Idiot Box: Part 9

Travelers

It is a time travel show that is very light on science. Hundreds of years in our future, humanity is endangered and the survivors have learned to send their consciousness into their past, the 21st century. They then take over people’s bodies in order to carry out missions that will hopefully prevent humankind’s tragic fate. It is fun and freaky. 4/5.

American Vandal
American Vandal is a comedy series that satirizes true-crime shows. While most such shows are built around murders, the crime in this case is vandalism: penises are spray-painted on a row of teacher's cars. Those penises are shown over and over again and discussed at length, in silly ways, of course. Despite the language and vulgarity, this series is pretty sharp, sending up true-crime reportage by imitating it. Very different and off-beat show. 4/5.

Broadchurch
LOVED the first season and then it just got boring and tiring from season 2 onwards. 2/5.


Classic Legends/ Golden Years By Javed Akhtar
This documentary series explores the glamour of Bollywood through the stories of the men and women who have illuminated its screens. And as the name suggests it is based on the classic (black and white era) legends and the golden years of Bollywood. 5/5.

Mindhunter
This show is about serial killers, their mentality and why they do what they do. How does the police find out clues/ patterns if the murder was committed by serial killer and who his/her next victim will be. There is more chatter than splatter on the show (unlike Dexter). I found it just too slow, however it is a very well reviewed and received show. 2/5.

The Five
A thriller that has many cupboards all filled with skeletons, if you know what I mean. 4/5.

About Food...

1. Chew your food: eat and not swallow your food. The more you chew, the more satisfied you would be by the end of your meal. It also helps in digestion and absorption of nutrients.
2. Serve smaller portions. Eat often but lesser portions. Eat every 2 hours.
3. Eat Fruits, Nuts and Veggies. 
4. Fill your kitchen with healthy snacks. I don't keep any chips/soda/chocolates and such at home to avoid temptation.
5. Learn to say No! - My mother has a rule - finish whatever is served on the plate, which I followed for many years. Now, if I am full I put the leftover in the fridge. I have learned to say No. To myself and to others too. Once you are full, you are full, no matter what...and that is the only rule one should follow.

Idiot Box : part 8

You can see the earlier parts here - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

Black Mirror
More seasons of Black Mirror are out and it is at its best, it provokes discussion, though often less about technological developments and more about the fallibility of human nature. 5/5.

Stranger Things
Stranger things is definitely the best Netflix original. There are only 8 episodes in each season, it has a terrific sense of mystery, the nostalgia of 80s is glorious, the casting is superb, humor and thriller is mind boggling. 5/5.

Dark
Originally a German series that you can watch with English subtitles. There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this show, which is one of the key challenges in the initial episodes, it inevitably sucks you in regardless. Dark is a mystery-box show through and through, complete with secrets and surprising twists and cliffhangers that put a cap on each episode while enticing you to immediately open the bottle of the next one. But at the same time it is a complicated story, just hang in there for the first few episodes and everything will start to make sense. 5/5.

Death in paradise

As with many cop procedurals there's an element of 'comfort food' about Death in Paradise. You know what you're going to get: the murder, the impossibility, the dogged legwork by the police officers, and then – usually just as it seems the case is uncrackable – the Detective Inspector sees or hears something that sparks a synapse or two… and he knows who did it. Gathering all the suspects in the best way, he explains it all. Chances are pretty good that if you're concentrating, you can get there ahead of the team – the way the murders are filmed nearly always contains some important clue – but even if you're half-asleep, you're led by the hand through the evidence. 4/5.

Planet Earth

This is a must watch show. Filmed on animals, jungles, rainforests, deserts and pole to pole, it just makes one realize how beautiful planet earth is and how we are destroying it. 5/5.

Indian Superfoods : Rujuta Diwekar

All my life when I looked around I felt a disconnect with the world. Fancy diets, calorie counting, don't eat this/ that, hours long workouts... I did not understand the necessity of all this. I eat small quantities after every few hours, I eat simple, homemade, Indian and fresh food, I eat ghee, rice, coconut everyday, I can not have a salad for a dinner, I can have khichadi for dinner but not salad (as the fad goes). I spend 60 minutes everyday on exercise, nothing more than that.

And when I looked around I thought 'my grandmother never followed any such diets, she ate simple and lived simple and didn't have to see a doctor all her life, why are there so many fads, who should I follow? my grandmother/ mother or the world? There are new scientific discoveries, may be my grandmother didn't know about them, but then I see that she lived a healthy life and maintained an awesome lean figure'.

And then one day I started reading and following Rujuta Diwekar and it dawned on me that my grandmother is and has always been right.  There was no looking back for me after that, I read all of Rujuta's books, she saved me from feeling confused, pulled me out of my quandary. Did Rujuta Diwekar turned me into a follower of my grandmother's lifestyle? No! I always followed it, all I needed was an affirmation that I am on the right path, the path of logic and simplicity, and she provided me with that affirmation.

Overall I feel Indian food is a superfood and in the book 'Indian Superfoods' Rujuta lists the superfoods of the superfood.

I highly recommend her books.