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Showing posts from July, 2021

Midsommar - Macabre tale set in the land of the midnight sun

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The creepy trailer and the tag of it being a horror movie without actual ghosts lured me into watching it.  And there was Dani - the female protagonist around whose breakup journey the story revolves, who starred in Little Women. I like to watch movies by the actors that I had loved in one past movie. She is phenomenal in expressing the sheer grief and trauma that is an integral part of this movie.  But there should have been a disclaimer somewhere - watch at your own discretion and risk. It's not an easy movie. In one word - it's Macabre . Not exactly horror. It just affects you mentally. I won't really recommend it - but truth is curiosity got better of me and I watched it completely, and then watched 'ending explained' videos and real midsummer rituals in Nordic lands which are nothing like what is in this movie.  Dark thriller with brutal violence disguised as Scandinavian pagan culture traditions in the land of the midnight sun . The script has taken old folk

Let's Talk About Money by Monika Halan

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Personal finance is something each one of us has to deal with at some point of time. We cannot escape that need by the regular excuse - " finance is not for me ". We have to teach ourselves the basics of finance and the way to deal with the money we earn for the long term - investment, insurance, retirement corpus, etc. We are responsible for our own financial literacy. Furthermore, it is actually in the best interests of the financial market to keep us confused, make us think the jargons are just way to many to ride through. We need to work hard to educate ourselves so that we don't regret our choices later in life. The cost of being ignorant is way too much. Last week I read 'Let's Talk Money' by Monika Halan - a planned approach to investment, in the Indian context. She is a sane voice that makes finance accessible for beginners. Those without an academic or management background in finance, can start off their learning with this one. It's written in v

Books I Grew Up Reading

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I was watching  BoTCast - Books On Toast videos - I am loving those bookish conversations. I keep listening to them day in and day out - well, it's been just two days since I discovered their vlogs on Youtube.  Audio contents are awesome. I warmed up to podcasts on Spotify sometime in 2020 when the concept of lockdown was getting introduced slowly in various states. But I have forever loved listening. Radio storytimes with Neelesh Misra was a regular for me every evening 9 pm during college. With Clubhouse doing the rounds around every corner of the internet, though all of it feels like noise - or may be I am not introduced to the right content or 'hall'/'room' yet, audio is here to stay. Reading was time taking, so medium of video became popular - YouTube, now even video takes one to focus on the screen, so audio is back. The days of radio are perhaps back. We can multitask as audio content entertaining us.  I liked an episode of Books on Toast where they discuss

Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju

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