Manu's Medley

Trying something new can feel uncertain, whether it is a new routine or new job or new city or even a new vegetable, as we often find comfort in the familiar. I had reservations about this particular vegetable until I cooked and tasted it. Let me introduce you Rutabaga, a lesser known vegetable (at least for a person from tropical region like me). It is nutrient-rich, flavourful and incredibly easy to prepare.                                              When I first saw Rutabaga in the grocery stores here, I thought it would be from the yam family and ignored it, primarily because of its starch content. In addition, Rutabaga's sheer size always made me think twice to try it. In India, grocery stores sell small portions of vegetables like yam, cabbage or pumpkin, allowing customers purchase only what they need, which is...

In 2024, I made a conscious decision to read regularly. Instead of treating reading as a past time activity, I adopted it into my daily routine - aiming to read 10 pages each day. There were days where I couldn't read due to various reasons - sickness, time constraints, fatigue or other commitments. However, I managed to meet the target of 10 pages a day (on an average), over the year. This approach helped me overcome the reading slump and voila I could finish one book each month, totaling 12 books in 2024. In this post I would like to share all the titles I read last year. The Art of Happiness: My quest to learn more about Buddhism led me to this book by His Holiness Dalai lama in collaboration with Howard C Cutler. The content of this book is deep and highly relevant to everybody's life irrespective of one's region, religion and culture. The authors put forth "How to be happy" in very simple terms, while implicitly explaining the essence of Buddhism and Buddhist...