Nautiyal's Friends

3:25PM - 2009

I traveled more in 2009 than any other year; a neat fifty thousand miles or so on land, air and sea. Looking back at the year I can only wish that all years would be that good. Here's my journey.

( Memorable images from the past year... )

11:33AM - Books in 2009...

So, what books did I read this year? Here's what I can recall. A couple of these could be books I actually read in 2008, but I am not really sure.

Update: - So, I remembered I hadn't mentioned Anil's Ghost here. A Michael Ondatjee book - beautifully written, even though it was yet another book I had to read 15 pages at a time. Come to think of it, 2009 was a slow reading year.
Fiction

• Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy - that's 3 books


• Morris West's The Ambassador and The Tower of Babel


• Mohammed Haneef's A Case of Exploding Mangoes


• Vikram Seth's Two Lives


• Neil Gaiman's Stardust


• The 4th book in George Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series


• Ernst Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls


• A couple of Agatha Christie books I don't remember the names of...

Non-Fiction

• Leadership Jazz


• The Nudge - still reading...


• The Seven Day Weekend


• Direct From Dell


• The Ascent of Money


• iWoz

Unfinished books included:

• John Grisham's The Associate


• Arun Krishnan's The Loudest Firecracker


• Umberto Eco's Baudolino


• Robert Pirsig's Lila


• Chris Anderson's The Long Tail


• Beyond Buzz

My top 2 fiction & non-fiction picks for this year - Fiction: For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Tower of Babel; Non-fiction: Leadership Jazz, The Ascent of Money.

Worst book of the year - The Associate.

Looking back, I have averaged more than a book a month, but a shade less than 2 books a month. Two books a month is my goal for 2010 - seems doable. Given that there are already a number of books lying unread in my bookshelves, I guess I should also cut down on any new purchases - as hopeless as that particular goal is.

1:28PM - Last post of the year, maybe...

I haven't said much on these pages this year. Noticed I haven't said anything at all for more than 3 months now. Well, there hasn't been much to write about really. A regular year every which way I look at it. Work was fine, settled into my new role, and while there were a few misses, by and large did a fairly good job, I would like to think. Not a year of any great highs at work, but no major lows either.

Home has been continuous activity and chatter. N is now 20 months, and she is more than a handful. I can't begin to imagine how people manage two kids! I don't spend as much time with her as A does, but as she's grown older, she doesn't let me off that easily. The last 3 months, every day I return from the office, I have had to indulge her for at least 10 minutes - play ball, run around, whatever...before she lets me have my dinner. Lots of beautiful moments amidst all the trials and tribulations of bringing up a kid...That incredible smile will break someone's heart one day, I can already imagine that. Maybe she is going to be an athlete - the way she runs up and down the living room after she's had her evening meal is something I haven't been able to capture on camera, but those aren't images that will fade anyway. When she turned 17 months or so, suddenly she developed the sense of fear. Strangers, masks - I don't know what neuron flipped at that age that she suddenly cannot trust everyone or everything. She hides behind my back or holds me so tight it's a feeling I cannot describe. But if you are a parent, you will know. She learns too. The magic of switches turning on and off electrical appliances; objects she can identify though she obstinately refuses to utter their names; peeing in the bathroom - well, not always, but still; colors - I will wear this dress, and nothing but this one; a sense of taste - ice cream-yucks, vermicelli - yum; bargaining - do something for me, and I will call you appa. There are more, but this is a good enough synopsis for now.

Travel - very liitle, though I did manage quite a few treks with the office gang this year. Pondicherry last week, and in late September - Delhi and Bharatpur. That's been pretty much it, I think. I think I now want to travel without a camera, or at least take far fewer pictures. I don't seem to see the places as much if I am taking photographs. Contemplation, a sense of peace - one needs to be in the moment to experience that. Photography, at least for me, appears to take me out of that moment though it does provide joy in other ways. We shall see.

Children change everything. So, while it's been a regular year, it's been a much changed year too. I probably didn't feel that as much last year, but this year, oh boy, for sure, I have.

I have been meaning to document the books I read and the movies I viewed this year. Maybe I will do that in the next day or two if I am in the mood. Maybe I won't. We shall see.

Have a good 2010, everyone.