Not A Game Review

  Image: Netflix The Witcher is one of those rare occasions where the games actually do it better than the on-screen adaptation.  Full disclosure, my comparisons are limited to the games as I haven't read the books. But even putting aside everything witcher for a moment, it has become abundantly clear that this show isn't made for anything beyond fluff, surface-level entertainment.  *                                   *                                     * The first season of The Witcher remains the only show I have, and ever will, binge-watch in my entire life. I came out of it tired, groggy and with a headache. I have no idea how bingeing has become so popular the world over and all these media outlets push 'new shows to binge this January.' I remain convinced ...

12th January 2015 A few minutes ago, I finished cooking my dinner of chow mein and washing the dishes. Thanks to the sweltering summer heat, the food still hadn't cooled off. I was almost heading back to my room to wait it out with a YouTube video or two when I glanced at the kitchen door that leads out into a small grassy lawn in the backyard. A dog barked in the distance, steadily keeping up its tirade against unseen forces. Had it spotted a rat in the yard? Or a neighbour walking their dog? Perhaps it was simply barking in anticipation of its dinner.  I walked over to the screen door, and did something I hadn't done in years. I put my head against the door and closed my eyes, breathing in the metal, dust and the aroma from someone's dinner all at the same time.  I thought of everything and nothing. In a taxi, on the way to visit a relative in Vadodara. A power cut on a monsoon evening, the electricity cut off at the slightest sign of rain. It was as if there was a person...

It is a sad, sad day when I reach the final page of Family Matters . For one, an exquisitely crafted story of the day-to-day life of a lower middle class family in 90s India is forever over. But more importantly, this was Mistry’s final full-length novel – the author has been away from the public eye for nearly two decades now, and I doubt he will be coming back to literature. All we have now are the gems he left us from the decades past. I start thinking about the novel, its characters, political stance, and the setting. Most of all, I sincerely wonder why a novel about a dying man in his late 70s resonated with me, a 21 year old college student. Was it to the author’s credit, or perhaps the Indian setting? Or the outspoken contempt of certain political factions that Mistry dares to put into words? And then I realized that it was all of these and more. Family Matters isn’t just Nariman or Yezad or Roxana’s story. It is the story of my family, and quite likely yours too.  *  ...

Since November 2020, all of my games-related pieces have been going on  Gamer's Waypoint .  I've had a bunch of posts building up on my laptop on a variety of topics: from South Park and nostalgia for old games to books I've been reading and an analysis of mother!. And then I realized: all of that could just as well go on here (none of it is a game review, after all).  From now on, I'll be using this blog for more than just game related content. Books, films, TV shows and whatever else I fancy this new year.  If you're reading this, thank you.