June 2019 Updates

I don’t know quite what to say about June. After the excitement of May, June was a quiet month, a boring month. So, this is going to be a short monthly update.

I didn’t read all that much in June. I guess I was feeling a bit down, and the only books I finished were Dissolution by C.J.Sansom (excellent) and The End of Innocence by Moni Mohsin (meh).

I started on (but did not finish) Milkman by Anna Burns and The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu.

Both these books are a little hard reading, and I expect to spend a significant amount of time in July trying to finish these up.

Maybe one reason I haven’t been reading all that much is because of TV. The cricket World Cup is on, and I’ve been watching a few interesting matches. Although I must say having gotten used to the 20-20 format, a 50 over match seems incredibly slow to watch.

I’ve also been binge-watching Downton Abbey – which is on Amazon Prime in India.

It’s amazing how streaming channels have facilitated some amazing British shows to get made. Or have the shows always been amazing, and it’s only now I have access to view them?

Whatever the case, Downton Abbey (only watched the first two seasons so far) is great. I love the sprawling British countryside, the eye-rolling maids, and sharp-tongued ladies. And of course, the out-of-the-world costumes.

Question: If you’ve watched this series, till what season do you recommend I watch it? Or is it great all the way through?

To offset all that historical glam, I’ve been watching the second season of Big Little Lies on Hotstar Premium.

I was really excited to watch Season 2 because Meryl Streep is in it. But so far, it’s been a little slow and dragging. Hope it picks up the pace soon.

I meant to blog a lot more than I did. At the end of May, I came back from a short trip to China recharged, with a whole dump of photos and video footage, and grand plans to create a number of travel blogs. In actuality, I’ve not been able to make much of a headway.

I did two posts on Shanghai:

• A two day Shanghai itinerary
• Getting around Shanghai

But posts on The Great Wall, the Forbidden Palace, the Terracotta Warriors all remain in a half-baked state.

Book reviews also continue to languish in my Drafts folder. The only books I blogged about are The Secret Keeper, Antony & Cleopatra, and Cleopatra’s Daughter.

My parents visited us for a short time this month, and it was really pleasurable having them over. Work was also overall mellow, so it meant I could spend quality time with everyone at home.

My son started school after his summer holidays. He got a proper formal uniform this year with tie, and belt, and everything, and goes to school in a school-bus.

This has left K and me with some extra time in the morning, which we now use to take our lab Coco for long walks. It feels like ages since K and I got some quality time together to just talk without interruption from the kids, so that’s been great.

Looking back at June and the past six months in general, there has been a general slowing down in the pace of my life. Some of it has been consciously done, some of it has happened naturally.

But the surprising thing (for people who know me in IRL), is just how much I am enjoying it. I normally get anxious if I don’t have a full plate of things to do and places to be. But this month, I am cutting down on things ruthlessly without even one bit of FOMO.

I did a digital detox on Instagram for a couple weeks, where I cleaned up the list of people I follow. I was picky on the work I took up, making sure I didn’t overfill my todo list. I stopped accepting blog event invitations, and just did one special one for Punkah House (which I will be blogging about soon).

What’s happened to me? Whatever it is, I like it 🙂 .

How has June been for you?