My favourite books of the year

2024 was a fantastic bookish year for me. I completed two bucket list items: speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January and opening an antiquarian bookstore in Bengaluru in November.

- HRIDAY RANJAN

HE Oxford Dictionary has finalised its word of the year, and it is brainrot. I have never given much importance to these words of the year. Every few years, the genteel men at Oxford decide to add words like 'medhu vada' or 'masala dosa' into their dictionary, and we celebrate it like an achievement. Of course, nobody points out that medhu vadas and masala dosas were being prepared at a time when the English language didn't even exist in its current form.

But this year's word struck a chord. Brainrot (while it is still being underlined on my computer) is something I have been dealing with for a few years now. When the engineers at Meta and TikTok were creating algorithms, they probably had me in mind. The perfect candidate - no day job, works only in the nights, zonked out circadian rhythms, and a messed up sleep cycle. Every night, I promise myself not to take my phone to bed. Then I remember that my phone contains the alarm. Like a toxic ex, my phone makes its way back to my bed despite repeated warnings. For the next few hours, I am looking at dogs chasing squirrels, cats dropping vases, and funny scenes from a movie I watched in 2004!

When I was younger, I used to judge grown-ups. They carried their newspapers to the washroom. I used to laugh at them. Elders in my family used to spend their free time writing 'Om Sai Ram' in a book countless times. 'Why can't they read comics? Or collect stickers? Or watch the highlights of the recent India vs Zimbabwe match?', I used to wonder! Today, I can't go to the washroom without my phone. I go to sleep looking at reels and wake up looking at them. At this point, me and reels are soulmates - we are constantly there for each other - through thick and thin.