Chup: Breaking the Silence About India's Women by Deepa Narayan
A powerful exploration into the psyche of Indian women and how society perpetuates the status quo
Book Notes
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
If you want to understand how the opioid crisis began, read this
So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport
A series of blog posts that unfortunately became a book. Not recommended.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
A book about time and our relationship with it. Recommended.
Life Between Buildings by Jan Gehl
A gentle introduction to the study of buildings and the way they enable societal interactions.
The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer
The ethical dilemma of eating. Highly recommended!
Shame by Salman Rushdie
Check it out on Goodreads Now that I’ve moved away from reading fiction, I find that I face a lot of inertia to pick up something purely for pleasure. Maybe this is a nasty by-product of wanting to be as “productive” as possible. But the more I have drifted away from reading for pleasure, more mechanical the whole process has become for me. Partly to avoid this feeling, and partly because of my shame at seeing my bookshelf filled with dusty unread books, I picked up this one to assuage my feelings of guilt....
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Check it out on Goodreads Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. I have no affinity for running, even for short jogs, and much less for wanting to run long distances. Although this is not because I hate exercises - one of those rare things that I figured out early in life was my desire to remain healthy as long as possible and that of course means I need to keep myself fit - but probably my distaste for running stems from the monotonous nature of the activity....
Annihilation of Caste(Annotated Edition) by Arundhati Roy
Check it out on Goodreads I find India really fascinating sometimes, even though I’ve lived my whole life here. What the cultural multitudes and colorful festivals hide underneath is an ugly facade which threatens to break everything that has been built over the years. What I find most fascinating is how we’ve conditioned ourselves to ignore the blatant reality and move ahead with an oblivious calm, living in shit and aspiring for the gold....
Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowan
Check it out on Goodreads I have had a very curious relationship with religion, although now that I talk to others, it was a much more normal experience than what I led myself to believe. I followed the typical path of receiving a particular religion from my parents (born a “Hindu child”), which had a supporting role in my life up until my late-teenage/early-adolescent years. As is the norm for every child brought up in religion, I used to consider myself special believing that I had a “personal relationship” with God....