Random hits on the keyboard

“Boo-zaaa! Boo-zaa!” Mevlut shouts across the dimly lit streets of Istanbul. Reading A Strangeness in My Mind,  I feel like I am walking through the city after sunset, when the noise settles, but every corner still breathes a story. Pamuk leads us into Istanbul through the life of Mevlut, a humble boza seller, and shows how uncontrolled urbanisation and the city’s shifting social, political, and economic tides shape a man’s life just as much as he seeks to shape his own path. Mevlut moves through Istanbul the way many of us move through our own hometown, sometimes in hope, sometimes in confusion, and often, unwantedly, accepting whatever the day brings. As I followed him, I felt a familiar pull of nostalgia, like when I look back at the inner alleys of Kathmandu or the old temples that have stood longer than any of us. Pamuk’s Istanbul, always growing and always unsettled, carries the same restlessness and warmth. The book moves slowly, but never lazily. It mirrors the rhythm of Me...

As winter approaches, an exquisite Kathmandu begins to appear. The days start with a chill morning, and by mid-morning, the sun shines bright over the Valley, sweeping away the fog that floats above the city. Almost every day, I am fortunate to witness the dawn unfold. To the north, the Himalayan range starts to be visible, the peaks first glowing red, then slowly turning white as the sun brightens up. The morning scenery is majestic and a form of blessing. On my slow morning runs, I sometimes run through the inner towns, past small temples, narrow lanes, and old falchas. Devotees begin to appear with a Pooja thali, stepping out of their homes to worship the gods and goddesses in their neighbourhood. They have oil lamps flicker softly,  and small offerings of rice grains, flowers, and incense. I often see elderly people doing clockwise rounds around the temples. There is something calming about their steady pace. I like to believe that the gods and goddesses bless them with good he...

I completed  Crime and Punishment -  finally. I’ve recently started reading some of the classics, the books that are often referred to as “must-reads,”. This book is one of the longest books I have ever read. To be honest, I’m not ready to give any profound review of it. I am sharing my experience with reading the book. I started reading the physical copy, but somewhere along the way, I switched to the audiobook so I could listen while running. It took me months to finish. It wasn’t an easy read. I completed nearly half of the book on the physical book and then switched to Spotify. They were completely different experiences. Reading a physical book feels like reading, whereas listening is more like, the narrator has more control over it, but I enjoyed the audiobook version equally.  The characters and their details are so well described. The events almost pop out vividly. The monologues and thoughts, and ruminations of the characters - those make the book wort...

On November 1, 2025, I completed my first full marathon. I mean 42.195 kilometres, at the Kathmandu Marathon. It was rewarding and worthwhile. It was pure joy. One big, proud check off my bucket list. I had been preparing for this moment for months. I registered for it a long time ago, as an early bird. My training wasn’t exactly at an “elite athlete” level, but I did what I could: some long runs, some short ones, and some high-pace “show-off” runs. YouTube coaches and Garmin training plans became my virtual trainers. A week before the marathon, I got symptoms of a cold. A runner's biggest fear - my nose ran faster than I did. I googled "how to recover from a cold soon?" and the internet basically said, nothing much, it would take its usual course of about a week. I googled “how soon can you run after a cold?" Answers were not encouraging. But I wasn’t giving up. I took medicine, drank plenty of water. A few pre-runs that week were slow and tiring. I could only hope ...