A Beaver Attack, Really?

  
  Another Friday morning spent sitting in class and writing a new blog post. You know what? This could be my new thing - tuning out my Eco Professor and writing a blog post every Friday. 

  Who knew you could actually do something productive while being bored? Is this the point where a normal person would pray to God that their parents don't read this? 
  I'm here with absolutely zero fucks given.

  Anyway, this post is about something that transpired yesterday in my English class. A little back story: every week one student must report current events/news taking place globally. This guy, let's call him Derek, so Derek started out pretty strong with the terror attack in St. Petersburg. Terror attack is a classic, I must say. He had our attention as he presented, and then a few minutes later my man, Derek, lost all his cred as he presented a news clip about the terror two beavers had been causing in the land of Liechtenstein.

  This is when you know you are living in a first world country; they think that something as inconsequential like two beavers in a river could cause havoc. He spoke about this particular topic for a while and the entire time I was thinking, "Boy, only if these people lived in India." I mean think about it,  a few years ago, when the leopard attacks started taking place, it was all over the fucking covers of the newspapers, right? But then after a few weeks, the newspapers stopped reporting it, not because they stopped happening, there was still a farmer somewhere that was being dragged away in the middle of the night by a leopard; but rather because after a while we became so desensitised to this that every time the reporters heard about an attack, they were like, "Fuck these leopards, let's cover something new. Eh, what about that building that fell down out of nowhere?"

  In India, we have serious problems like famines, poverty, illiteracy, let's not forget, leopards eating people, and so on and so forth. Imagine coming from a country, where these problems and many more exist and even if you don't personally suffer from them, you see people these problems affect everywhere around you day-in and day-out, and listening to people talking passionately about the traffic caused by the population growth in a country, where now forty-five thousand people live, without thinking that probably double the amount of people live in a one mile radius in Mumbai. 
  Lastly, try visualising Derek driving a car from Bandra to Andheri at the peak hour in a city, which twenty-one million people call home. 

Until next time!

Too Much To Handle?

Innsbruck, Austria, 2017

 

Of late I have been in a constant state of frustration for several weeks now, and sometimes, it's just too much to handle. In times like these, I have certain 'traditions' or hacks that always help. So, I thought, let's write about this and spread some wisdom around.

(Did anyone else snort as they read the word 'wisdom'?)

  My very first tip for the times when the water's reached above your neck: remove yourself from that particular situation. Sounds like common sense. Right? You would be surprised as to how many times I have refused to say 'That's enough', even when I knew that I needed to get away. 

  Tip number two: Be alone for a while. This helps for two reasons: One, there is no chance that someone else might annoy you; and two, you avoid the very high possibility of spewing venom over an innocent human being, who did you no wrong.

   Tip number three: Take a walk outside. As clichéd as it is, fresh air REALLY does help!! I cannot even begin to count the number of times my mood has improved by just exiting an indoor setting. It's the simplest thing ever!

  Tip number four: Eat, preferably something sweet. I swear to God, there is no better mood-maker than food in this whole wide world. Eat a piece of chocolate cake dunked in good coffee and watch as every situation turns manageable. 

  Tip number five: This is for those days when you feel like you'll skin the next person you meet. Order a pizza, get under your sheets and watch some good old-fashioned Harry Potter movies. 

  Here you have it; my fool proof hacks to not kill the very next person you see, or if you're the glass half-full kind of a person, to improve your mood.

Sandcastles And Adulting.

  I was looking up a few articles written by people about turning twenty, and all I came across mentioned the youth that has passed them by, and the innocent days filled by building sand castles on beaches. I have two objections: One, when was the last time any one of us had built a sand castle? Two, none of us have been innocent for a very, very, very long time. 
  This entire notion of reminiscing on your 'youth' seems absolutely absurd to me. Tomorrow morning, when I wake up, I am still not going to clean my room, even though I know I should have done it a month ago. My clothes are still going to be lying on the floor at the end of a long day, instead of the laundry basket, that I walked right by before throwing my clothes on the floor!
  Today is the eve of my twentieth birthday, and I feel no more an adult than I did a year or two ago. There is no way this state of things is going to change just because I was born tomorrow, twenty years ago. This blog post is kind of an anti-adult post. I am tired of hearing every one of my friends whining about how old they feel. We just entered our twenties!! These are probably going to be the most entertaining years of our lives. We aren't doing them justice by being daunted by them. 
  Unlike all other years, this year, I refuse to freak out about turning older, because I probably might live to build another sand castle someday and because I hate cleaning.