The first three months of 2026 have been eventful, including planned travels and the unexpected experiences and encounters that made them memorable. Here’s a recap of the highlights while I take some time to chew on the details for future blog posts:

A new meeting place for the book club

After 2.5 years of founding, coordinating and hosting Browser’s Meetup, a monthly in-person book club, we finally found the perfect meeting place – Programme Room 1 at the Harbourfront library in Singapore. The previous 25 or so meetups had been held in people’s homes or the function room occasionally at a coffee shop. But each month required several rounds of whatsapp messages, phone calls and last minute tweaks to ensure our group of 8-15 people had a comfortable location to catch up on our recent reads.

A serendipitous encounter with a NLB staff member at an event led to my earnest request for a meeting place for our bookclub and an affirmative response two months later gave us a January 2026 start date. I was over the moon at this divine gift.

Despite the freezing temperatures of the meeting room located on the top level of the Vivo City mall, we had a wonderful time. The comfortable sofas, the colorful seating options and stacks of books right outside the room made our gathering even more perfect (if that is a thing).  And after three months, we feel this is the perfect place for us.

An experiment in forming an online community

A few years ago I started sending out a newsletter through my website and gathered a few faithful subscribers who enjoy my monthly updates. In January of 2026, when I chose “BUILD” as my word of the year, I decided to start an online monthly sharing circle – one hour online meeting, once a month, with a specific topic. 

We typically meet on Saturday mornings (Singapore and India time). Our small, all-women group with some regulars and some drop-ins has met three times already to discuss topics like “beginnings”, “books” and “movement/exercise” thus far. April’s topic is ‘travel’ and it will be interesting to see what kind of sharing happens this time around.

The thing with starting something that involves the participation of others is disappointment when it comes to others. People have their priorities and of course last minute things always come up yet, in order to keep going you don’t need much. One other person who is willing to show up consistently is all that you need. This was the philosophy when we started out Browser’s Meetup – even two is a group and we will meet regardless of numbers, helped us form a tight-knit, interesting community that looks forward to our meetups with great enthusiasm.

I am hoping my online community will also continue to blossom in the same way. Keeping fingers crossed!

Travels galore

On the first day of April, I was riding the iconic ding ding tram on Hong Kong Island. It was the last day of a weeklong trip that I had booked back in November 2025. In the previous months I had been to India and Thailand and this was the last of the three trips that marked the first quarter of 2026.

While booking the tickets, it had seemed like I was planning for a great start to the year. But by the time I returned from Hong Kong on 2 April, I was happy to park myself in Singapore for the next few weeks if not months.

I enjoy traveling and have tried it in various forms over the years – business travel, travel to home country to visit parents/family, travel to faraway places with family, exotic travels with girlfriends, road trips, solo travels, staycations and other configurations. There is a spark that gets lit when you are in a new place. I find myself keenly observing the world around me, an alertness that is absent in everyday life. Whether it is a beautiful sunset or a city skyline (like the view from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong, in the picture above), there is novelty and a rejuvenation from having left the jaded monotony of a comfortable but predictable life. 

Home is hot and humid right now as summer peaks in this part of the world. But it also brings mangoes and some thundery afternoon showers. I’m looking forward to spending more time reading and writing in the second quarter of 2026.