2024 Recap: Books, Movies, and the PhD milestones
Things I read, wrote, and watched in 2024.
Dear Reader,
I wish you a very happy new year!
This is the second day of the New Year, 2025. Years pass by, and with every new year, we tend to reflect on how our previous year was—and what we wish the next year to be: kinder, successful, healthier [among many other human desires].
And as with the previous year and the year before, I remember holding onto a few resolutions. However, rarely have I succeeded in following them through. Resolutions, just like everything else, require sustained effort and discipline. But most of us can’t claim to be disciplined, do we?
For me, the year 2024 has been kind. I was fortunate to be admitted into a PhD program at the University of Queensland, Australia. I was also lucky to get a few publications out in the first year, and I don’t think there will be any more in stock for another year or two. The PhD advisory team is great. Peers, all superb! Relationship: I couldn’t have asked for anything more. In all, 2024 was a good year for me.
At the start of 2024, I moved to Brisbane from New Delhi, India. (Here is this article on settling into Brisbane as a student.) Although I struggled a bit with the new life in a new country in the initial few weeks and months, I began to get used to it through time. In the first few months, I got swamped with the PhD project, thinking about the research puzzle (one big question/puzzle that was worth spending the next four years trying to answer). Once I was clear about the puzzle, I began to read around the puzzle: read widely.
In 2024, I read texts on history, politics, and international studies. While I have had to read a lot to structure my chapters, I have also spent a fair bit of time reading other books beyond my PhD.
In February, for instance, I read Kafka’s Letters to Milena. It is a brilliantly written book in the form of diary-like entries of letters to Milena. In one such letter, Kafka writes: “Today, I did practically nothing except sit around and read a little here, a little there—but mostly I did nothing, or else listened to a very light pain working in the temples. All day long I was preoccupied with your letters: in agony, in love, in worry, and in an entirely indefinite fear of the indefinite, which is indefinite mainly because it is infinitely beyond my strength.” (Here are my short summative notes on Kafka’s letters to Milena.)
Then, in March, I was preoccupied with Austin Kleon’s works Show Your Work and Steal Like an Artist. I don’t feel confident at all in sharing my work with others. I find the exercise somewhat self-loathing. But, as writers and academics, we live through an exchange of ideas. One thing is to have an idea; another is to influence others with that idea. Kleon’s books help you become more confident with yourself and your work. This one quote I find truly inspiring is: “You are only as good as your last work”. So, fret not; you can always improve with the next one. (Here are Austin Kleon’s tips to steal like an artist and tips to show your work.)
In April, I watched a movie I liked enough to write about: Laapata Ladies. In the story, two young brides (who are veiled and wearing the same outfit) get lost in the train. It was really a fun watch. If you haven’t watched it yet, watch it on Netflix. (Here is my short review of the Laapata Ladies if you would like to read it before watching it.)
In May, I got interested in writing as a craft. I read a few essays about writing in general. I also wrote about Paul Graham, a famous essayist, and Orhan Pamuk, a famous novelist, and his tips on writing. In both their tips, one thing stood out: thinking with writing. Among other tips, both emphasized writing simply. Write in simple words—just as Orwell tells us, if you can convey something in a much simpler way, do so. (Here is Orhan Pamuk on writing, Paul Graham on writing, and George Orwell on Writing.)
Between June and August, I got swamped with lots of PhD work. Thinking and writing a new chapter. Reading for it. Getting confused. Failing at writing well. Rewriting. Revising. And finally, submitting the chapter.
In September, I had a bit of a break and read Sergei Gureiv and Daniel Treisman’s Spin Dictators. Unlike the past century of fear dictators, Gureiv and Treisman argue that spin dictators have ditched their military uniforms for Western suits, seldom use military force, refrain from using violence, do not censor information, do not execute political opponents in football stadiums, and, most importantly, even permit opposition parties and hold elections. (Here is a complete review of Spin Dictators by Sergei Gureiv and Daniel Treisman.) Besides that, I watched a movie titled His Three Daughters. (Here is its review.)
In October, I read a bit more. I read this Microhistorical classic by Carlo Ginzburg: The Cheese and the Worms. The book tells the story of ideas and attitudes of a sixteenth-century miller (among other things he did), Domenico Scandella, or as he was also called, Menocchio, in the Friulian village close to Montereale in Italy. Menocchio was put on trial for heretical ideas (that reject Christian values) by the Italian Inquisition. Ginzburg documents it all. (Here are a few thoughts on Ginzburg’s The Cheese and the Worms.)
I re-read Farzana Shaikh’s Making Sense of Pakistan and Pallavi Raghavan’s Animosity at Bay. Shaikh’s book looks at how religion and its various interpretations shaped Pakistan. (Here is the review.) Raghavan’s book discusses the efforts to think of the process of partition itself as a state-building exercise in both India and Pakistan. (Here is the review.)
In between, I wrote my research statement for the confirmation of PhD candidature. It was a gruelling last few months. I was a bit stressed, too, along the way. It was devastating, too: the tragic passing of my primary supervisor, Emma Hutchison. As I proceed through the years, I hope to work hard and write a good PhD.
In these last few weeks, in December 2024, I ended up reading a few pieces of fiction: Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen and Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry; I read Joya Chatterji’s Shadows at Noon; and I watched a few movies and TV series: Murder Mindfully, In Our Prime, Squid Game, and All We Imagine as Light. So much of TV these last few days. In between, I also went to watch the India v/s Australia Test Match in Gabba—and it rained all day :)
When I first came to Australia, I began taking the running seriously. When I first started to run this last year, I would be really tired by the time I ran two kilometres. But, after a year, I can run ten kilometres with ease. I feel proud about this. And I hope to continue running, eating healthy, and writing more [among all other gibberish habits I wish to cultivate]. Maybe, one of these days, I can run a marathon; who knows?