Broke Nolan’s Law by watching it in a Non-IMAX theater. Hoped that I wouldn’t lose my way back home after watching the next movie in theatres. Also, this completes my one year since returning to Jaipur after a 15 year long stay in Bengaluru. This post is a mishmash of the movie watching and the emotion of completing the Odyssey.

This might be one of the handful of movies, that I have seen in a theatre all alone. I mean, not that the theatre was empty, just me going alone all by myself. But it was surely not more than 25% occupied. This gave me a focused and dedicated viewing experience. As Nolan intended.

My main takeaway from the movie was how relatable the story felt to Indians because our epics share so much with Homer’s work. We can go into a rabbit hole of things which are almost identical like the bow scene in the movie with Ramayan. How many characters look and talk the same between 2 cultures! We may be very different now but probably the stories just traveled from one place and just took a small deviation on the way and eventually turned out to be in a different language and creating different cultures. Few things got lost in translation and some stayed the same. (Obviously, the origin must be Indian because I am writing this from India. Jai Hind.)

Now, when it comes to technicalities, I couldn’t watch it in IMAX because of its unavailability in Jaipur. But there are 2 IMAX theaters opening very soon, which is exciting. With what I had, one must appreciate Nolan for trying to stay as analog as possible. I am not a fanboy but I do understand the effort one has to make extra to make such a movie of such a massive scale. When everything around us is becoming more and more fake, Cinema which is techically all fake, made in a realistic manner, is a big deal I guess.

I recommend this movie to everyone who wants to enjoy and relive a historical, mythological, and still cinematic take on a cultural defining epic. Don’t go with any emotional takeaway. Like how in Oppenheimer, one had to revise Nuclear Fusion and Fission beforehand, this was relatively straightforward to understand. Of course, I did my homework by remembering a few names. Like how Nolan intended.

Taking a detour, like how Odysseus had to stay decades away from home, this month marks 1 year of my return back home after spending a decade and a half in Bengaluru. It has been literally a 2nd Home as well which I miss from time to time. Dose here doesn’t feel the same, no matter how Benne you may make it. But mentally, I feel now it is the time and totally fine to not invoke Bengaluru every now and then while talking to people. Jaipur is where I am and hoping to be for time being.

Back in 2010, when I moved there, I had thought that I would return back after 5 years. Most of my mates did move back or moved abroad. Along with a few, I remained in Bengaluru. It slowly grew on me and I got used to the weather and the traffic, the only thing people bring up when they talk about the city.

Though, like how Odysseus got sort of trapped with Calypso for years and didn’t know whether this was a confinement or deliberate attempt to stay, for me post Covid, it has been a similar experience. When you continue to work from home and don’t socialize much, there is barely any difference as to where you live. Life shouldn’t have to be that way, but that’s convenient and we seek convenience and compromise over certain things.

Having said that, one should never say never to anything life hands over to you. If Odysseus hadn’t got the Odyssey, it would have been a boring tale. Wouldn’t it?

Maybe that is the point of every long journey. Not just to reach home, but to look back at the detours, the years that stretched longer than planned, and feel grateful that they happened at all.

P.S.: When I get a chance to visit Bengaluru again, I wish this gets completed.

How much fun is it to be believe that ‘ah this time things would change! This time surely a revolution would stir up and bring drastic differences to our lives. This time we will get what we want!’.

And only to realize that nothing really changes.

It is not being cynical and nihilistic. Alright, maybe it is. But things never change here. Even if one applies 500% tariffs, life finds a way and people re-route their exports (and even their people). As someone had said, we in India live both in 2050 as well as 1850 exactly at the same time. And this is the worst thing and the best thing about us. The complexity of systems and their inability to change quickly is carved in stones here.

Why it feels like things would change?

Every few years there is an itch in some section of the society. And every few years the youth awakens, stretches, yawns, and scratches the itch, before snoozing and sleeping again. All thanks to the inactions, and actions of the Government or some miscreants. Roads get made, and they get dug up the very next day. Bridges get made and collapse after the first rain. Let’s not go into potholes, figuratively as well as literally. To get anything done honestly, one gets drained so much that we tend to go towards the closest shortcuts #IYKYK. But one day, the blood boils up to the brim and it spills. That day, we all realize that enough is enough and people up top have to go.

We decide to act and take matters into our own soft snowflake hands. We dress up with #grwm, pump our fists, make angry faces, take out our weapons of choices (phones and keyboards) and post angrily online. Boom. Job done!

Then it appears that yes few things have changed but only on a surface level. But nothing really changes. After enough provocations, and some folks, with no responsibilities (job and family wise) and enough motivation to join/create a political party and make a career out of it, come on the roads and take out protests. If the protests really fit our confirmation bias, we support them. We collectively mobilize, raise slogans, and rally behind them. Because we need some leaders to get moving. It is easy to follow someone. Why think originally when we can outsource it? Why make effort ourselves because we have designated some leaders to fight for our cause? The most we could do is make some reels, post a few stories, crack some pun-laden tweets on X, and feel pride as if we hit our protein goal for a day.

It feels like finally things would finally change.

Why nothing would change actually?

Expecting things, institutions, and systems to change in this country is like expecting to reach the end of the feed of your infinite scroll. They cannot change by any revolution. In fact, having a revolution itself is not possible due to the heterogenity in our homogenity. You have to do something really drastic to make the tides turn. Like indulging in some meaningful protest and sprinkle a bit of violence on the side. That might work in some cases. Normally, things change here only one way. Organically. Virally only jokes spread or diseases.

If one expects that papers shouldn’t leak before exams, it means that the price of the leaked paper should be so high that nobody, and not just them, is able to afford and the paper leakers starve and shut down their shop. Otherwise if by chance it is available, anyone who can afford it would happily get a copy. Have you ever cheated in an exam? No? Ok. You try to bring real change and then a lollipop of freebies are shown to you which makes your attention diffused like a water cannon diffuses a mob.

For the education system to change, it needs absolute change of the whole mindset of the community. This is not possible in at least my lifetime. We believe english speaking is equivalent to education and a degree means a shortcut to success. Try engaging on this with sense with anyone, and you will be cursing yourself to even try. The people up top are the same people down below. Have you ever tried changing yourself? Please.

What to do then?

The only and literally the only way out is to outgrow your surroundings and peers in terms of skills, education, and finances (and of course luck). No excuses, just sheer efforts, persistence and chance. Till you don’t have the combination of these things, keep sharing angry social media posts. Best wishes.

P.S.: This post is short but might be intentionally longform for millennials and it would be too much to read, and for Gen Zs impossible to hold attention for this much time. Moreover, these terms and classifications of generations is as helpless as a cockroach lying upside down.

Not sure what is it with media content these days, one cannot remember it for a longer duration. Everything feels transient.

I am sure I am going to forget these 2 as well: The movie and the book both. Not because they are not in anyways not worth remembering. Both of them are. And due to nostalgia and inertia, I was hooked by both of them. But because I came across them so late in life. Disclosure Day was released in June 2026. So it is not late but the movie itself could’ve been released 20 years late. Contact, released in 1980s (which is as far away from Now, as World War 2 was in 1980s) is considered a milestone in itself but I happened to read it 10 years after watching Interstellar.

Coming to the point: We have seen so many things inspired from Spielberg himself and watched enough Cosmos related shows inspired from Carl Sagan himself, that novelty is missing. Though, if one is enough open minded, certainly they both are quiet moving. I should not club both but since I did already, here is my short take on both, respectively.

Disclosure Day was a good movie. But not great. The cliffhanger ending was certainly the best part. We did see brilliant action sequence involving the chase and the train which reminded me of classic Spielberg. But Disclosure didn’t give me closure.

Contact is something to re-read, specially the part about how would the world react when an Alien Civilization would be at our doorstep. But would we actually react this way or it would be like the movie “Don’t Look Up”? I think the latter.

Only if “Project Hail Mary”‘s premise (I should rewatch this surely) becomes real, that Earth’s days are indeed limited, only then something would happen.

Otherwise, in general, going by the newscycles nowadays, general nihilism about everything would shock us negligibly if we get to know that we are not alone.

1. If you ever get an opportunity to be close to nature, nothing else can top that. (don’t sleep in Jungle though)
2. Education is paramount to whatever you would do. In our society, degrees matter.
3. You can never keep everyone happy. Somewhere someone will get pissed off by your actions or inactions.
4. You can choose whom you want to keep in your lives and whom to ignore. Reassess frequently.
5. Aging happens. One can control only some aspects of it. Rest you cannot.
6. Some core habits of yours will always help you no matter how difficult the world around you becomes. For example: Punctuality
7. Nobody has time to read your lists, your lines, your paragraphs, or even your blog. It doesn’t matter. Do it for yourself.
8. Writing is one of the best habits one can have. As they say: If you can read but don’t, you have no advantage over those who can’t. Same goes for writing.
9. No matter how much you evade, politics would catch you somehow.
10. Some people will always have an impact on you, even if you want to avoid them by all means.
11. Your health is only in your hands. Nobody else would make you healthier or unhealthier. Only you can.
12. Don’t sleep with grudges by your side. Wake up with a smile.
13. Reading is a good habit to have. But don’t let anyone make you believe that it is the only way to learn.
14. Listen to music regularly.
15. Try your best to not harm anyone else.
16. Always be humble towards others. You may show off if you have something to brag but needn’t overdo.
17. Nobody really thinks about you as much as you do in your head.
18. If you can learn a musical instrument, that would really be good.
19. Don’t ever mock someone for something they cannot change. For example: their physical traits or their lisp.
20. Learn from others. Learn from people you don’t like.
21. Don’t assume things. pehle instemaal karein fir wishwaas karein.
22. Never reveal all your truths. Keep some handy for right time.
23. Learn basic life skills like driving, swimming, etc. which includes learning more than 2 languages.
24. Travel when you can. Let some experiences shock you both negatively and positively.
25. Be passionate about something. But don’t go crazy about it. Don’t make it your whole personality.
26. Play with kids. Help elderly.
27. Try all kinds of cuisines. If you have some limitations, it is okay. There are still a lot of things to taste.
28. Being a vegetarian, and saying No to alcohol is fine. Otherwise is also fine.
29. Tell people what you feel about them without regret. Regret about the way you told them if it didn’t end properly.
30. Nostalgia is a waste of time. Life is very short.
31. Try to wake up while you are dreaming. Or try to do something absurd within your dream, if you can.
32. Learning about Space can keep you grounded.
33. Faith is a tricky subject. But humans usually cannot function without it. Some go extreme and it is always safe to avoid those.
34. Fiction might have same impact as Reality sometimes.
35. Some bad experiences might shape your worldview permanently so try to hold your beliefs as fluidly as you can. Always be open to be challenged and changed.
36. Some joys are beyond explanation. Like becoming a parent.
37. Everyone will leave eventually. Or you would leave someone when time comes.
38. Fail. Fail multiple times. But always give a try.
39. The best place to experience everything all at once is India. It is like living in past, future, present and everywhere.
40. Always stay optimistic. It is not the end. Even if it is, there could be something else coming up next.

P.S.: It is not my 40th Birthday today. But I was planning to do it since a few months when it was. Thanks to https://x.com/Camp4/status/1992958445885198805

So, here we are, the year 2024 is coming to a close. Here’s a short summary of life in 2024.

Good Parts

Becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster

This could’ve been a separate post in itself but the fact that it isn’t sums up the feeling I have about it. For someone who was not really considered a great public speaker, achieving a DTM is a big deal for those who are in Toastmasters. For others, not so much obviously. But the fact that I have achieved this feat in 8 or so years (after kind of restarting with Pathways), it does feel like a coming of age. Through Toastmasters, I got a chance to meet so many various kind of people with varying talent but a common feeling of appreciating others in public. Appreciating others is an art but in Toastmasters, this is in its ethos. I am proud to be a member and prouder to finish the highest educational award one can get in it. I still think that there’s a long way to go for me to be called a Proficient Public Speaker but at least now the collywobbles are in control. Thanks to everyone who have been with me in this journey. Special thanks to a few folks who thought it was funny to mock my speaking style thinking I didn’t really notice it.

Parenting

Although I wrote about it already but this deserves a lot more because each day is an experience and learning. No matter what you can do for your kids, one always feel like they’re not doing enough. My kid has now entered teen-age. Teen is 3 in Hindi. The experience nowadays is a good teaser for how actual teenage is going to be after a decade. In short, I don’t know how to convince her to do what I say. I am going to keep repeating this phrase forever I think.

Bad Parts

Aging

I wanted to first have a bit of salt and pepper instead of sub-continent cricket pitch but what’s the fun in that?

Larry David said in one of the seasons of Curb, he didn’t believe in praying because he was bald.

Heh, thanks to Bengaluru water, general stress in work, and environment, I am balding faster than getting gray hair. Also, due to the pandemic mindset, physical activity has been tending to zero. Overall, the feeling is not great. But we cannot control it so entering the fourth decade will be done with enthusiasm instead of somberness. A lot has been said about it but when you grow, people you grew up with grow older faster. That is something I think about more than anything else.

Ugly Parts

Obesity

Instead of writing about it, it is better to do something about it. Let’s circle back after a few months.

Work-Life Balance

Honestly, and frankly, I don’t really get working remotely. It is not good for anyone. All we needed is an option to work remotely in case needed but as per my 5 years of expertise in this field, working from office and switching the mind off after the day was ideal. This wave-particle nature of WFH and Return To Office is stupid. I’d rather be given stress face to face instead of someone slacking me about it.

Things I consumed this year

The list is not too big though.

Books

The Anthology of Balaji: A Guide to Technology, Truth, and Building the Future by Eric Jorgenson. – 3.5 stars

Timeline by Michael Chricton – 3.5 stars

TV

What we do in shadows – Excellent overall. Review some other day.

Succession – Excellent overall. Review some other day.

With a hope of writing more, wishing the reader of this post, a Happy 2025 to you and your loved ones. Enjoy more, worry less.

Header Image is AI Generated, as if this needs to be said even.

Making dark comedy is such a delicate task as one wrong move can totally change the tone of the whole show. I think, Barry nails this fine balance and comes off as one of the best shows I have seen. It has comedy in equal proportions as the brutality of violence in others.

Although past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, the creator of the show features someone who has written Seinfeld and Silicon Valley. The highlight is of course the lead Bill Hader who is mostly known for his gags in SNL. It’s amazing how comedians deliver the best tragedies. No wonder this show was called Breaking Bad of Comedy. All the ensemble cast is just brilliant too.

I have generally liked the movies of Coen Brothers, and shows like Fargo. This fits right with them.

Comedy has become so rare these days that one really has to really dig deep into the abundance of nonsense present across OTT services. I am glad that I found Barry. Highly recommended.

Art describes Jews as Mice, Nazis as Cats, and other nationalities also as anthropomorphic.

The relationship depiction of the father-son duo is absolutely terrific. I mean, I could go on about how relatable this is and how truthful it might be across the world, but I don’t really want to go there at this moment.

Despite having watched plethora of World War 2 related movies, included some of the best works like Schindler’s List, Son of Saul, (and even Inglorious Bastards), this take still shakes you to the core when Vladek describes what happened back then. How he and his wife Anja got separated, met again, again got separated and eventually sent to Auschwitz and somehow survived, is thrilling, moving, emotional, and leaves you hopeful.

Even thinking of what some people had to go through gives one shudders. Although World War 2 is now something which happened 75+ years ago, humans haven’t really evolved and time and again we come across similar behaviors. Reading this reminds one of the horrors again.

The highlight for me is however the relationship between the writer and the father who has been so much. I strongly strongly recommend everyone to read this. This is one of the best out there.

This book is one of those books. ‘Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman’ is an autobiography of sorts. It has chapters from Physicist Dr. Richard Feynman’s earliest days when his curiosity led him to experiment and eventually becoming a scientist, to his stint in the Manhattan Project, and his teaching days and general philosophy in life.

Nobel Prize winning scientist Richard P. Feynman was one of the most interesting characters the field of Physics has produced. He was referenced a lot in ‘The Big Bang Theory’ but I didn’t take notice. But when he made an appearance in the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ playing bongos when the Trinity Test was done, I thought to delve into this book I had only heard praises about.

The title of the book is perfect because some of the stories are absurd. It can also come across as eccentric or even arrogance but one needs to read it objectively. For instance, when the Nobel Prize was announced for Feynman, he jokes about how weird he felt accepting it and meeting the royalty of Sweden. His relationship and general opinion about Humanities are very relatable even today as the world is trying to react to the advent of the Wokeism culture.

What I liked the most was his approach to understand anything! Rote Learning which we suffer from thanks to our educational system has been criticised a lot in this book. He stresses on not remembering definitions or terms, but understanding the concepts.

On a totally different spectrum, he details his adventures of learning new languages, traveling to Brazil and Japan, and being a frequent to pubs and making friends and girlfriends, as if a comedy show is being played out. It would actually be a very interesting one if someone adapts to a biographical TV show.

I enjoyed reading this and would like to read other non technical books of his. I have also heard a lot about the Feynman Lectures where his Physics Lectures were videographed. Anyways the interviews of Richard Feynman are equally interesting.

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkUh-KUiNVmW9GyGISDxZP5AonIfqLwXE (All (and only) 6 episodes are available already. Tudum!)

On Audio Only Platforms, each episode will be released on Thursday Morning. 1st one is already out:

• Spotify 
  
  https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DvB4gNR8NBV15ICwQw5N6?si=vG4bx33IRn6d1uRp3YEFYA
• Amazon Music 
  
  https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/27168e24-a055-413a-ac22-2c7e1a7cf091/trailblazers-book-club-a-podcast-by-abhinav

Tools Used

• Canva for all the cover art and animations
• Microsoft Clipchamp for stitching videos and audio
• Zoom to record video interviews
• Spotify for Podcasters as the Podcasting Platform
• YouTube for hosting and sharing

Special Thanks to my Toastmasters Club Folks for allowing me to do this

• Shailu and Narayanan for appearing as Guests
• Dinesh for taking the pain to go through all the episodes
• Trailblazers Toastmasters Club

More thanks to these people for inspiring me to do this project

• Rohit
• Sweta
• Talk Your Way Up Podcast

*wait I will continue this in a minute after taking a deep breath and seems like something is in my eyes*

It is slightly easier if the pre-school is just a stone’s throw away but leaving them there on their own is like someone grabbing your intestines and twisting them a bit gently.

We have been prepping her for a year by showing the school to her so she didn’t face any difficulty in adjusting to the place.  Just being a new parent and adjusting to not seeing her around is challenging. Handing over your biggest asset to strangers and then trusting them fully is something to learn. You think you can focus but your mind keeps going back to school. imagining if your kid is safe there or did you just hear her crying?

When I was sent to a school I know I must have cried buckets. Kids nowadays are built differently. Even schools are built differently and aren’t the same old dingy lit dungeons where a dragon (the teacher) is sitting there to split you open and gorge on your insides. Now they are airy, well-lit, and full of attractive toys to lure your kids. I hardly heard any teacher shouting at kids. And as I stay *literally* opposite that school, if they do shout, I will get her back instantly. *Eminem’s mockingbird song comes to mind*

As I write this waiting outside to pick her back up, the teacher told me she vomited after crying a bit but she is totally fine now.

I don’t know how to deal with such stuff.

Photo by Michał Bożek on Unsplash