State of Nats

Home Weeknotes

• 01 Jan, 2026 *

[Several things from 2025] Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I write this from my short term rental, a one bedroom flat in district 2. It is seven minutes past midnight. There are fireworks in the sky of Ho Chi Minh City, 4 different songs in my ears, and smoke in the air. I have written these points while thinking about my life, sitting in cafes in different cities, climates, and over many infectious glasses of Vietnamese iced coffee.

Data

Books read: 32 Pages read: 11k

Movies watched: 75

Days I have eaten eggs: 73

Top highlights so you can skip the rest

1. I saw WTA in Dubai! The entire day at WTA stands out singularly in my mind. Each match is its own memory, each part of the day, each food and beverage, everything stands out and is, in retrospect, a spectacular day spent with my favourite person in this world (my sister). I saw Iga and Saba and Badosa and Paolini and MUCHOVA omg to see her play is to fall in love with tennis, and the one her countrymen were cheering too loudly about and that Navarro one who endorses Fila and AND RYBAKINA. The day was one of the best gifts I have received in my life.
2. I started and am still on the most wonderful trip from North to South of Vietnam over 10 weeks. So far I have been to Hanoi, Lan Ha Bay, Ninh Binh Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Da Lat and finally in Ho Chi Minh City.
3. I hosted a second murder mystery dinner party. It was a smashing success.
4. I did three hikes this year, and my muscles were A-OK after them. This would not have been possible without all the time spent at the gym. Post Covid, my body felt like a potato sack. Rhea’s forced gift before she left for higher education was to build us all a gym habit. She did it splendidly well. I have on average only visited the gym 14-15 days a month. And only from July to October. Yet the impact on my body is felt even through December.
5. Hummus finally tastes real in our home. Only in 2024, in my first visit to Dubai did I realise what hummus tastes like and all hummus before that was a lie. It took several experiments to bring it closest to how it tastes in Dubai.

In addition to

1. Rhea taught me how to clean shoes, fabric, suede and cork, with all the modern equipment. Then she handed over her set to me.

2. The family trip to Dubai:

3. We arrived a day sooner than the group to have a whole day set out for Rudi, Rhea and I. We took Rhea to our favourite spots from our previous visit. She too fell in love with Bu Qtair.

4. The WTA day was part of a visit to Dubai with “the fam”. This was the first holiday my parents took with Rudi. We received them in Dubai and showed them around, spending time in all tourist sites and putting mom and dad on tours so they could enjoy the city in “traditional” ways. We did a big Family lunch in Mado that remains to be one of my mom’s favourite experiences in Dubai. That lunch makes you near comatose. Dad kept trying to be the leader of this expedition. Rhea’s word remains to be the final word he listens to.

5. In Dubai we stayed at the culturally sterile area of Downtown Dubai, and later in Deira. We loved Deira.

6. The best falafel I have ever eaten in my life was in this trip, our two visits to Al Damyati restaurant. On a weekly basis I think about the haleem at Ravi. I need to learn how to make haleem to end this disappointment.

7. We hosted an Eid lunch. Rudi made fesenjan and everything that goes with it.

8. Like a fairy godmother, a friend sold me a spare OPPORTUNE ticket to a Coldplay concert, which I attended in a small group of four vibing with Coldplay from start to finish. It remains to be the most amazing concert I have ever seen in my life. I am a seated concert girlie. This I learnt by attending other concerts as well, all standing-in-a-pit concerts. I saw Ed Sheeran live with Rhea. I saw Steven Wilson live with Rudi, inadvertently fulfilled his lifelong dream.

9. I got nail extensions. I hated them.

10. Noopur came to stay with me. We had a cozier, more regular-life-like time with each other than we did before. Every day with her aggregated me that she has chosen to live in her hometown instead of moving to Goa with me. For revenge, I took her to watch the movie Flow and it completely took over her mind and emotional state.

11. I saw my first Caravaggio painting (special exhibit in Delhi).

12. I attended a coffee workshop. Now I have my own fact sheet to make coffee.

13. I joined ”writing for nerds” cohort at the behest of a friend and it brought structure to my mind when approaching writing. And classic ME stopped writing completely once the cohort was over.

14. We took a linocut class.

15. I stayed on a boat overnight for my birthday.

16. I attended a ‘dream job webinar’ to assess myself with the lens of employers. Eh.

17. Early this year was spent going back and forth from Delhi to Goa to mentally help my mom after her leg injury. After a tough few months with mobility brought on by said leg injury, mom felt well enough to visit me and Rhea in Goa. We had a blessed homey time with her, where we made sure one meal was home cooked ”experiments” for mum and the other was from outside. A fine balance.

18. My home feels more complete than ever before. I always say that a house is a perpetual art project, and this phase feels complete and beautiful.

19. I bought a bent-nib ink pen from The Temple of Literature in Hanoi. The building was founded in the year 1070. The purchase felt blessed.

20. I made new friends, and most of them are keepable. It’s as the famous poet Rihanna says, we found love in a hopeless place.

21. I received a set of Le Creuset (3) as wedding gifts. They are beautiful and blue. The first thing I baked in them was banana bread with nuts and dark chocolate. It became a delicious gooey mess.

A lot to say about health

1. I got a flu shot. It could be a coincidence, but I did not get any major flus this year, at most some low days with flu like symptoms. So I will take it in 2026 as well.
2. A bad year for tonsils but a good diagnosis came from it. In a few weeks I will work more concretely on healing from it.
3. I got a wisdom tooth taken out, post some infection it caused in my mouth. Why is dental work so traumatic?

Some disappointments

1. My MUBI subscription was not utilised much this year by myself, and henceforth I will be looking to share it with another individual. As much as I want to support the company (questionable about their private equity funding), I want to keep a logical eye on my subscriptions as well.
2. Works, employment, passion projects, all have become dead horses I am beating over and over and over.
3. In a years time I have had two scope-invasive procedures and I am unable to shake their memory or feel particularly good with my body. I feel I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. The weight training helped in feeling strength in muscles which was long forgotten. I can feel an anticipation of fear still. I am taking everything slow not out of wisdom but caution.
4. I saw way too many snakes in real life. I am not keeping a count for sanity.
5. I am always successfully able to get off social media. A new problem I have noticed this year is how easy it is to get sucked back in. I am reading a book on helping me figure this out but the truth is clear as day, they design the apps and ecosystem to be easy to get addicted to.

On reading

• The average time I take to finish a book is 15 days. For my perpetual goal of 52 books a year, I have to reduce this time by half.
• I finished most number of books in February. I read one book in July, A Little Life. It took a whole godamn month.
• The best reading streak I had was of 17 days in April.
• My most read author was Jane Austen. I consumed these works in the form of audio books while trailing my finger over text from time to time. I even finished an art project with Pride and Prejudice for company.

Some stats

Reading

• The average time I take to finish a book is 15 days. For my perpetual goal of 52 books a year, I have to reduce this time by half.
• I finished most number of books in February. I read one book in July, A Little Life. It took a whole godamn month.
• The best reading streak I had was of 17 days in April.
• My most read author was Jane Austen. I consumed these works in the form of audio books while trailing my finger over text from time to time. I even finished an art project with Pride and Prejudice for company.

Films

• I watched 12 films in theatre.
• There is an undue burden on me and one I share with people like me, where it feels that I myself am responsible for keeping the cinema halls running, keeping this form art alive. I also love watching films on tv and hate watching them on a computer screen.

Activity

• Only on 74 days in the year did complete my Apple rings. The fact that it counts calories still bugs me and I am not sure I will count this in 2026.

I would like to end here.

Love to Nats, from Nats.