Stay informed but try to be wise
5 sets of 20 push-ups. 4 sets of 20 sit-ups. 3 sets of 20 crunches. 2 minutes of plank. Some light stretching exercises.
5 sets of 20 push-ups.
4 sets of 20 sit-ups.
3 sets of 20 crunches.
2 minutes of plank.
Some light stretching exercises.
Takes about an hour but the trick is to complete somehow.
As you grow older, your body becomes more and more weathered. Years of bad postures and worse habits take their toll. When you are younger, nothing seems impossible because you tend to believe that your zeal will last you forever. It doesn’t. Until and unless you don’t appreciate your body — and what it does for you day in and day out — you are destined to suffer. I am in my mid-30s and I know different types of people, carrying different types of bodies. Some are super-lean and have been this way since their teenage; some have rotunded up in recent memory; some are in the middle; some don’t care at all. And all these individuals show whether their priorities rest. It’s not that they don’t fancy an active lifestyle, aided by a healthy diet and basic workout. Precisely why it’s easier to lose motivation and gain weight.
Owing to his lack of social panache, it’s often difficult to agree with Sheldon Cooper but his views on the culture of gift was pretty bang on. Think about it: why exactly do we give each other stuff? Anything from an interesting book to a boring photo frame, the overall process is a token of expression. Nothing less. Nothing else. More often than not, the recipient can totally survive without receiving the gift in question. Whether you spend a week on coming up with an authentic gift or just pop into a store, all that matters is your intention. Remember when Tupac sent a diamond necklace to his maama knowing very well he can never pay her back? That was an expression. Remember when you designed a lousy Teacher’s Day card for your favourite teacher? That was an expression too. In such scenarios, you are grateful and want to let the other person know that you are aware of your gratitude. Equation changes when you are expecting something in return. Maybe affection or favour in lieu of a gift. Beware of the pit there. In times like that, make sure you stick to the traditional method of sending flowers, unaware of the fact that you are literally giving them the genitals of another living being.
In the 20th century, there had been no one individual who can be attributed with more deaths than Chairman Mao. In terms of sheer number, we are talking about a mammoth here. With an estimated 70 million casualties, there is no way anybody could possibly top it. No, not even Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot. And all this happened when the world had already gone through WW2. The amount of unaccountability and madness remains unmatched. Nobody from any part of the globe could carry out such a pogrom against his own people in the 21st century. The so-called international community won’t let it pass. But then, back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, exposure was low and secrets high. The more I read about the systemic manner in which voices were trampled and carnage was conducted, I am convinced that if you give a man absolute power, he is going to destroy more than he can build. And Mao Zedong did exactly so. Oh, and the fact that he never brushed his teeth makes you wonder how much others suffered in his presence.
It’s important for parents to inculcate the culture of free speech early on. If your child can’t talk to you, then you’ve already failed as a person. Imagine bringing somebody to this forsaken world and then closing the door on them. From my generation, it was a norm to hide our views (read: feelings) from parents, not because they were drastically different but because we were anyway supposed to fear the consequences. As a result, we grew up hoping to be better at adulthood. The verdict isn’t out yet but we are very hopeful.
Since the closest I’ll get to becoming a parent is raising a dog who adopted us, I enjoy listening to the travails of young parents in my circle. They share the freshest of nuggets, the most humbling of stories, from their everyday lives. One such parent told me recently that she encourages both her kids to talk freely and tries her level best to maintain social equilibrium in her nurturing. Values like “boys and girls are equal” can’t be butted in late; it has to be the norm from Day 1 itself. This is extra tough when you realize that no matter how hard you try to shield your children from external influence (read: regressive ideas), you can’t always succeed. Which is why my friend was surprised to hear her daughter ask why her brother was crying like a girl.
It’s the first week of July in Gurgaon and summer is yet to bid goodbye. Now that I am working from home and barely leaving the building, this weather is doubly annoying. At our office, I used to wear my trademark grey sweatshirt all year around. Nowadays, I roam in our apartment half-naked and sing Raga Malhaar hoping to bring in the clouds. Turns out they do listen to me. Only problem is they don’t always burst into rain. They gather, gossip and let sun win in the end. To make matters worse, our AC is quite old and useless during daytime but it does provide temporary relief at night. In times like these, I so wish I was somewhere else, preferably near the coast (Mangalore) or up in the hills (Chikmagalur).
Bees, termites and ants keep our ecosystem together. They are the tiny soldiers on whose back other living organisms enjoy their time on this planet. With the decline in the number of bees, we are already seeing the climatic repercussions. It’s no mere coincidence that the Arctic Circle recorded its hottest ever temperature last week. About 85% of all life forms are insects, which shows how integral they are to the set structure in place. It’s worth guessing the time frame before termites and ants show a dip in population too. Yes, extinction is unavoidable but we can try to delay, right?
According to Shakespeare, calling a rose by any other name would make no difference to the rose because it’d smell sweet as always. Obviously, this was a classic Shakespearean metaphor and must be consumed in the spirit of poetry. That said, I am not good with names. During my first job, I spent two years calling a guy named Abhishek Abhilash and by the end of our acquaintance, he had accepted that his name was Abhilash. In all probability, name matters. Credit more so. Humans are tools of acceptance and rejection, with due dependence on societal stature. A rose smells sweet not because it wants to impress us. It does so as it follows the tenets of nature. Yet, it bothers me a bit because I believe in consent. Did we take rose’s consent before naming it rose?
If Ranga were to work as a sniffer dog at an airport, I am sure he’d be more interested in sniffing out food items.
Security: “What do you smell?”
Ranga: “Bags of chips, biscuits, jerkies…”
Security: “What about drugs?”
Ranga: “That all can wait. Open his luggage first.”
There was a phase over the last 7 years when cities/towns/venues were being aggressively rechristened in India. Allahabad became Prayagraj. Gurgaon became Gurugram. Faizabad became Ayodhya. Mughalsarai became Deen Dayal Upadhyaya junction. Feroz Shah Kotla cricket stadium became Arun Jaitley stadium. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus became Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and so on. This government has its agenda and wants to make the most of its mandate whether you and I like it or not. To better understand the mindset behind these decisions, we’ll have to check how Anantnag became Islamabad in the 1950s. My beef — no pun intended — with such futile developments is, why are we not doing anything about cringey names like Kurla, Vashi, Bhandup and Titvala? Don’t the residents of these places deserve better? Since Pragueraj is not taken yet, I propose it for Sanpada. Why not mix desi with videshi? Thank you in advance.
Constant exposure to information makes you knowledgeful, not knowledgeable. The distinction between the two can be lost on social media. One of the many reasons this could happen has something to do with our lack of attention. Before we could fully acknowledge that we were living in the Information Age, we quickly moved into the OverInformation Age. Too little, too fast. As of today, people are more likely to conclude than to read. Studying is painful, pontificating is a lot easier. Nobody in particular is to be blamed for these worrying trends. We aren’t getting dumber. Just like we aren’t getting smarter either. We are just passing through the motions of behavioural change. That’s all.