Tag: 2026

  • Mayureshwar Temple, Morgaon

    My family and I drove to Morgaon on 4 January 2026. It was the first long drive I undertook after the operation in the second week of December. It was a two-hour drive one-way.

    The drive to the temple was on mostly good roads except for a stretch between Hadapsar and a little beyond Phursungi. After that the roads were good and mostly empty. We made a stop at Kamat’s at Khalad on NH 965 for tea and our bathroom break.

    We didn’t make any stops on the way back. We stopped after we crossed Magarpatta to snack on some makhana.

    I first heard about Mayureshwar Temple associated with the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage circuit. It is the starting and ending temple to visit on that circuit. There are some fascinating myths associated with the temple.

    The temple was really well planned. It had good parking space, not too many heckling commercial establishments, and really well kept temple surroundings. We had a good darshan after a small waiting time. I found it hard to pray though the darshan was relaxed.

    I did not notice too much on this journey because I was really focussed on driving and my own driving comfort.

    Addendum: 16 January 2026

    I watched this post on Instagram that gives the story of Khandoba at Jejuri. This is near Mayureshwar. While standing in line, we saw several people who seemed bathed in turmeric and we were curious to learn more.

    Khandoba was a version of Shiva who came to fight Mani and Malla’s terror. Mani surrendered. Malla refused to surrender and was beheaded.

    After the war, Khandoba’s battle wounds were smeared with turmeric and the temple at Jejuri is still bathed in a sea of yellow.

  • Weekly Notes 1/2026

    Wishing you a Happy New Year! I got a lot of recommendations and book gifts (mentioned below in the Reading section).

    Reading

    • The Great Indian Retreat – Reading this is a more tangible form of saying what the Indus Valley Report reports in terms of India and Bharat and the disintermediation happening between them. There are also people like me who seem to be on the faultline moving between them not fully of one or the other.
    • Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks – I’m listening to this on Audible. I’m 79% through this book.
    • The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – I’m doing the exercise given in The Artist’s Way along with a group of people who are in the Clear Writing Community. I’m 12% through this book.
    • On the Banks of Mayyazhi by M Mukundan, Translated by Gita Krishnakutty – I’m reading this as a part of The Purple Pencil Project Book Club.
    • The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF – This book was gifted to me by Diljeet Singh Narwal of Pineapple Elaichi Book Club as a Secret Santa gift for me even though I couldn’t participate in their Secret Santa. Thank you, Diljeet and PEBC!
    • When Privilege Pretends to be Economics by Vivek Kaul on newslaundry – Zomato and Blinkit gig workers went on strike on 31 December 2025. Deepinder Goyal of Eternal wrote a post on X. There were many counter-arguments of what Goyal wrote but this is what I thought was one of the best counter-arguments I read, as on date.
    • Homo opportunisticus: The contingent, contested evolution of caste by Tony Joseph, The Hindu

    Writing

    Watching

    • Eko, on Netflix.

    I met with Saurabh and his co-conspirators here in Pune.

    Cdr. Abhilash Tomy has this to say about the INSV Kaundinya journey.

  • eko

    I spent the hours leading up to the New Year’s watching eko which dropped on Netflix. We watched together as a family. I really enjoyed watching this finale of the Animal trilogy.

    The story telling with a twist in the tale reminiscent of Jeffrey Archer who wrote a book of short stories with that name. Doing that with three stories on television/theatre is difficult.

    As the Wikipedia page for eko says:

    Eko serves as the third and final instalment of Bahul Ramesh’s Animal Trilogy, following Kishkindha Kaandam (2024) and Kerala Crime Files 2 (2025).

    I recently needed to read about movies to understand the story better after just one viewing. I didn’t have the energy to watch them again to discover these hidden layers. I even overlooked some details when reading about them. That’s when I found the explanations on The Pirate Explains YouTube channel helpful.

    The first video from the channel is about the questions you may have had you watched the movie only once. I would warn you against watching this video unless you have watched the movie at least once.

    The same channel had another video that fixes the timeline in the movie for you, but I didn’t think that was that much of a value add.

    Sometimes protection and restriction, both look the same. This is the thought with which Bahul Ramesh wrote eko. I enjoyed learning about his intuitive writing of the first draft in this interview with Baradwaj Rangan.

    He has a really unique storywriting process. Dialogue, Screenplay, and Story.

    But, eventually, this means that I can’t post a review immediately after watching it.