only whistles to order them around. Because why would he even talk to such lowlives? He makes them work day and night without break. Himself just sitting by doing nothing.

Compassion for Animals?

Indy kills a monkey by using him as bait for poisoned dates. Later, he pours petrol over a family of snakes and sets them on fire. Intent on proving that he abuses all species equally, he relentlessly whips a horse, too.

There’s also a moment where an Egyptian man (married with children) is kissed on the lips by the still sex-crazed Marion. The experience of a white kiss is so magical for him, he breaks into an impromptu opera, on the spot.

Eventually, the ark is retrieved by the right white people and transported to the greatest country in the world, America.

I am just surprised that the movie series and Harrison Ford hasn’t been the victim of cancel culture.