Amruta's Writing Block!

Trying to find a balance between my need to communicate, to be in control, and to get over my writer's block – all to fulfill my dream of being the new kid (or old lady) on the "writing block"… Yeah, yeah, I do sarcastic comedy on the side! :D

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  • Birthday + Thanksgiving + New Year Resolutions

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    Amruta

    This was originally supposed to be a birthday post, where I wanted to talk about turning over a new decade, and entering the 5th one, no less! Like always, life got in the way – work life, to be specific – not the writer’s block life which has delayed (canceled?) so many of my other posts over the years. So then, I was going to turn this post into a gratefulness post for the thanksgiving holiday that would happen about a month later… Clearly that didn’t happen either, so now, this is going to become a New year post, too!… Read more

  • 2023 – A year in (fewer than usual) books

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    Amruta

    Yes, I fell severely short of my 50 book target for 2023 thanks to being ridiculously tied up with work (Work has been sucking my soul for 6-7 months now and I have had very little time to do anything). For the last 6 years I have been successfully reading at least 50 books a year. This year, however, I could only squeeze in 38! I tried really hard towards the end by searching shorter novels to read, but I didn’t stand a chance!  Nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to be able to read many gems amidst some duds this year.… Read more

  • 2022 – A year in books

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    Amruta

    So, another eventful year comes to an end, and it’s time for my review of the books I read this year! Thanks to Goodreads, I can properly keep track of them, so here’s a little infographic detailing the 50 books I read this year and stars I gave them: Yeah I read two whole technical books this year, and added them here to fulfill my challenge. But didn’t rate them because really, which self-respecting bibliophile would rate books about automotive jargon?!!? 😀 😛 You can view more details on the challenge here, or by clicking on the infographic. Surprisingly, I… Read more

  • 2021 – A year in books

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    Amruta

    It is said that the world belongs to those who read, and 2021 (and 2020) made that literally true, and how!  Confined to our homes and immediate localities for the most part, reading is what opened the doors to far away lands for me these 2 years. I know, it always does, but it was much more noticeable now.  From modern Europe to ancient India, from future dystopian Africa to California of the 70s, from the present political mess of DC to inter-generational conflicts in Turkey and Malaysia and wherever, the books I read this year allowed me to travel… Read more

  • Book Review: The Maid

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    Amruta

    Author: Nita Prose  Date of Publication: Expected on January 4, 2022 Genre: Mystery, Crime Legacy: This is the author and long-time editor’s first novel How I heard about this book: Got an advance review copy of the e-book from Netgalley.com. I chose it because the plotline sounded interesting to me. Appropriate Audience: Teen/ Adult Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Very good , but slightly short of great) First of all, let me say that it was very thrilling to read a book that has not yet been published and that only a handful (okay, giant’s handful) of people have read before.… Read more

  • Movie Review – The Great Indian Kitchen

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    Amruta

    [This post was originally published in a Marathi magazine called Palakneeti, published from Pune. You can read the original post on the magazine’s free online version here] Once upon a time there is this beautiful girl – educated, trained in Indian classical dance, an expert at cooking; and as she grew up in a gulf country, street-smart, too! Because of all these qualities, she is deemed to be a perfect arranged match for the son of a renowned family in Kerala. The prospective bride and groom meet and talk (well, it’s more like stare shyly/ awkwardly at each other and… Read more

  • One year!

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    Amruta

    It was exactly a year ago from today when I rushed in to my workplace and informed my boss that I will have to work from home for the next couple of days. At around 9:30 PM the night before, we had got notified that my daughter’s school would be closed for the next 2 days. It was the first school to close actually, because of a Corona virus case found in the school district. The boss wasn’t very happy about letting me “WFH”, but nobody really had a choice there because I couldn’t keep my daughter alone at home;… Read more

  • Fairy Tales of Fearless Girls (and why my daughter is not a princess!)

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    Amruta

    Came across this wonderful book by Susannah McFarlane, while browsing (online) my local library’s bookshelves. It is a modern take on fairy tales, and I was blown away by it. What if Rapunzel wasn’t a poor, helpless princess with her beautiful long hair as her only redeeming factor? What did she do all day in that tall tower of hers (Hint: very interesting stuff)? What if prince what’s-his-name wasn’t her savior but her companion? What if Cinderella put up with her evil stepmother for the sake of kindness and she went to the ball just for the experience of it… Read more

  • The (customary) birthday post

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    Amruta

    Yes, yes, I know, I have missed my birthday posts the last 3 years, so there is clearly no ‘custom’ followed, and I am a day late to publish this post; but with hope against hope hopen, I hope to re-establish it. I barely remember my birthdays in the last 4 years because it was so crazy and busy even when I was being lazy!  It all started just a day before my 34th birthday, when I had my first job interview – after 5 whole years of being berozgaar, or unemployed. Thankfully, I aced it, got the job, and… Read more

  • Book Review: American as paneer pie

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    Amruta

    Author: Supriya Kelkar Date of Publication: 9 June 2020Genre: Young adult fiction, comedy-drama, coming-of-ageLegacy:  The author is an India-American brought up in the mid-west, and has written many brilliant children’s books Intended Age Group: Any, but particularly tweens and teenagers This one was touted by many book lists, so I immediately reserved it at my local library. Was the first one to get it too! And I have to say, I loved it from the go! So well-written, fluid, un-pretentious, funny at times and quite emotional at others! Also, full props for the unapologetic usage of Marathi words and expressions! It… Read more

  • Earth Day 2020

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    Amruta

    Happy Earth Day 2020, people!  And really, when we speak of conserving the earth or the environment, we speak of nothing noble or sacrificial, but of making life better for us and for posterity, so happy “Us Day”, too! So, on this Earth/Us Day, I thought I should make a list of changes my family and I have made to our lifestyle in the last several years. We keep slipping up every now and then, of course, but we try hard  not to. Also, I do admit that what we are doing is far from enough, so I’ve also included… Read more

  • Screen-time of the month – March (and February)

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    Amruta

    Yes, I do sound like a broken record when I say this, but I (also) missed publishing my screen time on February. However, these have been strange times, where there are new challenges and new headaches and new distractions. Anyway, here’s the list of what I watched in February and March. DCI Banks – Netflix This BBC series started off on a promising note, but ended up disappointing! Extreme thrills and last-minute rescues are great but not if they are needed because the cops have been completely stupid and imbecile all through the investigation. Good Newwz – Prime Video I… Read more

  • Screen-time of the month: January

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    Amruta

    Honestly, this is nothing but another attempt to keep writing… something! So here’s what I watched during the month of January. Bala – Hotstar Had been waiting to watch this movie for a long time, so I pounced on this one! I loved it! Right from the writing to the acting to the direction, everything was excellent. But the concept and the sentiment and the message of the film were even better. Ayushman Khurana was amazing as usual! I only wish that they hadn’t blackened Bhumi Pednekar’s face so much because 1) she is a terrific actress and doesn’t need… Read more

  • Happy New Year 2020!

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    Amruta

    Hello, everyone! Here’s wishing a happy, happy new year to all my readers, or what’s left of them anyway! (I know I have no one but myself to blame for that, but let’s put that aside for now. ) This year has whizzed past me at astronomical speeds (both literally – the Earth did complete a revolution around the Sun- and figuratively! I had barely gotten used to writing 2019 while writing the date, and now I have to push 2020?! Of course, what’s a new year without new (and many old) resolutions? I thought long and hard about my… Read more

  • A Nobel project

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    Amruta

    “Where the mind is without fear, where the head is held high, Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls…” This amazingly beautiful classic poem from Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetanjali was floating in my head while I was day-dreaming at work today. Everyone who knows me well knows that my mind works in terms of trains of thoughts, it was doing just that! It went to this poem (which was also my school prayer!), then Tagore, then the Nobel prize, then the Nobel prize in literature… Then I began wondering how many… Read more