Everything and anything.

Under the big yellow sign which reads ‘Curious Fox’, there’s a blackboard on it something that perturbs me has been chalked: ‘English books’. It should be ‘books in English’. Below which is written ‘Tea and coffee’, wouldn´t be an English bookstore does not serve Tea. As I entered the bookstore I soon realized Christmas had come early not only for the bookstore but for me as well. The one that book which stands out the most would be one of Desperate Housewives with guns, knives and torches in their hands. The shelves were brimming with books from every era and genre imaginable and every inch of the walls was covered in stickers, fridge magnets, postcards and posters. There’s a tray full of Mr. Men books, a Winnie the Pooh audiobook, and even a whole section devoted to cheap used books for poor students, like the author of this article. There were also the latest titles by the hippest authors too, ranging from ‘Living a Feminist Life’ by Sara Ahmed to ‘There are Little Kingdoms’ b...

This post here is not for the veteran, not for someone who has been practicing Yoga and meditation for decades. This is for the novice meditator, someone who is new to it and going through the initial snags that come with the Art of relaxation. When I wrote this(the first draft), I had been meditating for near to two years by now. When I started I had trouble getting my mind to focus and my body to stop fidgeting for even 2 minutes.  I started to read up about meditation and come across quite few different methods, but then I came across a Reddit post about meditation that just spoke to me. I then took what I had learned from the post and applied it.  The first step is to find a comfortable position to sit in. Most times if you´re practicing yoga you´ll be able to sit cross legged with your feet tucked in under your legs, arms placed on your knees and eyes closed. However you don´t need to be in this position to practice meditate. You could just as easily do it while l...

With all the awful happenings in 2017, I can say it wasn't all that bad. By the end of it Puma, my labrador, had befriended two kittens. About these kittens, they were two of three brothers, four siblings in total. Their mother, who had given birth to them in the heat of summer, I spotted in my backyard. She had given birth to them in a corner where it was cool due to the shade of all the scrap we stored. Smart as they are(felines), she hadn't thought of what would happen if the doge who inhabited this house were to sniff their feline scent, which un/fortunately didn't happen for a few days. Scared as the mother was, she accepted milk and bread from me till my brother took Puma near where the mama meow was taking refuge.  Three barks of puma and the meowlings were carried away by momma meow to a safer abode. Giving them food had almost became something for me to look forward to. My mother who had at first said, very adamantly I might add, that she would ...

It’s been two days since my friend from left and there’s a mental that I can’t get out of my bed. It’s a mental picture I’ll never be able to forget, especially once I’m done writing this. We were in an auto on our way back home from buying books for my friends. This is when I saw two doggos. Two puppers, to  be honest, who probably just reached adolescence. Now these two beautiful souls were on the side of a road, with one pupper having his front right paw up in the air and yelping in pain. The other pupper had his arm around the yelping pupper. While one kept howling in pain the other was joining him in his screeches with his own barks. When I saw this so many emotions went through me, starting with sorrow to the bittersweet joy of seeing empathy in these two lovely canines. While one was in obvious pain, probably due to his right paw being injured by a vehicle driving over it(human beings are assholes) the other was sharing through pure empathy.  I made a feeble attemp...

Part of my summer holidays consisted of working on summer projects as part of my school grades. We would get to choose a topic of our choice from an assortment and I picked Global warming for three consecutive years. Without the internet, most of my information came from outdated encyclopedia and the news, the latter almost never covering anything. I was shocked to see how grave an issue was being treated as something trivial by the governments and leading corporations alike. I took a no fire crackers stance, which my father inculcated further in me by never buying me firecrackers again once I brought this up to him. The Supreme Court of India recently banned the sale of fire crackers, the aftermath of last years Diwali causing AQI's to spike up to emergency levels. Almost ironically my father and I were the only ones affected by the air pollution I can never forget the sleepless nights I would spend rubbing my eyes or the gallons of phlegm I would cough up. My parents were...

According to Lancet 2.5million deaths occurred in India in the year 2015 due to air pollution. The worst levels of air pollution are seen in the capital Delhi, which contributes 7-8% to its GDP and habitates 46 million people.  An estimated 25000 to 30000 people die of pollution related causes in Delhi-NCR. Among the 20 cities with the worst air pollution, 16 are in China and the one that shares the top spot with Delhi is Beijing, this was according to a WHO report. Besides sharing the top spot, these two cities share the reasons that their AQI is the worst in the world. The major reasons being vehicular traffic, coal-powered industrial emissions and teeming population. The economic boom in both the countries led to an unprecedented proliferation in automobiles and industry. Before I get started I’ll explain what PM10 and PM2.5 are. They are particulate matter above the diameter of 10 Microns and 2.5 Microns respectively. The readings are as per the System of Air Qualit...