Books, Travels & More

As the year comes to a close, it is time to take stock of what I did in 2025.

This year, I had taken a conscientious decision to increase my blogging activity. I was fairly consistent with my posting. I also made it a point to send links to my posts to my friends and relatives.

Unfortunately, the organic following is very, very slow and I need to find a way to improve this.

This month I managed to read two out of the four books that I had borrowed from the library . Ever since the Library shifted, I’ve been loathe to use it. And worse, once it was rearranged, I completely lost my incentive to trudge up and borrow books. However, buying books is no longer an option, so I just have to borrow books.

Reading books, I find, is more relaxing than watching television. And surprisingly it has also improved my short term memory.

So even though I’ve decided NOT to make any resolutions for 2026 I will definitely reaffirm my intent to read MORE books in the new year.

Overall, I think I managed 2-3 books a month this year

There were some months like September, October and November where I didn’t read any books at all.

This month despite the busy social scene, I managed to read two books

Pavan Varma’s book was written in plain prose – very bland and dull even at times. An overworked, unappreciated Delhi lawyer , trapped in a loveless marriage slowly resorts to alcohol as his once brilliant career nose dives. Recovering fromja near-fatal stroke leads him to Bhutan, where he ultimately finds himself and his true love. What lifts it from the ordinary are the couplets and verse in Urdu and Hindi that are interspersed throughout the book.

Intrigued by the name of the author, I took up reading Xochitl Gonzalez’ book and was quite taken in by the story. It concerns a young Latin American Arts History major studying in an Ivy League college. It deals with multiple issues – affirmative action, race and gender discrimination, class biases and stereotypes and cultural differences. With well-delineated characters, Gonzalez weaves two stories that combine the spirit world and reality.

Travel

Travel seemed to be on the cards this year with the trip of a lifetime to the Kumbhamela in end January. Taking a dip in the cold waters of the Ganges was a transformative experience.

Halfway through the year I made a weekend trip to Pune where we visited the ancient Shiva temple of Bhuleshwar.

What were supposed to be post-monsoon trips turned out to be a damp journey to the Konkan and wet four day trip to Munnar that we had to cut short. Luckily, the weather held during a long overdue trip to the Deccan towns of Bijapur, Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole.

SOme cultural activity

The highlight of this year was the Nutcracker on Ice that we saw at the NMACC. This was truly spectacular with Olympian ice skaters performing this ballet on a specially constructed ice rink in the theatre.

The sets were magnificent, as were the costumes and overall, the show was truly magical.

Equally enjoyable were the music concerts of the Little Po and the Annual dance of Ms. Papaya.

I enjoyed a retrospective of Krishan Khanna held at the NGMA . This was a beautiful exhibition to celebrate the artist’s 100 birthday this year.

and visited two exhibitions at the NSCI.

Overall, it was a good year with plenty of social activities, catching up with family and friends.

Here’s hoping that 2026 is a good year.

Ciao,