Carpe diem

Wishing you and your dear ones a very happy new year! Have a wonderful year ahead! And that's Day 41 for you!

Vaikuntha Ekadasi went well with a beautiful sunset and a feast for dinner. Husband and I sat down to watch a video on a bakery in a small Japanese village. He kept telling me stories of what he saw and experienced during his visit to the Kyoto and I listened to him with rapt attention. So, kids, travel a lot, gather stories that you can share them with your loved ones on cosy winter nights. In other news, Avengers Doomsday teasers are out and I have mixed feelings now. MCU, please do not let us down. Are you guys ready with your vision boards yet? Who wants to see my bullet journal spreads? And that's Day 40 for you!

Final installment of our Harry Potter movie marathon. And that's Day 39 for you!

It is a wonder how I never knew being a host would feel really nice until now. Okay, yeah, it depends on the guests too. Today was a reminder that building and sustaining a circle or a community sure asks for a lot of effort but it is definitely worth it. As I am typing this, lying dead like a log on the couch, I know for sure that it was really nice day. I have a good friend named Sahitya who pulls off these crazy events with a finesse and a deep sense of owning what truly is ours. I have learnt a great deal from her just by observing from a distance, that having people around you can put you in rooms and spaces that you have never dreamt of before. Networking is a skill, an important one. Rewiring my brain to appreciate the people I have in my life and leaving some doors open for life to surprise me. Also, Soumya, please check for the chilli powder that you add to the curries. And that's Day 38 for you!

Today I am missing my 37D bus rides a little more than ever. Ones that got me home from my colleges for 5 years straight. I cannot even remember when was the last time I took that bus. Have to add this to the list of things I ought to do the next time I am in Hyderabad. But I doubt I will get another chance because we recently bid goodbye to West Marredpally. That part of the city has seen me grow up and go through a lot of interesting phases. It is a hard feeling to let go of that place but it will always be my home. If you ever find yourself in that area, try and look up for the Joshi masala store. Grab some pacchadi kaaram and theplas from there. Take the 37 and go on a joyride through Secunderabad and pick any random spot to have a nice pani puri. And that's Day 37 for you!

I came out of the theatre as a different person after watching Dhurandhar tonight. Whoa! Still reeling in that high. I have got 3 assignments in Corporate Finance to finish in a week's time. Have to sleep now, but how do I take my mind off this movie?!  And that's Day 36 for you!

Just when I thought "Oh! Yay! The wedding is over, we do not have to stress about anything now", then came in like a surprise cameo in Telugu cinema the daunting task of selecting the photos for the wedding albums. Just a couple of more months and we will be celebrating our first anniversary but the photo albums are not here yet. Because we are both busy and lazy.  While browsing through the pictures this past week to shortlist a few, we recalled those moments and laughed at the times that drove us all mad. Truth be told, it was a crazy ride but one that I will definitely remember forever. What warms up my heart the most is the fact that how families and friends come together to celebrate the smallest of things. This is probably why my father loves looking at pictures most of the times. Maybe it reminds him of all the beautiful memories and stories behind those frames.  Funny how we do not look at pictures anymore after we capture them. Albums do not hold that kind of importa...

As much as I want to put down the recipe here, it is kind of complicated because I did not measure out the ingredients and cooked it with intuition rather than precision. Presenting to you the first soup of this season - Roasted Tomato and Red Bell Pepper soup. Maybe you can watch this if you want to try it out as well https://youtube.com/shorts/EAo3XMyxbg8?si=xrp6Mz6k0w_FUyUU God Julafton folks! And that's Day 34 for you!

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. Comfort food. Couch potato. Peace. And that's Day 33 for you!

Introduced Mr. Dhruv Sehgal and his beautiful creation - Little Things, to my husband today. Wish we get to watch more of these relatable content exploring the realms of human relationships often.  Since we have a train to catch early in the morning, I got to sleep early. And that's Day 32 for you!

21-12-2025, Sandsbro, Växjö, Sweden.  And that's Day 31 for you!

About a year ago I started putting together the vision board for 2025 and one of the images for it was a wide angle shot of a couple admiring paintings in a museum. I have a special place for museums in my heart and today, my husband and I visited the Swedish Glass Museum in Växjö. I barely checked the reviews it had and stepped inside with minimum expectations (a must if you are exploring museums). The exhibits and the detailed process of glass making, with a very interesting commentary from my husband, did blow away my mind. The interplay of both art and science resulted in some beautiful and awe inspiring pieces. And a few them can be found at the Numaish to bargain for 200 rupees too. Just kidding. I am too naive to judge their skills and artistry. Now I am going to add visiting more museums to the 2026 vision board. I also lost very gracefully in a game that I taught my husband. Or you can say I let him win it. Anyway, 30 days are over since I started this side project...

Last class of the module. Last module of the semester. Phew! Threw in some random vegetables and made sambar that felt like a warm hug. Watched Little Hearts on Netflix with the man and it was such a fun movie! I am from a generation who used to eat 12 pani puris for 10 rupees and on most days one plate of pani puri and a shared plate of pav bhaji was my dinner. Brilliantly written dialogues and amazing performances from the actors. This is probably one of those films I will show my future children and tell them that this how we grew up.  Got to listen to Raja Gaadiki Roja Dhorukuna again. Happy holidays! And that's Day 29 for you!

The other day I was watching a podcast of Permit Room with Chaitu Jonnalagadda and realised that he is the OG Tillu in real life. A 10/10 Secunderabadi and I could relate with what he said in most instances. Except for one point. He made a comment on how he is not using calculus and d/dx on a daily basis and was dismissive about why schools even teach these things to children. Okay, he is entitled to his opinion and I let that be. Yesterday, I have seen multiple posts on Twitter quoting that particular clip and glorifying the thought process and stating that he is spitting facts. Now that is where the real problem is. Yes, there are a 101 issues with our education system and it needs a total revamp as soon as possible, but sir "I don't know how to address this topic without being disrespectful" is what the TFI banisalu caught onto instead of the actual point. And that is exactly why you need to scale up from basic mathematical operations to binomial equations to plotting ...

Yesterday and today were meh days for me, especially yesterday I was a bit lost too. On the surface, it might seem like everything is okay and am smiling too. But boy, was it hard to get through the day. The winter blues are catching up and maybe it is the hormones messing up with the brain too. Aunt flow is ready to pay a visit soon. It was terrible and I was getting emotional way too often. I started questioning all my decisions and judging people on the social media for hours. Getting out of bed did not seem like a great option too. I had the most weird thoughts and dreams the past two nights, and I was slowly feeling unloved. I loathed myself for this and that, it was turtles all the way down! I am sure we all went down that path. Even while typing this out, I have a hundred thoughts racing in my mind. And that is completely okay. In 2025, I have learnt and am still learning how to sit with my emotions and communicate them properly. I am learning how not to hold any expectations fr...

Circa Apr 2020 And that's Day 26 for you!

Today is about me planning my adventures here instead of my journal. So if you are not into that kind of thing, here is part 2 of a song most of us did not know about - https://youtu.be/VkkArIjWwD8?si=qRuGl99NbbQgbvlP   So, what is the plan? I do not know. So, what do we do? Make a list, obviously.  Tonight the exercise for me is to write down a list of all the things that would make my far  future self think that I was a cool person in 2026. Not to put it out on Instagram, not to prove a point to someone, not to make another list just for the sake of it; this particular one is a tiny gift I owe to myself. Because tonight, we have decided that we have been consuming a lot of Internet and to balance it, there ought to be some creation as well. No, I do not plan on becoming an influencer.  What is this list going to be about?  Random things I thought I would never do in my life. It does not have to be ZNMD type dares and scares but just enough to sigh and almost g...

 So after that amazing movie messed up with my head I had to take it slow today. Was quite a chill Sunday with no chores to do and I gave myself permission to laze around and doomscroll a bit. I found a lot of reels on the Padiayappa re-release in Tamil Nadu and the Telugu fans are feeling bad that there is no Narasimha re-release. Boss, if you ask me or any other 90s kid who grew up in a Telugu household where watching TV is a huge thing for that family, the only way to enjoy watching Narasimha is when it is playing on Gemini TV or Gemini Movies exactly during lunchtime. Most of my Sundays were spent eating my mother's vankaaya ullikaaram pettina koora while grooving to ekku tholi mettu, kottu kondanu dhee kottu. I would not miss it for the world. Even if I had an assignment deadline to meet or an exam on Monday, nothing could make me miss that movie on a Sunday. I really miss going to the theatres, especially the FDFS in a single screen. I was probably 21/22 years old when I firs...

At a complete loss of words after watching Telusu Kadha today.  So, thank to an artist on Instagram by the username @burnt.brush I created this today. And that's Day 23 for you!

I binge watched Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat when it was out on Netflix and a particular part about different types of honey caught my attention. Until then, the only exotic kind of honey I knew was the Girijan honey from Araku. My mind was blown away when I watched Samin Nosrat taste the citrus-ey honey. It was at that exact moment a lot of things clicked and I understood why we earn money, why should I be earning money. To collect these experiences. Sure, money cannot buy happiness but it can enable you to buy tickets and hop on a flight for your first ever solo trip, it can get you custom made Jaipur lac bangles, it can bring some of the amazing dal Khichdis and unlimited servings of aam ras to your table. Huge disclaimer: please budget your wants after you have finished accommodating the earnings to your needs first. And no, you do not have to take a consumer loan to buy the new model of iPhone. That is not a necessity and that is not building your wealth.  True wealth lies in a se...

How about we talk about books today? This post should have been here ages ago. Hello, I am Soumya Inavilli, a book hoarder. This is definitely going on my  resumé! (how I wish)   "You know you could actually start a library with all the books you have here." said a friend of mine who chanced on taking a quick look at my not-so-little book collection at home. She maybe right, yes, after all, building my very own personal library is what I have dreamt of since forever. Not to mention that I almost always catch myself wishing that I would get locked up in the Beast/Prince Adam's library. (No, not in the Stockholm syndrome fantasy way) To me everyone is a reader, an avid one, all they have to do is just find their favorite book. You and I have heard a lot of people talking about how essential is reading as a part of man's routine and how wonderful it is to have a book impact your life even in the tiniest way possible. But there is also another sect in this wor...

Today was a happy day all thanks to the retail therapy. I traveled to the city centrum and bought The Standard Dot Grid Notebook - Leuchttrum 1917. It has been almost a decade since I first saw Ryder Caroll explain the concept of bullet journaling and boy, was I obsessed! And getting my hands on that notebook was not exactly easy in India. But now we have it. Yay! Maybe I will post about how I am building my journal here soon, so, stick around.  The Christmas season is just around the corner and it was a delight watching the streets get decked up with pretty lights and decorations. Instantly reminded me of the wide range of brilliantly arranged lighting on the streets of West Marredpally during the Bonalu weekend. Damn, I miss that vibe! Getting out of my apartment was the best decision I made today next to the impromptu plan of stepping into a bakery that had the cutest Christmas themed desserts lined up on its counters. And as I walked down the stairs of Akademibokhandeln, I felt...

What a crazy day it has been! I had an exam in Portfolio Choice Theory course today and after  submitting my exam I got to see the score -  71/100 which was not exactly what I was aiming for. Yes, I admit I could have worked even harder than I did but I knew my exam did not go that bad. It was really disappointing and I could not talk to my mother properly when I got back home. As a punishment, I made Upma for dinner and settled down with plans to cheer myself up. Slowly that sadness was creeping up, almost making me give up on writing this post too. Just 20 minutes ago one of my classmates called me up all excited and happy, asking me to check the student forum. What do we have there? A long paragraph on how our exam was very demanding and the scheme of rescaling the grades based on our answers. Guess what?! Your girl has scored an A grade. Does not feel entirely like a win because we grew up being severely harsh on ourselves, typical "aa rendu markulu em ayyaayi" upbringing...

I have an exam tomorrow and hence another not so old poem has been dug out from the archives for you to read. Please pray that I remember all the Excel formulae. Oct, 2022 6 PM it will be a busy day again and I will come to see you when I'm done chasing after my dreams I will feel guilty and rehearse my apologies for not letting you know that I will be late today too trudging down the streets I will recall all the things that I want you to hear before anyone else does right at the corner my feet will turn to lead and a fear will clutch my heart "is this all you've got?" I will have to keep moving away from it but the distance between the doubt and me never seems to reduce in this lifetime then in a daze I will unlock the door to find you in your favourite chair looking out the window it is here that my shoulders will feel light and a smile will spread on my lips, all of my chaos will meet your calm there will be worry in your voice and anger in your eyes I will be abo...

Another listicle of YouTube videos that I find interesting 1.  https://youtu.be/wupToqz1e2g?si=4qnfHKDSqVRdl6NN  - for those times when you need to take those huge burdens off your shoulders. 2. https://youtu.be/qBjLW5_dGAM?si=ZPLj5ZmGZwKZT7iQ  - this is probably my most watched video of all time. 3. https://youtu.be/ji5_MqicxSo?si=U34mr_kT6tazirAz  - the one video that pushes me to change my perspective every time I get complacent. 4. https://youtu.be/plWexCID-kA?si=kIwWQWinB6ei1f1q  - favourite favourite favourite! 5.  https://youtu.be/yz2bZgPSyH0?si=cPb9CAJxQR_icTQp  - absolute heartwarming content. I like this one as much as Zakir Khan's Thathaasthu. 6. https://youtu.be/arj7oStGLkU?si=IR_SecO6oVdIg1vy  - also check out Tim Urban's website.

I trying to clean some mail and Google Keep notes today and I found this lurking in there somewhere, long forgotten. I cannot remember what made me write this, it is almost from a decade ago. This almost like a reminder for me that I may not exactly be good at expressing my feelings if you meet me in person but give me some space, a paper and a pen (in this case a phone) I can whip some words and string them into a garland for sure. Mar 16, 2016 కనురెప్పల చాటునున్న కల కళ్లెదురుగా కనబడుతుంటే అవేవో కథలు నీతో చెప్పాలనిపిస్తే, కళ్లు మూసుకుని కాలమంతా కల్లలతోనే కానిచ్చేద్దామంటవా? ఏదోక రోజు నీకు నా మౌనం కూడా వినిపిస్తుంది, అర్ధమవుతుంది. అప్పుడు చెప్తాను, నిన్ను చూసినప్పుడల్లా నా గొంతు ఎందుకు పలకదో. మరి అప్పుడు కూడా నువ్వు నాతోనే ఉంటావు కదా? Future Soumya will be definitely happy with the past Soumya and the present Soumya thanks her past self for not giving up on writing. And that's Day 16 for you!

I do not remember how I came across this game but right now I am spending a lot of my time on Gossip Harbor. It is one those games that seem to trick you into coming back for more but there is nothing that you are actually winning. Is it just me or do you think even Duolingo works exactly the same way? At least you are learning the language on that app. Aren't you? After a point it seems like a race to win points and tournaments rather than mastering the language. Gamification is nice but I am here for learning the rules of Swedish grammar not compete with some Marco trying their hand at Spanish. It surely does help me with being consistent but it also makes me feel guilty for not finishing the daily tasks and earning XP. What if I use the same gamification methods to make life interesting for myself? Today I tried what I used to practice as a child. You could call it a delayed gratification experiment too. While going through my notes for an upcoming exam I set a goal to either si...

I had a long day and my eyes are almost shut. But because we got to keep up the streak, here is a post I wrote a couple of years ago on another blog of mine. Feel free to check that out too. http://mitb12.blogspot.com/2023/07/distance.html And that's Day 14 for you!

Yesterday when I mentioned StumbleUpon a thought had struck me like lightning. I know I cannot do it on a huge scale like the website did but maybe I can still have a repository of the weirdest and coolest spots on the Internet and keep adding to the list just so that I can keep going back to those sites whenever I want to. These websites have stayed with me over the years and helped me get over boredom. Hope you find them interesting too.  1. https://www.deviantart.com/ -  I used to get my phone wallpapers from here and back then, there was a lot of concept art around the DC and Marvel characters. Top-notch stuff if you are into art and illustrations. 2. https://www.zenpencils.com/  - The journey of Zen Pencils for me started with the website first. Never a dull day with this one. 3. https://thisissand.com/  - Nothing special, you get to create sandscapes here which is actually fun! Here is an example.  4. https://littlealchemy.com/  - The number of hours...

There is an entire playlist I listen to while using Excel. Back when I was working in a bank that playlist was my source of much-needed oopu to get through the multiple sheets. It was a random mix of songs by Mani Sharma, Anirudh Ravichandran, Devi Sri Prasad, Raj-Koti, and many more. Somehow listening to music while solving problems and sorting data always helped me stay focused.             It started in 2009 when I was in my 10th grade preparing for the multiple exams. I used to plug in my earphones and listen to the radio while solving trigonometry. Post 8 pm most of the radio channels would play Bollywood songs and listening to them while breaking my head over sine and cosine is a core memory for me. During the Intermediate phase I had an iPod Nano and my playlist on iTunes was an absolute banger, I wish there is a way to retrieve that list now. Around the same time, thanks to StumbleUpon (hands down the best website this world has ever se...

New month. New possibilities! And the lesson to carry through out this month for me would be to keep chanting the mantra "let it go". Nothing a simple manaki endhuku ley cannot fix. My mother taught me this first to not hold any grudges and let it mess with my sanity. Of course, like any other amazing daughter I did not heed to her words and it all came back to me with an intensity of a tsunami hitting me hard when my husband told me that I have to let go of the little things that bother me. It took me a while to realise that there is no point in fretting over silly stuff that would not matter in the long scheme of life. Bad weather? It is fine. Long waiting hours? It is fine. Annoying people around you? It is fine. Too much salt in your dish? It is fine. Code is not working? It is fine. Favourite team/player lost a match? It is fine. Celebrities said something stupid on X? It is fine. Made a rookie mistake? It is fine. All these issues can be solved without losing your cool ...

Things that amazed me in the recent past - a non-exhaustive sample: 1. The radial symmetry in a persimmon   2. The most underrated thing to fix your mood instantly - a walk. 3. The stronghold this song has on my mindset since childhood!  4. New level of 'sarsarle enno anukuntaam...' unlocked. 5. HOW IS THIS CUTE LITTLE PUP NOT FREEZING?! The art of noticing and cherishing little things is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.  And that's Day 10 for you!  

 Just came back from ICA after picking up some clementines and broccoli. I could not avoid the cookies section and damn, nostalgia hit me like a brick, ufff! No matter how fancy your chocolate chip cookie is, it can never beat Hide & Seek. I know it is a lot of sugar and fat and blah blah blah but I would defend Jim Jam all my life. Do not even get me started on Bourbon! And all the packages in the instant noodles aisle do not even come close to Maggi.  Usually I am not fussy about food (recently, I have been craving upma too) and love to try all the things that I can but today I was instantly transported back to a time when I was standing in Trinethra as a child and staring wide-eyed at the entire confectionery section. Can someone write to Cadbury asking them to revive the production of Bytes? If possible, Asha chocolates too. This is definitely a rabbit hole but I am glad I took this path. I still remember my mother packing a 'special' bag for all the years I went ...

That's a wrap. And that's Day 8 for you!

Day 7? Already? It might not seem like much to you, my reader, but this is a tiny milestone worth mentioning for me. Why? Because I am a monkey. Cannot sit still, cannot focus on one thing for long, my brain needs constant stimulation, get easily bored with things, have a hundred thoughts racing in my mind, I am no less than a little langoor jumping from one branch to another. As a certified non-stop yapper, when I am actually silent, my family immediately assumes that something went wrong. To me, consistency seems like rocket science and sticking to one thing feels like a punishment, honestly. Let us just say, I crave novelty every waking moment. (Could be ADHD too, we never got diagnosed) I never thought I would sit down and type this on Day 7 because, for starters, I had no plan for what to write, why to write and for whom do I write this? Slowly, I remembered my own words as an answer when someone asked me why I write - I am a selfish writer and I bleed only on paper. (Victim of hu...

Tired brain. Drooping eyes. Would you be interested in reading a poem I wrote sometime ago? Distance  Maybe it's not entirely about the distance between us. It's about me thinking of what you would be doing right at this moment. It's about me wishing that you could taste this sandwich I made. It's about me wanting to show you how beautiful the moon is tonight. It's about me waiting the whole day just for you to pick up the phone and call. It's about me planning to take you out to this café because I heard the coffee there is good. It's about me hoping someday soon we'll watch these beautiful sunsets together. It's about me praying that nothing erases that sweet smile on your face. It's about me longing to melt into your arms when I can no longer carry my burdens. It's about me wondering if you too feel all of this for me when I'm not there next you. Maybe it's not entirely about the distance between us, but a lot more about how closer...

For someone who has grown up avidly reading the food section in Eenadu Aadivaaram book, I just realised that I cannot write down recipes. I have reached a stage where I am eyeballing the spices to be added to the dish and guessing the stages of cooking through smell. Am I turning into my mother now? Maybe. I was planning writing down the recipe of baked sweet potatoes here tonight but I do not remember what I did while cooking them. It was just a random concoction of sweet potatoes, avocado oil, chilli flakes, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and amchur. Mix mix mix and baked for about 50 minutes at 200° C. Et voila! Even when my friends ask me for recipes this is exactly how I tell them. Explaining the process is a lot more easier than specifying than the measured portions of every ingredient. Is that normal or is it just me? Anyway the potatoes turned out nice and yum, and I am slowly getting closer to learning how to bake things. One dish at a time, baby! Maybe I will learn how to ...

Some days are about the skewness tilting towards the left and some others are about it tilting towards the right. Some days get predictable with a low kurtosis and some days are like riding the Valkyria at Liseberg, pure high kurtosis. C'est la vie, baby! C'est la vie. In a battle with the mind and heart where both compete for control over everything under the sun, there will be times when nothing makes sense. That, my friend, is the beauty of chaos - driving force behind the universe. What you initially thought were random doodles become aesthetic fractals, a simple choice of comfort meals becomes the base of microeconomics, a nerdy statistician builds a model to study the outer space or to mitigate the risk during pandemics. Do we understand it completely? No, there are always these unexplained factors jutting their way out. Can our limits of comprehension outwit the Pandora's box of unknowns? We do not know. But why even think about all of this and break my head over the...

And that's Day 3 for you!  

I planned an amazing surprise last night for my husband's birthday only to reveal it myself accidently before he got the chance to discover it. A quintessential 'thaalam vesithini, gollem marachithini' scenario. Sigh. But he didn't complain at all because hey, he got to joke about it all day long!  Today I took inspiration from Monika Gellar and cleaned up (half of) our apartment. Thank you husband (he made me type this, ugh!) We also got to know that going through IKEA website is an interesting activity for a couple and decided that a mandolin slicer is an absolute necessity. It is all fun and games until the man drops the word air fryer in every second sentence he speaks. Do we have space? No. Will he use it regularly? No. Then why the obsession? I do not know.  And also this happened. Cute no? An advice for today before I close this long, fun and eventful day - do no trust Elsamma. IYKYK. And that's Day 2 for you!

It is 7 am here and I can see the sky slowly brightening and the snow glistening. It has been almost 4 months since I moved out of India and unlocked a new level of adventure - figuring things out from the scratch in your 30s. S krämmande men intressant!  Today marks the first day of the Telugu month - Maargasiram, according to our lunar calendar, and it is one of my favourite times of the year. Back at home my mother would cook the kattu pongali with a proportion of ghee, cashews and black pepper that warms up the soul instantly. She would also croon, probably itti mudduladi baaludedavaadu, randomly throughout the day and that song eventually becomes an earworm with me catching myself humming it along with her. She would also play the Bapu and Ramana's version of Thiruppavai on YouTube. My father would go to the Mahalakshmi temple in West Marredpally early in the morning and return with another delicious version of the pongali. Maybe it is not much but these are the things I remem...