2017- Year End Review

It is that time of the year where everybody is busy with their self-assessment for the year. Even Facebook did not spare us and showed us what we have been up to in 2017. In Feb this year, I had posted my Goals on this blog. I think since it is the end of this year, it would be good to share an update on how I fared. I also did a mid-year review but did not put it up on the blog as there was hardly anything to show and tell.

If you remember well, (here is a reminder in case you do not- click here) the theme of the year was Finishing the Unfinished. I must admit that I was not 100% successful but would rate myself 85% successful. During the year, there were some changes in priorities that took place and also some positive new changes to life that happened due to which I achieved a few other things that were not planned as goals for this year but I am none the less happy that I could achieve them. By the way, the goals do not appear SMART here but in my book where I have written them down, I have applied SMART principles.

Let us see how I fared (just took a deep breath):

Goal 1:  Finishing reading books that I stopped reading half way or those that I bought meaning to read but did not get around to.
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: While I read several books this year, unfortunately, except for a couple, all were new books that I purchased and read. I could not resist buying new books. So, not a big A+ on this one but definitely not an F. I was just happy that I could keep my reading momentum going.

Goal 2: Finishing off my half done craft projects.
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: I did some of this but not all of them. I still have several to finish and I do not think 365 days would be sufficient for me to complete all of them. Having said that, I really focussed on the things that I loved and my new found interests. I took up water colour art more seriously this year and painted a few things- will be up on my blog early next year. I also took up filming videos and learnt a lot about editing them and have also shot a few videos and uploaded them on YouTube....don't go looking for them, they are on a private mode. I still have a few things to do before I start posting videos publicly. I also learnt a bit more of graphic designing with the free tools available online. Most of the graphics on this blog are done by me using those tools but what I learnt is at a whole new level.

Goal 3: Finishing trying out cooking the huge number of recipes that I keep marking to myself favourites to read and try later.
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: I am proud to say that I am 100% happy with the progress that I have made. Though I cannot say I am finished with this, as, the more I read, the more I keep marking recipes as favourites. My biggest accomplishment was the Gujarati thali that I made with several dishes on the go simultaneously- felt like I was in the Masterchef Kitchen with the axe of elimination dangling over my head; and also several cakes that I baked for colleagues and friends. There is a still a long way to go but having come this far, I feel quite confident. My 2018 goals which will be up soon on the blog, will have a refinement of my goal setting with reference to cooking.

Goal 4: Finishing off writing in the journal I am currently writing in.
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: I get a D here. Though I wrote, it was not enough to finish off the journal. It feels as though the journal keeps magically producing pages- the more I write, the more blank pages I see. At one point, I de-prioritised this goal completely- was not worth the stress. In 2018, I have planned a better way to achieve this.

Goal 5: Taking care of myself
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: I think I have done a good job here. I have been walking and exercising more regularly this year. The last I did it so regularly was in 2011 when I took up yoga for a year. So, I am proud of myself. I did have some crazy times at work which would throw me off schedule but I made an effort to crawl back to a routine. In the past few months, the exercise has definitely gone up. Except for the period between April and August, I think I did not look like I have walked out of a jungle and have looked well-groomed (at least in my mind :-))

Goal 6: Regularly updating this blog.
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: I think this year has been exceptional in terms of blogging. I have blogged my highest this year in comparison to all the years since I started blogging.

Goal 7: Personal Life Goals.
The Verdict- My Self Assessment: Though I cannot say what it is, this was the biggest contributor to that 85%.

While I feel there has been a lot of achievements, there is scope for several improvements as well. Hoping for an even better 2018- Wish you a Merry Christmas!!!

Princess by Jean P Sasson

I picked up this book from Blossom Book House on Church Street in Bangalore during Diwali holidays this year. I visited Blossoms' after a long time. They have shifted their premises to another location on Church Street and there is also another book store close to it, mainly used books store called Book Worm. I did go in but could not find anything interesting.

I started reading this book in high school but could not finish it due to my packed schedule back then and the library due date beyond the renewals. When I found this book at Blossom's, I could not resist.  I actually finished the book, cover-to-cover, in a matter of few hours as it was extremely engaging and unputdownable.

The story describes the sad plight and sufferings of women in Saudi Arabia and is a true account.
The book is a story of one of the royal family members, a princess of the large royal family (about 21000 people), who described her life story to Jean Sasson so that it could be carried to the world. Almost all the names have been changed in the book to conceal the true identity of the different members of the royal family and other characters in the book. The princess who describes the story is named Sultana. She is one of several children of the patriarchal royal family and country. The book focusses mainly on the growing up years of  Sultana which I think is through 70s to 90s.

The book is a heart rending account of the despondent lives of women in Saudi Arabia during the above mentioned time period. It describes the crimes against women and the bias of the society towards a man's word as opposed to a woman's, due to which many women never received the justice they deserved. Any kind of revolt against men or disobedience of their "orders" was met with severe punishment for women. However, Sultana, was one of the rebellious few who dared to oppose some of the unfairness in her own way. She has got her way several times by knowing how to manipulate- situation or family members. I specially like the strong actions she took to save her marriage. Though it might seem like an obvious thing to do for most of us not living such circumstances, I can perfectly understand the kind of courage that is needed to take those steps for someone living in a country where polygamy and strict restrictions on women is common. By taking certain simple actions which many not be a big deal in most of the countries, Sultana almost seems to be a hero, championing the cause of women in the country.

There is a great display of wealth in the book. Of course, they are the royals but several times in the story, especially after the Gulf war, Sultana describes her wealth as unlimited. They fly in and out of different countries just for shopping or other forms of entertainment.

I am writing this review in 2017 and so much has changed in terms of women's rights in that country. Women can now vote, drive and even come to the stadiums to watch matches, though there are some rules around those as well. More than 50% of Saudi women are now enrolled in universities. All these may seem to be a contrast to the life described about 25-30 years back. I am glad that Sultana told her story. The country is said to be on its path to progress in matters of women' rights and some day, one from her future generations will learn of the struggles of the past and have an appreciation for the progressive life that they will possibly lead.

Only after I finished reading the book did I realise that it is a part of a trilogy, this book being the first. I will definitely look up for the others. It is an excellent read, written in simple language and gives very descriptive picture of the lives in Saudi Arabia that I felt I was in that country. I would rate the book 5/5 where 5 is excellent.

P.S: Sorry if this post seems a little incoherent. There was so much to say. I have trimmed down a lot as it seemed excessive. I strongly recommend that the book is read.

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

I got this book from Sapna Bookstore in Bangalore. I  got back to reading one of Agatha Christie's book after a really long time. I was really craving to read a mystery and thought this book would be the best to feed the craving. This book is one of the author's most popular characters- Hercule Poirot, the Belgian.

The book is written as a narrative by Poirot's friend, Captain Hastings. There are some parts though, which are pieces of information that tie the story together and are not a part of Captain Hastings' narrative. Christie has clarified the same through the chapter titles.

The story  revolves around a series of murders in an alphabetical order in terms of the location of the murder and the victims' surnames. Of course, Poirot's task at hand is to uncover the murderer. The murderer wrote letters to Poirot prior to committing them, giving him details of the location (only town, not the complete address) of the murder, challenging him to prevent the murders. The story gives an impression initially that the murderer held Poirot responsible for having him/her punished for a crime and that the murderer was now avenging the same. The book shows Poirot's mettle in uncovering the true murderer by scrutinising the seemingly simple and insignificant details as clues. There are also other characters in the book comprising of the relatives of the victims, the cops from Scotland Yard and few others (cannot reveal- will be a spoiler).

The book is written in a simple language with phrases of French scattered throughout the book mostly in Poirot's dialogues. The book also has amazing descriptions of food which, to be honest, either got me hungry or salivating sometimes. Those who know me well, know how much I love well-described food in books. I also loved how Poirot is able to relate to different human minds and the possible actions people would take based on their mental state. His study of human nature and getting inside the mind of the criminal was something that kept me really interested. I must admit though, that a few parts (very few!!) of the book seemed like a drag. I really cannot say that something was wrong with them, just that they bored me.

On a scale of 5 where 5 is excellent, I would rate this book 4/5.

A Home-made Mosquito Repellent

Note: The views, opinions and content mentioned in the blog are solely mine and are not of those of my current or previous employers'.

With the recent heavy rain in most of the Southern states of India, there has been a rise in the number of mosquitoes and diseases carried by them, Dengue in particular, is on the rise (read here). It becomes important for us to protect ourselves from mosquito bites to avoid transmission of the diseases. Even if the mosquitoes are not carrying any disease causing organisms, no one enjoys a bite from them. There are several methods that we use to protect ourselves in India, most popular are as follows:

- Mosquito Repellent Coils
- Mosquito Repellent Diffusers- liquids and mats
- Mosquito Repellent Creams, sprays, patches and roll-on
- In some parts of the country- Mosquito nets (not too effective in my experience)

Most of these methods (except for use of mosquito nets) are quite unsafe and it involves inhalation of a lot of chemicals directly or indirectly. Some people also use Mosquito Repellent plants as well. I think this can be safe as well and if it was possible, I would have grown these at home. Unfortunately, I cannot :-(. I am not sure how effective these are but if you are interested, you can read about 12 such plants here.

Now, I have an "indoorsy" garden just outside my front door and the mosquitoes are usually waiting eagerly in the garden, for us to open our doors to them and they really love our blood. I was using (until this morning) liquid or mat diffusers and they actually worked for me but I always felt uncomfortable at the thought of inhaling invisible fumes of a concoction of chemicals which could harm us in a long run.

Recently, I saw a video on a simple home made mosquito repellent circulating on WhatsApp and thought of trying it out at home. I prepared it today. It is quite easy. All you need is:

- A few pellets of camphor
- Neem Oil

Neem Oil- Brand information and other methods of identification redacted

To prepare the repellent, crush the camphor pellets to a powder- finer, the better. However, I left it a bit chunky. Mix this powder very well with the neem oil. I used about 25 ml of oil and crushed about 5 pellets of camphor.

This mixture can be used in 3 ways:

- Light a lamp using the oil.
- Apply it directly on your skin
- Fill the mixture in an empty liquid diffuser bottle and plug it on.

I used the diffuser method. It has been 3 hours since I turned it on (7pm to 10pm) prior to writing this blog and so far I have not had a mosquito bite. I am not sure if it is because there have been no mosquitoes, or if the repellent is really working. I have to test it out some other time as well and also during different times during the day. I will keep you posted if you are interested in knowing- just drop a comment and I will let you know.

Liquid Diffuser with Camphor-Neem Oil mixture

P.S:
Neem is known to have natural pest repellent qualities. There is a lot of material on the internet to read on this topic.
As per some online content that I read, mainly coming from US, Camphor vapours are likely safe to inhale in small quantities in adults and may have minor side effects. It should not be swallowed whatsoever. Some people are allergic to camphor while applied on skin, so, best to do a small patch test before using it. Please do consult a doctor for the use of camphor, if there are babies, pregnant or lactating mothers around you or if you are one.
Most Indians use camphor as a part of religious worship and are used to it and I have not really known/heard of any one being harmed by its use- but one never knows. In my opinion, this would still be safer than the highly concentrated chemicals (including DDT which our gardener sprays in our garden). Many of the popular vaporubs available in the market also use camphor. Hope you found this useful.

The Magic of the Lost Temple by Sudha Murthy

As you already know that I got this book from Sapna bookstore in my recent book haul (read about the haul here). I wanted to read something light and nothing better than a children's book for it. Now, if you remember my previous review about Sudha Murthy's book (click here to read the review), I had mentioned that I hope that the next book of hers that I read would be different. Thankfully, this book was. The book's target readership is children and hence, written in a very simple language and has some interesting illustrations as as well.

The story revolves around Nooni, a 12 year old who goes to her village in Somanahalli to spend her summer holidays with her grandparents. The book paints a vivid picture of the slow paced village life, constantly comparing it against Bangalore. Nooni's grandma and grandpa narrate to her two different versions of a story of a stepwell related to an ancient ruler Somanayaka. The stories are both intriguing. Nooni makes a bunch of friends in Somanahalli and enjoys the village life a lot by going swimming in the river, picnicking and hiking to nearby places. On one such hikes, she stumbles upon something that feels like the stepwell described in the stories of Somanayaka and that sets the ball rolling for all the forthcoming activities in the village.

The book has amazing descriptions of food and had my mouth watering several times. In addition, the village life is very tempting and made me want to pack my bags and visit Somanahalli. I would have loved to go with Nooni and friends on the picnic by the river. However, I really did not enjoy the comparisons between Bangalore and the village. The village life has been glorified a lot and the city life has been shown as a negative.  Both have their own positives and negatives and I would have really preferred if the writer focussed mainly on the village life.

Some of the writing which describes Nooni's thoughts actually sound like those of an old person and not that of a child. For example, Nooni does not understand what a native fruit is, but, in another place she says that people in Bangalore are more interested in eating at weddings. Somehow, the former comes across as a child's thought but the latter of that of an old person, in my opinion. These are some other such examples which are a little awkward and does not seem to originate from the same person's brain. The book does get a little preachy in parts- I guess it is intended to be, considering, the target readers to be children. Otherwise, the book is a great read for kids and adults alike. It was a page turner and unputdownable. I hope to read similar stories from Sudha Murthy going forward.  I enjoyed reading this book thoroughly and highly recommend it for a children's movie too. The book has also touched up on some social issues such as lack of toilets etc.

Overall, a good read and I would rate it 4/5.

The Empty House

I bought the book at Sapna Bookstore during my Christmas vacation last year (again!). I wanted a light book to read as I was travelling to Hubli to attend a wedding. I love reading books on train and thought this would be a great read on the train.

Now, I really picked this book up without reading much on the back cover. The front cover indicated Ruskin Bond- The Empty House and Ruskin Bond was good enough for me to pick book up. However, once I started reading, I realised that this book is a compilation of stories by Ruskin Bond. Except one, all stories have been written by various writers.

The theme of the stories is 'Spooky' and comprises of supernatural thrillers. The Empty House happens to be one of the stories in the book. Probably Ruskin Bond or the publisher thought that this is the best story in the book and decided to put the name on the cover. Though the story was good, it was not the best according to me. My favourite in the book was that of Ruskin Bond's called Gone Fishing about a loyal servant waiting for his master's return who had Gone Fishing years back and the master does return and How!!! Read to enjoy. It was a simple story yet had a superb twist in the tale- Loved it. There were other good stories too of which I liked- The White Wolf of Hartz Mountain and Mrs. Raeburn's Waxworks. Though the compilation is good, none of them could equal Gone Fishing for me.

If I have to rate the book, it will be 4/5 as some stories did not thrill me enough for a supernatural thriller compilation. However, I strongly recommend that you read the book as a big part of it is still quite good.

Book Haul from Sapna Book Store

I went to meet a friend visiting from Hyderabad on Gandhi Jayanti, for lunch. Following lunch, we had a milkshake at the Drunken Monkey and just went to Sapna Bookstore for just a glimpse...thought we would peep in and out without any plans/intentions of buying books. However, we both ended up buying books and I also bought some stationery to make myself feel good.

It is now time to unveil my book purchases.

I observed an Instagramer consistently post pictures of Agatha Christie's books. When I saw the ABC murder, I recalled that the Instagramer had posted a picture of the book with the same front cover. The cover was so inviting, I couldn't help myself and decided to get it. I sometimes, do judge books by their cover. I have read many of Agatha Christie's books in high school. I somehow do not recall if I have read the ABC murders so that gave me one more reason to buy the book. I do not mind re-reading such books.

I wanted to read a fictional story from Sudha Murthy and not a compilation of anecdotes from her life. Though the book- The Magic of the Lost Temple is intended to be a children's book, I do not mind reading it. I love reading children's books to date and read them from time to time.

I have been hearing a lot about Twinkle Khanna as a writer and how witty and hilarious she is, especially in The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, that I had decided to buy the book long back but it was never in sight or on top of my mind whenever I shopped. At Sapna, it was staring at me and did not allow me to forget buying it.

This is it- a small little update from my recent purchase.