Monthly Review: November’22

Meeting friends, celebrating with relatives, enjoying little moments and watching Monica O My Darling — November has been kind to me!

Books

Nallanchu Tella Cheera:

I purchased it a few months back when the Emesco bookhouse bus was in our town. I went there to buy Vishala Netralu after knowing that it was an unfulfilled dream of Krishnam Raju to adapt the novel into a movie. I couldn’t find the book and bought this one from Yandamoori.

Though this novel is predictable and has Yandamoori’s mark on it, it wasn’t that great or engrossing compared to his other novels. I’m yet to watch the movie Donga Mogudu starring Chiranjeevi, which was based on this novel. I don’t think I’d revisit this novel in the future as I did for the Anando Brahma and Tulasi series.

One thing I liked about Yandamoori is his depth in the demographics of the story and the character detailing. It never changes and makes us finish the book irrespective of the initial set-up.

Movies

A Gentleman

I was checking the Filmography of Raj and DK and noticed I didn’t watch this movie. I love watching quirky comedies with stylish action sequences.

Watched this movie while travelling to Hyderabad on a train, and my co-passenger gave me a weird look when I started laughing out loud at a scene before the climax. I liked the movie, though people disapproved of it during its theatrical release.

Yashoda

Yes, I watched this movie starring Samantha. We watched this movie in a theatre with 12 family members attending the screening. Though I liked parts of the movie, this movie has a dark theme that should be rated “A”, in my opinion. It’s better for kids and people with sensitive hearts not to watch this movie. It could have been a good dark thriller if it wasn’t catering to a mainstream audience.

Monica O My Darling

One of the best movies I have seen this year. Just crazy, whacky, and funny. This movie is highly recommended if you’re a fan of dark comedies. I’m listening to the songs of this movie while typing the blog!

Courtesy: Netflix

I don’t wanna reveal too much of it. Hit me up if we can revisit it together 😀

Maja Ma

My friend, Apurva, recommended this movie starring Madhuri Dixit and others. I watched it and liked the way they showcased a family drama with a sensitive subject. This is the first movie by Madhuri Dixit I watched. Wrote about it in detail here.

Rorschach

I watched this movie starring Mammootty on Hotstar. Though I partially liked the idea, I didn’t enjoy watching the movie. I couldn’t continue watching the film that progress at a snail’s pace.

Web Series

I started this month with Mind Hunter. It was interesting but disturbing too. I shared my thoughts on the web series here.

Other stuff

Traffic Jam

One of my father’s colleagues and a family friend visited us at our home, and on his way to return, I went to drop him off at the office. The office is on the outskirts of the town, and it is around 5kms from my home. We were almost there, but after 4 km, there was the worst traffic jam on the flyover.

A tractor was coming the opposite way with a load more than triple its capacity carrying dry grass towards the town, and it almost halted the traffic for 2 hours. Around 100 bikes, a couple of school buses, intercity buses, and heavy vehicles were stalled until police intervened to clear it.

I never expected that traffic in this small town! Imagine someone getting started towards Airport and the tension they get into due to this unexpected, tormenting traffic jam because of a greedy owner! Thankfully there wasn’t an ambulance stuck in the traffic.

Now I can understand the frustration of Bengaluru folks!

Chess with Sudhanva

Sudhanva is my elder brother’s son and is five years old now. The last time I visited them in May, he was interested in learning chess and was figuring out how to play. I met him again this month, and boy, he was acing the game. I’m not a pro but I can understand the prowess he’s got. Truly amazed by his ability to learn and apply soon! He’s the one with whom I talk a lot too!

We both played cricket too! He won, obviously, and he wrote about it in his homework. Cute kid ❤

Song

It is always endearing to go back to 90s songs. Recently, my friend, living legend, Raghotham, shared a post on Instagram where 90s Telugu melodies were compiled. I listened to all of them, but this one had my heart. I’ve been listening to this song:

Tours

I have been to Bengaluru again for our company’s offsite, where I met my friends and colleagues, and we had a short trip to Sakleshpura. It was a refreshing experience that I’ll cherish forever. Wrote about it here.

Tapovana Resorts, Sakleshpura

Okay, it’s been more than a month since I finished my Pondicherry trip, but my procrastination pushed me to write a blog about it. Sincere apologies; I will try writing it in the next ten days. Also, as an excuse, I wrote a Travel Case for Pranav about my Pondicherry experience here. Please check it out if you’re going to plan for a workation. Pranav is building it to make it easy for remote work communities.

Blogs:

Here are the blogs I published this month:

1. On Mind Hunter:

Mindhunter: Interesting and disturbing

2. On Maja Ma:

Maja Ma — Understanding what she wants

3. On our Fyle Offsite to Sakleshpura:

Fyle Offsite: Memorable and refreshing trip

Until next time…