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Growing up, public transport was a huge part of our lives. We took the bus to school and to go hang out with friends. We also hung out at bus stops with friends, ostensibly waiting for a bus. We took the bus pretty much whenever we wanted to go anywhere. In college and later, even after we got our own wheels, there was always an occasional bus or auto rickshaw trip. Public transport always figures prominently in our travels. However, when it comes to Hyderabad, we have always preferred to drive everywhere. Even though we have an excellent Metro service, we haven’t used it much.
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A few days ago, we had to go watch a movie at a mall that was attached to a Metro station. We decided to make the most of it and take the Metro, and were quite pleasantly surprised. Going to the theatre, we took an auto and the Metro. On the way back, we took a city bus back home from the Metro station. However, the nearest bus stop was a good 2 kilometres from home – so our day ended with a long but leisurely walk at midnight!
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We had a lot of fun doing this, and Vidya finally got to experience the Hyderabad Metro!
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How about you – do you use your personal vehicle or if you take public transport, how convenient is it especially in terms of last-mile connectivity?
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A reminder: To ensure you don't miss any of our newsletters, move this email to your inbox. We always send all our newsletters from happystuff@sigamany.in – add it to your contacts so that you always get it in your inbox.
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Here's a Photo
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...instead of a thousand words
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A bewildering variety of colourful figures decorate the steeple of the Sarangapani temple in Kumbakonam, as they do most South Indian temples. Not surprisingly, each of them has a tale to tell, and a reason for being where they are. Surprisingly, the colours we see today are pretty much the same from antiquity. While the paints used today are modern, as opposed to the natural pigments that were originally used, the colours are guided by the same strict codes that govern temple architecture.
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Interesting Stuff
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Fun things we'd turn around and share with you if we were in the same room as you
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Navin went on a tour of the Zinda Tilismath factory. For those who do not know Zinda Tilismath, it is the miracle oil that has kept generations of Hyderabadis sane as they faced natural calamities and political catastrophes and one invasion over the last 100 years. First concocted in 1920 by Hakeem Mohammad Moizuddin Farooqui, this oil can be used as an ointment as well as ingested. The factory is in a charming art deco building and the trip was a lot of fun.
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We watched She Said, a cinematic portrayal of two journalists at the New York Times breaking the story of Harvey Weinstein and the birth of the MeToo movement. It was intense and gripping, and as serious as the topic it was dealing with. Strong acting performances combined with taut editing made the film an edge-of-the-seat experience. If we were handing out points, we would give it about 10,000 times the number of points we would give to that half-assed insult of a movie that is Wakanda Forever.
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Apparently, a tennis bracelet is Chris Evert’s everlasting contribution to humanity. Here we were thinking it was her famous rivalry with Martina, but no. Read all about it and prepare to be astounded!
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Fun Poll!
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What's a newsletter without a survey!
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Interestingly, most of our readers prefer to... read! No wonder you all are here reading Happy Stuff! 55% prefer reading over watching TV, while 36% do both equally. A mere 9% prefers TV over reading.
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This time let's do something with our imaginations! If you could have a superpower, which one will you rock?
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Nostalgia Kick
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CAT1000 - nobody knew what it meant, but everyone knew it set Solidaire TVs apart from the rest. But we didn’t care two hoots about it since we were not involved in decisions like which TV to buy!
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What We're Watching
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Because there’s no such thing as too much TV!
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If you watched Angela Bassett in Wakanda Forever, you have to watch her in 9-1-1. Unlike the folks who made that train-wreck of a movie that insults the memory of Chadwick Boseman in every possible cinematic way, the folks who make 9-1-1 know that Angela Bassett is a fantastic actor and have put her in a role where she can explore every corner of her acting Mind Palace. She plays the stylish, badass Sergeant Athena Grant and has held us spellbound for the past several weeks as we binge on the show.
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We also watched Wakanda Forever, but you already know how we feel about it. If you haven’t watched it, wait for it to come to OTT and then don’t watch it.
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We’ve got The Crown and Manifest coming up next on our watchlists. We’ve also put 1899 on our watchlist, as it comes from the makers of Dark, a series we thoroughly enjoyed. Here's a shamelss plug for Navin's review of Dark :)
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That's it for this issue, folks! Feel free to write to us at happystuff@sigamany.in or just fill out the form here with your thoughts, ideas and good wishes :)
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See you in the next issue!
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Disclaimer: We have no affiliation, commercial or otherwise, with any products and services we mention in the newsletter.
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