I got married (and other things)

I have a big life update to share: I am now married. Well, I have been married for more than a month now, and it will be longer by the time I post this. In fact, I was already married the last time I posted here.

Two wedding rings on a starry dark blue surface, under a row of emojis for a ring, a drum, an elephant, a falling chart, a bicycle and a capsicum

To cut things short, I married my girlfriend of 3 years in Kolkata this September. It was a lovely event, and I spent it surrounded by warm, caring family and close friends.

I got married in Kannada style (in keeping with my culture), more specifically Kuvempu's Mantra Mangalya, just like my brother, on 18th September. Kuvempu was a Kannada poet, and Mantra Mangalya is a simple wedding he came up with. He also wrote the vows, and our friends read them out for us. On 19th September, we had a traditional Bengali Vedic wedding conducted by priestesses.

Sreejita and Rajath pouring puffed rice into the sacred fire from a painted kula, with the two priestesses seated on either side reading the mantras into microphones — Our Bengali Vedic wedding on 19th September

So the world gets to meet Sreejita, my wonderful Bengali wife, whom I first met when I moved to Hyderabad. We were in a long-distance relationship the whole time. We met a lot of times, and we never let the distance come between what we had. I won't go into more details of the wedding, but I want to write a few things about how married life has been, what has changed, and what I plan to write here.

Changes since marriage

I definitely prefer having my wife right next to me. Beyond that, the biggest change is that my phone screen time has dropped, and so has the battery usage. All that screen time was very much a long-distance thing, where we spent hours on FaceTime, and my phone thanks me for both.

iPhone Screen Time summary for 13 to 20 September: a daily average of 8 hours 43 minutes, 61 hours 4 minutes in total — 13 to 20 September: 8h 43m a day

iPhone Screen Time summary for a recent week: a daily average of 4 hours 35 minutes, 32 hours 10 minutes in total — Now: 4h 35m a day

I have also been planning my weekends. They used to be very spontaneous, but since the wedding, I've actually been putting time and effort into planning things to do together.

It was Dasara, the state festival of Karnataka, for me, and Durga Puja for her. So I spent some time going around pandals this month. I do plan to go to Kolkata for the Puja next year, but this year, this atheist was happily tagging along with his wife to pandals. I've realised how many Bengalis there are in Bangalore, and I'm amazed by the sheer scale of it.

Black and white photo of the Durga idol at a pandal, with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya around her and Mahishasura at her feet — Durga Puja pandal in Koramangala

People offering anjali in front of the Durga idol, with incense smoke in the air and a priest in a red dhoti at the front — Anjali at the JP Nagar pandal

We also went to Mysore to watch the city light up for Dasara. I had driven in the city during Dasara before and hated it, but this time the police were well organised. They were out with microphones and kept the traffic moving fast.

A Mysore street at night under curtains of fairy lights and glowing bird shapes, with cars and people filling the road below — Mysore lit up for Dasara

I have also been picking up photography again. After months of neglecting my X100VI, I'm back to shooting with it, so I hope there will be more photo walks and photographs here in the future.

Back on the bicycle

Another great update I have to share is on my fitness. I have once again started going to the gym, and I've been cycling there. This was something I always wanted to do. In fact, my goal was to commute to my office on my bicycle, and that ride would be a workout by itself. But for now, at least I get to do this.

I also didn't renew my subscription to Whoop, and moved to the Garmin Cirqa instead. While I have issues with the way the data is presented, I do love how the steps and everything else update instantly on the Cirqa. Being on Garmin also means that I can get deeper into their cycling gear and all.

While I'm on the topic of cycling, it was always a lifetime goal of mine to go on a grocery "run" on my cycle. Should it be called a grocery ride?

A 20-minute city

I have been a fan of JP Nagar 2nd Phase, where I live, and I've been its ambassador for quite some time. I love the lush green surroundings, the cleanliness, and the quiet. It gets so silent after 11pm that I can hear the metro's wheels. Speaking of the metro, there are 3 metro lines nearby, and hopefully the Pink Line opens soon. The Orange Line is coming up as well, which will form a rectangle of metro lines, so taking the metro anywhere will be quite easy.

Not that I take the metro, but I love bragging about it to people. The other thing I love about JP Nagar is that it's truly a 20-minute city. Almost everything is within walking distance from my place. There's the famous Ranga Shankara for plays, Guilt Free Gelato for gelato that actually lives up to its name, and Rameshwaram Cafe, where yes, I do like their podi idli, so fight me. Then there's Corner House, Mahesh Lunch Home, Bob's Bar, two malls with movie theatres, and all kinds of crazy restaurants. So it pretty much has everything, except two things: a supermarket and the Purple Line. The latter can't be fixed, but the former finally has been.

Lulu Daily opened up recently, so I can finally go on grocery rides. I was spending a lot on FirstClub and Swiggy Instamart, India's instant grocery apps. Now I can skip those, and it's almost a European life so far, minus the traffic and all. JP Nagar is clean, but not Europe-clean.

What I read in October

I want to start sharing the things I read and liked each month. Here's October:

Politics and the English Language by George Orwell

Orwell goes into detail on how politicians use language to manipulate people, and how writing had become stale in that era. He also talks about how this kind of writing makes people stone-hearted. It has held up really well, especially in the AI age. A must-read if you love writing.

The Insider by Rands

I consider myself an insider of the product I work on. This one made me think about how happy paths get designed, how we often ignore the sad paths, and how we think as users.

That's it for now

This turned out to be a lot longer than I planned, but a lot has happened in a month. To the few people who read this, I'm glad to share this part of my life with you.

I have also been writing a lot, since I'm working on an app that helps me write in short sessions. I'll share more details about it soon, and I'd love it if people wanted to test it. If you do, subscribe below, and I'll email you when it's ready. Until then, I'll get back to writing, shooting more photographs, and riding to Lulu for groceries.