Babel

Yesterday, I finished reading (or should I say listening to) Babel by R F Kuang. The book actually has a longish title- Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. The longish title reminds us of the titles of Victorian novels and that is intentional as the book itself…

Veganuary special

In January 2019, after months of deliberation, I finally decided to go fully vegan and give Veganuary a try. I’d always been a vegetarian and given the intense cruelty of the dairy industry I felt that the comparitive difficulty of giving up yoghurt and paneer were actually very trivial. It also helped that I finally…

Some book recommendations from my 2023 list

In my last post, I had mentioned that I would share a few recommendations and best ofs from my list in case you were looking for a few good reads. I’m highlighting a few books that left an impression on me. Book of the Year If you’ve had any book related discussion with me this…

2023 Book Mosaic

Wishing everyone a happy new year! May 2024 bring happiness and good health to everyone. I have not touched my blog in months but in light of keeping up some traditions, here’s my book mosaic for 2023. I read 58 books which was two books short of my target of 60 books. However, I am…

Iridescent

It’s been a while since I updated my blog (which seems to be the common refrain over my last few posts). It’s a combination of being tied up with work and not having the headspace to update my blog when I might have ‘free time’. Anyway this is just to let everyone know that I’m…

Mountain Startrail

I’m not very happy with how this photograph turned out. There was too much foreground light pollution which bleeds into the entire image and I don’t have the skill sets (or the patience) to clean it out. However, I thought the image was still worth sharing.

Moon and some planets (Jan/ Feb 2023)

I shot this photograph from a moving aircraft last month (January 2023). I was seated in a window seat and something made me open my window shade a few hours into the flight (I had closed it earlier because of the bright sun). It was a brilliant sunset, but surprise, I found a few of…

Backyard Startrails

On a clear night in winter, my sister’s backyard is amazing for stargazing. I had never quite realised this as my last few visits were in the summer when the trees are full of leaves and you can’t really see the sky from the house. However, in winter, the branches are bare and on a…

Stork-billed Kingfisher

I saw this beautiful bird last year in July at Havelock Island when out for a morning walk. It was perched on an electric wire. I had to google to identify it and I think it is a stork-billed kingfisher. Just for context, this is where the bird was sitting- zoomed out I also got…

Fabulous Snowy Egret at Fort Pulaski

Year before last, we went to Fort Pulaski National Monument when spending a few days at Tybee Island. I had a chance encounter with a beautiful snowy egret when walking one of the trails around the park. The bird was trying its best to stay away from us and I spent nearly 10 minutes trying…