January
- shifted to Bangalore
- setup first home with wife (stuti) and thoroughly enjoyed putting meaning to things
- connected back with the most important teacher couple in my life. Should have done this earlier, it was a small misunderstanding which made us lose some precious years where we didn’t contact each other.
- attended sankranti in Ahmedabad and tried my hands at kite flying
- travelled to Udaipur for wife’s friend’s wedding.
- travelled to Indore again to attend close friend’s wedding.
- i have become famous for ordering mcdonald’s food in wedding after parties and I am proud of it. I am open to paid gigs @mcd
- travelled in first class train compartment for the first time in my life and loved it.
- went for a 60km cycle ride in Indore without any plan and enjoyed it
- attended Republic Day ceremony at mother’s office and loved it.
- got myself a pink suit. It looked exactly as I thought it would & then wore it in many weddings. High Fashion.
- tried Kunafa at Kunafa Story Kormangala and loved it.
February
- got a big mirror for dressing
- got some furniture made, study table etc from local shops
- invited cousin brothers for dinner, met one of them after ages
- signed up with a nutritionist/coach for a year. Needed to gain some muscle.
- travelled to Chennai for a friend’s sister’s wedding. Stuti had come to drop me off at the train station, I took her along. 1st AC penalty + fare is more expensive than flight fare, but it was all worth it.
- rented a bike and travelled to Pondicherry
- got viral and fell really sick. Got 104F fever.
- travelled to Guna for wife’s friend’s wedding.
- met a friend in Bangalore after a long time on his birthday, had much fun. Listened to some original songs.
- tried skating in Cubbon Park
- went to MAP Museum near Cubbon. It’s commercial and boring.
March
- started my fitness journey more religiously (after recovering from bad viral fever)
- played Holi in society and realized that holi is the perfect festival to see the real nature of an otherwise polished people.
- setup a stall in the society flea market where we tried selling wife’s digital art & some masala coke. Artists must prepare for a hard day when they sell their products. As most people don’t value art well.s
- attended multiple flea markets (soul sante & others) and also spent a lot in clothes shopping.
- started climbing. tried going weekly but didn’t go more than 5 times in the whole year.
- got a good barber on Urban Clap, haircut issues sorted.
- tried a reels challenge with wife & caused her a sprain. now we just stick to sharing couple challenges reels
- travelled to Goa with Stuti (her first goa trip). More details on Goa Diaries blog.
- marchtee sale was on, so spent way more than I had planned.
- started taking more random pictures to ensure I create more memories
April
- started with a trip to Mumbai to meet wife’s college friends
- climbed a rope on a tree with local kids, they were fascinated with my abs
- watched the moonset at the marine drive, with wife and thousand other people (because Mumbai)
- struggled with sleep for close to 20 days or so
- visited jaipur for a friend’s wedding, I realized that I really struggle with food in Rajasthan. I am not a fan of the cuisine (probably it is the lack of eggs)
- visited my niece in Pune. Don’t refrain from talking technical concepts with kids, they might enjoy it.
- if you are in Pune, you should order Alphonso from Malpani Mangoes atleast once (it’s quite good)
- went to write club bangalore after a long hiatus. Good fiction writing is a difficult & rewarding skill to have
- attended India’s first skating disco. It was great for photos and videos but overall, not as fun as it looked on camera
- took two besties out for dinner, realized we should do it more often. Atleast once every quarter (but that didn’t happen for the rest of the year)
- travelled to Nepal for brother-in-law’s wedding
- did a work out at the edge of the mountain with the view of the Himalayas
- went to a dance bar in Kathmandu spent 30 seconds and walked out
May
- sprained my neck while doing high reps lateral raises. I hate neck pain
- bought new pair of shoes for mother, her most expensive pair till date and absolutely love how she wears them
- took a diet break for a week. Realized that I do not enjoy dirty eating anymore. No significant negative impact on the body composition though
- started meditating and doing wim-hof. It didn’t last long, I sometimes feel very anxious after meditating.
- sleep was still poor.
- watched NBA playoffs quite regularly, I absolutely love the tactical game that the coaches play
- sleep got a little fcuked again because of NBA playoffs
- yoga nidra is quite useful for sleeping
June
- got medical tests done. LDL levels came very high, consulted a cardiologist and looks like it is normal because other things are in check and this is genetic.
- took a day off from work and just whiled away my time in the city, my favorite kind of day
- travelled to Pune for Didi’s birthday
- watched a play for the first time in life, it was Manav Kaul’s “tumhare baare mein”
- got published at the PFCs transformation tweet. Shredded, with abs and shiz.
- randonly went to meet a friend at her office along with another friend. Had coffee and it was fun.
- Travelled to Thailand with wife for her birthday
- chickened out of an island trip because of motion sickness
- watched zindagi gulzar hai through most of the flight journey
- had first muay thai session, might pursue this in future.
- saw a water monitor up close in Lumphini Park in Bangkok
- met a stakeholder whom I have worked with for long for the first time
- didn’t follow diet for 5 days straight
July
- gifted wife a jhula that she wanted for a long time
- had a day out with friends on a saturday where we went to Sharon Tea for the first time together
- hosted friends for dinner and lunch mutliple times this month
- started bulking, abs would vanish by the end of the year.
- sleep was quite good, I was waking up early around 7:30am without any alarm
- watched Mission Impossible and had dinner at Sagar
- went out with friends to Chikmanglure for my birthday. I slipped the next morning and injured my sacrum
- mother fell sick one morning and that made me feel a little helpless. I want her to be closer to me.
- talked to an old mentor on phone
- finished a course in writing by Amit Varma. Found it too expensive for the value it delivered.
August
- friends gifted staedler pencils and some cool games.
- visited Van Gogh experience and thoroughly enjoyed it
- started quest to buy a two wheeler. It started with Activa and then shifted to Bike
- sat on a Kawasaki Vulcan and went 110KM/Hr on Hossur Road in the evening
- tried Lavonne Cafe for the first time. Quite Fancy.
- spent a day in Old Bangalore. Visited Thom’s bakery, Church Street, Koshy’s
- tried r/showerOrange trend and had fun with it :P
- visited Sharon tea on a weekday with Stuti and a friend. Then went to Thom’s
- learnt thin Omeletes by Adam Rageausea
- visited Indore, a random plan
- spent time talking with a childhood friend. Dicussed about his business and potential strategies
- attended independence day flag hoisting at mother’s office
- got an expensive and yet bad haircut in Indore
- talked a lot to my childhood teacher (life mentor) about life and many things that we never touched upon before
- got side adjusted pants - made bespoke. High Fashion.
- got dumbbells and resistance band for mother
- travelled to Pune in a train
- travelled to Mahabaleshwar with Family (sister’s family, mother and cousin brother) for Rakhi.
- This was the first family trip and we had massive fun
- mother did a trek and was happy with her fitness progress.
- Celebrated Arya’s (neice) birthday
September
- got a new bike. Royal Enfield - meteor 350
- went on first bike ride with wife.
- saw a gruesome bike accident just outside the apartment.
- tried Navu Project. Dessert was good, everything else was average
- celebrated Ganpati. Wife made eco-firendly ganpati at home and I made the mouse. It was fun.
- got some cane made laundry bag and lighting
- mother visited us in bangalore for the first time
- had a great plyo workout with basketball shooting. Loved it.
- visited national museum of modern art with mother and wife
- went to Sharon, commerical street and Burma Burma with mother and wife
- went to Ooty on a roadtrip with mother and wife
- did visarjan in a lake on the way
- celebrated mother’s birthday and talked to her a lot about her life and childhood
- got a huge financial stress for a few days because of fraudulent transactions on my credit card.
October
- started a goal to type faster and started practicing and recording. Reached 60 wpm from 45 wpm
- fraudulent transactions got reversed and I was finally at peace
- got stuck in rains while coming back home from Indiranagar, it took me >2.5 hours. Felt so cold on the bike that stopped in between and ate thukpa at Yak Kitchen in Kormangala. Tastiest thukpa ever.
- stuti found out a momos place in kormangala and it was great. The aunty even serves chicken soup with it
- watched Ind vs Pakistan with Avani. We had a fun weekend. Watched silence of the lambs as well
- upper back got fucked again, I must stretch more. I haven’t stretched at all.
- travelled to Calcutta for Pujo
- visited pandals, had food at Peter Cat
- visited Olypub
- tried different Kolkata Rolls
- got a yellow taxi pic
- didn’t follow diet for 4 whole days.
November
- left for Indore for Diwali
- made Stuti join me on a short notice of 2 hours and picked her up from office directly
- helped in diwali cleaning and then suffered from allergy
- played basketball one on one with an ex-national player (from my school)
- played basketball at the club regularly. Realized that I don’t practice anywhere close to what they do.
- went to Bartan Bajar on Dhanteras and a loading rickshaw banged into my car from behind
- met Mam and Sir and got sir enrolled with a nutritionist.
- went for a walk with Aura (sir’s daughter) and discussed Israel & Palestine issue
- burned firecrackers on diwali. Got a fancy firecracker that I used to see from far away as a kid, as mostly rich kids used to fire it.
December
- attended bangalore literature fest
- met masalalab and loved it
- saw shashi tharoor, he has a paunch, I had no idea based on what I had seen on TV
- went on a roadtrip across Kerala with Stuti to celebrate our first wedding anniversary
- visited KL and really liked spending the two days there
- ate Laksa. I like curry Laksa at Ah Cheng Laksa more than their Asam Laksa.
- friends visited us for Christmas, had lots of fun
- went for go karting and bowling. scored highest in bowling
- i really liked reading more about go karting and how people optimize paths
- went out to meet a friend who has been working in Japan for last 1 year. Absolutely love spending time with him. We met as teammates in my first job.
- learnt persian style saffron rice and ice-cream from friend’s fiance
- celebrated new-year’s with friends, played card games
- fell a little sick in the last week of the year
- watched many movies, as I should in december
Some other highlights:
- easiest dance to perform in weddings is “oh oh jaane jaana”
- played regular badminton with friends, I don’t like racket sports, but I like hanging out with friends. If you want to cardio, select a sport, treadmill gets boring after the initial burst of motivation fades off.
- i might have missed updating meeting a childhood friend who visited from US, I spend less time on digital mediums when I am with him
- mobility is an important part of fitness, I suffered from days of pain because I didn’t do mobility or stretching routines.
- tried the most expensive chai of my life at thirdwave @ the Bangalore airport when I went to see off mother. Sad to report that it was delicious
- tried naru noodle bar and didn’t like it at all. It’s all hype and no substance (I have had better ramen at local restaurants).
- cooked singapore rice and it was great
- visited nasee and mee multiple times
- experimented with cooking a lot (part of life now because of the fitness journey)
- some noteworthy recipes
- chicken with orange sauce
- andhra chilli chicken
- chicken burritto
- won the society basketball tournament (performed well). All this fitness shiz I have been doing really worked