Life Etc Etc

My thoughts as of January 1st, 2021 2020 just passed me by. It started off with lofty ambitions before nosediving and finally settling itself on a precarious cliff. The sights from the cliff are beautiful, the light on the horizon is magnificent but there's danger and harrowing depths all around this cliff. I don't know how we got here and have to figure out where to go from here. I share this confusion, this lack of direction and the same precarious situation with billions of others around the globe.  For the first time in a long long time we had a year which united us. We were: United in our confinement  United in having our lives stalled mid-way United in our inability to chase our dreams United in our frustrations United in our solitude I never knew misery could unite us the way no happiness or victory ever did . But if we put the misery aside for a moment, aren't we fundamentally all lucky to at least have a roof on our heads while this pandemic rages on? What about th...

10 years of Life Etc Etc ! I can scarcely believe how quickly time has passed. I've told the story before, about how Life Etc Etc started as a MBA project in 2010 but I never talked about what that time meant to me. 2010 was one of the most fulfilling years of my life, a time when life looked up and dreams had wings. Anything and everything seemed possible back then and I was raring to enter a brand new decade with boundless energy to take down my goals one after the another. Nothing quite went to script after that. The last decade was one hell of a roller coaster ride for me ultimately culminating in a pandemic which still has all of us in its grip. Now, the intention of all of this is not to invoke nostalgia about the bygone times. The sole purpose of all this is to state unequivocally that milestones come and go, plans often go wrong but life goes on !     Keep the hopes going (Courtesy: Janaine Arioli ) There are only two ways life can go on: You either let life drift you...

In the year of COVID, the last thing on my mind was penning a sports commentary. But I had to, considering the incredible one-sided French Open final I had just seen. Incredibles and Unthinkables have kind of become the norm this year: We had a US Open before empty crowds We had the World No.1 being defaulted just when his 4th round match was beginning to catch some steam We had a French Open in the Fall We had false positive COVID tests with irate players threatening lawsuits  We had hand sanitizers being handed out to the presenters who had come to present the trophies We had a lop-sided final, where the world number 1 Novak Djokovic  whose 36 (completed) match winning streak was broken and destroyed by one Rafael Nadal I am a huge Rafa fan but a score line of 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 was far away even from my imagination. I still remember the disappointing  2019 Australian Open Final . I had woken up early to catch a glimpse of the final but could only watch the presentat...

2020 has brought the travel plans of the world to a standstill but yours truly has not given up on finding some scenic spots close to the neighborhood. I don't enjoy visiting the same places over and over again, hence it's actually a hobby of mine to unearth some great vacation spots which can be reached without too much of a travel hassle (considering these are the days of the Pandemic). And what a gem it was, at just about 30-45 minutes drive from Toronto (right on the border of Pickering) and thoroughly accessible via Public Transit (TTC). When I first googled Rouge Beach (which is one of the Lake Ontario beaches), I found something very similar to the pic below but I was able to learn from Google Maps that there was actually a park right next to the beach. That clinched the deal for me, if the water was cold the park would serve me well and give me the outing I needed. I reached the park via public transit and had to walk almost a kilometre before the beach was in my sights...

The brand new car parked outside the house is shining brightly in the evening sun. The sprawling lawn with a splendorous luster is beckoning you to your stately home. Outside the doorway stands your wife with your kids who are all excited to welcome you after a hard day's work. You have everything that one can ask for, you have love, success and most of all the bragging rights of having achieved your dreams. You are now a model for others to emulate and a paragon of triumph. You seem to have it all (at least in the eyes of the world) but are you growing? Streamlining the person inside us as we grow (Courtesy: Edward Howell ) Before I proceed any further, I would like to clarify that the intent of this blog is not to prescribe what all constitutes success in life. Success is inherently personal and everyone should apply their own formula for defining it. I for one do not believe that a person's success can be calibrated by financial growth alone. This blog will therefore delve ...

There are very few movies which make for a fun repeat watch. The 2004 version of ' The Punisher ' belongs to this rarefied category. I watched the movie almost 10 years ago and then caught up with it again last month. The plot twists were familiar the second time around but the fun was still the same. That's what probably got me started off on this movie review.    Tom Jane as 'The Punisher' The Plot:  When the younger son of mafia boss Howard Saint ( John Travolta ) gets killed in an FBI operation headed by Frank Castle ( Tom Jane ), Saint swears revenge and wipes out Castle's entire family. Castle himself barely survives before emerging from his injuries as the crusading 'Punisher'. 'The Punisher' resolves to extract payback from Saint and proceeds to punish everyone on the wrong side of law with his brand of justice. Will 'The Punisher' succeed (Of course he does)? Watch this lesser talked about installment from the Marvel Cinematic Un...

Prologue: I've been trying to write a blog for the last several months but I wasn't able to go through with it. All throughout this time the intent of the blog post stayed the same but the content changed dramatically with the evolving global scenario. This is a tricky time for all of us, the world as we knew and life as we understood have probably been changed forever by COVID-19. Nothing might ever be the same again but my belief in human spirit and its ability to conquer insurmountable odds remains unshaken. *** It all began with a Pangolin. As luck would have it my walk this year at  KBR park  brought me face to face with a pangolin, the prime suspect in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Little did I know then that there was a little mystery brewing behind those scales that would shakeup the entire world. Over the next several months I chanced upon several things which I never thought I would see in my lifetime.     A Pangolin in better times A tennis court clo...