Monthly review: October 2026
With temperatures soaring and barely any signs of rain, October felt more like summer than the festive season. I started the month travelling and continued hopping between cities for most of it. While I tried not to let the scorching heat get to me, I eventually fell sick in the second half of the month and spent the remaining days recovering. But October wasn’t all about travel and illness. There were new experiences, movies, little joys, and a few unexpected surprises along the way. Here’s a little summary of how my October went by.
Cinema
After watching just one movie in September, I think I had some catching up to do in October and I ended up watching five movies in theatres this month!
There were some genuinely interesting movies releasing in October, and I was happy to spend more time in theatres.
Don’t Trouble the Trouble
I started the month with Don’t Trouble the Trouble. It was an okayish film for me. I think the writing could have been much better, and while there were things that worked, the overall film didn’t leave much of an impression.
I spoke about it in a little more detail in this reel.
Dorothy & Baththa
Next up were two Tamil films: Dorothy and Baththa.
And I absolutely loved both of them! If you haven’t watched these films yet, I’d strongly recommend giving both a chance.
But I want to particularly appreciate Dorothy.
Karthik Subbaraj is at a stage in his career where he could probably make a film with any big star in the Tamil industry, work with a huge budget, and make a lot of money.
Instead, he chose to tell this story. And that choice alone increased my respect for him.
And then there’s Baththa.
I’ve noticed something about Vijay Sethupathi. Whenever he does a feel-good film, he somehow manages to make you laugh, smile, cry, and eventually walk out of the theatre feeling a little happier about life.
Baththa was exactly that kind of film for me. I loved it.
Both Dorothy and Batta were among my favourite theatrical experiences of October.
Jailer 2
I went in without too many expectations because I didn’t like the first part.
And boy, did I have a blast! 🔥
I enjoyed this movie so so so so much. It was one of those theatrical experiences where you walk out of the auditorium with a big smile, still thinking about all the moments you enjoyed.
I watched it at Prasads, and after the show, I ended up giving interviews to multiple channels outside the theatre. I think my excitement was pretty evident in those interviews.
Here’s one such interview where I spoke about the movie:
Aadarsha Kutumbam
Towards the end of October, I watched the Telugu film Aadarsha Kutumbam, House Number AK-47, directed by Trivikram and starring Venkatesh, Srinidhi Shetty, and others.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like it. Except for a few scenes involving Sathya, almost nothing worked for me.
The cinematography felt artificial, the music was okayish, and the writing was disappointing. And that brings me to something that’s been bothering me about Telugu cinema lately.
We are lacking the focus and efforts on writing. We’re spending enormous amounts of money on films. We’re making them bigger, grander, and more expensive.
But somewhere in the process, I feel like we’re neglecting the most fundamental part of filmmaking. The script.
It was disappointing, especially considering the talent involved.
Not a bad month at all in terms of the movies I watched.
Interestingly, I didn’t watch a single movie on OTT this month. I don’t know why, but somehow all my movie-watching happened inside theatres.
Books
Well, this section is becoming slightly embarrassing now. 😂
September wasn’t a great reading month, and unfortunately, October wasn’t much better.
I could give you several reasons. I travelled quite a bit. I fell sick. There were other things happening, and I couldn’t really find the time to sit down with a book.
But I think, at this point, I’m just making excuses. The truth is that I haven’t been prioritising reading.
I went back to the Telugu novel I started in September, and I’ve slowly resumed reading it. Just a couple of pages every day.
Not much, but at least I’m making some progress.
I’m hoping November will be different.
I don’t have any travel planned for the next few weeks, so hopefully I’ll have more time to sit down, read properly, and finish a couple of books. Let’s see.
Travel
October involved quite a bit of travelling. I went to Bengaluru for work, finally visited Kolkata during Durga Puja, and eventually found my way back home to Gadwal.
I started my travels with another trip to Bengaluru for our regular quarterly roadmap planning.
As usual, it was fun catching up with colleagues, discussing what we’re planning to build over the next quarter, and spending some time together outside our regular work calls.
One of the highlights of this trip was an evening at Sudeep’s new place.
He hosted all of us, and we spent the evening playing multiple games, including what has now become our almost mandatory game whenever we get together, Catan!
At this point, I think a team gathering without Catan would feel incomplete, lol!
I also got an opportunity to do third-wheeling with my sister and brother-in-law during my stay in Bengaluru haha!
Visited my friends Deepika and Satyam at their home. It had been quite some time since I’d met them, so it was really nice to catch up.
Kolkata
And then came a trip I’d been wanting to make for a very long time: Kolkata during Durga Puja!
This had been on my bucket list for years. I’d planned the trip a couple of months in advance and finally landed in Kolkata on October 16th.
My original plan was to stay for an entire week, explore the city, experience Durga Puja, eat good food, and take my time discovering Kolkata.
Well, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
But more on that in a bit. The moment I arrived, the city was in full festive mode. Crowds everywhere. Decorations everywhere. Pandals everywhere.
It felt like the entire city had come together to celebrate one festival. I think that’s what makes Durga Puja in Kolkata so special.
It’s also about the art, the creativity, the themes, the social messages, and the amount of thought that goes into creating these pandals.
Some of them were genuinely fascinating and I was glad I finally got to witness all of this in person.
A big thanks to Aditi and her friend Snigdha for taking me around Kolkata.
They helped me explore several pandals and places around the city, including Rabindra Sarobar.
I met Snigdha for the first time during this trip, and it was lovely getting to know her.
The three of us spent quite some time roaming around, talking and exploring the city. We also had an authentic Bengali lunch, which was another experience I was looking forward to.
Unfortunately, things started going downhill towards the evening of my third day.
I visited the famous Kalighat Kali Temple on a Sunday, and unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the most disappointing experiences of my trip.
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I was genuinely saddened by the way things were being handled. At multiple points, I encountered people asking visitors for money, sometimes demanding amounts running into thousands of rupees.
Thankfully, I didn’t end up paying those amounts, but watching what was happening around me was quite disturbing.
What bothered me most was the feeling that people’s faith and sentiments were being taken advantage of. The priests were pulling the devotees and demanding money from them for the darshan they didn’t even ask for. It felt like loot to be honest and I was frustrated the way things were handled there.
I’ve encountered similar situations at a few other temples during my travels across North India, and it always leaves me disappointed.
I wish the authorities would take these concerns seriously and introduce better systems to ensure that devotees aren’t pressured into making payments.
After this, I wasn’t feeling particularly well due to exhaustion and by Monday, October 19th, I was properly sick. Back pain, cold, cough- everything seemed to arrive together.
By that evening, I realised that continuing the trip probably wasn’t a good idea and I started looking for flights back to Hyderabad for the next day.
It was disappointing because Aditi had planned several other things for me to explore in Kolkata, and I was genuinely looking forward to them. But I just wasn’t in a position to enjoy any of it. I eventually returned to Hyderabad on October 20th, cutting my week-long trip short.
Looking back, I have mixed feelings about Kolkata. On one hand, I’m glad I finally experienced Durga Puja there. The art, the pandals, the social themes, and the festive atmosphere were wonderful.
On the other hand, the city felt extremely crowded, and I wasn’t entirely comfortable navigating those crowds, especially when I wasn’t feeling well.
Maybe it was timing and my health or maybe visiting a city during its biggest festival isn’t necessarily the best way to experience the city itself.
We even went to visit Subhas Chandra Bose’s house, but it was closed during the festive week. There were several other places I wanted to explore but couldn’t.
So I don’t think I’ve really experienced Kolkata the way I wanted to and there’s always a next time. I was glad that I ticked something off my bucket list
I’d love to go back someday when things are a little quieter, when the regular attractions are open, and when I’m in better health.
On a much happier note, something else happened in Kolkata that I found quite sweet. Swiggy had partnered with a few Durga Puja pandals to deliver bhog in food boxes.
I thought that was a lovely initiative. Thanks to Aditi, who ordered bhog for me as well, I got to experience it! It was a small gesture, but a lovely one.
Between all the pandal hopping, the food, the crowds, and everything else happening around me, this was another little memory I carried back from Kolkata.
After returning to Hyderabad, I celebrated Dussehra with family. I had lunch with my sister and her family, which was lovely and later that day, I boarded a train to Gadwal.
So, lunch with my sister’s family in Hyderabad and dinner with my parents in Gadwal. I ended up staying in Gadwal for the rest of October. In fact, I’m still here as I write this.
After Bengaluru, Kolkata, the crowds, the travel, and falling sick, it felt good to finally stay in one place for a while.
And just like that, October’s travels came to an end.
There’s a Durga Pandal in Barkatpura, Hyderabad, that I’ve been hearing about for almost 10–12 years now.
Every year, I would hear about it, think of visiting, and somehow never end up going but thanks to Samhita akka, I went there this time. She even made me do Garba dance — my first time!! I just followed here for the dance moves. While she was effortless, my dance looked like playing Kabaddi in slow motion!
Health and fitness
Well, October wasn’t much of a fitness month either.
I caught a viral fever during my Kolkata trip, which eventually forced me to cut the trip short and return home.
For most of the second half of October, I wasn’t feeling well.
During the first half of the month, whenever I was in Hyderabad, I managed to go to the gym a couple of times and went for a run only once.
One interesting thing I learned this month was that back pain can sometimes accompany a viral fever.
Homecoming
There was another thing I’d wanted to do this year.
Learn to drive a car properly and eventually bring the car to Hyderabad.
It wasn’t exactly a New Year’s resolution with a strict deadline, but it was definitely something I wanted to accomplish before the year ended.
And this October, I finally resumed learning. Since I was staying in Gadwal for the latter part of the month, I had the opportunity to practise regularly.
I’ve been getting behind the wheel almost every morning, slowly getting more comfortable with driving.
There’s still a long way to go before I can confidently take the car to Hyderabad, but at least I’ve started again.
Another unexpected change that came out of spending time at home was my sleep schedule.
For most of September, I’d been sleeping late and waking up early, which wasn’t exactly doing me any favours.
But now, my routine has almost completely changed.
I’m usually in bed by 9:30 PM, or 10 PM at the latest and I wake up somewhere between 6 and 6:30 AM. Then I get started with my day, including my driving practice.
October was also a good month for discovering new things.
Have you ever come across pop-up books?
I had heard about them from my colleague, Dhvani. When we met in Bengaluru this time, she actually brought a few books for me to go through.
I was fascinated the way these books transform simple sheets of paper into three-dimensional structures is quite something.
I spent some time going through those books, discovering how they worked, and appreciating the imagination behind them. I’m now looking forward to exploring more pop-up books and learning about paper engineering. Thank you, Dhvani, for introducing me to something new! ❤️
Another interesting thing happened this month. I got an opportunity to speak to a group of college students about my journey as a Product Manager.
On a Saturday evening in October, I joined the students for a session and spoke about my journey in product management.
It’s been around six years since I started working as a Product Manager. Somewhere along the way, without really realising it, I’ve accumulated experiences, made mistakes, learned things, and developed perspectives that I could now share with people who are just starting out. That felt a little special.
And apparently, the feedback was good too! I was told that this was the first session of its kind for those students at the university, which made the experience even more memorable.
I don’t know how much of what I shared will stay with them, but I hope at least a few things were useful.
There were two experiences in October that frustrated me. Both involved children crying in public places.
And before I go any further, I understand that children cry. Sometimes they’re uncomfortable, scared, tired, or simply unable to communicate what’s bothering them. But I also believe that parents should be mindful of the people around them and do what they reasonably can to manage the situation.
The first incident happened on my flight from Kolkata to Hyderabad.
I was already sick. I had a fever, body aches, and barely enough energy to sit through the journey. All I wanted was to close my eyes and get some sleep.
Unfortunately, there was a child crying and screaming for almost the entire flight. I tried to ignore it and sleep but it the noise was too loud.
I understand that there isn’t much anyone can do when a child is distressed on an aircraft. You can’t exactly step outside with them. I asked the parents what had happened and it seems the kid needed a toy to play with and he cried throughout the journey because the parents didn’t have it then. I was pissed off at that situation to be honest.
And then something similar happened at a movie theatre.
A family had brought a young child who kept crying throughout the film. What bothered me most was that the parents didn’t seem to make much effort to take the child outside for a little while or calm them down away from the auditorium.
I had paid for a movie ticket, made time to go to the theatre, and was looking forward to enjoying the film. Instead, I spent a significant part of it listening to a child cry. My problem isn’t with children being children. It’s with people not being considerate of others sharing the same space.
Whether it’s a theatre, a flight, or any other public place, I think we all have some responsibility towards the people around us.
Of course, not every situation can be controlled. And sometimes parents are probably having an even harder time than the people around them. But where there is an option to step outside, calm the child, or minimise the disturbance, I wish people would make that effort.
Okay, enough of ranting, here’s some wholesome news from October.
Bittu is our neighbours’ dog, and I’ve known him since he was a tiny little puppy. I’ve seen him grow up over the years, and now, suddenly, he’s a father taking care of his own little ones. He became a father recently and I felt happy seeing him play with his kids and take care of them.
Another little thing that became a habit this October was talking about movies outside Prasads. Since I watched quite a few films in theatres this month, and most of them at Prasads, I ended up meeting my media friends after several screenings.
And I was having quite a bit of fun doing it. After a point, I also started noticing a few familiar faces, people like me who regularly watch movies and then share their opinions with the press outside the theatre.
There were some funny incidents along the way too, which made the whole experience even more entertaining. I’m already looking forward to doing more of this in November.
And just like that, we’re at the end of October.
What a mixed bag of a month this has been! Did many things I love doing but also had to change plans because health is wealth, haha! Had a few bad days and good days, with no sign of rains but excessive heat, making October feel like summer.
Hopefully, the next two months will be kinder to me. Looking forward to what lies ahead :)
Until next time…
