Author: manuscrypts

  • Kumarakom Coconut Lagoon

    When I think of it, it’s pretty surprising that it took us this long to get to Kumarakom.

    ‘Better late than never’ became even later thanks to a red alert in the district because of heavy rains in early August. We finally got there at the end of August.

    Where to stay in Kumarakom

    We had finally pulled the trigger on CGH Coconut Lagoon when we found a good offer. Thankfully we didn’t have to pay much extra for the new dates.

    For the last mile, you have to resort to a ferry to the resort. #oksorry Well, there is a road, but why kill the mystique. This is their jetty, where you wait for your ride. Yes, it has a toilet, in case you’ve been holding it all in during the 2.5 hr ride from Kochi Airport. 😀

    Coconut Lagoon Kumarakom
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  • Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic

    Sam Quinones

    Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones is a sweeping, deeply reported account (he is a journalist) of how the United States slid into the worst drug crisis in its history. The book is named after a private swimming pool that opened in Portsmouth in 1929, which became a community’s bedrock, and a symbol of a good American life, where generations transitioned through their life stages. It closed in 1993, once again a symbol – of a community crippled by a crisis. 

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  • A home less

    On the Wednesday of the week this happened, I went through another loss – the house that housed the room. With a feeling that fittingly mirrored what I realised late about Achan – deep in me there was an understanding that just his being around, even as a frail old man barely able to get up, meant that someone unconditionally had my back. 

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  • The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture

    Orlando Figes

    In The Europeans, a cultural snapshot of nineteenth-century Europe serves as the backdrop for the intertwined lives of three differently remarkable people – Pauline Viardot, her husband Louis, and the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The result is the origin story of what is called ‘European culture’. During their lifetime and immediately after, the continent, for long fractured by language, politics, and geography, slowly began to imagine itself as a shared cultural space with a taste graph that extended across music, literature, art, travel, and performance.

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  • Baan Phad Thai

    Once all the FOMO rush had piped down, Baan Phad Thai proved to be fairly easy to reserve. Judging from the crowd, it’d be a good idea not to attempt a casual walk-in on weekend nights.

    Baan Phad Thai

    Yep, we arrived early! The ambience somehow manages to be just the right amount of buzzy while retaining a calm even when the place is full. If there’s wood and wicker, I’m already sold!

    Baan Phad Thai
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