12th October, 2026

What am I working on?

A post for movies to watch to unwind post work. Click here to know more.

Here is the first slate

What am I reading?

I read The Trojan Women - a graphic novel adaptation of Euripides' classic by Anne Carson and illustrated by Rosanna Bruno. Earlier this year, I rewatched Troy and watched Odyssey in theatres. So when I stumbled upon this book, I picked it up immediately.

The story follows the women left behind after the war: the dethroned queen Hekabe, her daughter Cassandra and her daughter-in-law Andromache whose husband Hektor died defending the city. Cassandra becomes a captive of the Greek General Agamemnon, while Andromache's fate turns even worse when her infant son is executed (the Greeks feared he might one day seek revenge). Hekabe also faces an uncertain future along with other women of Troy grappling with loss and unfathomable grief.

Carson's almost lyrical writing and contemporary language beautifully pairs with Bruno's anthropomorphized characters illustrated in a rough, hand-drawn style making the classic accessible for readers like me (who are neither familiar with Greek mythology nor inclined towards dense classical literature). It is certainly experimental for this medium and a fresh perspective on this classic. The artist imagines Troy as a once grand hotel whose golden age has ended. Hekabe appears as an emancipated sled dog driven half-mad by the fall of Troy. Athene is depicted as a pair of overalls carrying an owl mask. Helen appears as a shapeshifter - a silver fox and a mirror, using her charm to plead for her life. Andromache is shown as a poplar tree while her son appears as a sapling cut too soon. So many details have been well thought through to make this graphic, adding a whole new layer of meaning to this age old story.

What am I watching/watched recently?

Still watching The Spy Family :)

The story follows a secret agent who is tasked with a mission to preserve world peace. He has to do the most difficult thing he has done in his career - not to infiltrate the enemy territory, not to undergo an arduous training to fight, but to pretend to be a family man. He ends up adopting a little girl Anya (who can read minds) and fakes marriage with Lor (who is an assassin). Best part? None of them know the true identities of each other. Funny, quick 20-25 mins episodes, with a bonus of many wholesome moments. Oh dear, how I love Anya.

New thing I learnt lately?

Spatial entrapment is a theory that one's geographic perimeter has an impact on work opportunities and growth. This is most commonly visible with women with domestic or caregiving responsibilities as they are restricted to a narrow geographic area for employment because they cannot travel far from home. I came across the recently conducted National Household Travel Survey in India shows the gap in travel cost - on average men pay 835 on travel compared to 533 paid by women. Travel friction is a constraint that hits women far harder. As per the report, all India ~62% of male workers commute more than 1 km to their workplace while the share is ~42% for women. This maybe due to unreliable transportation network, safety concerns, household responsibilities or lack of personal vehicle. Can you think of any other reasons?

The survey also states other interesting points like - of all the overnight household trips made in India, 70% were driven by socialising, family obligations and religious activities and the average worker takes 25 minutes to travel to their workplace. Seems a dream for many people working cities like Bangalore and Mumbai who travel for hours to their place of work.

Have you noticed the walking figure at traffic signals that tell you when it is safe to cross the street? You must have and would not have really given a second thought? I certainly didn't, until I discovered Maya Barkai's Walking Men Worldwide project. It collects pedestrian crossing traffic signals from cities around the world, makes them at life-size scale and showcases them in public places. Even though this sign has the exact same basic function across regions, each city designs the figure differently in shape, movement, proportions, color and style. Barkai also built an open collaborative platform inviting photographers to contribute local pedestrian figures to the archive. Here are some pictures: