Anecdotes and Realizations

 I recently became Head Girl at school. Yes, a buttload of talking to people, bringing passive-aggressiveness into friendships and general merriment went into this. You can stop with the catcalls and the fanfare, honestly, I just want to have some 'me' time from the paparazzi.  The short gap between winning the election and getting to work got away from me, with a photography contest, a republic day blog post, anchoring, best out of waste contest and more. Of course, my incredible friends are so incredible that it truly is a group thing. But, it's been a lot, dealing with kids, dealing with teachers, dealing with council members and dealing with my brain that went into overdrive about two weeks in. I'm much better at managing my emotional releases and understanding what I need when I need to take care of my mental health, but it's a lot.  Sona when listening to my lectures Recently, a bit of a civil war broke out within the council and things got messy. I try to be ...

 Embarking upon their first joint venture as 'Heart & Soul' , my father began a program based on the book 'Measure What Matters' - Take Off- OKRs! Initially, I only joined for the sake of supporting my parents, but it turned out to be very interesting. The simple funda is that OKR stands for Objective - Key Results. Objectives are goals that if achieved will signigicantly impact your life. For example, one of my four objectives was to get 3 published pieced by Jan 2021. Your objectives should make you uncomfortable, they should make you a little apprehensive.  The KR's now are the 3-4 KEY results that will lead to your Objective. For example, for the above Objective, my key-results were as follows : - Blog weekly, i.e, have 16 blogs up by the end of the year - Read Quality Books every week (Starting with Wuthering Heights) - Identify Students' Newspapers / Magazines / Poetry Journals that take submissions by Sep 15th - Send submissions to the School Blog - W...

Perhaps as a result of the course, I have been having a lot of fun in life. I have started learning German on Duolingo which is a lot of fun. 10 minutes a day. I am taking a writing course on Udemy by Shani Raja which I will write about soon. I paint, I write, I read the newspaper. I even started Bal Adjoba's Book of Knowledge collection. School started on the 4th. It has been a little busy but I am having fun with everything! I realised that the only reason that I ever disliked school is the 'compulsory' aspect of it. Thinking of school like something of a voluntary course has made it more fun. I exercise with these Zumba or kickboxing stuff online which is fun. I also want to learn about Quantum Physics after I saw a TED-Ed video on the twin paradox and one on Schrodinger's cat.  Time to get up and get moving Zindagi! I have started watching 'Friends' which is some timepass. I am always searching for new activities to try out. TV is something so easy and the t...

 As part of my 'Introspection Summer', I signed up for three courses on Udemy, and completed one. 'Existential Philosophy' by Karim Benammar. It not only provided clarity as to existential crises and purpose, but opened up a whole new world of freedom and choice.  Why are we alive? There are two questions that we seek the answers to. How to make a living and How to give shape to our life. We have answered the first question through careers, and providing for our families. We have a world of abundance, where survival is no longer our primary purpose. We have time and energy to do other things, which brings us to the question 'How do we give shape to our life?' Throughout our lifetime we are simply becoming who we are. We are free to live authentically. We are free to sculpt our life, but that is a responsibility, and newsflash says - 'That's scary!'. Why are you alive? That question can make your life meaningful and enjoyable. The answer is to b...

 Pallavi offered to take me to view the Art and murals done in suburban Hyderabad - Eidgah. I was tired of being cooped up at home studying so I said yes. I took the polaroid camera A anna gave me on my 11th birthday and Mama's second phone for pictures. All set, we left at 250 pm and reached t around 315. We parked in the compound. The buildings on the left were painted. Pallavi especially liked a pink wall with flowered designs. Another had images of a man stumbling. Through the crack of the buildings we saw a green building with a few birds. The garbage, sewage and general unhygienic environment right in front of the buildings was paradoxical. The walls had symbols of secularism followed by a Do not Pass Urine sign which had been adorned with the same. Niveditha Aunty and Vidhur were a little while away so we went down the lane. Pallavi told me that an organisation call St+rt had collaborated with Asian Paints and several artists to bring contemporary art to the common man ...

 Sinhagad has been a word I had been hearing a lot all my life. I don't remember it, but apparently I climbed it when I was younger. Pooja , during an interview, told me that ascending Sinhagad was one of her best achievements. It helped prove to herself that she was fit. When Parth mama suggested the trek, I hoped it would be one to remember too. I was initially skeptical to miss school , but a push from Mansi and my teachers' enthusiastic agreement convinced me. I didn't have shoes - realised I never owned them, only borrowed from Mama - so I wore Ajji's old shoes. They were a little tight. But they would be fine. My oh my, was I wrong!  So, I stayed up an hour later than usual and read up about Sinhagad's history. Initially built about a 1000 years ago in the Satavahana period, it was known as Kondhana. The Bahamanis and Tughlaqs played some passing the parcel and then the Mughals acquired it. Then , begins, the most famous story associated with it. That of Tanha...