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Book Review | She Said | Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

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I have been wanting to read the book “She Said” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey for a long time now. It had been on my list for about 6 months. But it was only recently that I picked it up and finished it pretty quickly. Being a feminist, I knew I had to be in the right frame of mind to be able to read the book, hence the delay. The book is a riveting read from the very first page. It kept me engrossed throughout. Hence the “I finished it pretty quickly”. At least the 2/3 rd of the book is literally a page turner. You will hardly be able to keep the book down. There was never a dull moment. The first 2/3 rd of the book is where the two journalists start their investigations into Harvey Weinstein. The authors take us through their laborious journey to find his victims, create a safe space for them to be able to speak out their ordeals, and getting them to speak up against him on the record, all while abiding by the ethics of journalism. They also let us know that even though Weinstein
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Book review | Spare | Prince Harry

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I just finished reading the admittedly cleverly titled book “Spare” last night. This is Prince Harry’s (though I am not sure how long will that title hold) memoir of his life so far. And has it been an interesting one. If you have not been living under a rock, you would have at least heard of his departure from the royal family. This is his version of that and everything else as well. I stayed up late into the wee hours a couple of night ago to finish it. This is the first memoir I have finished reading this year, and I have to admit this wasn’t like most memoirs for me. I will explain. Let's start with first things first. The book is divided into three parts. The first part talks about his childhood and his relationship with his parents and brothers, touching upon Diana. The second part is sort of like his coming of age and him dealing with his mum’s death and beyond. And the last and third part is the reason I think most people picked up this book. The third part talks about hi
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Book Review | Will | Will Smith

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 It is not very often that a book manages to act as a pensive and transports you to the lives of the characters. In this instance, Will Smith’s autobiography does just this. So, when Will is feeling anxious about his first ever acting audition (an impromptu one at that), I am right there with him on that terrace, feeling anxious with him, for him. The book manages to engross you and invoke your emotions, whatever they maybe. The book is not just a chronological description of the man’s life, unlike a few others I have recently read. Well, it is chronological, but not just a banal description of events. The book truly captures his personality and his mindset, so much so that you feel for the man. You understand his core values, his belief system, and pardon me for my lingo, but operating model in life. Now, just to be clear, I am not saying this is, the, or one of the best autobiographies I have ever read. There have been a few great ones like “Becoming” by Michelle Obama or Born a
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Is good work all we want from our workplace?

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 I have written a few blogs last year but published none. That is in part because of some "technical" problems and in part because last year was extremely busy. A lot changed. A lot happened. I got to meet my niece for the first time ever. I switched jobs, and got into consulting, something I wanted for a long time and lastly, I got married. Yay! Anyway, I wrote this particular blog around September, when I was about 5 months into my new hob.  I cannot believe that this is the one of the few blogs I have written this year. You can totally and completely attribute this to my pre-martial bliss in life. That man makes me happy, and I cannot write. I recently saw a video of Ian McConnell singing a really nice song and there is a line that goes, “Wish I didn’t have to be sad a fuck to write my funniest jokes” And I felt that. I end up writing only when I am overwhelmed or depressed, sad, annoyed, irritated. Sometimes the good kind of overwhelmed but mostly the bad kind. But ge
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Manifestation of fears

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 I have always been afraid of ghosts and I do not mean that in a philosophical way. I am legit scared of ghosts. Firstly, let's define what a ghost is. It is essentially the spirit of a dead person that has supernatural powers. Why have I come to be so afraid? Maybe it is those late-night shows of aahat I watched as a tiny kid or my obsession with the show Supernaturals where Dean and Jesse fight ghosts and other supernatural beings on a daily basis.  Let me give you a reference point. There is a popular Bollywood movie called "Bhool Bhulaiya" in which Vidya Balan has given a terrific performance as a mentally ill person who is perceived as a ghost, and while watching it I did everything but shat my pants.  These past few years, I have been able to overcome my fear to a great extent. Being by myself, I didn't really have an option. I had to be strong-willed. I had to overcome my fear. Majboori ka naam Mahatma Gandi. But in the last month, the feeling of fear has come
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A horror story

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I had three packets of Maggi tucked away on a shelf to be consumed in times of need. A hectic day at the office or a fight with parents, you get the point. Today was a hectic day. After 15 hours of back-to-back calls, I go to my cupboard hoping to have a delicious bowl of Maggi. It’s been a while since I have Maggi. I put the noodle cake in the pan and look for the tastemaker. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I must’ve been mistaken. I tear the entire packet looking for it. Nothing again. I look inside the cupboard. Empty. I have a water-soaked cake and NO tastemaker. My flatmate who was making Ramen, ugrh, happens to mention that the other flatmates used my Maggi masala packets, not one, not two, not three, on his idlis he made in the morning. You cannot comprehend my state of shock following by agony. You do not do that to someone’s Maggi. It’s an honor code. The relationship between a Shiro and her Maggi is a special one. You don’t just trespass and that too for idli! I stood there thinking of
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Book Review | Prisoners of Geography | Tim Marshall

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 I had never been a geography person as a kid. Actually not in college as well. I would grunt and groan when my half-drunk idiot friends would start talking geography and associated trivia on the roof of the shady bar we use to frequent. My interest in geography is pretty recent actually. So, the book I am going to be talking about here is " Prisoners of Geography " by Tim Marshall. Okay, to begin with, this is a frikking amazing book, especially if you are a geography noob like me. As the cover says the book talks about 10 maps across the world and how the geography in those 10 regions has affected the fate of that region, the growth or the lack of it, and how it still casts more than a shadow over the politics that govern the region. I think by the time I finish this review I will experience semantic satiation toward the word geography.  There were two things that really made the book a great read for me specifically.  One is the fact that the book is split into 10 disjoint
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Location: India
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Book Review | The Spy and The Traitor | Ben Macintyre

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  Hello, this is my first official book review. I do short-form reviews on Twitter just for fun, but never a long-form review. Why now you ask. Simple. I am annoyed, irritated, emotional, and sad, and also menstruating and my brain is refusing to work. So, here I am trying to write a decent review for the book I finished reading in the last 2 weeks or so. Like most of my blogs, you can expect tidbits about my personal life in my reviews as well.  I have been a pretty regular reader for the last two years at least, managing to read over 20 books in one year. But somehow since the beginning of 2021, I hadn't felt that connection with a book. I was forcing myself to read. I did feel some sparks and very brief periods of passion for a book, but all short-lived, that is until I picked up this book called " The Spy and The Traitor " by Ben Macintyre.  A little context to how I came about picking this book up. My really tall glass of filter coffee AKA Brownster was visiting me,
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Location: India
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Covid 19, 20, 21?

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So, what has brought me back to this blog after a while? The increasing number of cases and hence a little bit of panic. I got covid myself back in November end. It was bad, but I was with friends, so we managed. Since it had been about 4 odd months, I decided to get myself tested for anti-bodies, and voila I still have them Despite this, I am anxious. There is nervousness in the air people. Let me list down the reasons for my current distress and panic Reading tweets of people's brushes with covid My aunt's entire family got covid recently The building that I live in has 29 odd cases of covid. Of the 30 floors we have, 9 have covid patients. So literally, living with covid Dad went to buy medicines, the shops were out of crocin and glucose. Extremely basic medication I cannot, simply cannot live like we did last year. Holed up in our houses. The thought of having to do that again send a shiver down my spine The 2,75+ lakh/ day reported cases of covid in the country. So we are
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Menstruation 101 : A guide for ignorant men

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 I am fucking irritated and annoyed. If you are a woman on your period you might be able to empathize with me. But quite a bit of my irritation is not due to my menses but due to the lack of simple/ basic information regarding menstruation amongst men. For my peers who have spent about 25 odd years in this world, co-existing with women, most if not all men seem to have shockingly limited knowledge of menstruation. I can understand blaming our education system for not teaching this enough and our society for not talking about this enough, but I cannot absolve men of all blame when it comes to their minuscule knowledge.  So for all the men out there, here are some facts that you need to understand and a few pointers on behaving with women when they are on their period. We will start with the first section. What are periods? Some facts and no figures (don't worry) Basics first, so every 25-40 days (yes this range is different for every woman), our body releases an ovum and prepares fo
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