From binge-watching Amazon shows to shopping on Flipkart, here are 5 ways to spend your Diwali weekend

Diwali is here and chances are, you have already bought gifts, splurged on sweets and bid goodbye to your diet and gym for the season. If you wondering what else you can do over the long holiday weekend, here are some of our suggestions…

Take a hike

If you love taking a trip out of the city, why not hop on a motorbike and set off on a long ride along scenic paths, the sun-kissed earth and rugged terrain. Among the beautiful places to visit in Bengaluru, our team enjoyed Sangama and Mekedatu, Devarayanadurga, Big Banyan Tree/Dodda Alada Mara, Savandurga Hills, and found them fascinating.

These are perfect destinations for a long and leisurely weekend. If you live elsewhere, check out other nearby holiday destinations for a long and leisurely weekend.

Binge-worthy

If you’re all done with Family Man and Bard of Blood, it is time to take binge-watching to the next level. Don’t miss Modern Love, an anthology series based on an actual column in the New York Times, which explores the “joys and tribulations of love”.

From Anne Hathaway, Julia Garner, Dev Patel, Catherine Keener, Tina Fey, Andy Garcia to John Slattery, there are a bunch of interesting actors to watch in different episodes of the eight-part series. Here’s your chance to enjoy a web series that explores "love in its multitude of forms – including sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, and self-love.”

And for those of you were waiting for the next season of Modern Family, it is now streaming on Hotstar and we are back with the Pritchetts, the Dunphys and the Tuckers. Phil and Claire are grandparents now, while the youngsters have grown up, and now facing new problems and new hurdles. Addictive as always, Modern Family never disappoints its ardent fans.

Also, don’t miss watching Upstarts, a movie about startups on Netflix and fairly new movies like Mission Mangal on Hotstar.

But if you’d like to step out for some silver screen time with a tub of popcorn, don’t miss movies like Downton Abbey, Joker, and The Sky is Pink that are highly recommended this week.

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How about a spot of cooking?

If you want to impress your friends, how about rustling up some sweets from scratch. Here’s a simple recipe for besan laddoos, using a microwave.

Ingredients

Besan (Gram flour) - 250 grams (2 cups) (thick granules)

Ghee - 200 grams (1 cup)

Powdered sugar - 250 grams

Green cardamom - 6-7

Cashew nuts or almonds - 15-20 (chopped in small pieces)

Method

Run the gram flour through a sieve, add ghee and transfer to a microwave safe bowl and mix well. Let it cook for 6 minutes, but take it out occasionally to stir the contents. The flour should have roasted completely and turned light brown.

Let the mixture cool down and then add powdered sugar, cardamom powder and chopped dry fruits into it. When it is cooler, roll the mix into tiny, round balls.

Set the balls aside and let them harden.

Your besan laddoos are ready and will be good to eat for two or more weeks.

Grab a book

For non-fiction lovers, don’t miss Pico Iyer’s ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Japan’, Bill Bryson’s ‘The Body and, ‘Good Habits Bad Habits’ by Wendy Wood. Fiction lovers should not miss Jeffrey Archer’s new book, ‘Nothing Ventured’ about detective William Warwick or John Grisham’s latest, ‘Guardians’ which is about lawyer Cullen Post who takes on the case of Quincy Miller who has been placed on death row.

Go online shopping

Now that we have Diwali sales taking place everywhere, why wait to shop? Online shopping is best at this time of the year, so check out all those fabulous online shopping sites, besides Amazon and Flipkart. What’s more, with several new mobile phone brands launching this season, new Diwali fashion collections and several new fitness trackers and electronic devices, there is no end to the shopping treasures out there.

So, as they say, let the good times begin.

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