3rd August, 2026

What am I working on?

A friend gifted me a Van Gogh colouring book. This is what I did with my new acrylic marker set.

What am I reading?

I read Strange Houses by Uketsu. Having read Strange Pictures in one seating, I was sure this book will also be unputdownable. I made sure to wrap up my day’s work before starting it, because once I started, there was no putting it down. With its easy writing style and clever use of pictures and layouts, Strange Houses draws you into a chilling tale of a Japanese family and their unsettling, cult-like rituals. I loved analyzing the creepy, unconventional floor plans and hidden spaces like an amateur detective and forming theories of my own as I read the book. Although the author makes massive deductions from simple floor plans which also turn out to be true - it seems a little far fetched. Overall, it’s a gripping, quick mystery read perfect if you are in the mood for something clever and unsettling.

I am also reading Disney comics - a gift given to me by a dear friend. More about it in the next blog.

What am I watching/watched recently?

I recently watched the 2010 Oscar-nominated French animated film A Cat in Paris. The story follows Dino, a cat who leads a double life as pet by day and burglar’s accomplice by night, and Zoe, his young owner who becomes entangled in a dangerous heist orchestrated by the man who killed her father.

The film’s hand-drawn caricature style with movements rendered in soft pastel coloring gives it a distinctive charm. With a jazz score and a noir-inspired visual aesthetic, the movie's background and cityscapes are masterfully designed. One standout scene is where Zoe is held hostage; when the lights go out, the action is depicted entirely in white line drawings and shifting back to full animation whenever a light source appears. It’s an amazing scene that you can only appreciate by seeing it.

At just over an hour, A Cat in Paris is a compact but a captivating watch. It combines suspenseful storytelling, good music and a unique animation style.

New thing I learnt lately?

RAINMUMBAI is India's first exchange-traded weather derivative contract launched by the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX). Approved by SEBI and developed alongside IIT Bombay, this futures contract allows businesses to hedge financial risks linked to monsoon fluctuations in Mumbai.

Cumulative Deviation Rainfall tracks how actual monsoon rain deviates from the 30-year long period average (1991–2020). The data source is  IMD observatories at Santacruz and Colaba.

In other news, I found out about spaced out sloths. Pygmy three-toed sloths live on a remote island off Panama and are listed as critically endangered with an extremely low population. They eat mangrove leaves that contain natural alkaloids and fungi with sedative (Valium-like narcotic properties) making them extraordinarily relaxed even by normal sloth standards.