Wordplay: The Reading Spot

"What are we, if not characters, from one story or another, playing our part, knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly" - Sandip Khade You know how people get 'kicks' out of doing something daring, say, over-speeding on their bikes, or breaking dress codes, purposely attempting to get away with something illegal, etc.? Well, and I don't mean to sound like that guy , I've always gotten a kick out of giving to the needy; this could manifest in the form of giving money to the traffic signal dwellers, small community charity contributions, the monthly blood drive, or buying your practically broke friend his favorite energy drink when you sense a potential 'head-butt alert!' conversation vibe in the air. I groaned when I realized it's one of those days, and walked into our PG hostel's canteen area.  Most of our guy-classmates stay at this PG, since it's pretty close, and dirt cheap for its surprisingly un-pathetic living conditions. It...

"Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best." - Bob Talbert Dear readers, it's going to end with parrots. You may not understand what that means just yet, but believe it or not, it will truly end with parrots.  It started with neanderthals. By nature's beautiful miracle, they evolved. Then we made wheels, discovered fire, built civilisations....basically, reached where we are today. But, how? How did a progressive species such as the homo sapiens reach a point where they will most likely end with parrots...how is that even possible? This article is inspired by the conversations I had with my teacher and a close relative. And no, these weren't some brilliant, highly motivational discussions...they were horrifying, and absolutely the stuff of nightmares. Nightmares, that end with parrots.  Don't rule this out as some random student rant...that'll only further cement the nightmares that these discussions made me foresee. Alright, I...

the flight to Neverland... On a cold and rainy October night The pilot made haste for flight To his origin, ("Neverland", he said) And then soared into the night. It had been several years since The pilot left Neverland And although he seemed to move on The townspeople deemed him sad. He never spoke much about the place, Yet would often dream about His youthful years in its greens And the liveliest folk he'd never seen. His dreams gave off hues of grief But nought gave off his face, Whenever the young man would be asked On cue, his heart would race. He didn't have the brightest years Back in those spritely greens He lost more than since, has gained, And yet, there, he longs to be. A little while after his ascent, that day There came a rapping from behind When he ventured to see, who the causer was, Was appalled to see a mere child. A tousled boy he was, and nothing more; The astonished lent him a hand The pilot asked, "So, where to?" The boy softly said, ...

One man's loss is another's gain... Up and above where we couldn't see Lay a whole world of opportunity; When down on the land, we feared the end of time In pride and glory lived the ones of the skies. These fair spirits lived simple lives Lives so fair, they didn't ever die They ignored us, and ignorance is bliss And that's how they missed our petty conflicts. Yet one day, all of this changed A young and pure spirit glanced down at our pains She proposed to others to intervene And help us fix the flaws she'd seen. The clouds were divided by the saw of opinion Some chose the spirit, others chose their pride The others saw us for what our acts were And chose to let us little sinners die. The sky erupted in a storm of chaos And darkened with the essence of negative thought Due to disagreements, the spirits became us And so, a violent path, in vain, was sought. Along with peace, hope was shed that day Who won the fight? Not one can say; But as their blood poured do...

Why We Need Bad Things However advanced humans have become till date, there are certain questions that we just don't know the correct answers to.  Maybe it's because they don't have a single answer....maybe it's because these questions are better off as questions, for the answers could be something totally unexpected. However, that doesn't stop us from trying to find explanations for them. You see, one of the most primary characteristics of humans is "curiosity", and we just don't stop looking for an answer. One such unanswered question is: Why do bad things exist?  One may say: "Well, God accidently dropped some bad stuff into Earth (like lizards for example [sorry, lizard lovers]) before drifting off into his eternal sleep." One could also say: "Life is one long bad thing with little intervals of happiness that act as sedatives." While we may never know the correct answer to the question, it doesn't hurt to come up with your o...

You wish you could, but never truly can... Today was Blue Ridge College's final year farewell event. All the students and teachers of the final year batch had appeared at the college for one last night of academic togetherness. Hordes of students strolled through the corridors, reliving the past few years of their lives, essentially the last of their childhoods. Due to the pandemic, many had missed a considerable chunk of college life, but had already caught up with reality. To some extent, at least. A bittersweet aura had filled the air. Students were eating, drinking, chatting away with friends for what could be the very last time they'd see each other, as nobody knew where their lives would take them in the future.  Amidst the reasonable chaos, Amit sat in a corner of the building, near the stairs, deep in thought. It was clear that Amit was different from the rest. Quiet, always thinking, reserved, academically weak; these were the labels assigned to him by the people in hi...

Life However advanced humans have become till date, there are certain questions that we just don't know the correct answers to.  Maybe it's because they don't have a single answer....maybe it's because these questions are better off as questions, for the answers could be something totally unexpected. However, that doesn't stop us from trying to find explanations for them. You see, one of the most primary characteristics of humans is "curiosity", and we just don't stop looking for an answer. One such word, or rather question, has been one of the most challenging of them all. Life.  What really is the meaning of life? One may say, "to exist in this world". Well, some entities that "exist in this world" are labelled as non-living ones...to explain that, people say that they cannot carry out the basic functions of life. But...what exactly defines these functions, because these objects still continue to exist. Lets try and dive deeper in...