Joys of Minnesota

  When I landed in Minnesota and lived on borrowed chunks of time, I would compare stuff with India, as that was my only point of reference. With time, the novelty wore off, but these things still stuck in mind.

Library system - now this is across USA, but I will comment as a MN user.
Its unbelievable how many things are free ! Books. Magazine even. DVDs of movies & TV shows, and learning stuff too. Children's books. Do you know how expensive all of these are to buy ? And then to store books & dispose later. Big Thanks to Libraries.
Online system makes life easier. Search & order books. Stop-by the library for only a few minutes to pick it up. Return books via a slot in drive-through window. Renewal in the online-account. Late fees are just a few cents generally.

Trails - nearly every city has one. Or atleast the sidewalk system is far & wide & clean to go run.

Lakes - water & ponds everywhere. Not called "Land of 100 thousand Lakes" for nothing.

Strawberry - I am always in awe of the Strawberries. Each one being juicy, chunky and large size. 

Caribou Coffee - Now that is coffee. Its really good.
Plus this is the store I approached when I got lost driving through highways without GPS & cellphone. They let me use their landline. Those were olden days, I was new in USA and only a person in my situation can appreciate their help.

Clear Blue sky, lush greenery which pops out every spring. Winter has its share of evergreens to look at.

Winter wonderland after every snowstrom, snow shower, snow blizzard. When bare trees, fence frames and random still objects are like coated in snow. Its called hoar-frost. 

In Feb, Mar & April, there is so much snow, there is no place to shovel it. Its spilling on sidewalks & roads. We run out of place to push it in. The 2-car driveway narrows down to cycle-width.

There are a whole lot of memes that perfectly capture the living in MN experience. Especially the winter MinneSnowta. That's what the real thing is.

    

Peachy Georgia

More on Georgia after the initial experience after we moved.

Atmospheric pressure in Georgia is different from Minnesota. A pleasent surprise in the first week. Food was boiling hot in 1-minute-Microwave. Any kind of microwave; anywhere. And then the food stayed hot outside microwave. My Tea water boiled up even before I could leave the table. In MN, I could leave the kettle for boil & could enjoy a Spa visit before it started boiling. Made my tea breaks real zippy.

There are trees everywhere. Did I mention the greenery ? Trees, dense growth. 

The frequency of Landscaping/Lawnmowing vehicles in Minnesota is matched with vehicles ready to do Overgrowth management in Georgia. There was a truck with a very humorous poster; totally distracted me while driving. 

And like we talk of the weather in MN, topic of trees is the prime small talk here. Neighbors welcome the newcomers with topic of trees. "Hey welcome. Do you plan to trim your trees ? It's coming to my side." That's how ever-present trees are in Georgia. My kids told me the story of how one group of friends ate in the outside-cafe everyday and their table had a huge tree for shade in summer and rains. Suddenly the school chopped that tree down and now those school kids eat in inside cafe. So parent-kids talk about trees too.

One time we both were driving through a very dark lonely stretch of McGinness Ferry road, and it seemed unfamiliar. My kid felt so too. I could see places I had never seen before. I was worried I took a wrong turn at this time of dark night. Then we realized that acres of trees had been chopped off for the new exit to 400. That's why it looked bare and new.

More pollution than MN. Maybe its the annual Fall increase when the cold fog forms a dome & traps all smoke. Or the one where Canada wildfires throw smoke southward. It was showing 70-90 AQI while it was 30-40AQI in MN. Either way I had a terrifying weak questioning (again) why did I move ?

Plus why not ? Every kind of car exists here. All roads are always packed. And I am talking of non-highways. There are so many routes and you can survive without taking the highway. In MN , I felt like I zipped the 494 everyday.

Highways have some epics stories about rush hour traffic. Its purely crawl traffic, I have heard.

There is no chance of driving from one place to another, as the crow flies. There are no parallel or perpendicular roads. Every route is like an oval. Going from any point A to point B, is like driving the circumference of an oval or sphere. Getting out from any place involves driving around something, to get out of a place. We do see loads of people walking and there are bus in the suburbia.

Running Report for 2021

I got in my miles this year in Minnesota & Georgia this year. 

There are 14 miles in Jan-21 but it doesn't show up in the Garmin report. Garmin doesn't show mileage by calendar year. These 443 miles are less than 2020 mileage but in line with my past many years.

State park walks in Utah during Spring Break don't count as running; but it is part of my fitness report.

My only Minnesota race was the Plymouth 5K 2021. This one was very fun. My kid & few neighbor friends & few kids signed up. It was fun competing with each other and bets on winnng & losing among ourselves.

And my only Georgia race was in Oct - Alpharetta Women's Half Marathon 2021. Also my first one outside Minnesota.

My first time running in Georgia started in August-September. 

August is when we moved from MN to GA and for run mileage, there is a dip. Mileage picked up in Sep & Oct. The weather was definitely not cooler, humidity was noticeable. And it rained every few days, cooling the whole place down. The only thing to get used to was the steep inclines & declines. 

And then in Nov, when I stepped out one morning dressed up as usual, and got a shock of my life. Its was freaking cold. Shock is because I was lulled into warmth and imagined it never goes below 60 in GA ! High expectations yes. But it did and I took a few weeks to get used to it - mainly questioning my decision to move. Mileage picked up decently for holiday months. 

All of my yearly Run Reports are here.

Wish you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year !

2021 Round of Movies

 Sometime in 2020 and a lot this year, I have kept saying, "Hindi, English mein kuch nahi rakh-kha. " There were a whole slew to see in other languages.

Also this year, regional folks have come up with their own OTT like language channels came up few decades back. Katte for Kannada, Tulu, Konkani. OYO for Gujrati, Telugu ones, numerous for Bengali.

That is unaffordable for people like me who have interests across many a languages.

I can imagine its tough to keep them under one roof. Each language movies have slightly typical styles. Context switching between languages takes some getting used to. Malaylam movies package multiple, independent sub-plots with no links to each other or to the main story. Bengali has multiple incidents; all tying up; but still multiple. Kannada has the rowdy element in the most family movie of any level. But it has co-existed on Doordarshan, Netflix & Amazon Prime so far. So please let it continue.

KANNADA

Ikkat - good work; by new generation of makers & actors. Really good one. Captured a storyline through the first lockdown in India.

Ratnan Prapancha - New movie straight to OTT. Good watch. Good Kannada dialoges & drama, road trip & twists. Nothing dark.

Katha Sangama - Kannada anthology. Good one from RB Shetty.

MARATHI

Cycle - I can't think of a sweeter movie I have seen in recent times. Set in 50s maybe. Story set in a village. Evokes emotions reminiscent of Malgudi days.

MALAYALAM

Minnal Murali - First class. Mallu Super-hero movie. It had the familiarity of Kerala setting & people, along with Hollywood elements of super-hero origin movie. Background movie for every sequence was ah heart-beating one. Like all Kerala movie, filled with 100s of characters and each one more  interesting than the other. 

#Home - Such an endearing & engrossing movie. How social media has infiltrated simple life, the drama it creates and how to use it like a strength tool. Proper filmy ending for satisfaction.

Nizhal - Thriller. Comedy moments strike right. Twists go well. And everything tied well for ending.

Drishyam 2 - Only for the D1 viewers. Just to peak at what happened next. They presented it in thriller fashion. But there is only so much that happens next.

Aanum Pennum (Prime) - Set of 3 movies. Great locations. Lovely dynamics between the characters. 

BENGALI

Switzerland - Thank you for loading it on Prime after few years. Now wish they would do it for Durgeshgorer Guptodhan.

TAMIL

Nava Rasa - Tamil anthology. Loved it. All made with top production quality. All interesting & captivating . Huge variety. Moving through the standard Indian theatre range of emotions. Each in differnet moods. My fav is Roudhram (Raudra - Anger) & Inmai (Bhayaanaka - Fear).

TELUGU

Oh Baby - Remake of Korean. Works well to see different people and situations beyond the expected stereotype in every movie. Samantha & Lakshmi are great along with other actors.

HINDI

Mimi - Good movie & perfect acting by the cast. Kept us involved with comedy through the serious actions in the first 3/4 movie and the emotions in the last 1/4 movie gave me a huge headache which only a good emotional movie can give.

Sooryanvanshi -  Finally a fun theatre worthy film. Good watch. Different dialogues, newer Mumbai & people. Songs were good. Logic for everything was explained. Yet some were still let go from old habits. Why they couldn't grab the terrorist in front of everyone in hotel lobby instead of courteously waiting for him to reach the final stage ? Few more were like just an excuse to do shanpatti action. But action was lajawab. Akshay K was superb and appearance of Ranveer & Ajay D really added thrill. I loved seeing those Helicopters scene.

Meenakshi Sundareswar -  Perfect bridge of South India in Hindi movie. 
And all the Instagram thrashing for the SI depictions can be countered perfectly if they had actually seen the movie.

Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar - Very good thriller. In classic Dibakar Banerjee style.

Sherni -  Movie has lovely jungle views. After being exposed to the working of ad world, corporate worlds, it’s nice to see the details of forest department. It’s like Jurassic Park, just a real non-cgi version. Vidya’s role in the predictable movie tradition of naïve who will be punished like Newton. There is no other purpose than as a lesson for audiences for what not to do. But except frustration no other is shown for her. 

Radhe - The masala movie did obviously stand out as weird when it released in May 2021; given that there is an occean of other options around; each in every other style & merit. But it a proprer masala with lot of good part.

Unpaused - Anthology film on Prime. Great collection of stories. Anthologies had started to give me dread after the Netflix collections of new Hindi ones. This series - nothing like Netflix ones. This was interesting without the twisty endings or anything. 

Ankahi Kahaniya - compared to other Netflix Hindi anthologies, this one was again is high on decency scale. Varied short stories with no twisty or closed ending.

ENGLISH

No Time to Die - Bond movie so naturally in theatres. Neatly wrapped endings for all.

Eternals - only other movie in theatres this year. Unique way of super-heroes Marvel movie. 

Best of the Enemies - Very engrossing movie on race discussion set in 1971. 2 very powerful lead characters and engrossing course of events. Most impressive & non-mundane was where it leads to. Adding an aspect of financial class to race and where that changes the dynamics in current times.

Monument Men - Good one worth seeing. Ensemble movie, set in post-WW2 Europe and a great one to see some some classic art pieces & some stories tied to them.

My Yearly Movies List here.

Web Series of 2021

If anything, the Web Series have become a truly alternate version of entertainment in today's world. 

There are so many OTT and so many shows its so tough to pick anyone or all. And all episodes drop at one go. Binge-watching is so unhealthy - for time, our brains, our sleep.

Sad part of OTT is that it is no longer an age of communal viewing - not the theatre kind. But of same show being watched by all, at their home, at the same time of release. And then talk about it. The craze of a good show, episodes & their actors. Now even good shows get buried under the deluge of new shows because there are so many different OTT (like TV channels) and people can subscribe to only so many. So the viewership is split. This particular post has been written only for how impressive Special Ops 1.5 Himmat Story was. And Family Man of course. I guess same might have happened when private channels popped up and split DD viewership. Things settled after a few years and viewership craze still continues even if split.

Special Ops 1.5 Himmat Story - Great follow-up or rather prequel to the Special Ops series. At 4 episodes, this is one impressive Spy series. Great acting, narration & story sequence. Some of the action sequences in the last 2 episode had a bit of disbelief; but overall it's such a good series, everything is forgiven.

Cubicle (TVF 2019) - Such a nostalgia trip, to the first few years of new job after Engg college.

Mukesh Jasoos - Cute one, filled with naïve characters & interesting situations. It has also given us a slogan for our household - "Poha Khaoge ?".

Family Man S2 - As good as the hype & accolades have been. Every episode was interesting; no drag. 

Never Have I Ever S2 - So thrilled when it came out. Much awaited. I had seen S1 with my kids & we had decided to see the next one together. After watching the S2 trailer, I decided to stay away. And keep my kids away. And then I heard that my kids saw it with their neighborhood friends gang, in someones basement. Duh. What could I do ? Then I saw the whole S2. Glad coz it was GOOD. And a lot of my friends saw. And there were spirited discussion in every house-party between the Mom's & kids - different perspectives.

Best takeaway is the song - . Heat Waves performed by Glass Animals.

S-q-u-i-d Game - Argh. Yes it was as good as the craze has been. I watched in the dark solitude of my car on my device, while waiting. It was worth watching. Also because my kids saw it without me.

All of the OTT / Web Series watched every year.

Rest of the Read Books of 2021

My book list from first-half of the year is here. In the 2nd half of the year 2021, this is what I read.

We moved from MN to Georgia in middle of Summer. And I switched to the local library here. The new Library and their online system is same as in MN. That was great, so we could pick up from where we left off. 

God bless American library system. They are a blessing for nomads like me; who can't own & store books of their own. This huge treasure house gives us freedom to read books from far & wide. Heck, it gives us freedom to try & reject books too; without the regrets that come from ownership.

Other motivation for books is the device-usage-reduction & social-media-deaddiction. Self-control, discipline etc are no use. Millions of dollars & people are working on overcoming our self-discipline every single day. The onslaught is real. So the only solution for me is - cold turkey. Which can happen by replacing it with some other activity/addiction. 

Library Books are a decent replacements to phone. Especially when you don't have to worry about buying, storing, dusting, staring, moving & wondering what to do next with it. With libraries, all you need is to hear about a book or author or topic and then get sucked in by Recommendations. Like online shopping, online library system lets you put a Hold on any book & pickup when ready. Extensions are never-ending (quite literally in 2020 & FH-21).

So there, more peans to the beauty of American Libraries.

My count is almost 12 books this year. Makes me laugh about the #40in2020 & #20in2020 challenges I was tempted in the beginning. Ha ! Who got time for that ? Or emotion control for that - jumping in & out of book universe is lot tougher than TV shows.

Gold Finch by Donna Tratt

Since November 2020, I was wading through Gold Finch book by Donna Tratt. I am surprised I couldn't find any picture of it in my phone, given how long I held on to it.

It's a huge 771 page tome and I managed to finish it in June . It's wordy, but not heavy. It's heavy on the pain of the lead character. Main reason I am reading it, is to unravel the conspiracy theory that entered by mind, while watching the movie. I want to decode if it's true & if alluded to, even if subtle in the book.

The book is nearly only about grief. It's explained in many words and turns over the reoccurrence of that grief in different phases of life over & over & over. About grief without manipulating tears. Page 476 has lots of profound thoughts squeezed into it. A variant summary of my revelation - every thing we do here is to pass our time on the blue rock as it's quite a wait.

Book moved through so many worlds - museum, cold New York, hot Las Vegas, furniture antiques, underworld and Europe. It had more satisfying ending than that shown in the movie.

Gold Diggers (2021) by Sanjena Santhian

My review of this book was turning lengthy. So I published it in separate post here. 

Tintin - In The Land Of The Soviets

1st Book in Tintin series and I read it for the first time. Was a usual fun plot & situation-wise and smart-alec dialogues. But not sophisticated or refined like other books. 

Many plots points were used in later books, in elaborate & refined manner. I love this about the creative process. When an author reuses his plot points in future books. When music director reuses tunes form his bank. When a old movie or song is remade or recreated in a new decade or century. 

Tintin in America

Yet another Tintin I read for the first time. And I think I don't own it in my collection. And this kind of edition, medium sized, single story one, had other additions. First few pages with single page drawing of a character, with description & background on next page. For all characters. After the story ended, last many pages filled with real-life parallel events & people info; with more of Herge drawing.

Those Delicious Letters (2020) - by Sandeepa Datta Mukherjee 

(Bong Mom's Cookbook blogger)

 

Very fun read. The main story showcases life events & daily schedules of middle-class suburban NRI family. Something not shown in the Bollywood movies or pubbing partying showcases. And the plot involves events & suspense. Food ties it all. Recipe for each chapter as a bonus.

Grunt - by Mary Roach

Mary Roach is my favorite writer for past few years. Her humor is the wicked funny one. She is wicked clever describing people and coming back at someone's idiosyncrasies. Her non-fiction science books are more fun to read than any of the other author fiction created in the past many decades.

Chapter on sweat was epic. In page 189, I was hunting for the Like button, for Kini's comment on sweating. Doris Miller footnote took me on a wiki rabbit-hole. Wow.

Chapter on Diarrhea made me stop my fav songs playing on phone. I didn't want to mix the two images together. 

Every chapter has a cliff-hanger ending, with an element peek at the next chapter. It also ends with demanding respect for the people she made sporty-fun of, through the chapter & justifying the need for the research she made nudge-wink fun of.

Most traumatizing chapter was the submarine/underwater one.

Mr Monk ... books 

Mr Monk is Open for Business

Mr Monk Helps Himself

Mr Monk gets Even

 

Read 3 of the books. These are great when the TV show episodes are not enough to fill. At first I felt like it was a drag; when compared to a TV show obviously, because they describe everything about the scene. Soon I gave in to speed reading, by ignoring dragging details of location or people descriptions. Focused more on the dialog said by each character. That solved it. 

Mr Monk novels are set after the show ended. All the show characters are there & talk exactly like in the show. Few new characters as well. There are 3-4 mysteries in each book & they get reslved around the same time in the last quarter of the book. There are some typos & some mis-naming; but overall interesting books.

Suduku

In other news, I finished 2 Suduku books - the regular Dollar-store variety; each with 76 Sudukos. Just another step towards device-deaddiction.

Older Reading lists: Entire Book list | 2021 (2) | 2021(1) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Santhian

 Gold Diggers (2021) by Sanjena Santhian

This is called serendipity. My usual rounds of library involve dropping books in return bin and rushing to the on Hold section to pick up the reserved books. This time, I noticed a rack called "New Books". I browsed through the books and none looked interesting - as is my prejudice with new authors. One name stood out being Indian author and I picked it in a rush. It could join my huge list of half-read-and-returned books if its uninteresting.

Chapter one and turns out this is set in Georgia (yeah my new home state). In some Hammond Creek subdivision near Buckhead. Then adventures of high schoolers; children of Indian parents. Every dreary turn of view, for this particular dynamic finds its way in the Part One of this book. I have usual complaint about this style; but it's not to say the author doesn't know to write. She does write well. Plus it's one more place talking about Indian-American high-schooler. Someday someone might write it in a fashion of Never Ever Have I.

Now Gold is an essential experience of Indians in numerous ways. Sanjena has created/introduced another magic-realism aspect in her novel. It's hard for me to digest but I flow along. Other cultural stories of Gold also find its way here - California gold rush, Greek Midas gold touch, Chinese gold, etc.

Part Two takes the protagonist to the West coast. By now I see patterns of Great Expectations (Pip, Miss Havisham & Estella). And in part two, some of GoldFinch (impact of death on the survivors). There is femme-fatale / honeytrap level stuff; but thankfully it doesn't go that dramatic.

I was getting miffed at the passivity of Niel. Or that he just observes others, not participate. But then in real-life, everyday I see a bunch of high-schooler walk past my window, on a single street, from their bus-stop on one side to the end of the street to their houses. They are 8-10 kids. I have never seen them talk to each other. Ever. If this was India and those were Indian kids, no one would have peace from the raucous camaraderie back-slapping, shoulder hugging, non-stop talking those kids would have done. That's the system here - in every way, it discourages non-structed talking.

Then Niel talks or longs for belonging. Belonging or bonding is much more in recent immigrants as they come from similar background for similar employments. Those who came between 1965 & 1990s came by their own, made it on their own - that also made them very lonely and not part of something. They did form communities later and struggled it to keep it that way - credits to them for that; but it also involved power-struggles, not peaceful belonging. 

Language, food and old-friendships / family - those are pillars of belonging. Food is in control because home-cooking & restaurants are still strong in Indian community. Language is also extensive; but unlike India it is not public; its personal & limited to family. Language here is not a tool of bonding far & wide - English does that job. And about old friendships, that takes time and not enough reasons exists here given the amount of uprooting & unsurely that exists among immigrants & their offspring. Land & Gold ownerships are different in USA than outside it. 

 

Shetty's must have surely made it Georgia. Because they find a mention in this book. Not any main or reoccurring character. Just house-party guests. Also like Shah's & Patel's are staple mention in NRI stories.

The comment made by the lady on afternoon walk, in the last chapter, maybe the only funny line in the entire book. By then the tone is relaxed too in that chapter.

Overall I loved the book. It's full with multiple stories, and plots, no twists. And there is action, there is peace. There is happy ending. Thank god, this one did not go for any twisted or tragic ending.

Have to appreciate authors skill of weaving an engrossing tale, across 2 decades and stories from past centuries. I finished the book in a week - which is something. And I was definitely depressed for the rest of the day after finishing the last page.

Padma Awards 2021 rightly called Peoples Padma

2021 Padma awardees list is so impressive.  #PadmaAwards2021  #PeoplesPadma

And everyone is talking about it. Numerous articles showing select few awardees. It’s showing up on FB feed of Mangalore, Karnataka, Northeast, Athletics based pages, PT Usha and so many more. It’s showing up in WhatsApp group - someone knows someone who knew them.  

It feels so much pride to see individual pictures of awardees accepting from President Kovind - and then reading about the stuff they did. They are not shining blazing stars - they are being awarded for a lifetime of hard-work. It’s amazing to see even in today’s jaded world people who worked for society. 

Past few decades I think, nations 4th, 3rd & 2nd Highest Civilian Honors hardly got media attention unless it was awarded to select Film personalities. Those are the only names that stuck out boldly.

This years list is huge. 102 personalities got Padma Shri. Lots of names are known as they received for known work. 

Padma Awards 2020, 2021: Full list of Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri recipients.

Inspiring! The 2020 Padma Shri Awardees.

Salute these AMAZING Padma Shri Awardees - numerous folks are what is called unsung heroes. Their unsophisticated approach at the award ceremonies show they haven't spent their life being celebrated; instead they have been working throughout.

PIX: President Kovind confers Padma awards on 73.

 

Awardees from Karnataka

Meet Karnataka’s Padma awardees.

Padma awardees of Karnataka.

Padma Vibhushan honour for Pejawar seer’s visionary work.

‘Akshara Santa’ Harekala Hajabba receives Padma Shri award from President.

 

30000 trees and counting: 'Encyclopedia of Forest' Tulasi Gowda elated at receiving Padma Shri.

Transgender folk dancer Manjamma Jogati receives Padma Shri. She is dancer of Jogathi Nritya, a folk dance form of North Karnataka. In 2019, she became the first transwoman to head the Karnataka Janapada Academy, state's top institution for folk arts.

Dr Vijay Sankeshwar - VRL group.

#Respect: Meet the 11 TBI Heroes Who Won the Padma Awards This Year

Sports personalities who really shined past few years.

PIX: Padma Bhushan for Sindhu; Rani gets Padma Shri.

Watch: Neeraj Chopra, Mithali Raj and other athletes conferred the Khel Ratna award.

Many unsung heroes from North-east

Meet Padma Shri Lakhimi Baruah: Changing lives of hundreds in rural Assam.

 

 

Some unintentionally loved personalities by youngsters.

Internet celebrates as popular physicist, textbook author HC Verma conferred Padma Shri award.

Business leaders conferred Padma awards in 2021.