Curiosity — Oddity Series — Week 36 of 2023 (Aug 27–Sept 1)
Every Friday intend to note down things that were learned or discovered over the week, all to keep myself curious.
Starting with the status of the week: This week was Onam…. so the content that was consumed was all Onam related… loads of dances on the web in Kerala dresses with some trending music in the background, which made me cringe, Why couldn't it be a Malayalam song…. we have trending music as well Or why can't it be all authentic mallu. These cringe factors aside, loads of food videos and photos filled my fill virtually. Being in New York for a short bit, a lot of effort was put in to get the sadhya and dress up for Onam. Enjoyed every bit of that effort of almost 3 hours and the sadhya got consumed in a few minutes. But who is complaining, all in the Mahabali spirit of joyousness? We do applaud Mahabali's ways of life and celebrate it as well by Onam, on the contrary, why were Devas who had all the luxuries of heaven so envious of something good happening on a small strip of the land? Sad isn't it? even then envy was a thing and putting a stop to something good happening was important for them by making a Man who can transform to do it. And pushing the rakshasa who was actually good to us to another extreme of Hell. We really can't say these heavenly bodies weren't grey. Maybe it's more of a celebration of being Grey.
All of these onam things were put up here to explain Y most of the sections down here are blank…hehe
Newsletter which inspired
Nothing which I remember
Trivia which intrigued
Sativa is mood lifter and indica is for sleeping. But in my case its just the opposite is what is intriguing. I might be a great specimen for the CBD experimentation. More stuff for me as part of this being a bechari guinea pig.
Tools discovered and used
Taja.ai : Fr YT title and description optimization
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwkfxHvs570/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Apps discovered and reviewed
Words explored
metier: an occupation or activity that one is good at.
Beef and seafood consumption is now so associated with the Malayali that it’s practically their metiere.
Confound: act confusingly.
Obtusely: in a way that is stupid and slow to understand, or unwilling to try to understand.
prescriptive: relating to the imposition or enforcement of a rule or method.
We are, if unintentionally, contradictory. Highly educated but also conservative; sometimes obtusely prescriptive — we have colleges with mandatory uniforms.
Podcasts enjoyed :
Sushmita Sen with one of my favorite video castors — Karishma Mehta
https://www.youtube.com/@humansofbombay2801
There were many pearls of wisdom on how she handles the pressures of being a mother, a celebrity et all. Worth a write-up on its own and to be rewatched quite often. Sushmita is one of the celebrities who has a great take on otherwise frivolous Bollywood. A thinking actor from those eras where “thinking” wasn't supposed to be done especially by a woman from that industry. She makes her point without aggression and sarcasm. Which is the general trend with other talking female actors. Here in this podcast, she gives a beautiful twist to her georgette saree-clad teacher in Mein hu Na. For me, that role was just lascivious, but it does have a thought behind it more than that. Intriguing it was to listen to her yet another time. I feel whatever her speech was on her winning was only the genuine one from any Indian who had won such titles, all others were just copies of hers.
Another one was Rani Mukerji— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O2bCHj3KPE
With Anupama Chopra in Film Companion. Anupama's interviews are intelligent and endearing take on Bollywood. Actually after reading her book and listening to her with actors, I started appreciating the humans in them rather than just their crafts. Here in this one, you can see a witty side of Rani and also how straightforward she is in her choices which I thought before were frivolous. Although you can see all through the interview she is still validating herself, by indicating to the crowd for clapping after a pun she intended to convey. Those junctures were jarring and some of the times she was rambling off Anupama was tactful to bring her back to the track.
You might have a thought here, do i just watch women in business, yes I do that quite often.
Here another one that needs mention is Sheryl Sandberg with Jazlyn Guerra — https://www.youtube.com/@JazzysWorldTV
On leadership being empathetic and being there for others when needed.
A reading list from the web
A lot of random reading, the best was from Goya journal on the mal sadhya which is fully nonveg — https://www.goya.in/blog/in-search-of-the-non-vegetarian-onasadhya
Ideas which intrigued: Idea of the New York subways…. There is a whole walking path in the underground, and it is peppered with artists who are performing and of course vendors to quench your thirst or feed yourself.
Health tips that worked
While working out with my animal flow trainer Princy, the oft-forgotten part of the training — Is to breathe…. somehow I don't breathe deep enough, I have a conditioning to constrict everything that is connected with breathing while doing something intentionally. When I breathe deeply, what I have observed is that my mind is clearer and the apprehension of a tough set that is proposed to be done vanishes and you get into the flow. But mostly I don't do that, and a constriction is there in the brain, it cascades to the throat as breathing is controlled thus resulting in a flow that is less effective, and the body stores that apprehension in some part. The goodness of working out melts that away. Somehow it shows up in the later part of the day as a soreness which isn't an enjoyable one. I know which after-exercise soreness is the right one by now. So Breathe….. it makes my life a little easier.
Self-discovery moments
A lot of them as this week was the first week when our Son left home to university. So added some to the Empty nest series… I have reached 10 of them. https://medium.com/me/stories/public
On adaptability to the world
On decoding wishes which came our way, as our Son was moving out. Yes I couldn't just say “Thank you” and move on.
How I really felt when it was finally the empty nest
And then rambling on things which are observed
There are a lot of things to unpack on my tryst with Depression/anxiety whichever label can be thought of at that moment. I won't label myself as I have realized that is me too and labeling some moments of my life takes away the joy of living those moments.
