Literally this and that

It’s been over a month since I last posted. I am not going to start all over again with what kept me busy. Although this post is about catching up with the last 1 and a half month.

I have been reading, like A LOT recently. I am on my 7^th book already in this year, and hoping to achieve the targeted 50 at any cost. The OCDs in me keep kicking me to get closer to the number with each passing day. Results... I have been dying to read Vikram Seth’s ‘The Rivered Earth’, but I can’t.. Even when I have the book sitting in my bookshelf, reason being the book is extremely thick and I don’t want to miss my target by starting up with a heavy book. I am keeping it for the later part of the year when I am a bit closer of reaching 50.  I won’t mind if this doesn’t make any sense to y’all.

March has been a bit tough to begin with. I lost a dear friend of mine this month. I don’t know whether ‘close’ would be appropriate here as we had hardly been in touch since past 2-3 years. This guy was from university, and we (The guy, my best friend, and me) shared a really close bond back then. Once we graduated and moved to new pastures, we both (best friend and I) lost contact with him. I did try to get back in touch over the years, but not mention worthy efforts. I know there’s nothing we could have done but now when he’s gone, we end up wishing having stayed in touch.

Our friend lost his battle against Hepatitis A. I hardly knew anything about the disease before knowing about him. Upon checking online, I was shocked of seeing the hepatitis A rates in India and other developing nations as compared to States, Australia, England. Apparently, the developed countries haven’t even issued mandatory vaccines for the disease reason being there strong infrastructure. Also, earlier I was one of those who used to mock people visiting India and getting their vaccines beforehand. I was like, “Yea, right! You were born and brought up there, and now you want to be vaccinated first before visiting the place.” I know I was vaccinated for hepatitis A when I was a kid (once vaccined is good for at least 25 years) but what I am wondering is how much are we aware about the disease? I, being an educated person, didn’t know a thing about it. And sadly, many of the people don’t.

The other half part of the post is going to be a whiny one. Now that we are two years into our wedding, our families (both husband’s and mine) are after our lives for a baby which just is bizarre! They have been emotionally blackmailing us, giving us ultimatums, telling us that we are being irresponsible, and even asking us to fear from god (as he might change his mind and won’t give us a child at all later when we want it). It’s not that we don’t want a kid; it’s that we don’t want a kid anytime soon which apparently doesn’t make any sense for them. And couples around us, getting married after us, have started having babies are of no respite really. It’s not that I judge their decision but I can see them rolling their eyes on us! Will you just give us a break already!! I wish I could find a way out to make our families understand and respect our decisions.

Lastly, the book update… Since I last posted, I have finished reading ‘Since I don’t have you’ by Louise Candlish, ‘Us’ by David Nicholls, ‘Inferno’ by Dan Brown and ‘A diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank’. The first two are fine for one time read, but I wouldn’t recommend them, and I didn’t write anything about ‘A diary of a Young Girl’ because it doesn’t need any recommendations. It’s a masterpiece. Next on the list – visit Anne Frank’s Museum in Amsterdam. I am currently reading, ‘Angels and Demons’ by Dan Brown (one of the 4 books from Robert Langdon series). I have reached a conclusion… I am a sucker when it comes to thriller and adventurous books. Obsessed with Robert Langdon!!

That’s what was going on. Now that I have written it down and caught up with the date, my OCDs have calmed down.

Till later,

Sameera