Tag: slow

Start of a September vacation!

Hai to all my readers,

I had been in and out of hospital in June and had to take some time for myself. So, naturally,  the blog took back seat. Now that I am up and about, I am getting my blog game-face on and back here.

Now for the actual post…..

What with lots happening in our lives, Mr.Bee, who has the most cortisol in our family, since he is the central pillar post, decided we need a long overdue vacation in September. (Both the kids have schools and all, but we decided to take a chance at going on vacation!)

Since Mr.Bee has always been a fan of Coorg like almost all software engineers, we charted our plans, made itinerary, jotted down the list and finalized our tour plan.

Day 1 :

We had Mr.Bee’s cousins visiting us and our house was buzzing with activity.  We made some last minute additions to our luggage,  went to my parents house to bid them farewell before our 11 day vacation.

Initially, the bus we were travelling was supposed to start at 9:30 p.m. at Kukatpally, Hyderabad. But, they called us at 7:30 p.m. to inform us to reach the stop at 8:30 p.m., as the departure has been pre-poned! (The sudden change in time meant we had little time for dinner!)

We got ready, made it on time and occupied our seats. Mr. Bee and KBee, I and GBee divided into teams of two. Thanks to the bus driver  constantly reminding us of the existence of the break pedal, I felt nauseous! Mr.Bee bought me some mango candy and Kurkure at the first stop after boarding, to help me beat nausea, but it didn’t help me at all.

The only idea I came up with is to sleep and that subsided my nausea. (Since it was MIL’s birthday, we had biryani for dinner and that caused me nausea. Word of advice, eat atleast an hour before travelling and eat light!)

Before sleeping, KBee , GBee and I had played ATLAS game, which was like Antyakshari, except here we tell any nouns starting with last letter of a word. So if we start the game with ‘S’ as in (A-T-L-A-‘S’), a word like Singapore,  the other player needs to think of a word with E (last letter of the word, Singapore), like an Elephant and so on.

Later, GBee and I chatted and played “country flag” game, where we guessed the flags of different countries.

We called it a night at 10 p.m. and slept.

Day 2 :

The next morning, at around 6 a.m. we reached the outskirts of Bangalore and GBee and I enjoyed looking out of the windows at the windmills, hills and the tiny towns, which were in the midst of nature. (The townsfolk don’t even know that some people like me are envious of them!)

By the time we reached our stop, at the Silk Board, it was already past 10:30 a.m.!

We reached R’s house, who is a close friend and colleague of Mr.Bee. He wondered why we had booked a bus service, which had been recently involved in a major fire accident! The bus driver was going slow for a reason,  their service was under scrutiny, thanks to the fire accident  and Mr.Bee had booked us in the same service, without any idea!

I should say I was actually worried about fire accidents in buses, but I refrained from sharing my concerns with Mr.Bee. Interestingly, I didn’t recall that the fire accident had been in the same bus service we were travelling in. If I had known, I wouldn’t have slept the whole night, like a scaredy cat!

Anyway,  we had a hearty breakfast of idli sambar, had our baths, because it was nearly 11 a.m. and eating breakfast after bath seemed stupid.

We bade goodbye to R’s family, got into the taxi we had hired for the whole trip and started for Mysore.

P.S :

1. I admire the outskirts of Bangalore, with a tiny town, hills in the background and wind mills doing their job! It looked so beautiful that, it reinforced my desire to visit Mount Fuji, Japan. Once I visit Mt.Fuji, I can check it off my bucket list. (I checked off Australian Kangaroo in 2016, which had been in my list since my 10th grade.)

2. Although I admire the scenic beauty, I wonder how it would be to live in a scenic town.

3. I pity the Generation Alpha. Even when the scenery outside our bus window was exquisite,  GBee wanted nothing to do with it. He kept demanding for the Samsung Tab, to play his Minecraft! (He got good many scoldings, so early in the morning)

The Boyfriend – Review

One fine Saturday afternoon,  after PTM at GBee’s school, Mr.Bee, I and the kids went to the Ashoka One Mall, which is the closest mall to his school, like less than 1km away. (There is another mall which is even closer, but it is still under construction) Incidentally,  Ashoka One Mall is GBee’s favourite mall. (KBee loves the Nexus Mall, we alternate between the malls, to satisfy them both!)

Anyway, after the usual car rides and toy train rides, both the kiddos were happy. That’s when I saw the bookstore. (During my days as a working woman, I would spend most of my lunch hours, browsing through Walden, the bookstore in our office premises.  I sorely miss those days!)

Once inside, I quickly got what I wanted. Two books by Freida McFadden and one by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I started reading the first book after returning home.

So here comes the review….

Review:

Written by : Freida McFadden

Published on : 1st October 2024

Read by Queen Bee on : 16th October 2025

This is the 4th Freida McFadden’s book, that I have read.

The book starts with Tom and his weird and mad love for Daisy Driscoll. It makes us wonder,  do people like him even exist, but I guess they do!

Tom is a poor but handsome, clever but a little scaredy guy. He loves Daisy but also dreams of killing her. He probably has some mania related to blood like hemomania because he enjoys looking at blood or imagining blood! Yuk!

Daisy Driscoll,  the school beauty, the girl Tom loves the most and the girl who loves and adores Tom.

Then there is Slug, Tom’s best friend, who has the habit of eating insects! (I have never read about two or more such characters in a book, ever.) Weird bunch, I tell you.

Also, there is Alison, bestie of Daisy, who hates Tom. She is one of those rare individuals who knows about the kind of a guy Tom is. She gets a weird vibe from him.  These are one side of the story.

The story alternates between two sets of characters.

The other set of characters include Sydney Shaw, who has been unsuccessful in love and is into dating apps. She wants a steady boyfriend,  marry him and settle down. But all she ever meets are weirdos like Kevin, who later becomes her stalker.

Sydney has two girl besties, Bonnie and Gretchen. Bonnie is in a serious relationship with a doctor, not even her friends have seen him.

Suddenly,  Bonnie is found in her flat, dead, apparently tortured to death.

How did she die? Is the stalker Kevin the murderer or the super of the apartment Randy, who always gave Bonnie the creeps?

Meanwhile Sydney begins to date Dr.Tom Brewer, who has many secrets of his own.  Who even contacts his girlfriend from a burner phone? Who lies about his name and place of work? Only suspicious individuals do.

Then there is Jake, Sydney’s ex, a cop who is set on finding Bonnie’s killer.

Just as Sydney begins to put two and two together,  to guess the killer,  she is in grave danger.

So many innocent people end up dead because of one supremely psychotic brain,  so who is the killer?

What I like:

Each chapter is a page turner. It has twists and turns, rightly so, since it is a thriller.

What I don’t like:

The heroine Sydney is a little slow. She is gullible too, she is like a lesser liked version of Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

When Sydney is in a near death situation,  the only thing that’s on her side is, luck. She does nothing to save herself.

I don’t like the killer getting away with crime, after killing innocent people.  No, not one bit!

But that’s not a good enough reason not to read, go ahead and read it. Tell me what you make of it.

P.S:

1. The next time someone in power like a cop, volunteers to do a background check on the person you are dating,  ALWAYS  say yes, take help. This is my advice to all potential heroines in thrillers and mysteries!

Let me bring my bowl of puffed rice. Time to read, Do Not Disturb!

Cheerio…

© 2026

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑