March and April’21 updates: Sunday Musings # monthly wrap

I hope everyone is doing okay, considering that we are still in the midst of chaos.

Usually, I love April, considering that it is my birthday month and that I usually have some plans. This year was going to be better than 2020, or that is what I thought. In short, it wasn’t.

I finally could go to India after a long year and had all plans in place to meet my friends and family (socially distanced and masks clad only). Of course, things have to go awry, cuz it can.

How has your month been? What are you reading and watching these days? Share your wrap up post. Let's talk. Share on X

Anyway, let me give a quick round up of the major things that happened in March and April 2021 in my life.

Quick March and April’21 updates

  • I flew to Bengaluru, India during the third week of March and after a few swab tests, I was allowed to get to home quarantine.
  • I used the quarantine well and read a couple of books. And that lucky reading spree ran out with the quarantine bout. Yes, I have not read a book in the whole of April.
  • I reached Chennai, to my parent’s place in April and spent almost a month there. Of course, mom put me to use and got some cleaning and decluttering done. (Mothers have it all planned ahead, I say.)
  • Thanks to COVID pandemic (once again), I was not able to visit much of my extended family or beloved friends.
  • I did get to meet one of my close friend, on her birthday and made a day of it. Of course, with all the social distancing protocol in place.
  • My birthday was not much different than other day, you guessed it because COVID numbers in India had started rising by then. And a couple of my friends, whom I could have met, had tested positive too.
  • I was to return to Dubai on 25th. On 22nd night I received a mailer that all the flights from India into UAE from 25th were cancelled for at least 10 more days. And I had to scrape through the last available flight on 24th. Quite an adventure, if I can call it so.
  • Then with the flight cancelling fiasco and the drastic raise in COVID numbers all around India, I am done with April’21.

What I read this month

These are the books that I read when I quarantining in Bengaluru, earlier in March

What I watched this month

Even though I could not read much, I spent my time in India catching on several shows and movies. So get ready for a long list!

  • The Godfather – part 1 (despite reading the books decades ago, this is the first time I ever watched this one.)
  • WandaVision
  • Moxie – (I liked the changes the movie had, from the dated book version)
  • Instant Family
  • #blackAF
  • Young Sheldon S1 to S4
  • Citizen Khan S1
  • The Big Bang Theory – S1 to S4
  • Killing Eve S1
  • Superstore S7
  • Snowpiercer – Movie
  • Queen’s Gambit – (yes, finally)

On my blog

In case you missed the posts from my blog, this month.

Book Reviews from Mar’21

Sunday personal posts from the month

Other posts from the month

I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme.

From the Insta-world

Here is what I posted on Instagram during the month. Give me a follow, will you?

A bit of pedaling, another bit of hike, and a lot of fun and laughter! 📖 What are you currently reading?⁠ I am finally out of my slump and I am reading books at my usual pace of 1 book per week. The dreadful summer is here. And I know I have been talking about it for a long time now. But here it is really now. And it has been horrible. Do you trust blurbs that compare book titles? Do they work for you? Lies We Bury by Elle Marr was recommended for the readers of “Room”. Read my book review of Lies We Bury to Elle Marr to know if it worked for me. What are you guys reading currently? I came across this book when I was scouting a book for the letter J for my A to Z 2020 challenge. Unfortunately, I ended up reading another book then. #Dumplin’ has been on my book shelf forever now. And I can’t understand how I didn’t read it already, especially with all the praises the book and the movie got. Anyway, did it fare well on my reading scale? With all the horrible news that we are hearing from Palestine, I jumped at the chance to join

Pin me!

Elgeewrites March and April'21 updates: Sunday Musings # monthly wrap SM116P

Let us chat

I hope your April was lot better than mine. How has your month been? What are you reading and watching these days? Let’s talk.

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23 Comments

  1. I am glad you were able to make it home safely. The news coming out of India is so terrible. I am glad you were able to go and spend time with some of your family and friends at least. Hopefully May will be better for everyone. Take care!

  2. With all that flight stress I would have been done with April too! I don’t deal well with all that last minute scramble. I am glad you got to get some reading done in quarantine and happy birthday even though it wasn’t much different. I’ve seen some unsettling things about India lately. Very scary to see COVID on the rise again. I hope this week is calm and peaceful!

  3. Oh, no. That sounds like a very messy month and I’m sorry you can’t see friends and family at the moment. I hope you had a nice birthday despite of everything and that things will improve soon. Did you like Queen’s Gambit? I really have to watch that.

  4. It’s been heartbreaking watching the images from India. I’m glad to hear you managed to see your family but it sounds incredibly stressful going back to Dubai.

    Here in the UK restrictions are being eased back week by week and people are acting like it’s normal, it’s certainly not back to normal yet..

    Stay safe.

  6. I’m glad you were able to get back to Dubai. Glad you were able to visit and also sad that you must be so worried about your family and friends. I hope there is very soon a turning point and that India will be able to get people vaccinated and slow the spread.

  7. Oh, wow – sorry your trip to India was so ill-timed. It figures that you finally got to go visit friends and family and that’s exactly when the COVID situation there got really bad. I hope all of your friends and family stayed healthy, especially the ones who ended up testing positive!

  8. I’ve been worried about all the chaos in India! Sorry to hear you and your family have been affected by it! I hope your family stays safe and I’m happy to hear you made it back to Dubai!

    Loved Beach Read hope you did, too! Big Bang Theory is one of those shows you can watch and re-watch for laughs.

    I finally got an Instagram account! Yay! I’ll follow you, and I hope you’ll follow me, Gayathri! I’ve always enjoyed seeing your photos here on the blog.

  9. I’m so sorry to hear about your plans and the Covid outbreak. I’ve been seeing on the news about India and it’s just so sad. I wish Covid would just go away, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

    Take care and stay safe.

  10. I’m glad you got to visit your family in India even if it wasn’t the trip you had expected or planned for. I must say that the scenes on the news of what’s currently happening in India are absolutely heartbreaking so I hope your family/friends manage to stay safe through it all.

    I love your show list! I’ve been watching more shows than reading lately…

  11. I’m so sorry things didn’t go as you’d hoped. This Covid situation sure has been a mess. I hope you’re able to stay positive. Wishing you the best. xo

  13. I’m so sorry your trip didn’t go as you hoped. Things are definitely still pretty messed up due to COVID. I think we all thought and hoped 2021 would be better than last year. But I’m staying positive and hoping this year will end positive and with us being able to travel again.

    Those are some pretty looking Instagram pics.

    Happy reading.

  14. Sorry to hear April and your visit home to India was pretty crazy! Pleased you came through it all safe and well though, and did lots of reading and viewing.

    In comparison my April was very quiet! I read three (almost four) books and watched three new-to-me films, and enjoyed a two week break and an easing of restrictions here in England.

    Take care, happy reading and I hope May is a calmer month for you. 🙏🙂

  15. I heard about the covid outbreak in India. I’m very sorry. I hope you stay safe and healthy during this outbreak. That’s good you were able to see some of your family, at least. I hope everyone there will take the necessary precautions to help prevent a wide spread.

    Be safe!

  16. I am glad you managed to get back to Dubai as they seem be cancelling all flights from India all over the world a the moment due to their surge in cases.
    I got to see my parents for the first time in a year too despite the fact that they live less than 100 miles away.
    Lets hope May is an improvement.

  17. I’m sorry you weren’t able to see extended family! And I’m sorry to hear about friends testing positive as well. Happy birthday to you though! Sorry things were mixed- I’ve heard cases are so bad in India right now.

    Love the pics as always!

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